The Expelled Revolution

Yes, I saw Expelled last weekend.  Quite frankly, I wasn’t really interested in going, because I had heard all of the arguments and much of the whining about how evolutionists suppress all discussion about creation and intelligent design.  However, I went with a group of friends, and wanted to show my support for the theaters that showed the movie.  If you haven’t seen this documentary, GO SEE IT! 

 I have been reading some of the columnists rant about this film, but one of the best ones supporting the movie is Ben Stein Vs. Sputtering Atheists, by Brent Bozell.  Man he makes some great points.  He states,

It is a reality of PC liberalism: There is only one credible side to an issue, and any dissent is not only rejected, it is scorned. Global warming. Gay “rights.” Abortion “rights.” On these and so many other issues there is enlightenment, and then there is the Idiotic Other Side. PC liberalism’s power centers are the news media, the entertainment industry and academia, and all are in the clutches of an unmistakable hypocrisy: Theirs is an ideology that preaches the freedom of thought and expression at every opportunity, yet practices absolute intolerance toward dissension.

We see this reaction in nearly all of the comments against this film.  No one really addresses the content specifically, but instead rails against the film as stupid, made for and watched by idiots, and only for those morons that believe the earth is flat.  Listen to the comments by some of the stars of the film:

Now that the film is complete, the evolutionist prophets featured in the film are on the warpath inveighing against it, and the alleged idiots who would lower themselves to watching it. Richard Dawkins laments how the film will solicit “cheap laughs that could only be raised in an audience of scientific ignoramuses.” Minnesota professor and blogger P.Z. Myers predicts the movie is “going to appeal strongly to the religious, the paranoid, the conspiracy theorists, and the ignorant —- which means they’re going to draw in about 90 percent of the American market.”

Hmmm.  If you can’t address their substance, then insult them, attack them, and slander them in the press. 

It’s understood that God had nothing to do with the origins of life on Earth. What, then, is the alternate explanation? Stein asks these experts, and their very serious answers are priceless. One theorizes that life began somehow on the backs of crystals. Another states electric sparks from a lightning storm created organic matter (out of nothing). Another declares that life was brought to Earth by aliens. Anything but God.

This is the crux of the matter, isn’t it?  If someone is adamant about denying the existence of God, then one must come up with a “creation” story that does not include any form of outside, supernatural deity.  This is evolution.  It is NOT a scientific explanation of the world or of its origins.  It is, plain and simple, an explanation of the world and its origins WITHOUT God.  That is the agenda of the evolution crowd.  There is no science, no proof, no well-reasoned arguments, and no data.  It is aliens, crystals, and chance.  It continues to amaze me how strongly human beings will suppress the truth about God and nature in order to live life autonomously.  What is amazing is that theories of the origins of the world have been around for along time.  Our understanding of the natural world has changed considerably over the past several thousand years.  What is amazing is that the Bible has endured for 3,500 years, in the same form with the same words as it is now, and is still truth.  People have been suppressing the truth of God and His revelation in nature and His Word for thousands of years, and yet the truth still comes forth.  This irritates the wise, the smart ones, because they think God is foolish. 

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 1: But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, ”Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”   

The Gospel of Personal Relationship

If I had a dime for every time I heard that Christianity is not a religion, it is a personal relationship, I would be rich.  If I believed that statement as most Christians tell it, I would still be lost in my sins and bound for hell, though I would be really feeling good about myself in the process.  The gospel is not about a personal relationship with Jesus.  The gospel is not that subjective, nor is it that undefined.  However, I must emphatically say that every created being does have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  Yes, everyone.  And it is only one of two relations.  One is either through love, grace, and mercy as sons and daughters of adoption; the other is through the wrath of His just judgment.  At some point at the end of history as we now know it, Jesus will either be your savior or judge.  The gospel is not about a personal relationship with Christ; it is about a right relationship with God through Christ.  It is not as touchy-feely as most sappy so-called evangelicals explain.  But it is a very serious matter on which your very soul depends. 

The gospel is the announcement of the good news of Jesus Christ.  What is that good news?  In a sentence, it the fact that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, and that he died for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised for our justification.  It is about how God through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit is building Himself a people, called the church, who are His and who will worship Him forever as forgiven, adopted, justified, sanctified, and glorified sons and daughters of God. 

The problem with the current evangelical view of the gospel is that it is marketed as “good news,” but in fact is very shallow and really no good news at all.  A personal relationship is way too subjective to be THE good news.  What is it?  Why should I care?  What does it mean?  If the content of this personal relationship is all about me, then what’s the big deal with God?  This shallowness touches various parts of the fallen human psyche and creates a sense of belonging in a disconnected world, attempts to fulfill that longing for the love of God, and secure the relationship in a world where relationships fall apart daily.  While these are very high idealistic goals, the problem is that they fall short because they are rooted and grounded in human needs and wants, and not the Word of God or the power of God through Christ in the Spirit. 

The gospel is so much more!  Yes, it is much more than some Hollywood made-for-TV chick-flick pseudo-love story that may bring a tear to our eye and a lump in our throat.  Through the gospel, Christ has accomplished what we could never accomplish.  He has made His people right with God.  He has taken us from the relationship of wrath and judgment to the relationship of love, life, and family.  The work of Christ didn’t just provide the opportunity for us to be in the family of God, it secured it for those who believe in what Christ did.  If it were left up to us, then we would all still be in a sad state of affairs.  Christ effected our forgiveness and reconciliation.  He secured the justification for those who believe.  Romans 5:1 states that we now have peace with God.  The war is over, reconciliation is accomplished, and there will never be hostilities again!  We have a relationship with God now that surpasses any earthly relationship we can ever hope for.  We have been adopted into the family of God.  We are joint-heirs with Christ.  The inheritance is ours.  We have full legal rights to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms!  And once we have been adopted, do you think Christ will ever kick us out?  When a human family adopts a young child, if he messes up once or twice, do they kick him out?  The child has no say in the legal adoption; it is by the grace of the adopting family.  But once he is in the family, he is the legal son or daughter of that family will all of the rights and privileges and responsibilities of that family.  This is not just a relationship; it is a covenantal family bond!

So the next time some tells you that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship.  Tell them, no, it is more than that.  It is salvation from the wrath of God.  It is the forgiveness of sins.  It is the justification – setting right – with God.  It is the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us.  It is peace, reconciliation, with God.  It is the adoption of believers into the family of God.  Every human being that ever lived has had a personal relationship with God, either under wrath and condemnation or under grace and forgiveness.  Which side are you on?

 

Greed is Destroying Us

Michael Douglas, as ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street, said it best:  Greed — for lack of a better word — is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms — greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed — you mark my words — will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.  While this movie was made in 1987, it defines our times today.  Greed is deemed the savior of the world.  In reality, however, greed will not save anything or anybody, but ultimately drives it into the ground and kills it. 

¹⁹ ”Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²² ”The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³ but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! ²⁴ ”No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.  (Matthew 6:19 – 24 ESV)

There is a difference between capitalism, the free market economy, and greed.  One is generally healthy, while the other is decisively unhealthy.  Now, I am a republican and a capitalist, but what we are observing in the world today is not a healthy capitalism, but an unhealthy system in which greed is the primary driver unbridled by any controlling ethical or moral considerations.  It is controlled by pure profit. When people and companies and countries take capitalism to the extreme as is happening today and govern all of their business decisions, personal decisions, and interactions based on the bottom line, then something bad happens.  People and businesses lose focus of what is really important and long-lasting, and focus on what is only meaningful at the moment, that which will earn them an extra dollar.  Employees suffer, relationships suffer, companies suffer, and countries suffer because they become only tools in the hands of a few who only care about profit and making more and more money.  Companies fire people, not because they are losing money, but because they are not making enough.  Companies ruin relationships with customers because they demand that extra dollar in price at whatever expense of the relationship, and ruin the relationships with suppliers because they demand that extra dollar in savings.  It may work for the immediate future, but it ultimately kills in the long run.  But who cares about the long term…that is someone’s else’s problem after the few have made their millions, let go most of the workforce, and retired in luxury. 

Should this surprise anyone?  It should not really if one is familiar with the doctrine of total depravity and sin in human nature.  Unbridled by any moral and ethical boundaries coming from the Creator God, humans will move toward their most base desires and nature.  Greed, selfishness, and pride all come to mind.  With all of these, it is all about me. 

And unfortunately, the church in America has not just been ineffective in this cultural arena, it has in fact contributed to much of it.  The health and wealth gospel (which is no gospel at all) has fueled this fire for several decades now, but it is not alone.  The typical evangelical church in America has also jumped on the band wagon.  Who preaches humility any more?  How about sacrificial giving?  How about storing up treasures in heaven instead of on earth where moths and rust destroy…?  Many evangelical churches today don’t even preach Christ crucified, but instead preach Five Steps to Financial Freedom, How to Have a Successful Life, and Living the Better Life.  Sermons like these cater to the greed mentality.  After all, the gist of these sermons is that as a child of God, you are blessed beyond measure.  So claim those blessings.  The problem is, they are all worldly material blessings, and nowhere does the Bible state that a child of God will be blessed with all material blessings in Christ Jesus!  On the other hand, we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, according to Ephesians 1:3.  However, you will be hard pressed to find an early disciple or apostle that didn’t have to completely rely on God as his sole provider!  And none of them, including our Lord Himself, lived in the lap of luxury, nor desired to! 

Greed is essentially and fundamentally faith in oneself, and conversely a lack of faith in the sovereignty and provision of God.  After all, if we had faith in the provision of God for our daily bread, then why would we want to be greedy?  Why would we need to be greedy?  Even as business owners, business leaders, church leaders, and individuals, if we trust God for our provision and submit to His providential care and love, then we would know that He cares for us and provides for us.  We want more and more to fulfill our own desires, hoping desperately that next purchase, that new job with 20% more pay, our new wife, or that next savings deposit will provide the satisfaction and comfort to our souls.  We think that a little more money will buy our soul some rest, but we had better think again.  It never buys us rest, but feeds the desire to want more and more.  We look at ourselves in the mirror and realize that we are not doing enough to ensure that we will be happy and secure in our future, whatever that is, and so we again kick ourselves in the butt so that we go out, set more goals, work longer hours, lay off a few more people to make our numbers look good, squirrel away more and more money in our 401(k) plan trusting in the New York Stock Exchange for our future instead of the Almighty God. 

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that God’s record has been a lot more stable and dependable than the New York Stock Exchange! 

Greed and selfishness go hand in hand.  Greed usually manifests itself in selfishness that is solely focused on the good of one thing.  Greed by nature is self-centered.  It cares for no one or nothing except in those instances where it uses people and things for its own good.  Greed is not an entity by itself, but is always born out in and through people.  Billionaires who give millions to charitable causes are not primarily doing it for the cause or to help people, but they give to these causes primarily for their own fame and stature.  How do I know this?  Because none of them do it behind closed doors.  The give only in front a camera in front of millions of people.  This is self-centeredness. 

Greed manifests itself in idolatry.  If one doesn’t trust God for his provision, then who does a person trust?  Money, Wall Street, job, profits.  It all comes down to self, what can I do to secure my future.  And that ultimately is idolatry.  One can justify it by ambition, practicality, wisdom, “the way it is,” or whatever phrase or slogan one can come up with.  The bottom line is that it is idolatry.  Jesus said plainly, “²⁴“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”  As the influence of real Biblical Christianity declines in America and around the world, something else must take its place.  The god of ‘self” is doing just that, and greed is its driver.  With the rejection of Biblical Christianity by more and more people particularly in the West, and the confusion of Biblical Christianity with a false gospel particularly in America, we are seeing the elimination of former boundaries that balanced constitutional republican government (not the political party but the form of government), economic capitalism, and individual freedoms.  All of these now are beginning to be governed by greed and selfishness, and the results are massive individual debt with the consequence of slavery to the job, corrupt politicians and executives that live by the bottom line, and economic and technological instability and stagnation because innovation costs money, and the bottom line is the ultimate judge.

So what’s the solution?  While I don’t want to be simplistic, I believe that the first step is for preachers to preach the true gospel and the whole counsel of God.  The root problem is in human nature, and it can only be solved with a new nature, and that from working of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the real gospel of Jesus Christ as documented in the Word of God.  The preaching of God’s Word brings revival, and what we need is a good handful of pastors that are not afraid to preach the Word of God to the people, teach them the things of God, and live a Biblical life as far as one can, while at the same time mortifying (killing) the sins in one’s life through, again the Spirit working through the Word.  The time for soft, touchy-feely religion is over, and it is time for real religion in the gospel of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, preached and taught in the power of the Spirit with fire and passion. 

Along with the preaching of the gospel, Christians need to stop living like the world.  There is statistically no difference in the way most Christians live than the way nonbelievers live.  I am just as guilty as anyone else.  When Christians covet their neighbor’s 60″ LCD TV, their friend’s new SUV, and can’t give to the church cheerfully because they are saving too much in their 401(k) plan or are in so much debt because of frivolous purchases they don’t really need, then perhaps these same people are not really Christians but only professors whose real god is their checkbook.  Christians don’t need to voluntarily live in poverty, but we need to be able to help those in need, especially within our own local congregation, and live a life that reflects the values of our Lord God and not those of the world.  Greed, covetousness, faithlessness, and idolatry are not values espoused by Christ; they are characteristics of the devil.  It seems we have more children of the devil than children of God among those who profess to be Christians (John 8:44).

Thirdly, and this is going to be tough, I think Christians need to stand up in our churches, places of business, and in politics, and execute our values in our decisions.  Even if one does not run their own business, you can still live the gospel in the way you do business in your own small way.  I have learned this the hard way over the years, and in all my negotiations with vendors, partners, fellow employees, and others, I strive to uphold Christian values when it comes to money and greed.  I have stood up to the bosses who epitomize the greed mentality, not by my own strength but the strength of God, and yes, by the grace of God, I am still employed.  Money is the root of all kinds of evil, and we as Christians must step up and show that this evil does not have an enslaving grip on our lives.  This will not be easy, as it will take fervent prayer, serious study of God’s Word, and the guts to make hard decisions.  Christ never promised it would be easy, but he did promise never to leave us or forsake us, and that he would be with always, to the very end of the age. 

REAL Stewardship

 We live in a self-centered, consumer-oriented world that looks at life, religion included, primarily from a selfish point of view. And this world viewpoint all too easily rubs off on Christians. A large portion of the Christian community sees the blessings and provisions God has given us in Christ as designed strictly for our own personal happiness and comfort. Our tendency today is to make satisfaction and personal comfort our religion. As J.I. Packer notes in his book, Keep in Step with the Spirit,We show much more concern for self-fulfillment than for pleasing our God. Typical of Christianity today, at any rate in the English-speaking world, is its massive rash of how-to-books for believers, directing us to more successful relationships, more joy in sex, becoming more of a person, realizing our possibilities, getting more excitement each day, reducing our weight, improving our diet, managing our money, licking our families into happier shape, and whatnot. For people whose prime passion is to glorify God, these are doubtless legitimate concerns; but the how-to books regularly explore them in a self-absorbed way that treats our enjoyment of life rather than the glory of God as the center of interest.

By contrast, Scripture teaches us that even the comfort we receive from God is to enable us to comfort others with the comfort we ourselves receive from Him (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). In other words, like our Savior who came not to be ministered to but to minister, the Christian life is to be other oriented.

One of God’s objectives for the church is that we might allow Him to reproduce Himself in us as good stewards of His abundant grace. A steward is a manager, not an owner. He is one who manages the property of another. God is the owner and we are the managers of the various stewardships He has given. This includes the whole of life, of course. But to be good stewards of His grace, we must know the precise areas of stewardship for which God is holding us accountable. Scripture breaks this down into a number of areas. For instance, children are a gift from God and one of our most important stewardships. According to the creation mandate of Genesis chapter one, we are also to be good stewards of His creation. 

We will explore over the next four weeks God’s requirement of financial stewardship, using the acronym REAL.  We want to be REAL stewards of God’s blessings.  The Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 teaches us that God expects us to be good stewards of what He gives us, and he will reward us for a job well done.  Using the Parable of the Talents, we will look at four aspects of stewardship and what God intends for us to do and to be. 

REAL stewardship is:

Responsibility – When God gives us gifts, finances, talents, health, and even the breath of life, He also gives us responsibility for those blessings.  In the parable of the talents, the master, before he went on a long journey, entrusted his servants with his property according to their ability.  The property still belonged to the master, but it was the responsibility of the servants while he was away.  In the same way, God blesses us with financial gain and prosperity, according to our ability to handle it, but it still belongs to God.  The question is now, what will we do with what God has entrusted to us?  Will we put it to work, which involves some risk, or will we fearfully bury it in the ground?  The choice is ours, and we will be held accountable for that choice by God upon His return.

Expectation – As good stewards of God’s blessings, we have a two-fold perspective of expectation.  First, we know that God expects us to use wisely his gifts and blessings that he gives us.  In the parable of the talents, the master expected his servants to use his property wisely, making a profit and growing the master’s kingdom.  He severely admonished the servant with one talent as being wicked and lazy because the master expected him to at least earn interest on the property in the bank.  When God gives us blessings, and we do not use them wisely or at all, we are not honoring God’s expectations.  God expects us to use them wisely. 

Secondly, we expect that God will multiply our blessings if we use them as good stewards.  Notice how the servants with five and two talents invested the property and put it to work.  The results were a 100% increase in the master’s estate.  Were the servants solely credited with this increase?  I am sure not.  God provided the increase because of the servants’ excellent stewardship.  God does reward good stewardship. 

Attitude – Stewardship is about attitude.  What is our attitude towards what we have?  Do we recognize that God gives us everything we have, or do we only see ourselves in our possessions? Money is a very little thing (Luke 16:10). Why? Because money cannot buy happiness. Money cannot give eternal life nor real meaning in life (Isa. 55:1-3; Rev. 3:16-18). Yet, there is nothing that reveals our spiritual orientation and relationship with God like our attitude toward money.  Jesus Christ made it clear that a mark of true spirituality was a right attitude toward wealth. The mark of a godly and righteous person is his preoccupation with God and heavenly treasure.  In the parable of the talents, the attitudes of the servants with the five talents and the two talents differed considerably from the attitude of the servant with only one talent.  The two productive servants went at once and put their money to work.  Their attitude was focused not on themselves but on pleasing their master.  The wicked servant, though, lived in an attitude of fear and selfishness.  He did not live to please his master, but to protect his own rear end!  The two productive servants had an attitude which focused on their master, and on others, while the wicked servant displayed an attitude that focused on himself.  The productive servants were good and faithful; the other was wicked and lazy.  Which are you?

Lifestyle – Stewardship is not an event, it is a lifestyle.  In the parable of the talents, the good and faithful servants obviously knew what to do with the master’s property and how to invest it wisely.  The wicked servant, however, lived in fear.  While this parable describes one event, it also describes the servants’ lifestyles.  The two good and faithful servants were trusted by the master with such sums of money, while the wicked servant was not trusted at all, or very little.  Why is this the case?  Because their lifestyle demonstrated to the master who could be trusted with much, and who could not be trusted at all.  What the wicked servant possessed was taken from him and given to the one who was the good steward.  How does your lifestyle exhibit good stewardship of what God has given you?  Do you continually invest your finances and talents into the Kingdom of God, or do you hide them in the ground?  Does your lifestyle exhibit fear of failure, or do you risk and put your blessings to work with the expectation of growth for the Kingdom of God? 

Are you a REAL Steward?