prayeramedic

This is an amazing reminder that all life is precious and valuable to God. Charles Lehmann reminds us that God does not desire the death of a sinner:

It is tempting for many of us to look at the death of Michael Jackson with just a little bit of quiet happiness. Though he was never convicted of the crime, many think he may have been a child molester. It’s quite possible that he was.

But it’s worth remembering that Jesus loves rapists, child molesters, wife beaters, politicians, and even you and me.

Jesus was so grieved by the eternal death that Michael Jackson, you, and I deserve that He was willing to be arrested for a crime He didn’t commit, undergo the worst torture that humans had conceived of to that day, and suffer the most ignominious death imaginable. He even underwent being utterly forsaken by God the Father. He died completely alone, with all the sins of the entire history of the world on His shoulders.

If it would have only been for Michael Jackson, He would have still done it. He loved him that much even if he was a child molester.

So, here is my request.

Do not begrudge the grief of those who mourn for Michael Jackson. Since it would appear that Jackson ended his life in fellowship with the Watchtower Society, there is probably no one more grieved at his death than God. It was God’s hatred of death, even the death of Michael Jackson, that moved him to destroy it once and for all on the cross.

Jesus’ grave is empty, and so shall all graves be.

Do not rejoice over the death of a sinner even if you are not mourning.

Besides, what makes you better than a rapist or a child molester? Your sin has earned the same reward theirs has.

But your sin has also been forgiven by the same Savior! What a wonderful God He is!

I’m sick of pastors drawing erroneous insights from texts due to bad exegesis. Looking a word up in a Strong’s Dictionary does not constitute being an exegetical scholar. This is seen frequently in the writings of many major evangelical leaders today. I just stumbled upon another faulty translation (and teaching) by Rob Bell. In one of his Nooma videos, Store, he totally botches up Mark 3:5. Bell says:

And then, the Bible says [in Mark 3:5] that Jesus looked around at them in anger. Jesus gets angry. Now this story was first told in the Greek language, and there’s a subtle nuance to this word “anger” in the Greek language. It’s in what’s called the aorist tense, which is a technical way of saying that Jesus’ anger is a temporary feeling. It comes on him, and then it leaves him.

Many thanks to Andy Naselli for this competent response:

Response:

1. “Anger” is a noun, not a verb, in Mark 3:5. The participle περιβλεψάμενος (”After looking around at”) is aorist.
   • καὶ περιβλεψάμενος αὐτοὺς μετ᾽ ὀργῆς, συλλυπούμενος ἐπὶ τῇ πωρώσει τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν λέγει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ• ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρα.
   • NET: After looking around at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
2. Even if Bell had correctly parsed the word he was highlighting, his point is still guilty of the aorist tense fallacy. The aorist tense is not “subtle” or “technical.” It’s the default tense that communicates the very least about a particular action. (See, e.g., D. A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies [2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 67–73.)

This is not an isolated example. When Bell talks about ancient history, customs, language, etc., he not infrequently undermines his credibility. See also Bell’s faulty interpretations of Hebrew concerning the supposed feminine nature of God.

I received this in a newsletter from Jeff Pokone over at the Indiana Biblical Counseling Center and I had to share it (with his permission of course):

Do you ever achieve a significant goal and then refuse to acknowledge that you did well? Do you find yourself dwelling often on your failures? Have you reached a point where you are unable to enjoy life because you are so focused on your sins? And perhaps in the midst of your misery and discouragement, you have told yourself, “Well, I’m supposed to think this way. After all, God wants me to be humble.”

Throughout the ages, many acts have been done in the name of humility. In centuries past, godly men would whip themselves, starve themselves, or abuse their bodies in other ways to try to force themselves to be humble before God. Even today, many Christians engage in thoughts and attitudes of self-condemnation, mistaking these for humility.

However, the problem with this lifestyle of self-abasement is that it draws our focus inwards towards ourselves, instead of upwards to our Heavenly Father. True humility is not about how “good” or “bad” we are. It is ultimately not about us at all. It begins when we look outside ourselves and start dwelling on who our God is. Who is this God I serve? What is He like? What are the great things He has done in my life? How is it that He chose to send His Son to die in my place? Humility is not something we can “achieve” in our flesh. Rather it is an attitude of our heart that springs up as we begin to understand the beauty and worth of our Lord and His saving grace in our lives.

Paul understood that he was a wretched sinner before a holy God. But he did not get stuck being overwhelmed by his own sins. Instead, he let his heart be overwhelmed by the wonder of God’s saving grace in his life. After lamenting over his sins in Romans 7, he goes on in chapter 8 to write a great symphony of praise to our God for the victory He has given us in Christ Jesus. May each of our lives become that symphony of praise as we grow in our understanding of who we are in Christ!

I received this in a newsletter from Jeff Pokone over at the Indiana Biblical Counseling Center and I had to share it (with his permission of course):

“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8)

When God humbles us through a deep understanding and experience of His grace, our hearts and lives are transformed. No longer do we feel a need to rely on what the world thinks of us, because we are confident that God approves of us through Jesus Christ. No longer do we worry about how others treat us, because we are rejoicing that in Christ, God has given us so much more than we could ever deserve or dream of.

Strangely enough, our greatest example of humility comes from the Almighty God Himself. Psalm 113:5-6 captures the wonder of our God: “Who is like the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?” This passage is a beautiful description of our Lord Jesus, who willingly gave up His place in the presence of the Father and His right to be treated as God in order to inhabit a broken, sin-filled world. And not only this, but He was despised and rejected by men, bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, and finally was pierced through for our transgressions. What greater picture of humility could there ever be?

But the story doesn’t end there! Philippians 2:9-11 tells us, “Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…..and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” As we follow in Jesus’ footsteps, we have great hope because of the promise He extends to us as well, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:10)

The world tells us we need to hold on to our rights: the right to wealth, power, greatness, significance. But the way of the cross is different. Like our Savior, we are called to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. Let us walk in humility before Him, holding as our greatest treasure the riches of His grace-something far greater than anything the world has to offer.

Seth Godin came up with some phenomenal ideas for unemployed college students to attempt to accomplish in a year, but I think the list could be helpful for a much larger audience. If someone were to accomplish even a few of the items on this list, his or her job prospects would increase exponentially.

Check it out

P.S. I’m very proud of myself for using “his or her” rather than “their” in the second-to-last sentence. The English language doesn’t have a gender-neutral pronoun that works well in those kinds of sentences. We use “their” to avoid sexism in language, but it is actually improper English. I’ve been reading books on grammar to improve my writing lately, and I HIGHLY recommend Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English, Second Edition. By the way, improving your writing is also a good strategy for enhancing your job prospects.

Just when you thought 3,000 people being baptized in one day was crazy (Acts 2:41), along came Web 2.0 (and now 3.0). I saw this video over at Emergent Nazarenes:

What does this mean? It certainly makes me consider the impact a single blog post or video could have if it “goes viral” (gains massive popularity on the internet). How will we handle all of this information?

I saw an article the other day talking about Web 3.0, “taming the deluge of data.” The author of the article, David Griner, gives the following definitions of Web 1.0 through 3.0:

Web 1.0: Mainstream media and retailers dominate, using traditional approaches to broadcasting and sales.

Web 2.0: Blogging, peer-to-peer sharing and Google empower the masses to communicate openly. The old guard struggles to remain relevant.

Web 3.0: Mainstreaming of social media creates a constant flow of information. Challenge for users and businesses alike is to harness the flood without drowning.

Griner cites Twitter as an example of Web 3.0, or at least of its emergence. What do you think? Is Web 3.0 just another cliché or it a genuine shift in how the internet is being used? What does this mean for you?

And that is exactly what I did. What do you think of the new design?

Attracting true followers isn’t so easy.

I saw this over at iMonk.

Not to add too much of my own thinking to weekly wisdom, but too many people like to uphold one of these three (faith, feelings, or facts) as the ultimate anchor of Christianity – yet in reality all three work together in our human experience. Just a neat thought. . . .
 
 

As the above ad shows, seeker-sensitivity can get out of hand. But sometimes in our efforts to denounce it we end up shredding up the good guys in the process, who are merely using cultural illustrations to teach the Gospel.

Today I read a great post by Charlie Lehmann dealing with the strengths and limits of media analogies. After writing a bible study using the recent Star Trek movie as a starting point for sharing the Gospel, he was accused of being “seeker-sensitive.” I loved his response:

I really don’t know anything about being seeker sensitive. I don’t know what that means because the whole approach to theology makes absolutely no sense to me. Further, I don’t care even a little bit about being seeker sensitive. The seeker is Jesus. I and the rest of humanity are the lost lambs that He is seeking out. . . . “Being relevant isn’t a sin.” More than that, being relevant isn’t even the point. . . . I’m not trying to be hip or cool. I’m neither (just ask my wife). What I’m doing is saying, “Hey, did you see that cool movie. It got me to thinking about Jesus and what He did for you on the cross.” I know that’s kinda redundant, but hey, just about everything makes me think about Jesus, so deal with it.

I think sometimes we get so bent out of shape trying to denounce all that is “seeker-sensitive” that it starts getting ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we should make church a big entertainment show that is focused on the comfort of the people in the pews, but I also think we absolutely need to remember that God is seeker-sensitive, and He is the seeker! We are not the seekers! We do not need huge church buildings and fancy light shows to draw in crowds, we simply need to introduce people to the real Seeker, Jesus Christ Himself.