Jan. 7, 2009 - Micah's 95 Theses

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The Word of God is an amazing thing. Sometimes He uses His word to
encourage, sometimes he uses His word to guide and direct, and sometimes
He uses His word to chastise and discipline. But our response to His
word can also be an amazing thing. Sometimes we listen intently,
sometimes we don't understand, and sometimes we brush aside what we don't
like. It is to our own detriment if we don't clearly understand that
God's word is either 100% true it's not. It is much like the people who
say that Jesus Christ was a good man but not God Himself. The two
phrases are not coherent together. If you believe Jesus Christ was a
good man, how could you believe that He intentionally lied about who he
was to all of his believers when he told them that "the Father and I are
one?" No, no, no, if you believe that Jesus Christ was truly a good man,
you have to believe that his words were true, and that he was who he
claimed to be. Believing one, requires the other. In the same way, when
we believe that God took serious His words of warning or of discipline,
we will also believe that He took seriously His words of love and
encouragement. When we open the door to possible "clauses" or exceptions
to God's words of warning or discipline to us, we also consequently
weaken the power of His other words of comfort and grace. Either God's
word is 100% true, or it's not.

As you know, we've been back from Brazil for almost 4 months now. Our
transition back to American culture hasn't been without it's share of
bumps and bruises. And, it was often funny what things stuck out to us
as strange from this place we call home. Things like how quiet the city
streets are, and how awkward it feels to eat a whole meal with only a
fork. There were other things that were more serious as well, some of
which I have hesitated to share. Impressions and observations of aspects
of a culture which used to define my identity, now drive me crazy or make
me sad. Aspects of American Christianity, or perhaps only Northwest
Christianity, or perhaps Portland, Oregon-ish Christianity, or perhaps it
is only the typical "Christian" mentality that I have encountered in
various people I have met since being back. I have not written about
such things because I do not want to paint "the American Church" with
broad sweeping generalizations, and I do not want to pretend I am an
expert on something I am not. But more than that, I have not wanted to
share any negative impressions that I may have out of a growing respect
for the Church (big "C" here). It was not always so with me.

As one who had been wounded by churches in the past, I used to think it
my duty to speak out against them. But then a few years ago, I came to a
realization that changed all of this. The Bible calls the Church the
bride of Christ. And regardless of her current outward appearance, I
still believe that she is the future wife of Christ. And, I also know
that most fiancées don't take kindly to people talking smack about their
future wives. So right then and there, I decided that I had better keep
my mouth closed on the subject. But then last night, in the midst of a
restless night, I felt lead to share some of these impressions. Please
keep in mind that these impressions are not related to all believers or
even all churches....So here goes...

Put quite bluntly, I can't believe the extent that a worldly mind set has
entered the Church. Perhaps because we have historically been a
Christian nation, we as a nation have slowly been lulled to accept that
here in America, the world and the church aren't really two different
things. But they are. It seems increasingly harder and harder for
average Joe Christian to differentiate between biblical principles and
American values. "The pursuit of happiness," though guaranteed by our
constitution, is not a right defined by the Bible for every believer. In
contrast, Paul writes that "all that live godly in Christ Jesus will
suffer." "Liberty and justice for all" is also a great American concept
which is not in the Bible. Though God does promise his eventual justice,
when Jesus spoke of a foreign government forcing people to do something
(Matt 5:41) and walk one mile, he instructed his followers to walk two.
Something about that just feels wrong, but it's what the Bible says. "The
dignity of every man" and the "inherit goodness of each person" is a
concept that goes against what the Bible says in Psalms that "there is
none that do good, not one." And again in Romans 3:23 when Paul writes
for "all have sinned, and fallen short of the Glory of God."

So what do we do when such contrasts become apparent between cultural
values and biblical principles? To which side are we drawn? To which
side do we commit ourselves? The bigger question that lies at the heart
of all of these questions, connecting them together: whom do we fear
more; man or God? A generation or two ago pastors and evangelists
preached of fire and brimstone. They spoke of coming judgement and
seemingly scared a lot of people into becoming Christians. Now it seems
that the pendulum has swung the other way. Grace, mercy and love is the
message that now seem to iminate from preaching pulpits and bumper
stickers. The media has also picked up on this, and when it does portray
God, it is usually portrays some nice guy dressed in white clothes
talking to Joe blow off of the street. And I love this accurate
depiction of Him: caring, good humored, never in a hurry and
approachable. But what do we do with those who in the Bible approached
God and died on the spot because they were not ready, or they were
unclean? As much as my heart wants to jump in Jesus's arms when I get to
heaven, I can't find a Biblical example of this happening. In most
heavenly depictions of people with God, they start either on their knees
or on their faces, not in His arms or talking causally. Hum? Through
songs, books or other media, popular Christianity today seems stuck like
a record on the grace and love song. Don't get me wrong, the grace of
God is profound and beyond comprehension, and I am so thankful and
unworthy of it. I don't want to take anything away from the love
relationship that God has with His people. The problem is that God is
full of grace and love while remaining righteous and holy. Our minds
can't quiet get around it. With Him, it is not one or the other. He is
both at the same time. One not diminishing the other, but enhancing the
other. Our minds can't quite grasp it so we naturally tend to gravitate
towards one extreme or the other. The "fire and brimstone" sermons of
two generations ago would seem quite out of place in most church
sanctuaries of today, yet there they belong. These sermons of yester
year describe God just as accurately as the intimate songs of worship
that we sing today. However, we don't hear these sermons anymore. We
choose to focus on the other "more appealing" aspects of God. And in
doing so, bit by bit, we lose our fear of the Most Holy. So, when it
comes to making those daily decisions, the fear that dominates us more
than the fear of God, is the fear of man. The result is that our
actions are motivated more to satisfy, please and impress our neighbors,
our friends, or our families than God. "God is good, all the time" is
what is said in our churches, but the other side of this way of thinking
is "so I'll just ask His forgiveness after I sin." Our fear of God is
faltering. When was the last time you heard your pastor stand up and say
"be ye perfect," as the crowd responds back "as I am perfect." Our fear
of God is faltering, and our behavior reflects it. The Bible calls the
fear of God the beginning of wisdom. So, in an age when knowledge
abounds, it would seem that with the fear of God true wisdom is
disappearing. And, our families, our churches and our nation are
beginning to reflect this.

In our effort to please people, it seems that too often our modern
churches try to morph biblically solid doctrine into what they perceive
people want hear. In an effort to attract more people, modern American
Christianity can easily be seen imitating the world. If something is hot
in the secular world, it seems only a matter of time before the
evangelical world will have their version of it. If you don't believe me
just go into a store that commercializes Christian faith. From Christian
boy bands to Christian video games, one doesn't have to look far in the
evangelical world to see the truth in this "chasing after" mentality.

We follow the crowds hoping that they'll come to our churches, believing
in our hearts that our churches being full will validate God's approval
of what we are doing in His name. Yet, this mentality that is so evident
in the church of today, seems to ignore the fact that Jesus said in Matt.
7:14 "narrow is the way which leads to life and few find it." We somehow
believe that these statements were not made for us or for our churches.
We desperately hope that Jesus was talking about other countries, other
churches, other people or other times., but not for us... not for today.


So we try to be selective on what we preach, selective on what we teach,
selective on what we say We use words that are politically correct so as
to not offend people and risk them not coming back to our congregations.
We accept them as they are, as Christ did, but then we water down His
truth so they are not changed. And when His truth has been watered
down... we ourselves are not forced to change. We are not forced to
choose between our old life where we had "freedom" to sin, and our new
life where we are called to be "slaves" to Christ. And without this
"coming of age" experience (putting off our old selves and putting on
Christ), though we may well know the binding slavery that is inherent
when we act "free to sin", we will never experience how being slaves of
Christ and dying to self actually ushers in life in abundance. We miss
out.

In our chasing after, in our watering down of God's word, we are salt
that is loosing it's saltiness. We become, as Jesus Himself said, good
for nothing. I realize these are harsh words, but sometimes we forget
that in the Gospels Jesus often taught with harsh words. Why did Jesus
make more references to hell than he did to heaven during His earthly
ministry? Why did Jesus not refrain from using fear to motivate?
Because He knew that fear can be a great motivator. Even writing that
last sentence seemed a little sacrilegious to my flesh. Scare people to
living correctly? Is that right? God is so good, and a Holy life has so
many benefits of it's own, so why not attract people to that goodness.
Because we as humans have a tendency to be lazy, and react only to that
which we see as most pressing. Think about it. We all know we SHOULD
eat a balanced diet and get exercise, but by and large, it is not until
we hear from the doctor that we are inches away from a heart attack that
we REALLY begin to change our behavior. Human nature tends to react most
to that which is screaming for attention; and fear screams for attention.
This is understood outside of the spiritual realm. Advertisers
capitalize on this concept to sell their products. And in fact there is
a level of fear that is healthy. Fear of getting hurt keeps us from
touching hot stoves, or jumping the fence at the zoo to go and pet the
pretty lions. We believe in having fire codes, immunizations, and
insurance policies because of the fear that things could go wrong. And,
indeed, it would be most unwise to opt out of these things because things
do, in fact, go wrong. So why does it feel so sacrilegious these days to
talk about fear and God? Have we embraced too readily our interpretation
of the "there is no fear in love" verse, and discarded all the verses
that talk of the benefits of fearing God. Has our generation built it's
theology so firmly around "God is love" that we have no room for "God is
just?" Do we intellectually plug our ears to God's warnings by
explaining away why His unsavory words don't apply to us? Look at our
churches, and look what is becoming normal. Our lines are becoming
grayed, because we fear what others may think or say about us more than
we fear God.

The result is that we live in confusion, neither hot or cold. It makes
me sad. Please don't misinterpret what I am saying. I'm not saying we
should be brutal with the truth, beating people with "what the bible
says." This e-mail is not written for nonbelievers. This e-mail is
written for us who believe in Jesus, and is focused on how we deal with
God's word, AND His holiness. What our attitude is when we are corrected
or chastised? Education is a choice. Two different people may face
identical situations, one may choose to learn from it, and the other may
not. Do we allow ourselves to be taught? When God's Word says something
that we don't want to agree with, what is our attitude? Do we have to be
right at all costs? Do we realize that God is God and we are not? Do we
demand that He prove something to us. As my pastor used to say "do we
judge the scriptures or do we let the scriptures judge us?" It's a
reaction or attitude that boils down to a simple matter of fear. And,
our lives will, for eternity, reflect the answer to this simple question:
'whom do we fear most?'

in Him, for Him
Micah and Marla

ps. The attatched pictures are some pictures we took of Marla's
pregancy. Thank you for your prayers for this pregnancy, so the weekly
untrasounds haven't shown any anemia. 10 weeks to go!

**********************Cliffnotes: Micah's 95
Theses**************************************************
In this e-mail I fel led to share some impressions that I have had about
American Christianity since returning from Brazil. I think that what
lies at the root of many of the problems that we expirience in today's
American Church is that we, as a people have lost our fear of God. For a
generation or so, we have been focusing so much on God's attributes of
love and mercy, we have largely ignored His holiness and justice. And the
results of this mentality are staggering.
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