All posts in category Bible

EFCA Theology Conference – Session 4

A Theology of Human Sexuality – Ben Mitchell

A Few Caveats

Our anthropology requires charity

Our language anticipates double entendres

Our calling demands compassion

Our experience requires humility

Our task calls for courage

Our responsibility requires us to contextualize the question

Why so Important?

The order that God has given us (Gen 2:24-25)

Paul says sexual immorality is not even to be mentioned among those in the Christian church (Ephesians 5:3)

Why Such a Difficult Subject?

A confused culture in which our paradigms have shifted radically

A marginalized church

A challenged Bible – both from the outside and the inside

47% of people who say marriage is becoming obsolete still want to be married

Sexual Morality: Creation

Human sex and sexuality are important, powerful and good aspects of God’s creation (Gen 2:15-25 – bonding, procreation, Proverbs 5:15-20 – pleasure, fidelity)

They don’t cease to be man or woman but their flesh is joined in such a way that we call them one flesh

Stanley Grenz Sexual Ethics

There are only two ways to be human, as male or female, at its core is a fundamental incompleteness

Goods of sex and marriage

Procreational good – Gen 1:28; 9:1

Relational good – “humanity which is not fellow-humanity is inhumanity” Barth, CD

Public good – ordered and regulated relationships in human society

Marriage

The relational purpose of marriage (Gen 2:24 – one flesh, sexual and non-sexual companionship, giving of one’s person to another)

Pornography

There is a casual connection between words or pictures and human behavior

“Shame” is part of the natural human condition. It is counterpart of natural human modesty

The political purpose or result of pornography is to make us shameless

There is a connection between shame and self-restrained and therefore a connection between shame and self-government or democracy

Self-restraint is necessary to the moral and political well-being of the community

Pornography threatens self-restraint and then threatens democracy

Conclusion: therefore, government has at least a modest interest in censoring pornography (as a protection of democracy)

By Walter Evans “Beyond the Garbage Pale”

Sexual Morality: After the Fall

Sexuality and sex are disordered

Sex is to be expressed according to God’s instruction: not outside the covenant of marriage (Heb 13:4), sexual lust is forbidden (Matt 5:27-30)

Sex

Not the most important thing in the world!

1 Corinthians 7:1-5

Marriage

The healing purpose of marriage (1 Cor 7:9)

“Marriage functions to provide needed restraint and discipline as the God-given place of healing for our sexual nature” – Gilbert Meilaender

Celibacy or singleness

Vocation?

Pathology?

Gift parallel with marriage? (1 Cor 7:7, 32-35, Adam and Eve were married, Jesus was single)

Pastoral issues: identity and self-worth, solitude and loneliness, sexuality and celibacy – see C.S. Lewis Four Loves specifically his chapter on friendship

Cohabitation

According to sociologist Patricia Morgan, cohabitation relationships are fragile

Cohabiting couple accumulate less wealth than married couples

Cohabiting women are more likely to be abused

Cohabitants have more health problems than married couples

Children of cohabiting couples often suffer

Cohabitation: the biblical witness

Creation-only appropriate expression of sexual intimacy is the bond of marriage

Singleness is an inappropriate context for the sex act “One flesh” is reserved for married couples

No permission for cohabitation in scripture

Marriage and the marriage bed are held up as honorable

Homosexuality

Helmut Thielicke Theological Ethics vol 3, Sex, p. 271

Sexuality: Redemmed and Celebrated

1 Timothy 4:1-5

“Salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ is not redemption from sexuality, sex or our sexual impulses. It is rather redemption within our created sexuality, necessitated by distortions of the Fall”

God’s Will for Today – 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8

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by mikethestrand on February 1, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Theology
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Posted by mikethestrand on February 1, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/02/01/efca-theology-conference-session-4/

EFCA Theology Conference Session 3 – Robert Gagnon

Jesus and Marriage – Robert Gagnon

Key Jesus Sex Text: Mark 10:2-12 (parallel is Matthew 19:3-9)

Learning from Jesus: A Back-to-Creation Model

  • Jesus declared Gen 1:27 and 2:24 to be the model for marriage
  • For Jesus, marriage isn’t something for humans to tinker with
  • Jesus emphasizes the “twoness” of a sexual bond
  • Prohibits both a revolving door of divorce/remarriage, implicitly polygamy
  • Where does Jesus get this number “two”
  • Gen 1:27, Gen 2:24, what do these 2 verses share in common: the union consists of a man and a women. Two sexes designed by God for a sexual union.
  • Twoness of the sexes is the foundation for the twoness of the sexual bond
  • Confirmation: Qumran’s basis for rejecting polygamy
  • S the twoness of the sexes is the basis for the twoness of the sexual bond

Three Corollaries to Jesus’ Back to Creation Model

  1. OT Law does not always reflect God’s perfect will
  • Many people think Jesus is increasing the permissions of marriage, Jesus is doing the opposite and actually making it more rigid
  • Jesus unilaterally amended the constitution of Israel
  • Moses made a concession to male “hardness of heart”
  • Jesus worked toward a more rigorous sexual ethic, closing off remaining loopholes
  1. Jesus repudiated inequities toward women, but in which direction?
  • In early Judaism, a man could commit adultery only against another woman’s husband
  • What Jesus did not do is give women the same sexual license that men had
  • Instead, he bound men to the same high standard as women
  1. A homosexual relationship is worse than a polygamous one
  • Jesus regarded a male-female prerequisite as foundational for sexual ethics
  • That obviously precludes a homosexual relationship

Further evidence of Jesus’ rejection of Homosexual Practice

  1. Nine other arguments
  • Jesus’ retention of the Law of Moses (Scripture) generally
  • Jesus’ intensification of the Law’s sex ethic (adultery of the heart, divorce)
  • John the Baptist’s strong stance on sex laws
  • Early Judaism united opposition
  • The early church’s united opposition
  • Jesus saying about the defiling effect of desires for porneia (Mark 7:21-23)
  • Jesus on the Decalogue adultery prohibition (Mark 10:17-22)
  • Jesus’ saying about Sodom (Matt 10:14-15; Luke 10:10-12)
  • The “born eunuchs” statement (Matt 19:10-12)
  1. Why then did Jesus not speak directly against homosexual practice?
  • No need to, the Hebrew Scriptures already clearly established man-male intercourse as a grave offense
  • No Jew is known to have engaged in homosexual practice in the period, it wasn’t happening. It would have been a waste of Jesus’ time
  • What then is the meaning of Jesus’ silence on homosexual practice? Same thing as his silence on bestiality

Jesus on Divorce and Remarriage

  1. Prohibiting remarriage after divorce
  • Matt 5:32, Luke 16:18, Mark 10:11-12, 1 Corinthians 7:10-11
  • If a man divorces his wife on invalid grounds would mean that the marriage is still intact in God’s eyes, so if the man remarries he is committing adultery by having sex with a woman other than his wife
  1. The hardest case: A woman invalidly divorced
  • She’s the victim of a divorce, yet if she remarries she is committing adultery, again the main part is if the marriage is still intact

Learning from Jesus: Other Principles

  1. Sex ethic distinct from love command
  • If these are the same, if we truly loved everyone we should be having sex with everyone. Jesus said to love everyone, but have sex with only 1 person
  1. A strong interior component to sexual ethics
  • He wants not only external but internal obedience
  1. Sexual ethics as a life-and-death matter (Matt 5:29-30, John 8:3-11)
  2. A heightened ethical demand coupled with a loving outreach to violators
  • Jesus is asking us to do both
  • The parallel of tax collectors and sexual sinners – Jesus reached out to both of these groups – outreach to those in greatest danger
  1. Jesus on the love commandment, rebuke and forgiveness, the Good Samaritan
  • Love your neighbor as yourself, a true understanding of love is not about you, it’s about correcting a friend who is straying
  • Rebuking and forgiveness Luke 17:3-4
  1. The ends of marriage
  • Procreation (Gen 1:27-28)
  • Companionship and sexual enjoyment (Gen 2:18_
  • The highest objective of marriage is not even companionship, but Jesus’ insistence on marital indissolubility, based on the 2 becoming 1, is the key
  • Marriage is God’s instrument for reuniting male and female into an integrated sexual whole
  • God designed marriage for shaping two into one
  • Sexual activity sets in motion a reality beyond the individual’s control
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by mikethestrand on January 30, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on January 30, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/01/30/efca-theology-conference-session-3-robert-gagnon/

EFCA Theology Conference Session 2 – Stanton Jones

Science and the Morality of Homosexual Conduct – Stanton L. Jones

Major challenges to traditional view

  • Call to love and acceptance
  • Supposed silence of Scripture
  • “New ethical truth” (e.g. Gentiles, divorce)
  • Spirituality among gays
  • New truth from Science

Why engage science? Two divergent Christian Motivations

  • As an exercise in Natural Theology or Natural Ethics

Presumes: Reason can lead to a consensus ethic apart from Revelation

Method: Inductive

Goal: Establish homosexual conduct as wrong (or right) via reason

  • As an Apologetic Defense of Revealed Ethic.

Presumes: Science and Ethics are not disconnected but relationship is complex

Method: Review science on science’s terms; examine logic of application of science to moral question

  • Does science prove (or validate) natural ethics?
  • Does science disprove (or invalidate) natural ethics?

Challenging “Scientific” Assertions

  • Being gay is as healthy as being straight
  • Sexual orientations is a biological determined variable, no moral issue
  • Sexual orientation cannot be changes
  • Homosexual relationships are equivalent to heterosexual
  • Identity is properly rounded in sexual orientation

To respond to claims of “Science says…” we must

  • Ascertain the real finding of science and critique with great care
  • Examine carefully the logic by which the findings of science are applied to the moral question.

Quote from “Gay Fruit Flies” 6/05

  • “Science is closing the door on right-wing distortions” they go from fruit flies to social policy.
  • Critique: well, humans aren’t fruit fly, their reproductive pattern is very influenced by their genetics, but has no application to human sexual reproduction. When the gay fruit flies were placed with heterosexual fruit flies they all started basically a conga line of gay fruit fly sex, showing it is more environmental than genetic

Great Weakness of Homosexuality Research

  • Inability to identify a representative sample of GLB persons
  • Statistical infrequency contributes to this problem
  • Further compounded by definitional issues “who counts?”
  • Leads to severe problems with “volunteer bias”

Etiology of Homosexuality: Biologically-Determined, right?!?

  • Newsweek article: Is This Child Gay? Focused on 2 studies: A Difference in Hypothalamic Structure Between Heterosexual and Homosexual Men: compared the brain structures of gay and straight men.

Background on Brain Studies:

  • There ahs been a pattern of publicized findings that have never been replicated
  • Brain differences may or may not be genetic
  • Brain differences may be either cause or effect of behavioral/psychological differences
  • Hypothalamus regulates some sexual behavior
  • LeVay reported that the INAH3 of heterosexual females was significantly smaller

Problems:

  • Classification: subjects presumed heterosexual unless explicitly noted in medical files
  • Many subjects, heterosexual, and homosexual died of AIDS
  • Many had been treated with adrenergic drugs: influence on brains? (testosterone like drugs)
  • Reports circulated for years of failures to replicate.

William Byne (2000, 2001)

  • Careful sampling
  • Replicated that the INHA3 of heterosexual females is smaller than heterosexual males
  • Homosexual males to be intermediate between heterosexual males in INAH3, not significantly different than either
  • Found homosexual and heterosexual males to have the same number of neurons in INAH3
  • “Sexual orientation cannot be reliably predicted by size of INAH3 alone

Behavioral Genetics

  • The closer genetic relationship the closer psychologically they will be

Bailey and Pillard (1991) found males

  • Identical Twins – 52% concordance (29/56)
  • Fraternal twins – 22% concordance
  • Nontwin brothers – 9% concordance
  • Adopted brothers – 11 % concordance
  • Bailey actually found 56 gay individuals
  • He got a volunteer bias sample
  • Refuted study in 2000 in Australian twin registry
  • Of 27 twin pairs total, 3 pairs of twins were gay
  • His subsequent study got not public media

Direct hormonal effect on gender characteristics model

XY -> SRY -> testes -> Hi T -> Masculinization

XX -> no SRY -> ovaries -> Lo T -> Feminization

Been argued that this idea is too simplistic

/ epi-marks = T hypersens \

XY -> SRY -> testes -> Hi T -> Masculinization

/ epi-marks = T hypersens \

XX -> no SRY -> ovaries -> Lo T -> Feminization

Problems:

  • No direct evidence for it
  • Directly reliant on assumption that male homosexuality is transmitted through mother and female homosexuality transmitted through the male, neither solidly proven
  • Counts on corroboration from data showing greater fecundity of relatives of Gays & Lesbians actual data quite mixed
  • Assumes pure biological programming of sexual preference

Etiology of Homosexuality: no evidence of non-biological causes, right?!?

  • Bearman & Bruckner (2002)
    • Group with highest rate of homosexual boys is one who was born with a twin sister. Condition that wiped this effect out was when there was an older brother in the family.
    • Frisch & Hviid (October 2006)
    • “Childhood family correlates of heterosexual and homosexual marriages: A national cohort study of two million Danes”

You find in conservative Christian circles that biology does not contribute: it does, everything contributes to this.

We always have to ask moral questions about the human condition

The Question of Change: Unchangeable, right?!?

  • “Change of behavior is always possible. God holds people responsible for their actions (which they choose) not their proclivities (many of which they do not choose)”
  • Dozens of studies have been published that change is possible.
  • Jones and Yarhouse (2007, 2011) Ex-Gays?

Two Key Issues:

  • Is change possible?
  • Is it harmful?

So: some people can change and the change is not intrinsically harmful

What are we do to?

  • Manifest Love
  • Live the truth
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by mikethestrand on January 30, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on January 30, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/01/30/efca-theology-conference-session-2-stanton-jones/

EFCA Theology Conference 2013 Session 1, Ben Mitchell

Human Sexuality – The Cultural and Ecclesiological Landscape – Dr. Ben Mitchell

A Few Caveats

  • Our anthropology requires charity
  • Our language anticipates double entendres
  • Our calling demands compassion
  • Our experience requires humility
  • Our task calls for courage
  • Our responsibility requires us to contextualize the question

Traditional Teaching on Sexuality and Marriage

  • One should refrain from sexual activity until marriage (i.e. the wedding)
  • An essential and normal (thought not the only) purpose of marriage is to produce marriage
  • One should refrain from sexual activity with anyone but one’s spouse
  • One should choose a spouse from the opposite sex
  • The marital estate is intended to be a permanent love relationship

All of these planks are being challenged today, and has happened within the past 60 years – a short period of time.

Today – many things within the scheme of sexuality are problematic

  • Courtship is dying
  • Cohabitation is growing
  • Marriage is disintegrating
  • Pornography is pandemic
  • Sexual abuse by clergy in daily news
  • “Adult toys” industry is mainstream
  • Shades of Grey popularizes “mommy porn”
  • Promiscuous procreation – there are 38 ways to make a baby
  • De-population is becoming problematic – especially in Europe
  • No-fault divorce is rampant
  • Children are suffering
  • Polyamory is becoming increasingly acceptable

How did we get here?

  • A cultural revolution took place
  • A cultural revolution, whatever the political ambitions of its architects, result first of all in metamorphosis in values and the conduct of life (see The Long March)
  • Both drugs and sexual liberation are expressions of the narcissistic hedonism that was an important ingredient of the counterculture from its development in the 1950s. The culture at large has taken the adolescent virtues and values from the sixties.
  • See Souls in Transition by Christian Smith sociologist believer at Notre Dame: Emerging adults are: soft ontological anti-realists, epistemological skeptics and perspectivalists. They believe that what’s good for you is good for you, but may not be good for me, it’s all up to personal preference.
  • “When young people want to praise themselves, they describe themselves as ‘non-judgmental.’ For them, the highest form of morality is amorality.” From Our Culture. What’s Left of It

The Great Divide – between conjugal marriage view and revisionist marriage view

  • The revolution has been nearly completed, President Obama has supported same-sex marriage

The Main View of Marriage within Evangelical Christianity

The Cultural Context/Accomadationist Approach

  • Jack Rogers, author of Slaves, Women & Homosexual
  • Overall idea: what the Bible is speaking against is a completely different context, very different than the monogamous homosexual relationships we are supposed to embrace today so we need to accommodate the culture.
  • Yes, we need to contextualize the text, but the biblical writers knew and what the Bible repudiates is very, very close and in some case identical to what we are being asked to accept and legitimize in our culture.

Natural Law-Consequentialist Approach

  • The Case for Marriage and What Is Marriage? Books
  • Marriage is the foundation for human civilization, if you can’t embrace that you can’t embrace true marriage. BUT there are also negative consequences for not embracing this view of marriage – looking at cohabitation, effects of dissolution of marriage on a culture, how it affects children, etc.

Separationist/Let’s Get On With It Approach

  • We’ve already lost the battle for traditional marriage, we are alienating the people we want to reach with the Gospel, so let’s back away from the public debate and entrench ourselves in the churches, protecting marriage there, letting us evangelize those we haven’t yet alienated.

Prophetic/Pastoral Witness Approach

  • We cannot give away marriage, we have to do all we can to preserve traditional marriage within the church, but also do all we can in appropriate ways to defend our ideas in the public square just like the prophets called out the sins of the people of God and the judgment of those who do not believe, in an attempt to show people the truth of Scripture. (Matthew 19:4-6)
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by mikethestrand on January 30, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Theology

Posted by mikethestrand on January 30, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/01/30/efca-theology-conference-2013-session-1-ben-mitchell/

EFCA Theology Conference 2013

Today I will be traveling down to Denver for the 2013 EFCA Theology Conference on the topic of Human Sexuality. The denomination always tries to do hot topic issues that are going on in the culture and this year is sexuality. I’ll be doing my best to live blog the speakers as they finish for those who are not able to go to the conference themselves. I’m very much looking forward to hearing all these issues and as always, I love being able to connect with other pastors in the free church. Be praying as it begins today at 1:10 Mountain Time – a couple of the speakers have already had to cancel their trip out to Denver with health issues, thankfully they’ll be able to Skype in.

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by mikethestrand on January 30, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on January 30, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/01/30/efca-theology-conference-2013/

Bitterness and Age

Cheyenne Evangelical Free Church, where I have the privilege of serving has continued to go through Hebrews, last week being in Hebrews 12. One of the verses the stuck out to me was verse 15 which says, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” It reminded me of an experience I had at Culver’s earlier that week when I noticed an elderly couple sitting near me who were complaining about everything they ordered. Having worked at a fast food place I know how difficult it can be to keep all the customers happy. I one time had a guy order French Fries at McDonald’s, then come back an hour later complaining that they were cold. It seems to me that as people age they continue to become more and more bitter. Either everything has gone so well in their life that they expect it to continue to be that way so everyone around them needs to continue to fulfill all their wants and desires or life has been so hard that they continue to expect nothing but the worst, neither of which attitudes is godly.

By God’s grace, there are some exceptions to this rule, and I can think of no one better than my grandma who makes this clear. She has been a widow for almost 25 years and has lived with cancer for over a decade, yet she continues to serve in her local church body and continues to visit her local nursing home to visit her friends. Despite her loneliness she continues to serve pray and strengthen her local body. That’s the way it should be!

Where does this “root of bitterness” stem from? I think it often comes from a lack of contentment. Paul says in Philippians 4:11 “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” How many of us can say the same thing? How many of us can continue to encourage, support and set an example in our life as we continue to age? Titus 2 paints a brilliant picture of the way the church should work. The older should be teaching the younger to be self controlled and to “teach what is good.” We younger people in the church need the influence and support of those who are older so that we do not fall in to the same errors that the previous generation did. I hope and pray that as I continue to grow older I do not let bitterness rule my life, but instead that I continue to serve as God gives me the strength to do so.

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by mikethestrand on November 14, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on November 14, 2012

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2012/11/14/bitterness-and-age/

The Meaning Of Meaninglessness

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you completely resonated with Solomon when he wrote Ecclesiastes? “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

These past couple weeks have honestly been kind of boring for someone who always likes to stay busy and engaged. Granted, I’ve had a couple of event filled weekends, but they seemed to be a lot of monotonous repetition, like setting up a PVC maze for a church event. How are we supposed to stay engaged and energized when everything seems to be boring? (sorry mom, I know how much you hate that word)

Honestly, I think it stems from a lack of contentment, at least in my own life. I’ve become so saturated with entertainment, that if I don’t have a screen in front of my eyes or music in my ears I feel lost. How can we continue to strive ahead when we’re always so distracted?

As a self-confessed techie and extrovert to the extreme, I do find it hard to sit down and rest. Yet throughout Scripture I see so many instances where we are commanded to sit down and rest. (see Psalm 27, 130 and Isaiah 40) Even Jesus, before his earthly ministry took 40 days of solitude in the wilderness. I so often struggle with this idea. I always want to have people around me and be having a fantastic time together. Even with my extroverted ways I’ve begun to see the importance and necessity of both taking a Sabbath and taking times of solitude.

What does this look like? Well for me, that means I have a day where I have absolutely nothing scheduled. I enjoy my rest, I’ll clean up around the house, I’ll spend time reading, catching up on some TV shows, talking to friends and family, honestly whatever I feel like doing. I’m very blessed in that the church I work in gives me 2 days off, 1 of which I try to use to clean and run errands and the other I try to use as a Sabbath doing only the above activities. What are some ways you’ve found to take breaks and Sabbaths in your life? Do you think it’s important to be taking regular scheduled times of rest?

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by mikethestrand on November 2, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on November 2, 2012

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2012/11/02/the-meaning-of-meaninglessness/

Halloween

Happy Halloween/Reformation Day/All Hallow’s Eve/Whatever you’re celebrating today! As someone who grew up hiding in our basement with the lights off, I have continued to have mixed feelings about this holiday. What should Christians do in response to this “pagan” holiday?

Thanks to Tim Challies, I found a wonderful article on why a family will be trick-or-treating today which you can read here. He prefaces the article by saying 2 things. First, you should not violate your conscience so if you cannot celebrate Halloween without it feeling like sin, don’t participate. Secondly, he says that no days are different than the other so if something is demonic today, it would be demonic on other days as well.

Personally, I can only think of good things happening by people in the church opening their doors and welcoming their neighborhood kids in with open arms. We are to be the salt and light of the world showing people what God looks like on every day, and today, when people will literally be walking up to your door, it gives us a great opportunity to begin building some connections with those who may not have another opportunity to see Christ working in our lives.

So what will I be doing tonight? Well tonight is the night my small group from church meets. We’re going to be getting together with all the lights on, giving candy to any of the kids who come knocking on our door, to the glory of God! Stay safe and have fun tonight!

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by mikethestrand on October 31, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on October 31, 2012

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2012/10/31/halloween/

Don’t Judge Me

One of the passages I hear quoted most often (and out of context) is Matthew 7:1 which says, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” So many people use this when confronted about an issue or when referring to someone who has fallen into a grievous sin (“well he’s human too”). Yet despite what simply that verse says, Jesus isn’t saying we should never judge someone. If you continue on into verse 2, “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” So ultimately, whatever standard of measurement you’re using to determine an offense of someone else is the same standard of measure God will use to determine your offense. What a scary thought! This is why it continues to become incredibly important to continually investigate and wrestle with Scripture and to continue to put to death the sin that so easily entangles us. So already, with just 2 verses in, we can see the reasoning to why we should not be judged, because ultimately we will give an account to God for our own judging. Does your life match up to the sins you call out to others, either to their face or behind their back?

Jesus continues in Matthew, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” We again see that Jesus isn’t commanding us to ignore the speck in our brothers eye, but to first stop and evaluate our own life. Is this an issue in my own life that I need to deal with before I come to my brother or sister and try to help them deal with the issue in their life?

Interestingly we also see Jesus’ instructions for confronting a brother or sister who sins against you in Matthew 18:15-20. It looks to me like Jesus is instructing us to “judge” those who are in the body (but not those who are not believers, they’re hearts have not yet been conformed into the image of Christ). We even have another one of the more misunderstood phrases in Christendom, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Looking at the context this is within the issues of confronting sin, maybe I’ll deal with that one in a later blog post.

Another instance we see of “judging” is Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 where he says, “I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.” Whoa Paul! Back off man, no judging here! Paul continues to say that we should not even associate with anyone who claims to be a believer and is living in sexual sin, or is greedy or is an idolator, reviler, drunkard or swindler. Did he hit all of you in that list? Only in a life marked by repentance is God truly glorified and are we able to continue to pursue Christ. Going on into the next chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul says, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” Wow! So there SHOULD be judging going on! However, we need to carefully heed Jesus’ words in Matthew 7, first let us prayerfully reflect on our own life, laying down our offenses at the cross, accepting Christ’s forgiveness and living a new life set apart for God before we confront our brothers and sisters. But don’t judge me! I’m still trying to work this out.

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by mikethestrand on October 19, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Theology

Posted by mikethestrand on October 19, 2012

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2012/10/19/dont-judge-me/

What Does It Mean to Lead?

So many people today have so many different ideas about what it means to be a leader. Some people say that to be a leader is to be successful. Others say that you simply need to be a man. Still others say that it means you can take charge. And someone else says it’s someone who has followers. Yet what does the Bible tell us about leaders?

If you look in your Bible at John 13 you’ll see the account of Jesus washing the Disciples feet. Just as a quick side note, I love Peter’s response to Jesus. First he tells Jesus there’s no way he’ll let him wash his feet, then when Jesus tells Peter he won’t have a share with him then Peter gets too excited and asks Jesus to give him a bath! I’d encourage you to read this whole passage, but where I’m going to focus is verses 14-17, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

This flies right in the face of many of the world’s view of leadership today. Jesus said that to be a leader means to wash the feet of those who follow you. What does this look like on a practical level today? This means caring about the gross little details about every day life of those in your local church body. This means you’re continuing to rub shoulders and encourage your brothers and sisters who need encouragement (Hebrews 10). This might even mean that for a time you need to volunteer to clean the bathroom at the church. What are some ways that you can show true leadership at your church this week?

This came about from a blog on honorable leadership, specifically related to the Vice President debates in which Biden was incredibly rude to Paul Ryan. You can read that blog here.

1 Comment
by mikethestrand on October 17, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog

Posted by mikethestrand on October 17, 2012

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2012/10/17/what-does-it-mean-to-lead/

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