The Active Samaritan -- Bulletin Article 08.26.2007

One of Jesus’ most beloved parables is that of the Good Samaritan. Jesus tells the fictional account (Luke 10:29-37) in response to a lawyer’s attempt to justify himself regarding keeping the Law. The lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus shows that neighbors are not defined by location, background, race, or status. True neighbors are those who are compassionate.

The impact of this story is seen in many everyday settings. Centuries after Jesus spoke these words, the label “Samaritan” is synonymous with one who does good deeds. Today, it is a positive designation. However, when Jesus told it back in the first century, his use of a Samaritan in the hero role was shocking. Jews could not imagine anything good about someone from Samaria. Challenging this negative attitude was part of Jesus’ intentions.

One of the greatest lessons we can learn from the Good Samaritan is how active he was in his service to the helpless man along the roadside. Two words summarize the priest’s and Levite’s response to the beaten man’s suffering: “passed by” (Lk. 10:31, 32).

Notice some of the key phrases describing the Samaritan’s actions in verses 33-34: “came to where he was...saw him...had compassion...went to him...bound up his wounds...pouring on oil and wine...set him on his own animal...brought him...took care of him.” In verse 35, we see him take out two days’ wages to supply the man’s needs at the inn. The actions of the good Samaritan began from a good heart. But make no mistake, he did something to display his goodness. His compassion was active in nature. It was not in word only. It was not in intentions. It was not in well-wishes. It was in actions.

Sure, there was a cost to consider for the Samaritan. He risked his own personal safety to help the suffering man. The victim could have been pretending, waiting to attack someone who stopped to help. The original attackers could have been lurking by to pounce on their next victim. Taking action often means taking risks. When the well-being of others is at stake, it is worth the risk.

Twenty-first century Christians must have hearts of compassion like the Samaritan. However, those hearts must lead us to act in the best interests of those in need.

When Jesus warned his followers to be ready for the final judgment, he mentioned the charge to actively take care of those in need. Notice his words from Matthew 25:35-40: “For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me...Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

We are called to be actively serving those who need it. Jesus does not tell us to question their motives; he does not tell us to look after our personal safety first and foremost; he does not tell us to discuss the situation with someone else; he tells us to give, welcome, clothe, visit, come to the side of, and do!

Paul lends similar instructions regarding how we interact with one another in Romans 12:10-13: “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”

We each have a great responsibility to one another and to the world in need around us. We see a great example of active service in the good Samaritan. Above anything else, he saw the needs of the injured man, and acted in his best interest.

“You go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).

Speed Limit Christianity (08.19.2007 Bulletin Article)

You may have heard on the news that this past week was officially known as “Take Back Our Highways” week in the state of Alabama. State troopers and other police agencies committed to an increased presence on our highways for the purpose of increasing traffic safety. Through Wednesday (3 Days), there were over 10,000 offenses that were ticketed. Over those three days: 8,115 tickets were issued for speeding; 449 for following too closely; 156 for improper lane changes; 3,000 for no seatbelt or improper child restraint. Additionally, 55 DUI arrests were made.

Regrettably, many of us have an attitude toward Christianity much like we do about posted speed limits and other traffic laws. Notice some unfortunate similarities between the two:

We are too concerned with “how far we can go” and still not get in trouble. We all like to know how much over the speed limit we can drive and still not get ticketed. Yet, this attitude flies right in the face of the words “speed limit.” Technically, it is as fast as we can drive without citation. As Christians, we get caught up with “how far can we go” and still not sin. No matter the issue (dancing, drinking, gambling, etc.), asking that very question displays a misunderstanding of our calling to be completely pure (2 Tim. 2:22).

We forget boundaries are in place for our well-being. God has revealed His will about expectations of the Christian life not to hinder us from living a fun life, but to take care of us. Our naivety as children causes us to think that a red stove eye looks fun to touch; a loving parental eye corrects us for getting close to it. The purpose is not to keep the child from having freedom, but to watch out for him or her. Likewise, we forget that God has told us to be pure and holy because that life is the best life to live. A life that is dependent upon sin will not last easily in this life or the one to come.

Playing favorites damages the whole. It is my speculation that many of those tickets that have been issued over the past several days have been cited to individuals who “know somebody” in the legal system. The intense and well-meaning efforts by our state will be for naught if some people have those tickets thrown out in court just because of their connections. Not only does the state miss out on revenue, but that individual will not learn the importance of safety on the roads. Favoritism has no place in the Lord’s church. If there are rules in place on the congregational level, they must apply to everyone. It is a strong temptation for the Youth Minister to plan events, programs, or regulations for specific individuals. However, what is best for the whole is what needs to be done. We all hurt if we play favorites in the church (Gal. 3:28).

We think certain rules matter more than others. Many of us are okay bending (or breaking) the posted speed limits. Almost all of us take seriously laws about rape, murder, etc. Although the legal system recognizes a severity of laws, our hearts should be such to respect all of them with reverence. As Christians, we need to respect God’s will concerning every aspect of our lives. I have actually met married guys who have the staunchest of fervor for true New Testament worship, yet operate with a “look but don’t touch” mentality with attractive women. That is not respecting God’s will for our personal purity. All of the boundaries God has given us are important; we should respect them all in word and action (Jas. 1:21-22).

Finally, it only matters if someone ‘important’ is present. Even those who have no regard for the speed limit will slow down if they see a patrol car. Why? Because someone is present who can punish them. That itself acknowledges an understanding about the laws and emphasizes an irreverent attitude. As Christians, we must ask ourselves:

“Are there certain things I will not do at church services but will do with friends?”

“Are there clothes that I wouldn't wear around fellow Christians but will wear to the mall?”

“Do I say things that sound ‘holy’ when I’m around the preacher, but don’t mention them to people who need the Lord?”

If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing no matter who is present. If it’s not worth doing, it’s not worth doing no matter who is present. We should strive to live a faithful life before God instead of putting on a show before men (Matt. 7:21-23).

May we all examine our hearts to make sure we are not living like “Speed Limit Christianity.”

A Biblical Contemporary Ministry, Part 3

For the last two weeks, we have been looking at Acts 17 and Paul’s sermon in Athens (often called his “Mars Hill Sermon”) for inspiration as we reach out to our 21st century generation. He was placed into a daunting—but amazingly providential—situation where he could teach some of the brightest academic minds of the first century about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus far, we have observed that Paul had (1) a touched spirit over their idolatry and (2) the courage to engage them in discussions about the truth. Ultimately, Paul’s actions led to several in the audience believing and following him (Acts 17:34).

It is with that same end in mind that we turn our attention to the final area of an effective contemporary ministry. We should always seek the truth about how to reach souls with the gospel; we should always look to the Bible for guidance in so doing; we should keep in mind that it works!

The final aspect of Paul’s situation was that he proclaimed the message boldly. He had a powerful message, and he preached it powerfully. He did not skirt the truth about idolatry; he did not leave room for the Athenians to think their way was okay also; he preached the full, unadulterated truth about the God of the universe and about his risen Son. Notice briefly some of Paul’s phrases:

· “What you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (17:23)

· “The God who made the world...does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything…” (17:24-25)

· “We ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, and image formed by the art and imagination of man” (17:29)

· “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness”

(17:30-31)

· “of this he has given assurance to all by rising [Jesus] from the dead.”

(17:31)

As we remember his original audience (and their gods that surrounded them), some of these things would definitely fall into the “stepping on toes” category. Although Paul himself said to preach the truth in a loving nature (Eph. 4:15), the truth still needs to be taught specifically. At Athens, Paul preached with love, and that meant challenging the error of the Athenians. Today, we must lovingly address and meet the challenges of the 21st century. The person from whom I was inspired to do this study said in his lesson, “It’s not hard to be Biblical if you’re not committed to being contemporary. And it’s not hard to be contemporary if you’re not committed to being Biblical.” That statement exhibits the truth of our position in the 21st century. We must always be Biblical; we must also make sure the saving Biblical message reaches our surrounding audience and culture.

Briefly, I want to think about this same idea from a slightly different angle. Within the church, we have struggled over the past several decades to have the same success in reaching people as we did 40 to 60 years ago. Not only do we face that challenge, but we are often reminded of limited success “within our own walls.” Many of our young people grow up and then grow out of service to the Lord. I readily admit that the ultimate responsibility for our young people exists with their parents. However, let’s think about how far powerful, sound, challenging, and loving preaching will go in not only reaching the lost around us, but also in meeting the spiritual needs of Christians.

Sadly, many congregations—intentionally or unintentionally—preach and teach messages that do not challenge their audiences out of fear that they might not come back. Although we want people to be happily in Christ, they can’t be such without hearing and obeying the full truth. Today, the issues may not be the same as they were for Paul, but preaching the truth will still be unpopular. It will be difficult for us to proclaim God’s will regarding marriage, divorce and remarriage; many people are sensitive about preaching on homosexuality; many are not comfortable when preaching the truth about gambling; many do not want to hear what God says about “social drinking.” Yet the truth about those things is vitally important to pleasing God and enjoying true fellowship with him and with other Christians.

May we be committed to preaching the powerful gospel message...in so doing we save ourselves and our generation (1 Tim. 4:16).

Bonds & 756: A Call for Consistency

This is not a post that is spiritual in nature...it's just a soapbox of mine. Despite the passion that this post may seem to express, it's really not that big of a deal to me. I just think we're often shortsighted when it comes to controversial issues like this.

Okay...by now the entire connected world knows that Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's 33-year-old career home run record Tuesday night. Personally, where I stand on the issue is quite different than most. I applaud his effort. I celebrated the achievement last evening. I smiled when he hit it.

Many baseball fans chose long ago to not "recognize" Bonds as the HR champ if he ever passed Aaron; I would like to choose to not "recognize" the last five Iron Bowl match ups between Alabama and Auburn, but that doesn't change that Auburn has officially won all of them.

More importantly, in my opinion, is how so many people in America have not only thrown Bonds' record out the window, but also consistency and common sense.

Don't get me wrong: cheating, lying, deception, harming your body drastically are all things that violate God's will for our lives. I'm not in anyway condoning any use of substances he may have allegedly depended upon. Bonds (nor McGwire, Sosa, etc.) is not a role-model of mine. If I had children, I would push them toward respectable athletes like Ken Griffey, Jr., Derek Jeter, Brett Favre, and Hank Aaron. That's where I stand on Bonds.

Here's where I stand on the record: it stands. It stands with a period and not an *. Here are several things that should be considered before throwing Bonds (and his record) into oblivion:

Steroids:

It looks pretty obvious Bonds used some substance(s) to get bigger, have better vision, and essentially knock more home runs. For those who insist it should be footnoted in history that Bonds used steroids (despite the lack of positive evidence), I have one question: why is this the only accomplishment questioned? Why not place asterisks on all of the World Series trophies from 1998 through 2004? If we're going to label those years the "steroid years," then it's very likely the Yankees (3 championships), D-backs (2001), Angels (2002), Marlins (2003), and everyone's darling Red Sox (2004) probably had juiced players in their lineups. Should the record books show that the Cardinals (NL runners-up) played in the 2002 World Series instead of the Giants, who clearly benefited from Bonds' drugged dingers? Pull that NL pennant down from AT&T Park, and sew a big fat asterisk on it! Yes, Pete Rose is paying his dues for gambling by not being in the Hall of Fame, but he still has his hits record...without an asterisk. Couldn't he conceivably have included an opposing pitcher in his bets: "You throw me a hanging curve, and I'll give you 20% of what I win tonight." Consistency must be considered if we're going to asterisk 756.

Additionally, the reason steroids are considered a big no-no is because they give a player an "unfair advantage." An unfair advantage over whom? If I cheat on a test in high school, it's unfair to the teacher and to the other students. If a whole class of students cheats on a test, its an unfair advantage over the teacher. In sports, your competition is the opposing team. Juicing may not be healthy; it may not be ethical; but let's not call it unfair until we know how many players were doing it (since they're all competing against one another). If a batter is facing a 'roided pitcher and hitting it to 'roided fielders, who themselves will in turn be 'roided batters themselves in the bottom half of the inning, the only way it's unfair is if the batter is clean! Rick Sutcliffe talked about a conversation he had with Wally Joyner not long ago. Joyner says he feels guilty looking back on his career...not for doing, but for not doing. He feels almost as if he let his family (more money, etc.) and teammates (more production) down! I'm proud of his integrity, and that answers the question, "what ever happened to Wally Joyner?", but clearly Joyner knows how widespread this problem was. When there's no way to know how many juiced pitchers Bonds faced and how many juiced homers the Giants' opponents hit, it's inconsistent to claim he had an unfair advantage.

Finally, if we know Bonds and all these guys used steroids, they need to be arrested, not asterisked. Millions of Americans are outraged because Bonds cheated and took away Hammering Hank's record. Yet, no one seems to care that steroids were (and are) illegal!

The Record:

Here's why all of a sudden fans have become concerned with "ethics" in sports (they really don't care, it's just this issue): they don't like Bonds. The media has continued to paint him as a jerk. Based on the way he treated poor Pedro Gomez at the press conference last night, it seems like that picture might be somewhat accurate. The truth is that people don't want to replace one of the classiest athletes ever in Aaron with one of the jerkiest in Bonds. If pitcher Mike Bacsik was the one breaking the home run record (as he said he dreamed of doing), the media would have less of a reason to dig up and emphasize any controversy...because he has a good media personality. Changing who is atop the home run list doesn't mean that we have to do any replacing...it's just a number. If you like Aaron because he's classy, and did things the right way, then keep liking him. Why should you let a pompous, juiced, egomaniac change your opinion?

Similarly, it's a generational thing. Bringing up Bacsik again, if someone with his personality (a good one) would have broken the record, there would still be a lot of people who didn't like it. Because "they don't play ball like they did when I was growing up." Or "baseball's not the same for me anymore." Or "that kid will never replace Aaron in my mind." 33 years ago, some people pretended like race was an issue with Aaron trumping Ruth. For those lunatics, race wasn't really an issue, they just didn't to see their hero (Ruth) replaced with someone else (Aaron). It's a lot easier for people to say they don't like Bonds having the record "because he used steroids" than because "he's not Hank Aaron." 30 years from now, no one will care about steroids as much as we act like we do now.

Finally, comparing such a specific record across generations cannot be done equally. Not only did Bonds appear to have a scientific advantage, he played in smaller stadiums, in more games per season, and against thinner pitching staffs. Likewise, Aaron played in more games per season and in smaller ballparks than did Ruth...and he didn't pitch either. I can't remember the guy Ruth passed, but clearly something wasn't equal. Ruth broke the all-time record with his 129th home run. He would go on to hit 586 more. If we claim Bonds' isn't the real home run king, we could equally claim that Aaron never was the real home run king, etc.

Add an * if you must, but Bonds broke the record. I just hope that we can begin to view sports and the world around us reasonably and consistently...and without *'s.

A Biblical Contemporary Ministry, Part 2

Last week, we began discussing a Biblical approach to reaching the current generation. Each generation of God’s people has been challenged to change the world around it for good; each generation of God’s people has faced various difficulties in so doing.

Fortunately, God has blessed us with countless recorded examples of men and women who successfully reached their surrounding generations with the good news of God’s blessings. As we reach out to our 21st century audience, we will do well to follow in their steps.

Paul’s sermon in Athens—found in Acts 17—is an excellent example for us to observe. We should be inspired by Paul’s actions, not only because of what he said, but because of the result of his preaching: “But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them” (Acts 17:34).

Before Paul did anything to reach out to the corruption of the 1st century, his spirit was provoked by their sin. We too must be touched by the sinful choices of the people living around us. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (John 3:16), we must have a spirit that aches for the whole world to repent.

The second thing Paul had was the courage to engage his contemporaries. The series of events began in the Jewish synagogues—a familiar place for Paul to start his preaching. In addition to the Jewish audience, Paul eventually began teaching Christ to the Epicureans and Stoics—some of the leading intellectuals in 1st century Rome. Paul was in the intellectual center of the Roman empire and began discussing the gospel with the brightest minds in the empire. Although this in itself required Paul to courageously engage the 1st century culture, the transpiring events increased the need for godly bravery.

After hearing Paul’s message, the Epicureans and Stoics then grabbed him and took him to the Areopagus to further explain himself. Now Paul and the gospel of Jesus Christ were on trial before these many 1st century scholars. Paul exemplified courage by preaching God’s message boldly in this daunting scenario. Without his mighty valor on that day, certain men and women may have never come to know Jesus.

We too should have great courage to teach the lost about Jesus. First and foremost, we should be courageous because God is with us as we go. Joshua was reminded of this inspiring thought as he began leading the children of Israel. God said that just as He was with Moses, He would be with Joshua. He then said, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go ” (Joshua 1:9). We should have the courage to engage our 21st century contemporaries because God is with us as we do His will. His power and comfort should encourage us to teach His truth to those who need it the most.

As we go with God, we must remember that our level of confidence and courage is reflective of our personal confidence in our God. If our faith is not strong enough to actively reach out to those who need the gospel, our faith isn’t strong enough. We have been left in the world to bear fruit in the world (John 15:1-8), therefore we must fulfill this purpose by taking courage and taking the gospel. Relative to this idea, we must understand that the world does not want to hear a message from a weak, insecure, and discouraged messenger. If we are going to bring others to Jesus, we must do so with confidence, courage, and boldness. It will try us from time to time—as it did Paul—but we must use every opportunity for Him.

May God bless us with courage to reach out to this generation.