Daddy > the dragon ninja

I was catching a little Saturday morning TMNT when a dragon wrapped Master Splinter up in his tail and began thrashing him around, slamming him into the ground and surrounding buildings. My two-year old looked at me and said, "that dragon strong like you, Daddy!" Oh ya, that's the way it should be. The paradigm by which my boys evaluate the strength of a medieval, reptilian, martial warrior is me. Ah... fatherhood.

The Perfect Father

Matthew 19:14 but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

As I search the Scriptures I do not see very many references to God’s fatherhood. They are there, please don’t misunderstand. But when compared to the frequency of references to God’s justice, righteousness, holiness, and others of His “harder” attributes, His fatherhood may appear to be a characteristic of lesser import. Reaching such a conclusion, however, would be to misunderstand the character of God.

Being a father (poor example as I am of God’s fatherhood) has taught me much about the character of my heavenly Father. I do not act as a father. I am a father. When I read a book to my kids I don’t preface it with, “as your father I am connecting with you in a special way through the reading of this book for your education and the strengthening of our relationship.” When I discipline them I don’t cite my parental authority to carry it out. When I get up before dawn to go to work I don’t announce that my motivation to do so is sleeping in the next room. Nor are these are actions a representation of a mere segment of my life. They are actions overflowing from who I now am. I am a father.

So it is with my Father. He need not say it frequently to make true. He demonstrates it throughout His Word and throughout my life. He provides as a father, disciplines as a father, instructs as a father, even when He doesn’t announce it in those terms. God’s attributes are eternal and therefore present in each and every one of His actions and statements. Unlike my imperfect fatherhood, His actions and statements are perfectly consistent according to His fatherly love for me. And so, I need not fear His “harder” attributes because it is my Father who is the Judge, my Father who is righteous, my Father who is holy, and all the while inviting me, His rebellious son, to walk in a father-son relationship with Him.

Even now through the unspeakable blessing of being a father myself He is drawing me closer to Himself – to His fatherly love towards me. The series of posts that will follow are a handful of those lessons that I rarely share out loud because my leak-happy tear-ducts betray how close these thoughts are to my heart. These vignettes are both convicting and humbling as they never fail to remind me just how finite I am and how perfect He is. My prayer is that these words challenge us all to walk ever more closely with the only One truly worthy of the honorable title, “Father.”

Melchizedekian Tithe or a Living Sacrifice

What does Melchizedek teach us about tithe? Those who confine the principle of tithing to the Old Testament do so (usually) by pointing to its Mosaic Law origins. Under grace we are not bound by law, so why would we insist that this one piece of the law is binding now? On the other side, some who believe the principle of tithing is for the church, point to Melchizedek as proof that tithe predates law. If tithe predates law then it is a constant principle, not belonging to one era or one people. But what does the Genesis 14 actually have to say about tithe?

Who was Melchizedek? Whether or not he was preincarnate Christ is irrelevant for our study. (Although, I would like to point out that the definition of his name – “King of Righteousness” – isn’t much help in that debate. My name means “My God.”) Abram saw Melchizedek as either God, or at the very least, a representative of God. So, when tithing to him, Abram was, any way you slice it, tithing to God.

But why? What was Abram’s motive? Tithe was a common cultural practice in the suzerain/vassal society of the land. The vassal tithed as payment for and demonstration of the suzerain’s protection. In rescuing Lot, Abram also rescued the five kings of the five cities, which had been captured along with Lot. In gratitude, the king of Sodom approached Abram, we learn later, to shower him with the goods won in battle. Had Abram accepted his offer it would have been a demonstration of humility by the king of Sodom as vassal, and Abram, suzerain. It is in the middle of this encounter that Melchizedek appears and Abram demonstrates to these four pagan kings who the real Suzerain is. He uses a common expression from their culture to honor his God as the one who “delivered thine enemies into thy hand.” This is why Abram refused the offer. It would have distorted the message he was preaching. He would have communicated, “I serve the Most High who alone can deliver us, but I’ll take your cash too.” No, Abram was no suzerain. He saw himself a vassal, and also demonstrated himself to be a one through his humbled posture. The act was not one of obligation, but gratitude. It was not one of necessity. It was not what the law teaches for Levitical provision. It was not the storehouse tithe of Malachi for temple maintenance. It was a one-time act, not the regular giving a church needs today. It was a ceremony borrowed from pagans to show those same pagans who they should be serving.

The tithe sermon I have heard several times goes something like this: We take “storehouse tithe” from Malachi (which appeals to law), point to Melchizedek to prove its timelessness (which was not storehouse tithe), go to Jesus’ conversation with Pharisees for confirmation (which was actually confrontation), and finally appeal to Paul for regularity (which was actually a one time gift for a specific situation and organized for convenience). God’s Word has a much simpler plan for the church. But I’ll worn you, it’s much more demanding (Romans 12:1-2). But, that’s a whole sermon, not a blog.

Air Force Reserve and the Pastorate

If you are reading this you have probably read my resume and may be wondering how I plan to fulfill my duties as a pastor while serving in the reserve military. The Air Force has a reserve category known as "Individual Mobilization Augmentee," or (IMA). Chaplains in this category work with active duty personal rather than being assigned to a reserve unit. As such we drill midweek, approximately once a month, rather than one weekend a month like most reservists. This not only frees the pastor to fulfill his ministerial duties but provides him with valuable experience and training, not to mention thrilling ministry opportunities that will augment his roll as pastor. Furthermore, these chaplains traditionally not been deployed overseas, but rather mobilized to stateside bases to fill in for active duty chaplains who are on deployment. These mobilizations (again, traditionally) occur only on a volunteer basis. We are a nation at war, and we are increasingly affected by friends and family serving in our military. Just as missions trips and conferences strengthen a church's ministry abroad, I see the reserve chaplaincy as a valuable opportunity for a local church to better understand and minister to our men and women in uniform.

Church Music

God created us with a wide range of emotions. These emotions are all good and all have a proper expression in a proper context. These emotions are part of the image of God that we have the distinct
privilege to reflect and enjoy. To say that something is evil simply because it appeals to the flesh is to deny the innate goodness of these emotional (fleshly) feelings. Remember, context is the key in indulging these emotions, but also remember that theologically and biblically speaking, these emotions do have their proper place and bring glory to God when enjoyed there (and only there). Music, perhaps more than any thing else, powerfully connects with these emotional feelings.

I do not believe that we can categorize music as right and wrong based on the way it sounds or how it makes us feel. I do believe we can categorize music as appropriate and inappropriate for a given context based on the way it sounds. Let me explain. Chris Tomlin writes some of my favorite contemporary songs ("How Can I Keep from Singing," "Mighty Is the Power of the Cross") but, in my opinion, he makes a big blunder with "All Bow Down." The music is praise music - joyful, uplifting, makes you want to move - but the words are worship. The feeling associated with praise is obvious; the feeling associated with worship is humility. The lyrics say, "here comes the King, all bow down" (worship, humility), but the music makes me want to celebrate. That doesn't work. I'm not saying it's sinful, I'm just saying it doesn't work. I understand that there is a certain degree of subjectivity in that statement, but musicians agree that there are some universals here as well. If you don't believe them just ask a two-year old why he dances to some songs and not to others.

We have the liberty and biblical precedent to enjoy a wide variety in our church music. Psalm 150 names basically every instrument in existence at the time. We are to use all of our resources for the glory of our God. Surely this principle does not exclude musical ability. Music is meant to praise God, worship God, stir our hearts for action, and turn our hearts toward reflection. If we are serious about this, our music needs to make sense. I don't get into the old/new, hymn/chorus debates. Church music should touch on all of the Christian life, and to do that, it must make sense both lyrically and musically. There is good and bad in just about every genre and era of Christian music out there. My aim is to use the best I can find to bring glory to God. My view of music in a nutshell: the church should do music on purpose.

Worship

Is worship what happens when The David Crowder Band and Chris Tomlin get together in a stadium full of college students? Is worship what happens on Sunday when we sing together... when we pass the offering plate... when the pastor preaches... when we skip church to pray in our boat at the lake? Worship is clearly a huge part of our Christian vocabulary - so much so that we can lose its meaning in our familiarity with it. So, what does the Bible say about worship?

While there are a handful of Greek and Hebrew words commonly translated as worship in our English translations the overwhelming majority of these references come from the Hebrew, shachah, and the Greek, proskuneo. These words almost synonomously mean "to bow down," or "to prostrate oneself." One lexicon explains the idea as, "to express in attitude or gesture one’s complete dependence on or submission to a high authority figure." Thus, the meaning appears to be very broad in terms of form, but very narrow in terms of substance. The important thing is the attitude of the heart. For clarity it is helpful to look at this meaning in contrast with another Greek word often translated as worship in the New Testament. Sebomai is used only 10 times. The word refers to expressing worship through acts of ceremony. Jesus used sebomai in Matthew 15:9 and Mark 7:7 where he said the Pharisees worship him in vain "teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." In other words, "lacking the humility of true worship their ceremonies mean nothing." Or, "true worship strips us of our legalistic pride in thinking that these ceremonial acts impress God." Worship is not about the event, especially when the life style is not in agreement with what is said in the worship act.

So what does Biblical worship look like? It looks like a penitent heart humbly expressing to God a desperate need for Him. This can and should be communicated through silence, prayer, song, reflection, study, preaching, giving, serving, and every thought or action we give ourselves to in a particular day. It can and should be done corporately but that event only means anything if it is done first privately on a consistent basis. Sunday morning worship only works if the worshipers have been worshiping Monday through Saturday. If not it is sebomai, not proskuneo. Sunday should be the overflow, not the goal. Sunday should be an expression to God of our corporate need for him and submission to him, not an experience we wish to get something out of.

Obviously, this has direct implications for church music. But, that will have to wait for the next post.

Church and Culture

A website asks the question, "Is your church reflecting the culture or shaping it?" It is a fair question, but my response is different than what they are going for. The American Heritage Dictionary defines culture as, "The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought." That is more or less all inclusive of a people group. Does the church necessarily want to change all of that about every culture? By this definition things that influence culture will be industry, climate, history, and many other factors just as morally benign. Culture is who people are. So I ask, "If your church does not reflect elements of the culture, aren't you potentially legalistic?" Is it necessary or even preferable for a church to have their own style of music, dress, art, communication... that is totally foreign to the community in which they exist? We don't ask this of our missionaries. In fact, we strongly discourage this in missionaries. We expect them to learn their new culture and contextualize (please don't read too much theology into my use of that word) the Gospel into it as seamlessly as possible. Why do we think ministry should be any different state-side?

I understand that the doctrine of separation demands abstanence from certain elements of culture. Our society is increasingly sensual in entertainment and dress. But, this does not mean that we must never watch TV or should dress like the Amish. Our society worships recreation as a god. But, this does not mean that Christians can never play video games or go to the lake. Our culture produces a lot of music that is contrary to Biblical morality. But, this does not mean that guitars and drums are evil.

We need to remember that everything we hold traditional was once new and probably very contraversial. We also need to remember that to reach our neighbors we have a Biblical precedent to think like missionaries. The Great Commission demands it! We also need to remember that we are all probably emersed in the Christian subculture more than we think and need to extend grace and patience to other Christians as we progress together towards Christ-likeness.