Last night at the Lange house we sat down to watch Macbeth, the classic play by Shakespeare. No wonder it is a classic! In a couple of hours, Shakespeare is able to engage you in thinking about some of the most profound issues of life. The major issue comes early in the play and sets the stage for all that follows.
Good king, Duncan, rewards Macbeth as a loyal subject and a favorite general. He promotes Macbeth to a high position, and loves and trusts him in every way possible. But when the king came to visit him in his castle, Macbeth murders him. What?!
“That makes no sense!” you say. And you are right. It is just plain inhuman, unnatural, even demonic, to act in such an evil way against someone who had done nothing but good to you. It violates the most basic instinct of every man. This is morality at its core. You don't need to be taught it, it is written into the very fiber of your being. In fact, not only does anyone with the slightest humanity know this but they rather, instinctively love and cherish anyone who is kind and loving.
This is such a basic truth that Jesus talks about it in His very first sermon. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:46). Jesus points to the most unscrupulous kinds of people and shows that even they love those who love them. These are such obvious morals that they are hardly worth mentioning.
You might think that Jesus is driving towards the point that we should reach out in love to the highways and byways, beyond our little circle of friends--even the smallest and most unnoticeable. He certainly makes this point elsewhere (see Matthew 22 and Luke 14). But Jesus doesn’t say anything about that here. He is making an even bigger point.
He says, "“You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43-45) Loving family, friends, and even strangers is just plain common sense. But Jesus brings us totally out of the realm of common sense. He would have you love your enemy -- the one who is out to do you harm.
By “love” Jesus doesn't merely mean to tolerate or to co-exist. To love is to reach out -- to go out of your way and actually do good things for your enemy. It means to value the one trying to harm you as much and even more than you value your own life. This, Jesus says, is what true sons of the Father will do. Always. Every time. Without fail. That is the Christian life; because that's Christ's life.
Jesus is truly a man. In fact, Jesus is the only true man. He shows precisely by loving us, his enemies. St. Paul summarized this point by writing, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8-9)
So, when Jesus tells you to love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, don’t reject his command as unrealistic and superhuman. Rather rejoice that He is both real and truly human, and that He does it for you.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
CrossTalk: Forty Days of Life
Last Sunday, November 3rd, concluded the latest observance of “40 Days for Life.” Since September 25, people around the world have prayed and fasted for life. Today I want to highlight their message of faith, hope and love.
Consider what they did. They fasted for life. While, at first, this may seem a contradiction, it is anything but. Fasting seems to deny the necessities of life from the body. But the opposite is true. By fasting, we are confessing that the true necessities of life are not found in food and clothing, material and emotional support. Rather, the truest and most certain support of human life comes directly from God through His word. As Jesus, our Life, said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word proceeding from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
While fasting, they also prayed for life. To pray for life is to ask God to give and preserve life. That's quite a mouthful. It acknowledges both that life is from God and that it is desirable.
Oftentimes in our world of technological advances we forget that life is from God. We marvel at all modern science can do. In agriculture, we have hybrids, insecticides, and genetic engineering. In medicine, we have genome mapping, open heart surgery, and even in utero surgery.
But it only takes a moment of reflection to notice that none of these technologies create life. They tinker with what God alone can create. As I pen these words on Halloween, I am reminded that Dr. Frankenstein's creation remains pure fantasy. No man ever re-animated the dead, much less have they ever – or will they ever – create life from scratch. This sobering reality alone ought to drive us to careful reflection. How dare we destroy what we are incapable of creating.
When we reflect upon life, we learn that God loves life. We see it all around us. From the microbes that live on your counter-top to the fish that swim in the ocean, this world is teeming with life. While some might see all this abundance of life and conclude that life is cheap; faith concludes the opposite. Faith concludes from the sheer abundance of life that God must really, really love life.
That's why we pray. We pray not only because apart from God we would have no life, but we pray because we know that God Himself wants life and wants to answer our prayer. This is especially true of human life.
No other species has been so honored and so blessed as human life. When God came to His creation, He “was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary and became man” (Nicene Creed). His salvation of the world reflects the fact that man, and man alone, was created in the image and likeness of God. What an incredible creed this is!
God considers every human life -- God considers your life -- so precious that He Himself became a man in the person of Jesus. No matter what has happened to you, no matter what challenges you are dealing with in your life, nothing can change that fact. No matter how you were conceived, your life and the life of every conceived person is a gift of God and desired by God Himself. And no matter what sins you may have done, no matter how terribly you have failed to rejoice in God's gift of life, God has become a human being in order to forgive and save your life, both now and in eternity.
We just celebrated 40 Days for Life by prayer and fasting. But God celebrates every day of life by answering your prayers and satisfying your deepest hunger. “This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life” (1 John 5:12).
Consider what they did. They fasted for life. While, at first, this may seem a contradiction, it is anything but. Fasting seems to deny the necessities of life from the body. But the opposite is true. By fasting, we are confessing that the true necessities of life are not found in food and clothing, material and emotional support. Rather, the truest and most certain support of human life comes directly from God through His word. As Jesus, our Life, said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word proceeding from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
While fasting, they also prayed for life. To pray for life is to ask God to give and preserve life. That's quite a mouthful. It acknowledges both that life is from God and that it is desirable.
Oftentimes in our world of technological advances we forget that life is from God. We marvel at all modern science can do. In agriculture, we have hybrids, insecticides, and genetic engineering. In medicine, we have genome mapping, open heart surgery, and even in utero surgery.
But it only takes a moment of reflection to notice that none of these technologies create life. They tinker with what God alone can create. As I pen these words on Halloween, I am reminded that Dr. Frankenstein's creation remains pure fantasy. No man ever re-animated the dead, much less have they ever – or will they ever – create life from scratch. This sobering reality alone ought to drive us to careful reflection. How dare we destroy what we are incapable of creating.
When we reflect upon life, we learn that God loves life. We see it all around us. From the microbes that live on your counter-top to the fish that swim in the ocean, this world is teeming with life. While some might see all this abundance of life and conclude that life is cheap; faith concludes the opposite. Faith concludes from the sheer abundance of life that God must really, really love life.
That's why we pray. We pray not only because apart from God we would have no life, but we pray because we know that God Himself wants life and wants to answer our prayer. This is especially true of human life.
No other species has been so honored and so blessed as human life. When God came to His creation, He “was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary and became man” (Nicene Creed). His salvation of the world reflects the fact that man, and man alone, was created in the image and likeness of God. What an incredible creed this is!
God considers every human life -- God considers your life -- so precious that He Himself became a man in the person of Jesus. No matter what has happened to you, no matter what challenges you are dealing with in your life, nothing can change that fact. No matter how you were conceived, your life and the life of every conceived person is a gift of God and desired by God Himself. And no matter what sins you may have done, no matter how terribly you have failed to rejoice in God's gift of life, God has become a human being in order to forgive and save your life, both now and in eternity.
We just celebrated 40 Days for Life by prayer and fasting. But God celebrates every day of life by answering your prayers and satisfying your deepest hunger. “This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life” (1 John 5:12).
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Crosstalk: Christians in the News
Current events in Syria and Egypt have raised our awareness of ancient Christians in the Near East. Reports are filtering out about the systematic burning of Christian Churches, the theft of Christian property, beatings and other horrors, and even executions. I wish to dedicate this column to these people.
“Coptic Christians,” or simply, “Copts,” are so unfamiliar to most of us that they might be from another planet. It is difficult for us to feel the bonds of Christian kinship with people we never knew existed. So let me tell you about the Coptic Christians. These people are neither Roman Catholic nor protestant. In fact, they are a branch of Christianity more ancient than every single denomination represented in Evanston.
Coptic is an ancient Egyptian delect. Though it is not Greek, it is written with Greek letters. The language as been around since hundreds of years before Christ. But in the first century of the Christian era, this entire people group became Christian.
During the time of the Apostles, Christian missionaries brought the Gospel to Ethiopia (Acts 8:27) and Egypt. The most prominent of these missionaries was St. Mark. After doing some early work with St. Paul (Acts 13:5), Barnabas (15:39) and Peter (1 Peter 5:13), St. Mark traveled to Alexandria, Egypt and planted Christ's Church among the Copts and was martyred there.
As the Church grew, the Copts became nearly 100% Christian. Pastors from Egypt were some of Christianity's strongest leaders. Men like Clement, Origen and Cyril, Augustine and Cyprian. The Coptic Christians believe in the Holy Trinity and the two natures of Jesus Christ. They confess the Nicene Creed and accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God. These are the people under attack in modern Egypt. Please pray for them and speak up for them. They are your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Our Christian brothers and sisters in Syria have a different, although similar, story. There are three distinct regions of Syria which all became Christian at the earliest of times under the teaching of different apostles.
Edessa, Syria became Christian at such an early stage, many consider it to be the home of one of the wise men who visited the baby Jesus. Later, the Apostle Thomas seems to have staged his missionary journey to India from this Christian community. Today, these are known as the "Thomas Christians."
Damascus had a Christian community in it already before St. Paul became an apostle. It was in Damascus that Paul was baptized by Pastor Ananias (Acts 9).
Antioch was the first Church in Christendom that was made up predominantly of non-Jewish Christians. St. Paul counted this Church as home base for his missionary journeys (Acts 11:26). St. Ignatius, one of our earliest martyrs (110 A.D.) was the pastor of Antioch.
These are the real people on the ground, living as a tiny minority among their Muslim countrymen. They have been confessing the Nicene Creed and living the Christian life for nearly two thousand years. They have gone from minority status (1st century) to majority status (6th century) and back to minority status (8th century to the present). Still God has preserved the true worship of His name in these locations.
As you pray for them, do not only weep for them but rejoice in them. For through their quiet faithfulness, and through their patient steadfastness in the face of overwhelming opposition, we can be inspired to imitate their faith in our own place and time.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
“Coptic Christians,” or simply, “Copts,” are so unfamiliar to most of us that they might be from another planet. It is difficult for us to feel the bonds of Christian kinship with people we never knew existed. So let me tell you about the Coptic Christians. These people are neither Roman Catholic nor protestant. In fact, they are a branch of Christianity more ancient than every single denomination represented in Evanston.
Coptic is an ancient Egyptian delect. Though it is not Greek, it is written with Greek letters. The language as been around since hundreds of years before Christ. But in the first century of the Christian era, this entire people group became Christian.
During the time of the Apostles, Christian missionaries brought the Gospel to Ethiopia (Acts 8:27) and Egypt. The most prominent of these missionaries was St. Mark. After doing some early work with St. Paul (Acts 13:5), Barnabas (15:39) and Peter (1 Peter 5:13), St. Mark traveled to Alexandria, Egypt and planted Christ's Church among the Copts and was martyred there.
As the Church grew, the Copts became nearly 100% Christian. Pastors from Egypt were some of Christianity's strongest leaders. Men like Clement, Origen and Cyril, Augustine and Cyprian. The Coptic Christians believe in the Holy Trinity and the two natures of Jesus Christ. They confess the Nicene Creed and accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God. These are the people under attack in modern Egypt. Please pray for them and speak up for them. They are your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Our Christian brothers and sisters in Syria have a different, although similar, story. There are three distinct regions of Syria which all became Christian at the earliest of times under the teaching of different apostles.
Edessa, Syria became Christian at such an early stage, many consider it to be the home of one of the wise men who visited the baby Jesus. Later, the Apostle Thomas seems to have staged his missionary journey to India from this Christian community. Today, these are known as the "Thomas Christians."
Damascus had a Christian community in it already before St. Paul became an apostle. It was in Damascus that Paul was baptized by Pastor Ananias (Acts 9).
Antioch was the first Church in Christendom that was made up predominantly of non-Jewish Christians. St. Paul counted this Church as home base for his missionary journeys (Acts 11:26). St. Ignatius, one of our earliest martyrs (110 A.D.) was the pastor of Antioch.
These are the real people on the ground, living as a tiny minority among their Muslim countrymen. They have been confessing the Nicene Creed and living the Christian life for nearly two thousand years. They have gone from minority status (1st century) to majority status (6th century) and back to minority status (8th century to the present). Still God has preserved the true worship of His name in these locations.
As you pray for them, do not only weep for them but rejoice in them. For through their quiet faithfulness, and through their patient steadfastness in the face of overwhelming opposition, we can be inspired to imitate their faith in our own place and time.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Crosstalk: Naturally Speaking
There are times when I think that the world must be going crazy. Today was one of those times. I was reading about the conference in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. It was a gathering of humanitarian organizations and philanthropists on how to reduce human suffering around the world. One of the presenters told his gathered audience, “pregnancy is not natural.” Think about that sentence for a minute. “Pregnancy is not natural.”
If natural may be defined as that which is a common experience, I can’t think of anything that is more natural than pregnancy. After all, without a doubt each and every one of you exist because of a pregnancy — namely, your mother’s! More than that, if all pregnancy would suddenly stop today, this world would be emptied of all people–not to mention almost all animal life–within a hundred years. “Pregnancy is not natural?”
Not only is this sentence nonsensical from a practical standpoint, it is even sillier from the standpoint of language. “Natural,” after all, comes from the Latin word, “natus,” meaning “to be born.” The very definition of “natural” has to do with the bearing of children. In fact, it is from this same Latin word that we have dozens of other words having to do with birth. Pre-natal means before birth. Your nativity is your birthday. Your nationality is the place of your birth. Innate qualities are those qualities you are born with. “Pregnancy is not natural?” You might as well say that light is not enlightening!
The frightening thing is that Mr. Kissling was able to speak such utter nonsense without being laughed off the stage. What kind of world do we live in? How did we get to the place that somebody could even think such orwellian nonsense? More alarming still, is the fact that he said it in a conference to eliminate human suffering.
Then again, I suppose there is some logic at work here. What better way to eliminate human suffering than to eliminate humans? What kind of world do we live in? The kind where the highest priority for secular humanitarians is to reduce the number of human beings. That is a sad fact, but it is a fact. That is the best that secular human aid can do.
Seeing this dead-end fact provides a strong incentive to look for a better solution. If secular humanitarians can do no better than this, let’s have another look at what divine humanitarianism has to offer. What does God do to eliminate human suffering?
First off, God became a human being. We confess, “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary.” God came as a pregnancy into the womb of the Virgin Mary. Nine months later, God was born into the world on the first Christmas–the Holy Nativity. By this simple and profound act, God did not give up humanity as a hopeless cause. Rather, He renewed our hope and redeemed the entire human experience.
By becoming a man, Jesus shows us that humanity is not forever doomed to be separated from its Creator. In fact, He shows that your human body has the capacity to be the temple of God Himself by faith in Jesus Christ. He returns us to our true nature. There’s that word, “natus” again! Our true nature is what we are intended to be by birth. By your very birth, you were created to have faith—the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Here is the answer to human suffering.
Human suffering is not eliminated by eliminating humans but by returning to true humanity. This humanity is described in the Bible as the image of God. It “loves the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). What could be more natural?
To be sure, the devil is trying hard to wipe out this true humanity. No wonder that secular humanitarianism has this as its goal! But now the mask is off. You see Satan’s work for what it is. All the confusing and nonsensical language of the world is exposed in a brilliant flash of clarity. Satan kills. Only the Lord gives life. And this Life is embodied in Jesus Christ, God-made-man.
If natural may be defined as that which is a common experience, I can’t think of anything that is more natural than pregnancy. After all, without a doubt each and every one of you exist because of a pregnancy — namely, your mother’s! More than that, if all pregnancy would suddenly stop today, this world would be emptied of all people–not to mention almost all animal life–within a hundred years. “Pregnancy is not natural?”
Not only is this sentence nonsensical from a practical standpoint, it is even sillier from the standpoint of language. “Natural,” after all, comes from the Latin word, “natus,” meaning “to be born.” The very definition of “natural” has to do with the bearing of children. In fact, it is from this same Latin word that we have dozens of other words having to do with birth. Pre-natal means before birth. Your nativity is your birthday. Your nationality is the place of your birth. Innate qualities are those qualities you are born with. “Pregnancy is not natural?” You might as well say that light is not enlightening!
The frightening thing is that Mr. Kissling was able to speak such utter nonsense without being laughed off the stage. What kind of world do we live in? How did we get to the place that somebody could even think such orwellian nonsense? More alarming still, is the fact that he said it in a conference to eliminate human suffering.
Then again, I suppose there is some logic at work here. What better way to eliminate human suffering than to eliminate humans? What kind of world do we live in? The kind where the highest priority for secular humanitarians is to reduce the number of human beings. That is a sad fact, but it is a fact. That is the best that secular human aid can do.
Seeing this dead-end fact provides a strong incentive to look for a better solution. If secular humanitarians can do no better than this, let’s have another look at what divine humanitarianism has to offer. What does God do to eliminate human suffering?
First off, God became a human being. We confess, “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary.” God came as a pregnancy into the womb of the Virgin Mary. Nine months later, God was born into the world on the first Christmas–the Holy Nativity. By this simple and profound act, God did not give up humanity as a hopeless cause. Rather, He renewed our hope and redeemed the entire human experience.
By becoming a man, Jesus shows us that humanity is not forever doomed to be separated from its Creator. In fact, He shows that your human body has the capacity to be the temple of God Himself by faith in Jesus Christ. He returns us to our true nature. There’s that word, “natus” again! Our true nature is what we are intended to be by birth. By your very birth, you were created to have faith—the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Here is the answer to human suffering.
Human suffering is not eliminated by eliminating humans but by returning to true humanity. This humanity is described in the Bible as the image of God. It “loves the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). What could be more natural?
To be sure, the devil is trying hard to wipe out this true humanity. No wonder that secular humanitarianism has this as its goal! But now the mask is off. You see Satan’s work for what it is. All the confusing and nonsensical language of the world is exposed in a brilliant flash of clarity. Satan kills. Only the Lord gives life. And this Life is embodied in Jesus Christ, God-made-man.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Read what you've been missing
Reserved seating for the media at the Kermit Gosnell murder trial.
The seats have gone unused at the trial of the century.
Mollie Ziegler, the daughter of our own past pastor, Larry Ziegler, writes a well-known blog on the way the media reports on religious issues. Her recent posts on the Kermit Gosnell trial are a good introduction to some of the issues. Read it here.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Holy Saturday
O Christ, to keep the Sabbath day
Your body in the tomb is laid.
One Sabbath day remains for rest:
Great Sabbath day, the last, the best!
Your work is finished, as You said;
Now to Your rest, Your body dead.
The perfect rest, none more complete;
Your heart has even stopped its beat!
God rested once. God rests again.
You are that God! Amen, amen!
Your day of rest will soon be past;
Then up from death, O First and Last!
In light of Easter, shadows flee;
O Christ alone, our Sabbath be!
Rest for our souls, not for a day;
O Christ, You take our sins away!
O Christ, You are the Father’s Son,
The Son with Father, Spirit, one.
To You, O holy Trinity,
All praise for all eternity!
Text: Matthew Richardt; Tune: Bonnie Rex
Holy Saturday marks the time when Jesus is resting in the tomb. Beginning with His burial on Friday at sunset and ending on Saturday at sunset. Since we do not have a service scheduled for this occasion, members and friends are encouraged to sing or read aloud the above hymn during this time.
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