An Impartial God?

                In my sermon on June 28, 2026, I insisted that no one will go to eternal damnation without having had the opportunity to respond to God’s grace. Salvation is offered to all. I believe this because if God did otherwise – randomly save some and randomly reject others – it would mean God is arbitrary. I believe God is intentional in God’s oversight of the universe. I also believe God is just and generous. So, God offers salvation to all.

               In this assertion, I am referring to God’s character. One of many verses that I believe indicates this generous character of God is 1 Peter 1:17: “If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.” In the sermon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QlVnHUkcYY , beginning at the 40:30 mark), I explain what Peter means in calling the church members “exiles.” As followers of Christ, we belong to the Kingdom of God, so we are strangers in the kingdoms of the world. However, we are here, in the world, to draw the world to Christ. We are in this strange world for God’s purposes.

               As exiles, people outside the mainstream, we will suffer because of our allegiance to Christ. Peter tells us that when that happens, we are to “live in reverent fear.” We are to know God’s ways and live by God’s ethics. The world says that if someone hits me, I ought to hit back, harder. Jesus says, “turn the other cheek.” The world says, seek your own self-interest. Jesus says, “love your neighbor as yourself.” In a world that doesn’t show any regard for Jesus, we are to live by the ethical standard he set, knowing it will put us out of step with the world.

               This reverent fear 1 Peter speaks of means we give absolute respect and deference to a God who judges impartially. It is a relief to think of God as a judge who puts everyone on equal footing. God doesn’t favor one person over another. It should also terrify us that God is impartial because everyone, including each one of us, is a sinner who has offended God with our rejection of his authority. If God were to judge the people of the world with pure impartiality, we would all deserve punishment and separation from his kingdom.

               Here is where the work of Christ on the cross mitigates God’s impartial judgment. God’s impartiality means every person has access to God. It also means, because all have sinned, that every person will come under condemnation. The work of Christ on the cross means our sins are covered. The condemnation is removed. His resurrection means our death has been defeated. We are bound for eternal life in God’s Kingdom. God’s impartiality means this grace is open to all. I believe it is extended to all, which means no person will enter eternity without having had the opportunity to put their faith in Jesus.

               Notice, I have not described God as “fair.” It’s the wrong word. If God were fair, Jesus would have not died on the cross. He didn’t deserve that. His death is a result of human sin. God allowed it because God loves us. God is not fair. God is generous. I also would not call God impartial. God judges impartially, but God gives grace extravagantly. “Gracious” is a more apt epithet for God than “impartial.” As you read 1 Peter this summer, keep in mind that the God we meet in this work is one who welcomes you with love and grace. Put your faith in that God.

A Summer Discussion of Everyday Church (beginning June 17)

 

            In an effort to help our members grow as disciples, I will be leading a summer book study. We’ll be looking at the book Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on Mission. Authors Tim Chester and Steve Timms read the New Testament book of 1 Peter and several other Biblical texts as a foundation for evangelism. The intent is to attract people to Jesus. How we function as a church is in itself an expression of the gospel. And, how we relate to our unchurched neighbors is an expression of the gospel.

This group is meant to equip us. We will use this work and, more importantly, 1 Peter and other New Testament passages, to become a more evangelistic church. Studying this work in community will help each participant as we learn from each other, from the Bible, from Chester & Timms, and most importantly from the Holy Spirit.

            I hope you can participate in this group. If you are interested, I recommend ordering your copy of the book begin reading it now. It is out of print, but used copies can be found on the following sites: Ebay, Amazon, AbeBooks.com, World of Books, Thriftbooks.com, Biblestore.com, HalfPriceBook (HPB.com), HighDiscountBooks.com, & Biblio.com. Order the book now, begin reading it, and write down your own thoughts and questions about evangelism.

            The small group will be a Zoom book discussion group meeting on Wednesday nights, 7:00-8:00PM. The first meeting will be June 17, and the group will conclude on September 2. If there is enough interest for an in-person group, that will be held Tuesdays from 11AM-Noon.

            Please email Karen Taylor or Me to let me know you’ll be joining the group.

-        Pastor Rob (Robert.j.tennant70@gmail.com)

 

 

Witness (May 2026)

            On May 4, 2026, our associate minister, Kim Koonts, and I attended an informal gathering of leaders and pastors from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. Our sole purpose was to discuss how Cooperative Baptists practice evangelism. We want to make the practice of sharing our faith a bigger emphasis in the CBF. At Hillside church, we want evangelistic efforts to define us as a people.

After the resurrection, Jesus met with his disciples. He told them, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). What did they witness? They stood with Jesus after that had seen him die with their own eyes. They were witnesses of the resurrection.

            What have we witnessed? Having received forgiveness and having been filled with the Holy Spirit, we have seen that the testimony handed down to us by those original disciples is true. Jesus is the Savior. He indeed did die for our sins. He was raised from the dead. All who turn to him in faith, confess their sins, receive forgiveness, and entrust their lives to him will be saved. That’s our testimony. Like the original followers of Jesus, we are disciples and we are witnesses God has sent to testify.

            What’s the point of bearing witness? After being raised from the dead, the resurrected Jesus met with his disciples and told them, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). We tell our faith stories as a step in our work of sharing Christ with the world. We want to help go from being lost, cut off from God in sin, to being saved. We want to help our neighbors the people we meet become disciples of Jesus.

            How do you and I, the people of the Hillside Church congregation, answer this call from our Lord? How do we practice evangelism and disciple-making in a way that’s faithful to the words of Jesus and true to our church’s culture and personality? We’re going to spend much of the rest of 2026, attending to these questions.

            We’ve already become members of the National Association of Evangelicals. I encourage you to read up on their organization (https://www.nae.org/). This has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with sharing Jesus with the world. I also ask that you pray. Ask God to help the Hillside elders lead our church to be more energetic in our efforts to share Jesus with lost, unchurched people. Ask God to show how to best take up this work. Ask God to help you personally grow in your own walk with Christ.

            Ultimately, I believe that the closer we get to God in our relationship with God in Christ, the more natural it will be to tell others about him. I have no trouble talking to people about my wife or my kids. They’re always on my mind. It can be this way with Jesus. We grow closer and closer to him, and he becomes the center of our thought. Our identity in him is such that our lives wouldn’t make sense apart from who we are in Christ.

            How do we impart this understanding to the people of Hillside? How do we guide the people of Hillside to live lives centered on Jesus? Working to know Christ and share Christ is what Hillside will strive to do as a church. I encourage you to seek to understand your role in this.

           

Ephesians: A Call to Discipleship

 

            “We are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (2:10). This is one of my favorite verses from one of my favorite Biblical books, Ephesians. It is classified as an epistle or letter, but really, it’s more of a theological treatise. This work from Paul shows us who God is and who we are, when we define ourselves in terms of our relationship with Jesus. We are created in Christ.

            This is what I encourage you to do. Read through Ephesians. You could read through the entire book every day for a week. It’s only 6 chapters, but those short chapters are packed with spiritual insight. After you’ve read through the letter a few times, answer the following questions. What verse or passage speaks deeply to you? This would be what motivates or inspires you. What section do you find confusing? This would be what you have trouble understanding. What teaching in this epistle do you find to be most challenging? This would be what you understand perfectly well but are hesitant to apply to your own life.

            When you’ve thought about these three questions, share with me your answers to each. For several Sundays after Easter, the sermons will be based on Ephesians. You’ll get the most out of Sunday mornings if you come to worship with thoughts of your own. Read Ephesians as the word of God for you. Read it and then live out the message.

A Wartime Prayer (3/3/2026)

 

 

When Jesus walked the earth (approximately 6BC – 30AD), God in human flesh, one empire was more powerful than the rest and imposed its will on other nations, disregarding their sovereignty. That was Rome. The country that does that today, the 21^st century equivalent of the Roman Empire, is the United States of America. The U.S.A forced a regime change in Venezuela in January of this year, now in March, the U.S.A is in the process of doing it again, this time in Iran. The United States can do this because it is bigger and stronger than other nations.

In the first century, Jesus was of the people dominated by the imperial power. The contemporary of example if Israel’s powerlessness in the face of Roman might would be Venezuela or Iran or any other nation we choose to crush. This is not a value statement or a moral statement. It’s an observation.

The spiritual assertion, backed by passages like Luke 1:52, is that God favors the victim and the vanquished when the powerful exert their power. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. Also, consider Jesus’ own words. The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me … to bring good news to the poor (Luke 4:18). This is not to say God is thoroughly against America and for Iran and Venezuela. That would be an absurd statement. God is for people, and especially for poor people.

There are many poor people in Iran and Venezuela, and maybe someday, they will be helped by a regime change, but that rarely comes about from a foreign invasion. Ask the people of Afghanistan or Iraq or Vietnam of America’s invasion of their nations brought uplift and prosperity. It did not. When we pray in wartime, if we are disciples of Jesus, are prayers are to be motivated by what motivated him during his earthly ministry.

So …

A Wartime Prayer

Lord of the Universe, bring the war to an end … before it begins.

Protect the peasants who live near the facilities targeted for bombing.

Reach into the psyche of the fighter jet pilots; forgive them for taking lives, convict their hearts of their part in the violence, and then heal their souls whenever the remorse comes.

Effect a course correction in the minds of leaders whose decisions bring about death and destruction.

Prepare the world for the ripple effects: rising fuel costs; travel bans; unstable markets; distrust between nations.

Put in the hearts of the people of your church a longing for your kingdom; may that longing overpower illusions of lost greatness.

 Take from us our misguided nationalism and toxic patriotism and replace these with true faith, hope, and love.

Yours, AND ONLY YOURS, is the kingdom and the power and glory, forever and ever.

Forgive us Lord.

AMEN

Titus - a Man who could be Trusted

 

            I began last year with a practice I hope to continue going forward. I selected a Biblical figure to be a role model for me for the year. In 2025, I focused on Simeon (Luke 2:25-35). His spiritual work was literally to wait for God to act. Looking to him as an example, I decided to develop waiting as a spiritual discipline. I had no idea this practice would be so important for me in 2025, but it became clear as my mother, siblings, and I waited at our dad’s deathbed. We prayed and waited for God to call him home, and God did. We grieved but also rejoiced because Dad lived a full, blessed life. Like Simeon, God released dad into everlasting peace.

            Waiting, as a spiritual practice, will continue to be important for me. To this discipline, I add trustworthiness in the New Testament sense of the idea. Many in the Bible exemplify this value. For 2026, Titus will be my example.

            Titus was a trusted co-worker of Paul. He accepted Paul’s authority but also held Paul’s trust. Paul left the church in Crete in Titus’ capable hands (Titus 1:5). Titus was also a key emissary for Paul in Corinth. Paul’s relationship with that congregation was fraught with tension.

            Titus reassured Paul that the Corinthians did indeed love him (2 Corinthians 7:6). He was just as concerned as Paul was about that church. Because so much of the New Testament was written by Paul, we don’t hear testimony from Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, or Titus. Each one was as much a leader in the early church as Paul. Each cared for the churches as Paul did. Paul reports that Titus was filled with joy when he encountered the Corinthians’ repentant attitude (2 Cor. 7:13).

            Paul also craved Titus’ approval. “Just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus has proved true as well” (2 Cor. 7:14). Paul told Titus how great the Corinthian congregation was, despite its struggles. He needed Titus to see this. He needed his friend to confirm his own testimony, and Titus did.

            I want to be like Titus. I want to be trustworthy. I want to be well-grounded in my own thought and vision that other ministry leaders trust me with their ideas and ask what I think. I want to be entrusted with ministry responsibility, as Titus was. He will be my 2026 faith role model.

            I encourage you, in 2026, to select someone from the Bible who models faith in the way you would like to live it. Last year, and again this year, I chose lesser-known characters. If you prefer a more high-profile individual like Hannah or Mary, or Peter or John, that’s fine. I find great joy in meeting God in those quiet, background people.

            How ever you choose to do it, pick a Biblical role model for 2026. Identify characteristics of that person and then try to live out those values in your life. I am not trying to become Titus. I do want to be trusted as Titus was trusted. I want to be a faithful disciple of Jesus as he was.

 

Merry Christmas to the church I Love

 

Merry Christmas, Hillside Church

            You of the crumbled dumpster walls

            Ethiopia Trips, Passport Youth Missions, Fort Caswell Beach

May you continue to pick up the pieces of crumbled lives and make space for broken, crumpled people. They need you and you need them.

Merry Christmas, Hillside

            You of waterlogged office carpets

            Union Chapel, Old Venable Chapel, Carrboro Baptist, HillSong

May people be soaked, drenched with the baptismal waters that fill your pool, waters that mark a person a new creation in Christ.

Merry Christmas, Church on Culbreth Road

            You of burned-out sanctuary lights

Carpenter’s Tools, Tuesday Morning Ladies, Encounter, The Radio Ramblers

Whether it’s by 1’s and 2’s, or by the dozens, or by the hundreds, may those who come through your doors see the light and walk in the light.

Merry Christmas, Family

            You imperfect, beautiful, redeemed, new creation

            Chinese New Year, International Foods fundraiser, Vacation Bible School

May you continue to be that safe place lost people dare to enter. May those who come to you meet Christ and be made new. Made new, may you then be sent into the world to proclaim the gospel.

Merry Christmas, body of Christ,

            You gathering of forgiven sinners, sons and daughters of God.

            Bethlehem Village, Holiday Potluck, Christmas Eve, Silent Night

May you know that you are beloved, God’s precious treasure; and may that knowledge lift your spirit, put life in you, and fill you with joy.

Faithful Waiting

 

 

            I began this year with an invitation to you, my reader. I wrote,

I encourage you, in 2025, to select someone from the Bible who models faith in the way you would like to live it. People will say they want to “grow closer to God in the new year.” That’s too vague. How do you know you’ve accomplished this goal? I propose that you zero in on a specific person from scripture, identify the qualities that individual has that you’d like, and then try to develop those qualities in your life.

            I selected as my Biblical role model, Simeon (Luke 2:25-35). Luke tells us this man was “righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.”

            Simeon’s spiritual work was to pray, wait, and worship in the temple’s outer courtyard. He did this every day, believing in his heart that one day, the Holy Spirit would show him why this was the path God has set before him. Finally, a young couple came for their baby’s bris and the Holy Spirit nudged the man.

            Simeon came and took baby Jesus from Joseph and Mary. He held the baby in his arms. He blessed him and said, “Master, you have dismissed your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.” Simeon’s spiritual work was to wait in faith.

            I have tried to live into my role model’s example. I prayerfully waited to see how generous our members would be in reducing our mortgage. Our members were faithful and I felt blessed to see it happen. I prayerfully waited for the Lord to take my father home. His passing was peaceful. I prayerfully waited as I moved through grief. I am still in that process, but there is beauty in it. I prayerfully waited to see how God would make it possible for us to go on church youth trips in July and again in October. On both occasions, God provided what we needed and do so in ways I did not anticipate.

            I have not perfectly followed Simeon’s example. Many times, I gave into anxiety, instead of the spiritual discipline of faithful waiting. My anxiety never once prompted God to act against His schedule, but it did rob me of sleep for almost an entire week. Yet, when I stepped back and lived into the truth that God will act and God will bless, and then I waited, I found that God is true. I am not ready to be “dismissed” as Simeon was. However, I want to live out what he modeled – faithful waiting.

            Who did you choose as your spiritual role model for 2025? How did it go under that role model’s tutelage? Consider taking up this practice again in 2026. I’ll begin the year by sharing, in this column, whom I will try to emulate in 2026. And I will continue to try to practice the spiritual discipline of faithful waiting.

Thanks to my Church Family

 

On September 28, in the Sunday morning worship service, our church was very kind to express appreciation to me. My 19^th anniversary (Sept 17) as senior pastor was acknowledged, encouraging words were shared, and a gift was given. Thank you. Church family, I appreciate you.

            This congregation has been a beautiful environment for my children. They have grown up as Chapel Hill kids, Hillside Church kids. You have loved them as your own. It’s not always easy to be the pastor’s kid, but you’ve cared for them and not imposed undue expectations. This has been a safe, enriching place for them.

            Also, it’s great for Candy and me. Our marriage has strengthened in this place, among you. She has been loved as the pastor’s spouse. You have appreciated her and helped her find her own ministry niche. She has heard God’s call on her life. Some churches are hard on the pastor’s spouse. You have been caring. You have allowed Candy to have space to grow as a disciple. Thank you.

            In addition to loving the people of our church, the reason I continue to thank God for allowing me to serve as pastor here is mission. You hear a call from God to serve this community, and proclaim the Gospel. You’re not just looking inward, doing church in a self-serving way, marking time. You know God has a purpose and Hillside church has a part to play in God’s plan. I could only serve in a place that’s driven to glorify God and help lost people find Jesus. Hillside, you feel that call as strongly as I do. We are aligned in our desire to serve God. So, thank you.

Who knows what will happen in the next month, much less the next year? What we do know is God loves us, Jesus died and rose, and we are called to share this gospel with a lost and hurting world. If God wills it, next year, we will celebrate 20 years together. I think that will happen. I hope it will. But more than that, I pray that we all, you, me, all of us, are in the center of God’s will, answering God’s call, living for God’s purposes. That is where our joy is made complete.

To Live with Purpose

 

            I began serving at Hillside Church’s pastor in September 2006. In a newsletter column that December, I attempted to cast a vision for the next calendar year, 2007. I wrote, “2007 is a year for each of us to arrange our lives so that our deepest passion is to live for Jesus and spread the good news of His Kingdom to people who need to hear it.” I would say the same thing today.

            Of course, over 19 years, my perspective has changed considerably. When I wrote that sentences, I was 36 years old, a father of a 4-year-old, and just adjusting to my new job and new home. Now, I’m a 55-year-old father of a college graduate, and I have two other kids who are in high school and college. I’ve lived here so long, I almost feel a North Carolinian. The world has changed and everything looks different to me now.

            The calling, however is as strong as ever, on me and for us. 2025-2026 is a time for our congregation as a whole and each of us one of us as individuals to arrange our lives so that our deepest passion is to know Jesus and get closer to him. We spread the good news of His Kingdom to people who need him. All people need him.” We have two motivations. (1) Get closer to Jesus. Know the Lord better. (2) Spread the gospel. Church, let’s get to it.

What's with the Soteriology of the President's Spiritual Advisors?

 

    On August 19, 2025, The New York Times reported that President Trump is working to end the war between Russia and Ukraine because he's worried he might not get into Heaven. He told the "Fox and Friends" news program, "I want to try to get to heaven if possible. I am hearing I am not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, that [ending the war] will be one of the reasons."

    Where are his spiritual advisors? Where is Paul White-Cain or Robert Jeffress or Franklin Graham or Greg Laurie? I don't know White-Cain's work at all, but I am familiar with the theological formation of Jeffress, Graham, and Laurie. All three should be well schooled in the basics of evangelical theology. As the president's spiritual advisors, they should have covered all of this long before now.

    First, all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All people. The writer of Romans, Apostle Paul, did not think he himself was above this. He writes of himself, "Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death" (Romans 7:24)? He would have said his sins bound him for death, the Roman Emperor's sins bound the emperor for death, and President Trump's sins do the same to him. Do any of the president's advisors promote him as being closer to holiness than the Apostle? 

    Most of the president's advisors, including those I've named, are so-called evangelicals. An evangelical distinctive is high regard for the Bible. A clear Biblical teaching is that all human beings are sinners, and the wage of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Here death means being eternally cut off from God. "For those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury" (Romans 2:8). Put aside the absurd notion that an American president could take credit for ending the war between Ukraine and Russia. Even if he could, that good work would not cancel out his sins or anyone's sins. The Bible, which evangelicals commit to obey, rejects the idea that good works earn salvation.

    Soteriology is the branch of theology that deals with salvation. Jeffress, Graham, and Laurie, all know and preach salvation by grace through faith. Along with adherence to the teaching in scripture, salvation by grace through faith is another evangelical distinctive. There are no exceptions to this. Ending a war might be considered a wonderful thing to accomplish, but it doesn't earn one salvation because salvation cannot be earned. This is a core evangelical idea  and all of the president's spiritual advisors would preach this in revivals and Sunday morning worship services.

    Someone under the spiritual guidance of known figures like Jeffress, Graham, Laurie should not wonder about whether they are heaven bound. Their advisors should have told them, "While we were sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). The advisors should have said, "Mr. President, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from death, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). If the president worried about heaven, they would tell him, "You are justified by grace, as a gift, through redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith" (Romans 6:24-25). 

    Either the president's advisors didn't give him these soteriological (salvific) basics, or they did, but he didn't listen. I get it. I have had people listen to my preaching for 15 years or more. I preach salvation by grace. And still, those who hear me week after week hold to some version of works righteousness. They think they have to be good enough to get into heaven. They don't understand or cannot accept that no one is good enough. Apparently the president doesn't grasp this either. Maybe he's beginning to.

    At the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa in 2015, then candidate Trump was asked if he ever asked God to forgive him. He responded, "I am not sure I have. I just try to go on and do a better job from there. ... I think if I do something wrong, I just try to make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't" (https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/trump-has-never-sought-forgiveness). Asking forgiveness is not just an evangelical but a Christian distinctive. All Christians confess and ask for forgiveness. At the leadership summit, Mr. Trump did not deny sinning. He simply thought he could work it out with his own efforts. 

    Salvation is extremely humbling because we human beings have to admit we cannot work it out no matter how hard we try or how many wars we end. I can't, the Apostle cannot, and neither can Donald Trump. We are all utterly powerless before our sins. Our only hope is to admit that apart from Jesus, we have no hope. We throw ourselves on his mercy. Everyone in heaven is guilty, but forgiven. 

    President Trump's advisors need to go over salvation by grace through faith with him. They need to help him see that he desperately needs the mercy God gives through Jesus. This is not unique to Donald Trump. We all need forgiveness. We all need what can only be received as a gift; the gift of salvation from sin. If his advisors will tell him this and if he will listen, then he can repent, fall on God's grace, and be saved. He goes around thinking he can get himself into heaven by ending wars. He can't earn it. And he doesn't need to. Jesus already has. 

God is our Refuge ... We will not Fear

On July 7, 2025, hard rains fell and the creeks rose and the streets were flooded. We usually read about events like this. These are things that happen in other places, not here, where we live. This time, though, it was our turn to get hit. 

Water came in the church, flooded people out of their homes, and caused millions of dollars in property damage. For people, like those in our own congregation, who had to be rescued out of their homes, this is traumatic. As a church, we want to support people however we can. We have called. We have prayed. We have provided meals for some. We have come alongside those who need supplies and encouragement.

Considering what happened theologically, I thought of Jonah. "You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all you waves and billows passed over me" (2:3). Floods, seas, raging torrents, unfathomable depths; water humbles humanity like few things can. We need it to live. We cannot survive without it. Yet, we are so small and insignificant, and powerless, before the might of water. 

Yet our God is bigger than the flood. In worship (July 13), we prayed Psalm 46. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ... We will not fear, though the waters roar and foam" (v.1, 3). When our people are going through great trials, this is as important as the material aid we give. We help people who are scared and traumatized remember  they are not alone and God is bigger than the storm and He loves us.

A Corinthians Poem

 

A Corinthians Poem

If Christ is proclaimed

            Raised from the dead

The deaths of those we love

            Will not cause despair

Yes, we certainly grieve

            We call, he’s not there

Absence and emptiness

            Weakness, heavy hearts

What, no resurrection?

            Our hope falls apart

Deny resurrection?

            What faith do you hold?

Open Corinthians

            Read what has been told

Jesus Christ is alive

            Some doubt this and dread

But in fact Christ has been

            Raised from the dead

You, me, and all have life

            Jesus is alive 

Surrender - A Lenten Discipline

 

“Surrender of the heart to God includes every possible way of obedience to God, because it means giving up one’s very being to God’s good pleasure.” This is from Jean-Pierre de Caussade, a French Jesuit priest who lived from the late 17^th to the mid 18^th century. This evokes thoughts of what Jesus said. “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” (Mark 8:35).

            Of course, “those who lose their life for my sake” can mean many things. James, the older of the sons of Zebedee and one of the original 12, was beheaded by Herod because he was Jesus’ disciple (Acts 12:1-12). Christians in China in the late 20^th century experienced imprisonment due to their faith commitment. In these and many other cases, to lose one’s life for Jesus’ sake, was played out in real life, with faithful disciples literally dying or having their lives completely upended.

How do these words of Jesus apply in the lives of 21^st century American Christians? We don’t realistically fear imprisonment or bodily harm just because we have put our faith in Jesus. We are not punished for having claimed the Christian faith. In fact, every president in the history of the United States has claimed Christianity as their religious affiliation. Christians in America are free to express their faith.

De Caussade gets at my understanding of Jesus’ insistence that to follow him, we must give up our lives. In societies like ours, where Christians are not persecuted,  I think it comes down to personal surrender. What area of your life have you kept from Jesus. Does He get all of you, except that portion of the day you devote to online porn or online gambling? Do you partake of those harmful vices and just keep Jesus out of it?

Or maybe your marriage, or your sex life outside of marriage. You claim to be under the lordship of Jesus everywhere, except your bedroom. There, you’ll make your own decisions. The way of Jesus is the way you have committed to walk, but you forget about that when you get to your bedroom door. He is not welcome into your most intimate places.

Or maybe the place you withhold your faith is your money. You attend worship. You read the Bible. You give to some causes and give to the church. You volunteer. However, money is very important to you, and the decisions you make in life indicate that your money rules how you live out your faith. When we die to self, lose our lives for his sake, then Jesus is lord of our money. It’s not the other way around.

You could think of other examples in life where one resists fully submitting to Christ. You could think of examples from your own life. That resistance is a great tension in one’s walk with the Lord. This year, during Lent, release that resistance. Fully surrender your heart, your mind, your life to Christ. As Jesus said in the first century AD, and the French priest reiterated in the 18^th century and many Chinese evangelicals demonstrated through personal sacrifice in their lives in the 20^th century, we lose our lives for Jesus’ sake and the sake of the Gospel. “Surrender of the heart to God includes …  giving up one’s very being to God’s good pleasure.”

Consider doing an audit of your life as a 2025 Lenten discipline. Identify an area you have not surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus. Between now, Ash Wednesday, March 5, and Easter Sunday, April 20, take intentional steps to surrender that area you’ve identified. Discover the sweet freedom of surrendering to Christ and living under his lordship.

A Christian During Ramadan

 

Ramadan begins tomorrow, 2/28/25, at sundown. There are approximately 1.9 billion Muslims in the world. It would be downright rude to blithely ignore the significance of this time for our Islamic neighbors. Yet, I would guess many Americans are completely oblivious. I state that as a matter of course, not pejoratively. I want to believe that many Americans of other faiths or no faiths are not hostile to Muslims, just ignorant of Islam. I know I am.

At the start of February, black history month and my birth month among other things, I shared on Facebook some black authors I was currently reading (Alice Walker, Margaret Busby, H. Cordelia Ray, etc.). I stressed that in the case of these specific authors, I read to self-educate. I also invited anyone perusing my posts to go beyond just February. Read good blacks authors year round. There are plenty to choose from. Especially if one is of a privileged class (male, white, educated, employed, middle class, etc.), read perspectives different than your own. I have tried to a make a practice of this over the last decade. From Martin Luther King Jr. to James Cone to Cornel West to Michelle Alexander, and many, many more, I have learned much. I am trying to shed the blindness and indifference privilege has repeatedly poured over me.

Now, in Ramadan, I continue. At the end of his musings over his upbringing in Cairo, 20th century philosopher Edward Said (Anglo-Palestinian) describes a pianist, a student of his friend I. Tiegerman. Said says of this Egyptian pianist, "[she was] a stunningly fluent and accomplished young married woman, a mother of four, who played with her head completely enclosed in the pious veil of a devout Muslim" (p.275). Said continues, "Neither Tiegerman nor I could understand this amphibious woman, who with a part of her body could dash through Appasionata and with another venerated God by hiding her face. ... She was an untransplantable emanation of Cairo's genius."

Said's Muslim pianist serves as an avatar for my own heart toward my Muslim neighbors. I want to appreciate her musical ability, something not tied to race, gender, or religion. I also want to honor her story, which cannot be told without appreciation of her race, gender, religion, nationality, and social station. Of course, Said's pianist lives in the 1950's in Egypt. I am in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in the 2020's. I do, though, have my own experiences with Muslims. There's a school that uses space in our church. Daily, I see teachers and parents, people not affiliated with the church. How can I be a good neighbor to all students and teachers, and especially to those who are Muslim, who might not expect someone like me, an evangelical pastor, to be a good neighbor?

That epithet, evangelical pastor, is so loaded. Is there a political connotation that I embrace or eschew? What assumptions might be made by one who hears me self-categorize as evangelical, and, pastor. For me the moniker is a statement of purpose. 'Evangel' literally means good news that must told. So, I must tell the world that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that in his coming, one can half forgiveness of sins and life in his name. He died for the sins of the world, rose on the third day, and invites all who put their faith him to receive salvation. Believing that makes me Christian, and sharing it makes me evangelical.

Jesus is the principle point of departure for Muslims and Christians. Christians believe he is the second person of the trinity, God in the flesh, and the only way to salvation is through faith in him. Muslims believe he is a prophet, but not the Son of God. To be Muslim, one cannot believe Jesus to be the Son of God. To be Christian, one must believe that is exactly who Jesus is. The difference is irreconcilable. However, it need not be a hostile divide. Christians can treat their Muslim neighbors with respect. Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan clearly conveys that we who follow Jesus are commanded by him to love our Muslim neighbors.

For me, that starts with understanding. During Ramadan, I intend to do a lot of reading about Islam by Muslim authors. And I will pray for how to have respectful, meaningful interactions with Muslims I meet daily. Said, wrote that he never had a conversation with the Egyptian pianist even though he saw her play many times. I don't to look back over Ramadan and say, "Well, I walked past Muslims many times, but we never talked." I pray God will open doors. 

Here's the collection of essays I'll be reading, Progressive Muslims (edited by Omid Safi).

Lay the Foundation

                     This week I read this sentence: “[The man summoned by divine promise’s] understanding consists in the fact that in sympathy with the misery of being he anticipates the redeeming future of being and so lays the foundation of reconciliation, justification, and stability” (J. Moltmann, 1967, p.290). It’s a rather dense sentence in dense section of what is, in some ways, a wonderful book, Theology of Hope. To cut through the thicket of James Leitch’s translation of Moltmann’s theological German, I homed in on the phrase “lays the foundation.”

            What foundation is laid by “the one summoned by divine promise?” Anyone – you, me, your friend, anyone who has entrusted his or her life to Christ, received forgiveness, and been born again is to be counted among those summoned by the divine promise. In other words, this refers to Christians who are determined to follow Jesus. Is there any other way that can be called ‘Christian,’ than total commitment to the way of Jesus?

            This brought to my mind Dallas Willard’s thought in Divine Conspiracy and The Spirit of the Disciplines. One of the primary motivations Willard saw for living a spiritually disciplined life was that doing so prepared one for life in Heaven. Willard hinted at the possibility that all might go to Heaven, but it would only feel like Heaven for those who spent this life getting ready. Others wouldn’t know how to exist in the divine kingdom. They hadn’t had any experience walking in the way of Christ.

            So, how does one “lay the foundation” (Moltmann), or “get ready” (Willard)? How do we store up treasures in Heaven (Jesus – Matthew 6:19-21). What does foundation-laying/readying/storing up look like in one’s life? I wrote last month that this year, my spiritual teacher will be Simeon (Luke 2), the old man who hung out at the temple waiting for God to show him the “consolation of Israel.” Is foundation-laying/readying/storing up simply the wait? Is the disciple life a life of waiting God?

            In a sense, yes, but how do we spend our time waiting? My belief is our waiting is expectant. (1) We live each day expecting God to do God-sized things in our lives that day. (2) We live toward a specific end; toward the eternal kingdom of God, that was launched in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and will be fully consummated in his return. We live toward that return. We live today by the values and currency of that time.

            What is the defining value? Love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. What is the only valid currency in the kingdom of God? Service. “The greatest among you must be … one who serves. … I [Jesus]am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:26, 27). So, my ambition is to wait on the Lord. My work, done while waiting, involves foundation-laying/readying/storing up. I do this work by honing in myself a heart of love for God and neighbor. I sharpen the effectiveness of my love and broaden the extent of my love by serving and helping others. No matter how badly I do this work, God gives me more opportunities. No matter how well I do, I can always improve.

My Belly

 

I just saw an article titled "Why Being Fat is Great."

I won't read it.

Spare tire. Expanding tube. Stretched belt.

Reese's Cup. Flavored chips. Breaded chicken, with sauce. 

I don't hate myself. If I did, I wouldn't regret that second Reese's Cup.

If I did, I wouldn't long to run, or at least jog. 

If I did, I wouldn't sit down to write.

If I did, I wouldn't imagine something different.

I don't hate myself.

My belly is my body. So are my arthritic knees. 

So are my literate eyes.

So are my ears, trained to listen like a therapist,

or like a pastor;

or like a friend.

I won't check on the article, "Why Being Fat is Great."

I don't hate myself. 

And, I'd rather stop thinking about my belly and read something else.

Simeon: A Biblical Role Model for 2025

 

            During Advent 2024 (a few weeks ago), I followed the devotional distributed to subscribers of Christianity Today magazine. It’s called A Time for Wonder. The entry that spoke most profoundly to me is written by Lily Journey. Her focus is on Simeon who we meet in Luke 2:25-35. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” (v.25-26).

            What was Simeon’s job? Luke doesn’t say. How old was he? Luke offers no clue. From what family and tribe did he hail? We don’t know. His social class? Luke doesn’t tell us.

            All we know of Simeon is that he was waiting for God to deliver on the promise; he, Simeon, would see the Messiah with his own eyes. How long did Simeon wait? What was his day-to-day life like while he waited? It’s impossible to fill in those blanks, but I believe that whatever Simeon’s life was, it included a responsive, committed prayer life. Verse 27 says he was guided by the Holy Spirit to the temple on the day Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to be dedicated. A lot parents brought their babies. How could he know which was the correct family? The Spirit directed Simeon to Mary and Joseph.

            I pause in his story here because Simeon is going to be before me as a character and a muse throughout 2025. I want to become someone who prays like Simeon, believing God will act. Then, I want to live my faith conscientiously and compassionately as I wait for God to act. I want to be such profound spiritual attentiveness that when the Spirit guides, I am ready to follow.

            Simeon exuded determined, expectant waiting. He modeled faith in the way I want to live. In 2025, I will strive to fill the role he occupied, that of expectant, faithful waiting on God.

            I encourage you, in 2025, to select someone from the Bible who models faith in the way you would like to live it. People will say they want to “grow closer to God in the new year.” That’s too vague. How do you know you’ve accomplished this goal? I propose that you zero in on a specific person from scripture, identify the qualities that individual has that you’d like, and then try to develop those qualities in your life.

            I will read and reread the 11 verses in Luke 2 that tell Simeon’s story and write about my own spiritual journey as I try to embody the values and strengths of Simeon in my own life. Find someone in the Bible to be your role model as you follow Jesus in 2025.

Unexpected Gifts

 

Thinking about gifts I want to give this year, I told my wife I wanted to bake something. She looked at me skeptically. I am not a baker or any kind of a cook. She said she’d help. Within a few hours we had 6 little cakes that will be ready to go. She “helped.” Ha, ha. She did everything. All I did was peel the apples. Her help was a tremendous gift to me.

            A friend is undergoing tremendous challenges. I thought he was mostly alone in the world. I have known him for years and I come alongside him in his difficulties, but there’s limits to how much I can do. Recently, I received a text from someone three states away. He also knows my friend and will help in very big ways. I didn’t know he existed and now he will do much to make things better for my friend. This has been an unplanned, unexpected gift.

            Two of my three children now drive. Teaching them to drive and helping them get their licenses seemed to be a matter of course. It’s just something you do when your kids turn 16. I didn’t anticipate that they would both be thoroughly competent drivers whom I could not only trust, but appeal to. Hey son, I am busy. Can you go to store and pick up what we need? Having them as drivers has been a real gift that at key times has made life easier.

            I could go on with examples of unexpected gifts. I count these as blessings from God. When Jesus was born, Israel wasn’t thinking, okay, in the time of King Herod, under Governor Pilate, God will send a Savior. No one was watching for Jesus, at least not the way he came, born among barnyard animals, born into poverty. Some hoped for a dynamic military leader, another David who would strike the heart of Goliath (Rome). No one anticipated a peasant savior whose defining act would be to die on a cross.

            God is a giver of unexpected gifts. If you know Jesus, you know that. You know that the one we celebrate changed your life, gave your purpose and hope, calls you into his church, and into his kingdom. If you know Jesus, you know all of this. But maybe you’ve forgotten. Turn back to Him. This Christmas, turn back to the giver of good things, the Savior. 

          If you don’t know Jesus, you can! Read the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, and the book of Romans. You have plenty of time between now and Christmas Day. Give yourself the gift of walking in this story. Confess your sins and open your heart to God and he will come in. He will give the gift of salvation and new life. You’ll never be the same.