Saturday, September 13, 2008

The Good the Bad and the Ugly on the web!

You like music? Well then hear are three musical NET gens that can be summed up as the good the bad and the ugly!! I don't need to tell you witch one is which do I?

Fix Your Face






Sunday, September 07, 2008

Going to lay down by Burden - Down by the waters side..

"Going to lay down by Burden - Down by the river side.." this little hymn that most relate to baptisms was first written as a African spiritual of Hope. It was sung by those that dropping the burden of slavery and swimming across the great river to freedom in northern border states. The Imagery remains rich when this understanding is added to the picture of baptism. The free slaves remembered there experience of swimming for freedom and paralleled that experience to the experience of baptism. The song was born on the tongues of men an woman that knew the wet thirst for freedom and the journy thought the water to get there. Further, Paul in Romans uses Baptism as a metaphor for the freedom we have in our salvation. we are new creations free - and holy in Christ. It is seen in Romans 6:3-5

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

As we go under with him we will be raised with him. Both certainty and hope point to the freedom we have in Christ. Baptism is a description that a burden has been laid down by the river side. The slavery of sin, the past, unforgivness, hopplessness are all no more and we now live as free men and woman. I love how my church does baptisms, it is down by the river side, if you will . Below is a video of one little freedom child making her swim for freedom. SO hum it if you know it....

"Going to lay down my Burden - Down by the river side.."





Our justification from sins takes place at the point of saving faith, not at the point of water baptism, which usually occurs later. But if a person is already justified and has sins forgiven eternally at the point of saving faith, then baptism is not necessary for forgiveness of sins nor for the bestowal of new spiritual life. Baptism, then, is not necessary for salvation. But it is necessary if we are to be obedient to Christ, for he commanded baptism for all who believe in him.

WAYNE A. GRUDEM, Bible Doctrine

Baptism is rich in meaning. It suggests cleansing. When you are a disciple, you understand that you are cleansed by Christ. You understand that Christ died in your place on the cross, paying for your sins, fully forgiving you for all your wrongs. You are cleansed from guilt, and you are becoming a cleaner, healthier, more whole person.

BRIAN D. MCLAREN, More Ready Than You Realize

Friday, September 05, 2008

The KING'S glory and the glory King saw.

Last night, I took a trip to 1968. No I was not tripping on acid. I used modern technology to hear the last speech that Martin Luther King did before he died. It is one of my favorites. The whole speech can be found here. As I heard him talk I was reminded of the deep need for what he called dangerous unselfishness. King puts it this way.

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. One day a man came to Jesus, and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters of life. At points he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew and throw him off base....

Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves. You remember that a Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn't stop to help him. And finally a man of another race came by. He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But he got down with him, administered first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the "I" into the "thou," and to be concerned about his brother.

Now you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn't stop. At times we say they were busy going to a church meeting, an ecclesiastical gathering, and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn't be late for their meeting. At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that "One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony." And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem -- or down to Jericho, rather to organize a "Jericho Road Improvement Association." That's a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effect.

But I'm going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It's possible that those men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles -- or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the priest asked -- the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

Reflections on the virtue of Neighbor love.

Three Amen’s of the soul rise to my mind from his words. King is right when it comes to our greatest problem and how our social problems stem from it. He is also right on the questions that make our problems personal. There is a third Amen but it comes from the example of King’s life.

No little problem
King was right when he points out the deepest problem in man. Our hearts a selfishly bent in on themselves. The selfishness that beckons us to care much for ourselves is at the root of modern indifference to current problems. This self-love that moves us all, from time to time to, “pass on by” is no little problem. It is no little problem for the one bleeding in the ditch and no little problem for the Lover of our soul. For the one in need experiences both the pain of practical needs unmet, and the cold lonely air of indifference, And for the One High and lifted up, the One who came in a manger, our selfishness led him to experience the pain of three nails and 3 hours. Our twisted nature has never been a little problem.

The Questions that bids us stay!
King is also right when he showed how the soul is set to account for it self in dialoged with Jesus' words. He was right because Jesus was right and Jesus' point is clear. The questions we ask ourselves in moments of danger show the content of our character. From Jesus’ teaching, King gives his own call to response in his reprise:

"That's the question before you tonight.
Not, "If I stop to help ….. what will happen to my job.
Not, "If I stop to help …… what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?"
The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?"
The question is, "If I do not stop to help ….., what will happen to them?" That's the question."

King clams that the question is important for his hears and I would add still important for us today. Such "neighbor love" has been trivialized for an impotent version of love void of power. Neighbor love that bids us stay is not a love common in today’s world. As the parable shows such love has an element of sacrifice. A giving in spit of the danger. A loving the other with no regard for your own protection. It is a care for the good of one's neighbor grounded in the glory of God. Only such a vision of God and others can so consume us to the point we are self-forgetful. But who loves like that? I have to say not many, last century was called the age of the self and rightly so. The post modern age will not be much different. I fear activists will lack the "Neighbor love" of King. We need to let King's questions question us and we need to be honest with the depths of our selfishness.

The fire that consumes.
This selfishness we are all disposed to is a mighty force and never easily overcome. It is a fire that can only be extinguished by an even mightier flame. BUT what is the Nature of such a flame? Only a consuming fire can do such a work. That is why the scriptures say, God is a consuming fire. – For only God can do such a work, Only God can make such a man stay when danger bids him “GO!” This is what the scriptures tell us, “God is a consuming fire” God is the fire and God is the flame. It is only a God’s size flame that can put out the fires of selfishness. We would do well to remember, the fire of God’s jealous love abiding in the heart of his children can move us past self protection and into dangerous unselfishness even on the road to Jericho.

Such a fire, which is god himself, burns for the glory of God. In the heart of man only a passion for the glory of God can move him to stop and moves him to stand. Only Love can make a man do crazy things. And Only Ultimate love can move a man to stay when his head says "Go!" Whatever you call it “moral courage” as the ethicist do. Or “dangerous unselfishness” as the activists do. Or even “A passion for God’s glory!” as the theologians do. What matters is that you do something with it. You stop when you feel like going. You die when you selfishness nature wants to live. It is stopping when you want to Go on by and staying when your fears say run that makes this inner flame more than mere sentiment - action makes it passion!

Seeing by the fire
Seeing by the glory of god is mostly lost today. It is good to remind, this fire is nothing like most fires today. Today people burn but it is all heat and no light. People are passionate today but they burn with a strange fire that demands God to do there biding. They seem to be people of passion but little illumination. People that talk of God's glory but seek there own. People that are marked more by loving the things of God than God himself - such people "pass on by" and dine with the Levite and the Pharisee.

A true passion for God's glory will shift more than your theological propositions. It will change your perception. God's true fire gives light as well as heat. Such a flame gives light to the eyes of the heart and illuminates every human face. In such a light man resembles the one who made him. In this light humanity is seen with divine dignity. By this flame, we see reflected in every human face the image of GOD. So we can understand that this fire's light reveals that humanity is my neighbor, worthy of my care buy virtue of the image they bear. The glory of God reaches to us through our neighbors by the image they all bear. Every pain we see, ever need we can meet but don't is God's glory appearing diminished by our indifference. To love your neighbor is to glorify God in this broken world.


A life as a “holey” “wholly” “holy” burning man
Paul was good at this. He was full of holes and issues but he worked on them. He was wholly given to the will of God. Lastly he was holy devoted to God. This is what it means to burn, to live "well done". He lived as a dead man consumed by the fire of God. It takes Dangerous unselfishness to live as a dead man. We to can be like Paul, one that is breathing but already “crucified with Christ” – a Follower that “no longer lives” but lives on for “Christ lives in” us. We can live as dead men that exhibit life in real time and hope for the days ahead. I love the end of King's speech – on the video - you can see his eye glisten with tears and his emotion is true and rich when he speaks of the death threats on his life. He was a marked man and he knew it. But he had dangerous unselfishness! There where people in need and he was not about to "go on by" but in his weak and incomplete humanity he was completed by love, compelled to stop in Memphis and help. His ending act as a clarinet call for all that seek to be God glorifying activist, ethicists, theologians, insert the occupation of your choice. We all need to echo the heart of king when he stated.

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!

The next morning King was killed by a gunman as he exited his motel room.

What King saw.
King was not an example of chastised faultless virtue, yet he revealed to the world a deep and abiding truth. King could be filled with a dangerous unselfishness because His eyes had seen the glory and that passion consumed any competing fire and warmed any chilling fears that would cry "Go on by" when the moment cried "stay." What did king see that gave him the grace and strength? King saw the KING! May we all look up and be graced with such a hope. May we say with king “mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord” and may that drive our hearts to unselfish giving of ourselves. Even if giving to the flame is a bullet to the head or not hating the debauchery and indifference of post-modern culture. We can see the glory of the KING. In the face of it all, we can have the capacity to care, for in it all, we see His glory in the mass of humanity before us. We can love reckless and live dangerous unselfishness for God's glory is rising, His glory is shining, His Glory is enthroned to be the supreme passion for all things!

Turn your eyes to the KING and your ears to King, can you hear the echoes?

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!”