If you’re familiar with my preaching at all, you know that I often remind people to lay down their “sacred” and “secular” labels. For followers of Christ, they’re largely unhelpful categories. Christians don’t have “secular” jobs, for example – for the place where a Christian works is a mission field. Christ is fully engaged in that place of employment, and in that job assignment. There’s nothing “secular” about it.

In our careless labeling of this and that as “secular,” we have put up a wall where the Lord intends no wall to be built.

I graduated from high school in 1981. That year, Dr. Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984), who founded L’Abri in Switzerland, identified a critically significant problem that we’re experiencing in American culture: We the People – specifically, We the Church — have backed away from our high calling to influence every corner of society with the good news of Jesus. Here’s a taste of Schaeffer’s “A Christian Manifesto” …

“As we turn to the evangelical leadership of this country in the last decades, unhappily, we must come to the conclusion that often it has not been much help. It has shown the mark of a platonic, overly spiritualized Christianity all too often. Spirituality to the evangelical leadership often has not included the Lordship of Christ over the whole spectrum of life. Spirituality has often been shut up to a very narrow area.”

Please allow me to summarize, hopefully without diminishing. Friends, you and I have retreated from our post. We are failing at our assignment. We have bought into the lie that the Church is to conduct its ministries on the periphery of American life. Also from the “Manifesto” …

“Our view of final reality – whether it is material-energy, shaped by impersonal chance, or the living God and Creator – will determine our position on every crucial issue we face today. It will determine our views on the value and dignity of people, the base for the kind of life the individual and society lives, the direction law will take, and whether there will be freedom or some form of authoritarian dominance.” If that was true in 1981 – and I submit that it was – how much more does it apply to us now?

Friends, the “sacred-secular divide” of which I spoke is antithetical to the Great Commission which was given to us by our Lord. It is not who we’re supposed to be. And it’s not what we’re supposed to be about. In every sphere of life – including the public square – you and I are Christ’s salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16; 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21).

Do not fall into the trap of believing, quite contrary to the claims of Holy Scripture, that “religion” belongs on its own shelf in American life – while art, economics, education, entertainment, government, law, media, politics, science, and sports get to occupy their own more prominent spaces. Last time I read my Bible, it said that every one of those spheres of life falls squarely under the direct claims of our risen Christ.

Last Tuesday, I got a chance to hear John Ashcroft (U.S. Attorney General under George W. Bush, 2001-1005) speak and answer impromptu questions. He told a story that I found compelling. When Ashcroft was a young man, and new to the world of politics, an older lady advised him about his most successful course of action in regard to his emerging life of public service …

“1. Kneel down. 2. Stand up. 3. Speak up. 4. Lay down your life.”

That was sound advice, and it proved to be both wise and costly for Ashcroft. Whether or not you and I enter the field of public service, friends, we can rest assured that we’re called to sacrifice for the truth. Humbly but boldly, we must speak up – and it will cost us.

From a Biblical perspective, life isn’t divided into airtight compartments, you see. All of life is under the Lordship of Jesus. Do you remember the hymn? “This is my Father’s world: O let me ne’er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.” Jesus is Lord! He rules over our souls and bodies. He rules over our private thoughts and public pronouncements. Contrary to public opinion, He rules over Church and state. Christ never bailed on His Lordship, but we – His Church – have ceded ground that wasn’t ours to give away.

We can’t blame the intelligentsia. We can’t blame the academy. We can’t blame the media. We can’t even blame the “secular humanists.” Our silence and inaction – the Church’s silence and inaction – created no small void. When a weak Church leaves a void, it never goes unfilled. Other gods and fools rush in. When Christ’s followers won’t speak up, other eager voices scribe the culture’s (and even history’s) metanarrative – including the very definition of truth itself.

And, when pastors won’t speak up, the culture is handed over steadily to those who hate God, despise order, promote chaos, and declare evil to be good. I want to say this with crystal clarity: If you’re not willing to be hated, don’t be a pastor.

Here and now, fidelity to Jesus requires engagement, not disengagement.

It requires boldness, not backpedaling.

It requires obedience, not obfuscation.

From his study of Joshua, A.W. Pink (1886-1952) understood that the people of God are called to take possession of all that He has assigned us to – even in the midst of hostile enemies. Pink understood a powerful and real tension: “On the one hand Canaan was a free gift unto Israel, which they entered by grace alone; and on the other, they had to fight for every inch of it!”

Claiming Christ’s territory doesn’t make us obnoxious. It makes us faithful. In fact, if anything I’ve written here leaves you feeling proud or self-righteous or infuriated by the bad behavior of “all those unbelievers out there” … you have misunderstood me.

What I am saying is this, friends: Now is the time to let our light shine!

This is what it means to reclaim a dying culture: credible testimonies and lives lived for Christ … courageous speech and actions … public and holy boldness … and unflinching commitment to grace and truth. Right now, we can’t afford to be or do anything less.

An earlier “A.W.”, A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), issued an earlier sobering observation: “It appears that too many Christians want to enjoy the thrill of feeling right but are not willing to endure the inconvenience of being right.” In my humble opinion, it’s our timeless Achilles’ heel.

All of this leads me back to where I started. If you’ve ever heard me preach, you likely heard me mention Genesis 3:15. That’s because, from my vantage point, that verse changes everything. Right after the fall in the garden, there’s already gospel hope! A Messiah is well on His way! We know that the serpent’s total defeat under Christ’s heel is certain, but we know that it’s delayed in its fullness. For now, the Lord lets Satan test each generation of God’s covenant people – as God teaches us to battle untruth and stand for His righteousness.

I pray God finds us faithful. You and I are agents of Christ’s reconciliation. Ambassadors of God’s redeeming grace.

“This is my Father’s world: Why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King: Let the heavens ring! God reigns; let Earth be glad!”

Pastor Charles

“But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come see the place where He lay’” (Matthew 28:5-6).

The gospel of Jesus includes some staggering claims!

In six days, the entire universe was created by a triune God, a God who knew no beginning. The second person of the Godhead, Jesus – God the Son – took on human flesh and blood, and was born of a virgin. 2000 years ago, the only begotten Son of God walked Planet Earth. Then, for crimes He never committed, Jesus was nailed to a brutal cross. He suffered and died, and was buried in a borrowed tomb – sealed by a massive stone.

The most staggering claim is what happened next: On the third day, He walked the earth again!

The earliest Christians testified that Jesus was risen from the dead. For years, they proclaimed the resurrection – without holding back. They were ridiculed, imprisoned, beaten, and tortured. To avoid such treatment, all they had to do was recant.

But they did not recant.

There was no plausible reason for those first followers of Jesus to claim that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Unless He did.

In the words of the Roman historian, Tacitus, the cruel emperor Nero “inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.” To claim that Jesus Christ defeated sin and conquered death via an empty tomb could be lethal. It could cost you everything. It sounded entirely ridiculous.

Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853) was afounder of Harvard Law School, who published his “Treatise on the Law of Evidence” in 1842. Mr. Greenleaf set out to disprove the resurrection of Christ and dispel the myths of Christianity, but was arrested by faith instead. I’ll share a smidgen of Greenleaf’s description of Jesus: “He is represented in very variety of situation in life, from the height of worldly grandeur, amid the acclamations of an admiring multitude, to the deepest abyss of human degradation and woe, apparently deserted of God and man. Yet everywhere He is the same; displaying a character of unearthly perfection, symmetrical in all its proportions, and encircled with splendor more than human. Either the men of Galilee were men of superlative wisdom, and extensive knowledge and experience, and of deeper skill in the arts of deception, than any and all others, before or after them, or they have truly stated the astonishing things which they saw and heard.”

Greenleaf’s bottom line was this: The Bible’s witnesses are reliable, and that the resurrection is a reality.

Yes, the resurrection sounds ridiculous.

Unless it’s true.

From the start, followers of Christ were ostracized and shamed. Most of the immediate followers of Jesus died for their faith. In parts of the world, it’s still happening today. As I pen this blog posting, believers in Nigeria and Syria are being hunted down by Islamic terrorists. On Palm Sunday evening, more than forty Christians were slaughtered – and others badly injured – by Jihadists in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North. And, throughout human history, there’s a constant: People won’t don’t die willingly for what they know to be a lie.

You see, friends, the resurrection is no ordinary claim. Believing it changes everything. And affirming it is risky business.

But affirm it we do!

The resurrection is central to how we view the world – and in fact central to who we are. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins … If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:17-19).

Without Christ’s resurrection, and ours, you and I will strive ceaselessly toward performance and works-righteousness. It comes as natural to us as breathing. But striving after the law – even God’s law – will not make any of us better in any way. The law does not make us good. What it does accomplish is exposing us as lawbreakers and sinners. Paul had lived that life – to the point of rounding up the earliest followers of Jesus for persecution and execution.

Without the death and resurrection of Jesus, we will manipulate religious rules until we think that we appear righteous. We’ll pretend to be someone we know we’re really not. A “Christianity” without resurrection – and I mean a real resurrection – is religious mumbo jumbo completely devoid of hope. It leaves us with nothing to rely on but ourselves – which gets us nowhere fast. It’s worse than no religion at all. We’re left with a bunch of moral imperatives which make us feel superior to our neighbor, inevitably leading us to hate our inferior neighbor. It’s a religion of ruthless, holier-than-thou hypocritical judgment.

Only the resurrection sets us free. It’s the difference between “do” and “done.”

I’ll be honest. Despite my knowing the reality of the resurrection – and the victory which Christ won for us – some things still exhaust me. I suppose that I can speak for you too when I say that some days this world is wearying at best. Some guilt still tries to shackle us and hold us down, doesn’t it? That freedom which we know is ours in Christ can feel a bit elusive. But this I know: We can lay down every burden at His risen feet.

My friends and fellow pilgrims, I offer this magnificent benediction from God’s own Word (Numbers 6:24-26) …

“The Lord bless you, and keep you;

The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,

And give you peace.”

He is risen indeed!

Pastor Charles

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake (Philippians 1:29).

“For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ … that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:8, 10).

No one signs up for suffering. I certainly don’t. In fact, I try to avoid it whenever possible.

But suffering comes. It’s real. It’s inevitable. It’s been promised. We have it on good authority.

You may remember Frances Ridley Havergal (1836 – 1879) as the gifted writer of “Take My Life and Let It Be.” In a much lesser-known work, and one of my favorites, the English poet and hymnwriter expressed the truth about our suffering …

“And when amid our blindness

His disappointments fall,

We trust His lovingkindness

Whose wisdom sends them all.

They are the purple fringes

That hide His glorious feet;

They are the fire-wrought hinges

Where truth and mercy meet.”

Frances Havergal is one of my heroes. She was no stranger to suffering. In 1874, she survived near-fatal typhoid fever, and was bedridden for nearly a year. That’s just a taste of the pain that she came to know well. During the last months of her life, Frances wrote a book to encourage other sufferers (published posthumously, 1882). She titled it “Starlight Through the Shadows.” As was the case regarding all of her writings, they were born out of her personal experience with the unquenchable grace and faithfulness of God. In a note to a friend, Frances wrote: “Pain, as to God’s own children, is, truly and really, only blessing in disguise.”

“Only blessing in disguise.” Do we believe that?

It’s true! It may not be a reality that’s easy to hold onto in the middle of the night, but it’s true. Sometimes, friends, it is in the very midst of our personal suffering – “the purple fringes that hide His glorious feet” – where truth and mercy meet in ways only fully understood by Christ.

Frances wrote in her personal journal: “Even in very painful spiritual darkness it has sometimes comforted me to think that God might be leading me through strange dark ways so that I might be His messenger to some of His children in similar distress.” And in another time and place, Frances wrote of God: “There is no bottom to His mercy and love.”

Maybe you’re feeling some of those “strange dark ways” today. Press on, Beloved! It might be good for you and me to consider that God never wastes our pain. Never. In another stanza of the hymn about disappointments with which I started, Frances sounded a note of triumph …

“Our yet unfinished story

Is tending all to this:

To God the greatest glory,

To us the greatest bliss.

Our plans may be disjointed,

But we may calmly rest;

What God has once appointed

Is better than our best.”

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

One of the most stop-us-in-our-tracks verses in the Bible is this: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). All things! In a world that seems hellbent on keeping God of the equation, we know better. Through our worst trials, God never stops working to deepen our union with Christ. The truth is as old as Scripture’s first book. To the men who’d betrayed him and sold him into slavery, Joseph consoled his brothers: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).

Frances was right. We who are trusting not in ourselves but in the Lord Jesus have been “predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). All things! So Frances could pen her prayer, and ours …

“Take my life, and let it be

Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.”

When Frances died, Charles Spurgeon wrote: “To the great loss of the church, she has left these lower choirs to sing above. Miss Havergal, last and loveliest of our modern poets, when her tones were most mellow and her language most sublime, has been caught up to swell the music of heaven.”

Frances Havergal suffered tremendously during her brief life of 42 years. In a season of particular sorrow, she poured out these words …

“I take this pain, Lord Jesus,
From Thine own hand,
The strength to bear it bravely
Thou wilt command …

‘Tis Thy dear hand, O Saviour,
That presseth sore,
The hand that bears the nail-prints
Forevermore.”

Frances suffered, but she never lost the starlight.

May the same be true of us.

Pastor Charles

If you appreciate the freedom that’s still ours in America to worship the risen Lord Jesus Christ, there’s no need to thank your lucky stars. Lucky stars had nothing to do with it. But history points to some brave heroes who helped pave your way to liberty.

America’s freedom started long before America. The free grace of Christ as embraced by the first disciples of the early Church continued to revolutionize lives around the world – as our spiritual forefathers brought the light of gospel hope to places where there was no light at all. For their brave commitment to truth, they often paid a steep price.

In southern Bohemia – now the Czech Republic – Jan Hus spoke out boldly against rampant corruption among the religious elite, and devoted his life to realigning the Church with the Word of God. His earthly rewards were few, but His punishment was to be burned alive in 1415. Today, if your congregation values the Bible at all, you stand on the shoulders of spiritual giants like Hus.

Though born in Gloucestershire, and educated at Oxford and Cambridge, William Tyndale was forced to flee his homeland. For his tireless ministry in Germany and modern-day Belgium, and for the unforgivable crime of translating the Bible into English, Tyndale was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536. Tyndale’s faithfulness still helps a Tennessee farm boy read a page from the Scriptures without needing a priest to tell him what it means.

In France, in the 16th and 17th centuries, thousands of Huguenots were slaughtered simply for holding to the radical idea that the human conscience belongs solely to God. Freedom, you see, never comes to us in a vacuum, but at great personal cost.

The Puritans of England were willing to risk it all to set sail for this distant and unknown land of wilderness and peril. Why? They preferred the real risk of starvation and even death over surrendering their right to worship according to Holy Scripture as they understood it. Among those courageous women and men were the faithful Separatists whom we remember fondly as the Pilgrims. They landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

Religious freedom shaped our nation from the beginning. Even before the beginning. The Bible offered a new way forward for the ordering of a just society, one in which the fallen nature of humankind would be acknowledged – and formally safeguarded against – by the intentional distribution of power among three branches of mutually accountable government. The earliest seeds of the great nation that was being forged sprang from vital evangelical Christian faith. From the Mayflower Compact to a free society built around free markets and free expression.

From the very beginning, self-rule through elected representatives would be our way of life. Why? Because we each bear the “imago Dei” – the image of Almighty God (Genesis 1:27).

Even our pre-Revolutionary academia was built upon the theology and practice of the Bible. The first president of Harvard University was a gospel minister, and the early Ivy League was profoundly centered on evangelical Christianity. Harvard’s historical mottos tell the story: “Veritas” (“Truth”), “Christi Gloriam” (“For the Glory of Christ”), and “Christo et Ecclesiae” (“For Christ and the Church”).

In the 18th century, on a significantly wider scale, as the tectonic shifts in Western thought known as the Enlightenment came under the steady influence of Christ’s gospel of grace, hope for liberty was renewed. Here in the colonies, in the Great Awakenings, transformative evangelical revivals fostered a common identity in the unique form of what would become our democratic republic. The way was paved for the American Revolution. It had to happen. America sprouted from the fertile soil of a soul-level thirst for freedom. In my humble opinion, the difference between the French Revolution and the American Revolution was Christianity.

The heroes of early American history died not for their own gain in this life, nor did they die for a trivial cause. Rather, they died for a Biblical truth: the individual soul has direct access to God, unmediated by any institution, and no power on Earth has the right to stand in between.

That sacred truth became a nation. Our nation. The United States of America: “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

In 1776, those cherished tenets of our shared freedom would be affirmed emphatically in the time-tested and battle-worn words of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Such ideals are uniquely American. They did not come to us out of nowhere, friends, but through the blood, sweat, tears – and prayers – of our spiritual heroes. The foundational truth which we’ve inherited is a higher truth. From the Pilgrims to the Founding Fathers to the Constitution’s First Amendment.

In the 19th century, by God’s grace and for His glory, enshrined in our governmental framework – our national DNA – were the enduring political mechanisms which ended slavery in America. It took far too long, regrettably – but a wonder of our shared history is that Americans recognized that enslaving any person is evil and must be stopped. Why? Slavery is a frontal assault on our bedrock doctrine: the image of God. Thankfully, the spiritual roots of many abolitionists were planted deep in gospel soil, and the Word of God eventually prevailed over all opposing forces.

America was immeasurably blessed with yet another opportunity to celebrate our freedom, and to unite together as “one Nation under God.”

“O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave?”

The rights and liberties which we presently enjoy in this land come to us directly from our God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. No institution or government on Earth overrules or stands in between. Between our Creator and “we the people” there exists no mediator except the one who stands high above us all (John 14:6): “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

May His higher truth bring us together again!

Pastor Charles

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge …” (Hosea 4:6).

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God …” (1 Peter 4:17).

I am a friend to my beloved congregation, and to the dear congregations I’ve previously served. I try to be a good friend. At the same time, as a pastor, I hold a position of sacred trust.

When people invite me into their lives – to share their triumphs and their setbacks, their joys and their sorrows – I must be perpetually mindful of what it means for me to be a shepherd under Christ. Not every one of my relationships qualifies as a pastor-congregant relationship, but I must be vividly aware of what it would mean at any time for me to violate such a position of spiritual influence.

That influence is built over time, as I stand near the graves of loved ones and preach the boundless hope of the gospel. As I make hospital visits, in times both good and gut-wrenching. As I attend soccer games and dance recitals. As I seek, from the pulpit, to rightly divide the Word of God. As I help the distraught in times of crisis: relational, emotional, spiritual, financial. You name it.

But that influence also comes in an instant, simply by the title that I bear and the office where I prepare my sermons and drink my morning coffee.

It’s easy for a pastor-shepherd to wield power without fully realizing it. Deep down, we pastors know that we’re not all that special, and that the best of men are men at best. But our lack of feeling special is no excuse for letting ourselves off the hook. We’re on the hook, clearly, and have been placed on the hook by the inner call of God – followed by the confirmation of some human, ecclesiastical authority.

Abuse happens when pastors violate appropriate boundaries. Such abuse can take the form of our own misbehavior, or of the covering up of the misbehavior of someone else. In either case, it’s a tragic betrayal of the sacred trust that’s been placed in us. And it’s all too common.

Sometimes spiritual leaders try to defend their predatory activity by claiming that the relationship or the behavior was “consensual.” That excuse should never be allowed to stand, as congregants seeking spiritual care are inherently in vulnerable positions. Pastors speak words of heavy influence. We regularly handle close-to the-soul subjects like eternal salvation, right and wrong, emotional wellbeing, and morally acceptable behavior. Such subjects, by their very nature, put unsuspecting congregants at risk. They can be exploited and manipulated, and it often happens under the public radar. On a related subject, it should go without saying, but because it’s important, I’ll say it anyway: Children can’t “consent” to sexual activity.

Congregations, out of misplaced fear or embarrassment, often try to excuse or gloss over predatory behavior within their walls. What will happen to the church? What will become of our reputation? Can’t we handle this internally? Aren’t we supposed to forgive and forget?

No! After nearly 39 years of pastoral ministry, here’s my counsel: CALL THE AUTHORITIES NOW. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

If there’s been an unfair allegation – yes, these do happen – the appropriate authorities will sort that out. The local church is not the police department, or any other such agency which may be needed, and should never attempt to function as such. Remember that, by His grace and for His glory, God has instituted different spheres of authority: individual, family, church, and government. To confuse their distinct responsibilities is to work against human flourishing. Criminal behavior must be dealt with criminally.

When pastors or other religious leaders abuse, sexually or otherwise, deep spiritual wounds are inflicted upon the sheep. Our English word “trauma” comes from the Greek word that means “wound.” Abuse at the hands of a pastor is exceedingly damaging to a person’s sense of dignity and self-worth, and to that person’s ability to trust others. It cuts deep, and it shreds one’s basic sense of personhood.

The psychological, emotional, and spiritual horror comes from the betrayal of trust, the confusion of right and wrong, and the inherent but very real power differential which marks a pastor-congregant relationship. For many victims of such abuse, their understanding of faith is eroded beyond repair. That’s why “consent” doesn’t fly.

I’m glad to see what is happening in Georgia, where a key Senate committee has unanimously advanced Senate Bill 542. The bill would add “clergy” to the state’s “improper sexual contact” statute, and would allow prosecutors to bring charges when a pastor takes advantage of a counseling relationship to obtain sexual contact. If the bill becomes law, it will categorize religious leaders just like other authority figures now covered by Georgia law. As one who has observed the heart-rending fallout from pastoral sexual abuse, I view this development as necessary and helpful accountability.

Hayle Swinson, who survived abuse while a university student, testified that clergy sexual abuse is a pattern that often begins with manipulation: “It begins with trust, a pastor, a mentor, a person with spiritual authority who’s saying ‘You can trust me; this is God’s will,” all while violating you at the same time … Scripture is twisted to justify … Isolation is normalized, and boundaries are slowly eroded … This is not consent. This is coercion through power.”

I hope that this awareness, and this movement, spreads to all fifty states.

Please don’t be naïve enough to think that this is a “Catholic” problem or a problem limited to any single swath within the Church. Abuse can happen anywhere, so you and I must be vigilant to protect all people – children and adults – in the name of Christ.

I’m calling upon my fellow pastors, specifically, to join me in working together to make our laws as broadly protective as possible.

We should settle for nothing less.

Pastor Charles

I’ve finally gotten the nerve to tackle this publicly.

Jesus warned: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).

Lust. It’s a universal struggle. And yet I find a widespread lack of knowledge regarding this critical word.

The reason that I want to take this up today is because I believe that the devil loves to get us looking for sin in all the wrong places. That way, we’re almost certain to miss the real stuff.

In the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus issues the warning about looking at people with lustful intent, He reiterates the Old Testament prohibition against adultery, which we know from the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) as the Seventh Commandment: “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Within that specific context, our Lord includes the subject of looking at someone with a certain kind of desire. He is warning against an adultery of the heart.

But don’t miss this: In the serious warning spoken by Jesus, the word translated into English as “lust” is actually the same word that’s used in the ancient Greek translation of the Bible – known as the Septuagint – to translate the word “covet” in the Tenth Commandment: “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17). As He connects the Seventh and Tenth Commandments, Jesus explains that lustful intent is the heart-level root of adultery.

So, from the Scriptures, let me be clear.

Our sexuality is not lust.

Our sexual desire is not lust.

Our sexual energy is not lust.

Lust involves something more.

Lust is an insatiable hunger to possess or consume things that don’t belong to us. Things which God has not given us. At the heart of many of our sins is, in fact, the root of greed. We covet. Adultery is an excellent example: “I’ll steal my neighbor’s wife.”

I want to propose today the idea that Christ’s teaching here is grace on steroids. Jesus isn’t imprisoning us in a fear of our own thoughts, but He is inviting us to shift our focus to the real problem: Am I really trusting God to supply what I need? It’s my contention that this theme underlies the entire Sermon on the Mount.

You and I are to treat other people properly and selflessly, and to love them deeply – as we’ve been loved by God. Lust is the antithesis of such love, as lust reduces human beings to mere objects for our own satisfaction. No woman is an object. No person is an object. Lust tells me that God isn’t enough, and that He’s not big enough to take care of me, and to meet my needs, and He really doesn’t want me to be happy at all – so God can’t be trusted. Lust is a liar.

When we come to understand the text in this way, we realize that what Jesus is not attacking us for thoughts that we might entertain, however fleetingly, and for real longings that are actually a perfectly normal part of how God designed us to operate.

God is not anti-sex. It was His idea, after all. What He wants is for us to love and care for others. The way in which He has called us to live for His glory is the way that leads to our deepest joy. God isn’t anti-happiness either. In fact, He’s anything but.

God hardwired us to desire intimacy with others. And God built into us powerful physical and soul-level attractions. Deeply invested in knowing and serving others is how we grow and thrive as human beings.

Misunderstanding lust empowers lust.

When the Bible warns against “the desires of the flesh” (e.g., Galatians 5:17), we’re misguided when we think of “flesh” as simply a reference to our physical bodies. The root of the word is closer to “selfishness” or “self-centeredness.” When you and I fail to understand this correctly, we set ourselves up for a world of harmful doctrine. Authentic Christianity is not ashamed of the physical body, or of the natural desires of the physical body. They’re part of our humanness, and we should thank God for them. To distinguish the spirit from the body in a black-and-white, good-versus-evil manner is closer to the ancient heresy of Gnosticism than to the life-giving gospel of Jesus.

Solid Bible exegesis reveals that, in this life, the spirit and the body are inseparable. Of course, the worship of self is idolatry, and contrary to God’s will for us. But acknowledging the self, and caring for the self, is not sinful. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).

One more thing. I think it’s important. Martin Luther said, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” In my research on the word “lust” in the Bible, I recognized that lust – properly understood – is more than a thought. It is an inclination of the will to secure or act upon some object of our desire.

It’s more than, “Wow! That looks good.”

It’s, “I’m going to have that for myself, and I don’t care who I hurt in order to have it.”

In brutal honesty, as long as we’re still breathing, you and I will continue to experience the “Wow! That looks good.” We don’t age out of that this side of heaven.

Do not despise your humanness. Shaming out over your humanness in never the way of Christ, who came to us “fully human in every way” (Hebrews 2:17). For you were created in the very image of God.

Pastor Charles

“Great moments are born from great opportunity.”

It was the opening line of one of the most profound speeches in sports history. Herb Brooks (1937 – 2003), the coach of the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team, encouraged his men in the locker room right before USA faced the Soviet Union at Lake Placid.

I’ve always been a sucker for an underdog story. You may remember it as the “Miracle on Ice.”

Sunday, following their amazing overtime gold medal victory in Milan – with the world watching – Team USA honored the late Johnny Gaudreau by welcoming his children, Noa and Johnny Jr., onto the ice for the official team photograph.

I hope you’re enjoying this moment, friends. Don’t waste it! It’s right and good to celebrate when there’s something good to celebrate. It’s good advice in any season: “Rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:15).

Few things are more Christlike than a life punctuated by appropriate celebration. Such times of unexpected joy – in whatever manner you and I may get to share in the gold medal moment – lift our weary hearts, lighten our heavy burdens, and fuel us with fresh courage and hope.

I smile when I think of Jesus turning the water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. Jesus tended to R.S.V.P. “yes,” it seems. While He walked this earth, Jesus, the Son of God who’d known fellowship with the angels of heaven, enjoyed dinner parties thrown by tax collectors. We know from Scripture that Jesus was known to have so much uninhibited fun with the people around Him that He was accused of being “a glutton and a drunkard” (Matthew 11:19).

So don’t miss the moment.

The trials and storms and tears of life can certainly take the wind out of our sails. We know that. But to know Christ is to know the rest of the story. The Lord is good, and His goodness can be eclipsed – but not erased. As the startled women learned at the empty tomb: “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said (Matthew 28:6).”

God’s smiles come in different shapes and sizes.

God’s smiles come from the strangest of directions, and through the strangest of circumstances.

God’s smiles may come in the final hour.

God’s smiles may come in victories which look nothing like victories.

As the Apostle Paul testified: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him” (Philippians 3:8-9).

Because it’s true, that sentiment lives on. After Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes scored his first point in the Winter Olympics, he affirmed: “Jesus is everything. He’s Lord of my life. He’s Lord of all my life because if He’s not Lord of everything, He’s not Lord at all. If the Lord wanted to take hockey away from me tomorrow, I’m still good. My identity is not in this sport. My relationship with Christ is the only thing that doesn’t change.”

How can we not celebrate !?!

So don’t miss a single smile.

That locker-room speech went on to unleash the inconceivable: “If we played them ten times, they might win nine. But not this game, not tonight. Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight we shut them down because we can. Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world.”

Thanks, Coach.

Losses come to every life. But not tonight.

Pastor Charles

I’ve been paying attention to the Jeffrey Epstein fallout. Maybe too much attention, honestly. It grieves me more than just about anything I’ve followed in a long time.

Among recently released files on the website of the U.S. Department of Justice, I read an email dated March 17, 2013 (6:03 p.m.). In the subject line, Epstein titled it “uncensored comments.” It’s a rambling series of complaints about the ways – mostly terrible in Epstein’s mind – in which a certain high-profile charitable foundation made decisions regarding how its money was spent.

One particular objection raised by Epstein caught my eye: “Can’t they come up with a better foundation structure and goal. Then to make the ludicrous statement that every life is equal.”

Wow. Just wow.

Therein may lie the problem.

Therein may lie the darkness.

Therein may lie the fatal flaw.

Friends, it’s in Chapter 1 for a reason: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).

This one amazing reality has set the stage for human rights in Western Civilization for the past 2000 years. It’s why our nation’s Declaration of Independence insists that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Quite foolishly, many among the “intelligentsia” want to jettison our Judeo-Christian moorings – and, consequently, the truth that we’re created in God’s image. Tragically, as we “exchange the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:25), we’re actually erasing the primary justification for treating others the way we all long to be treated: as valuable equals. If there’s no image of God, then some people can be deemed worthless.

In James 3, the precise reason that we’re given by the Bible to not curse another person is because everyone is made in the image of Almighty God. Every single claim to dignity and worth is born of this great truth. To do violence to another person is to strike the beautiful One in whose image they are made. We love our neighbor by honoring God’s own image in them. You and I must never forget that we humans – all of us – are God’s “very good” creation.

Unlike the divine conceptions of many religions – as well as much of our popular entertainment – God is not an impersonal force or the universe expressing itself. God has a mind, a will, and even emotions. He is personal, self-aware, and purposeful. As reflections of Himself, God has graciously granted us the gift of personhood – and uniquely so among all of His created order.

You can be among the elite of the elite and fail to understand this. And the consequences are deadly. God’s Word is crystal clear, as that same chapter in James describes a sophisticated but phony “wisdom” that is in fact earthly, carnal, and demonic in nature. You’ll find that word “demonic” in James 3:15, and it underlies every thought pattern which degrades human beings. Read for yourself. It leads to “jealousy, selfish ambition, disorder, and every vile practice.”

Every. Vile. Practice.

Let me be clear. As a society, we find the Epstein accusations horrific because of Christianity. Before the spread of the gospel, “civilized” Roman and Greek elites indulged openly in underage sex slaves. It was considered normal and acceptable behavior. Emperor Hadrian built an entire city to celebrate his young male lover. But what I most want to note from history is that all such sin has at its heart an attempted erasure of the image of God in us and others.

In “The Weight of Glory,” C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963) offered us a stirring challenge: “The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never met a mere mortal.”

Every life has sacred dignity. Every soul will exist for eternity. Every person has been created for a unique purpose. Eric Liddell (1902 – 1945), the Olympic gold medalist, known to many as “the Flying Scotsman,” expressed it like this: “I believe God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” Every believer is gifted of God.

In sharp objection to Jeffrey Epstein’s objection, I take my stand upon the ludicrous truth that every life is equal.

Every. Life.

Every life matters.

Every life matters forever.

As I was preparing this blog posting, it suddenly dawned on me that Jeffrey Epstein wrote the email that I shared with you on Saint Patrick’s Day. How ironic! The man whom we remember as “Saint Patrick” (c. 387 – 461) was the faithful follower of Christ who literally revolutionized the concept of human dignity in Ireland – flowing from there to much of the world. His message of grace was for everyone, as Patrick – a former slave himself, now thoroughly committed to Christ’s liberating gospel – contended that every person possesses intrinsic worth in the eyes of our God and Creator. Patrick believed that the most vulnerable are our equals. He spent his life as a faithful preacher and transformer of culture, advocating tirelessly against all human abuses – including human trafficking.

And Patrick’s prayer fits us well right now …

“May the Strength of God guide us.

May the Power of God preserve us.

May the Wisdom of God instruct us.

May the Hand of God protect us.

May the Way of God direct us.

May the Shield of God defend us.

May the Angels of God guard us.

– Against the snares of the evil one.”

Pastor Charles

I’m old enough to remember Whitney Houston’s 1991 performance of our National Anthem. Truly unforgettable. Admittedly, it spoiled me. It also allowed me to really enjoy Charlie Puth’s rendition at yesterday’s Super Bowl LX. Such a class act. The perfectly timed fighter-jet flyover by the U.S. Air Force and Navy was the icing on the cake.

I may be in the minority, but I believe that sporting events – particularly national ones – should unite people (team loyalties notwithstanding). None of us benefits from the politicization of every single subject and moment, which is where we find ourselves right now. It’s exhausting, and we all need a break.

Particularly, I think that God’s people should shoulder some of the responsibility to help redirect the cultural narrative – at least in part. According to Jesus, we’re both salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16).

That’s why I’m directing your attention to Charlie Puth. I’ll include his own words: “Thank you to the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, the Sainted Choir, the Color of Noize Orchestra, Steve Hackman, and Kenny G for joining me on stage. And thank you Adam Blackstone for writing such a beautiful choir part. I love music so much.” I’m sharing that particular quote because I appreciate the incredible collaboration demanded by a spectacular performance like that.

I can’t speak for you, but from my perspective, “collaboration” sounds good right now. I’m all for it. The beauty of America can’t be captured by any one musical style. So I was thrilled that the anthem’s sound was a masterful blend of R&B, soul, and pop. (I’m not a musician, so forgive me if I blur some lines that shouldn’t be blurred. I’m just giving you my take on it.)

I think it honored Whitney, and I think it was supposed to honor Whitney. So it was new, and it was old – at the same time. I hope I’m not making too much of this, but I really believe that America could use more of it right now. A spirit which honors the past and the present – and which sounds a hopeful, warm, intergenerational tone for America’s future. I acknowledge that, when it comes to entertainment, not every song can be “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But I believe that the creative blending of styles serves us well right now.

And this leads me to the main question that I want to pose today: Do we who follow Jesus recognize the unique moment that is ours to make Christ – the one who came to tear down every wall of hostility – known in a world suffering under the crushing weight of division?

I’m not making this up, friends. We serve the Christ who came expressly to destroy “the dividing wall of hostility” that alienated us from God and from each other (Ephesians 2:11-22). “He Himself is our peace.” This is our ultimate spiritual vision for the world! Until that is a reality in all its fullness, you and I are “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1).

We are not bigshots. We are servants. We’re on the Lord’s ship, but we’re the under-rowers down below. We don’t get to be the Captain – that spot is filled beautifully – and our worth is derived from the honor and joy that are ours to serve the Captain.

The Captain has entrusted us to steward our responsibilities well. God has drawn us into His work of gospel reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). “We regard no one according to the flesh.” That means that we choose to lay aside our preconceptions about others, and regard them as people who need Jesus just like we do – the same Jesus. Among the “mysteries” which we are stewarding is the truth that some of those who show no signs of it now are actually among our fellow heirs to the kingdom of God.

That makes life really exciting! Because it frees us to see people through the eyes of Christ. Among those who look like enemies are some who’ll soon be brothers, sisters, and friends! That’s how it works when the King of the kingdom is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Christ is building a multicultural community of faith – His Church – strangely but wondrously united under the single banner of His goodness and love.

You and I don’t have to be brilliant or impressive. Christ just wants us to be faithful as we live to make Him known.

So here’s my challenge for you, and for myself. Ask the Lord what is your next step toward living as salt and light in our divided land. Remember what Jesus taught us about our talents (Matthew 25:14-30). We don’t want to bury them. We want to multiply them. We want to multiply the treasure that is in us – the gifts which we’ve been given. We want the Lord to live His life of resurrection victory in and through us (Galatians 2:20)! You and I might not be asked to be part of the pregame show lineup, but we’ve been called to a sphere of influence which is just as valuable in the economy of God.

Super Bowls will come and go. But, year in and year out, may you and I be known as the people of Jesus. Sometimes we have to stand against the darkness, but let’s always make sure that we’re standing FOR the Light!

We know what sin looks like. We’ve seen it on the pages of Scripture. We’ve seen it in the world. We’ve seen it in us. As we advocate against unrighteousness, born out of sheer love for our neighbor, may we with even greater energy advocate for something far greater. After all: “We are ambassadors for Christ!”

The English churchman Thomas Fuller (1608 – 1661) penned the phrase: “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” Perhaps, in America, our Lord will transform the twilight’s last gleaming by the dawn’s early light of an empty tomb.

Pastor Charles

When it comes to real life, are Adam and Eve any more relevant than Hansel and Gretel?

A leading Christian apologist, beloved in many conservative and evangelical theological circles, now claims that Adam and Eve were non-homosapien cavemen that lived 750,000 years ago.

This view of our first parents is concerning, and I believe it’s loaded with serious implications. And, if you will allow me, I’d like to address a handful of the key implications in the form of “why Adam and Eve matter” …

1. Adam and Eve matter because their real lives begin the record of human history. As a lover of literature, I’m not at all oblivious to the literary styles included within Genesis 1-3. Of course, the account reads as a compelling story – not as a science textbook. I totally get that. In fact, I would make the case that to try to reduce early Genesis to “science” would be to completely miss the main point. The earliest chapters of the Bible are much more important than that. Genesis is the story of the origin of humankind. But let me remind you: Just because it’s a story, doesn’t mean that it’s not true. In fact, it’s entirely true, my friends, because it’s the Word of the living God!

2. Adam and Eve matter because they’re referenced in the Scriptures subsequent to Genesis. And they’re never referenced in a metaphorical sense whatsoever. Instead, the Bible always presents them as actual historical figures. Consider the genealogy of Christ as it’s recorded in Luke 3:23-38. It doesn’t just connect the dots back to Abraham – but all the way to Adam. And consider our Savior’s own words (Matthew 19:4-6; see also Mark 10:6-9): “He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’” In my opinion, our Lord Jesus validated the historicity of early Genesis.

3. Adam and Eve matter because they underlie many of the Bible’s core doctrinal propositions. By way of example, our first parents are central to our understanding of original sin and the fall of man – which includes the Bible’s clear explanation of humanity’s moral accountability to God. I offer Romans 5:12 as Exhibit A: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned –” I don’t see how it’s possible to keep the Bible intact while diminishing the personhood of Adam and Eve. It’s my contention that the veracity of Genesis 1-11 underlies the reliability of the doctrines which follow. Genesis presents Adam and Eve as actual people in a specific place and time. It’s difficult to square an honest reading of the narrative with the idea that Adam and Eve were a pair of hominids elevated to human status. And I don’t see how you can hold to generations of death prior to sin – any kind of death – without undermining essential Christian doctrine.

4. Adam and Eve matter because the gospel is at stake. The Apostle Paul understood Adam to be nothing less than the very first man created by God … the historical figure whose sin universally plunged all humanity into death … the representative moral head of the human race … and a prominent type – a theological pattern – of the Christ who was to come. Paul’s reasoning for the good news of Jesus requires Adam’s historicity (1 Corinthians 15:19-22) – linking Adam’s literal act of pride and rebellion to Christ’s literal, gracious, saving, and redemptive work accomplished by His bloody cross and His gloriously empty tomb!

5. Adam and Eve matter because intellectual approval often comes at a steep price. I know that some apologists seek to squeeze Christian doctrine into a form that’s compatible with modern scientific evidence. But we must be careful not to compromise the truth as God has chosen to reveal it to us. Ultimately, we know that the Bible and science are not at war with each other – in fact, both reflect the glory of our great God. Affirming Scripture doesn’t require a prima facie dismissal of empirical and rational evidence. But I agree with Martin Luther that theology is the “queen of the sciences.” Regardless of the world’s potential applause, we who know Christ must be careful that the cart is not driving the horse. Relegating Adam and Eve to mere symbols of human imperfection would be a fatal flaw.

6. Adam and Eve matter because they teach us an important principle, namely, that the “science” to which many appeal in refuting them isn’t pure science. Many, without realizing it, are appealing completely to philosophy – not science. And some “science” rests entirely on an atheistic worldview. For example, I’ve read a little on the subject of population genetics (bottom line: humans couldn’t have originated from a single couple). These studies depend largely on an evolutionary paradigm, and they’re obviously unvalidated. They don’t adequately take into account variables like population structure, migration, selective mating, and the like. Much of it is, in my opinion, observation with questionable conclusions. Always remember: Mixing atheistic philosophy with theology is inherently dangerous.

7. Adam and Eve matter because they remind each one of us of our human limitations. Though you and I do not, our Lord walks on the water! If we are trusting in a sovereign God who operates above and beyond space, time, and the laws of physical science, then we shouldn’t be the least bit surprised when we reach a place in our study where some things – many things – are beyond our understanding. I believe that some of our questions regarding creation and origins fall into this resoundingly humbling category. From my own study, for example: How were “evening and morning” measured before there was a sun? Admittedly, I still have absolutely no idea, but it really doesn’t matter that I can’t explain that. Our infinite Creator’s supranatural acts are, by definition, way above our pay grade.

I hope that I haven’t bored you with my ramblings today, but I really believe that this matters. Adam and Eve matter. Where our understanding of some of the details leaves us still wondering – that’s precisely as it should be – we can rest in the character of our perfect Christ. You and I don’t have to understand everything right now, and it’s best to stay humble this side of heaven.

Sometimes we’re too smart for our own good. Relying on our own cleverness is a central theme in many fairy tales, including “Hansel and Gretel” and others. Based on our modern sensibilities, James Finn Garner has humorously rewritten the classic tale of “Little Red Riding Hood”: “The wolf said, ‘You know, my dear, it isn’t safe for a little girl to walk through these woods alone.’ Red Riding Hood said, ‘I find your sexist remark offensive in the extreme, but I will ignore it because of your traditional status as an outcast from society, the stress of which has caused you to develop your own, entirely valid, worldview. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be on my way.’”

I’m so glad we’re not resting on a fairy tale.

Pastor Charles