GOSPEL BEAUTY ON DISPLAY

During the month of February, with Valentine’s Day as the occasion, advertisers and other purveyors of culture naturally emphasize romantic love. The proliferation of balloons, cards and chocolate, while a delightful opportunity to  appreciate “beloved ones” is accompanied by the darker side of Cupid. What in former times was delicately  veiled and enjoyed within the protection of marriage is emblazoned on magazine covers, graphically described in popular music, and endlessly forwarded and tweeted about on social media platforms. Our children are flooded with ideas, words, images assumptions and expectations about sexual experience that are difficult to filter. As followers of Christ, living under his rule of Agape love, we as parents have been given a wonderful gift to help us steer our children through these turbulent waters.

In Mark 1, we are introduced to the concept of “the gospel” in the very first sentence, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”,  or to put it in a more expanded way : “The start of the good news of Jesus the divine rescuing King”. Later in verse 14  “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  No cross is mentioned, no sin is mentioned, no resurrection mentioned. Instead, Jesus’ gospel is that 1) the time is fulfilled and, 2) the kingdom of God has arrived. What is going on here and how does this help parents?

Jesus understood himself as the climax of a huge story. Throughout the New Testament reference is made to Jesus’ ministry including his death and resurrection as the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament (e.g. Luke 24:25-27). His coming inaugurated God’s rule on Earth: the overthrow of rebellious spiritual rulers , the rescue of a humanity that had be enslaved to sin and death, the unification of Jews and Gentiles into one people empowered to live in perfect fellowship with God. Now, anyone who is in Christ is part of a renewed humanity, living lives of others-focused, self-giving love just as our Divine King has done. It is a beautiful, magnificent story, with a divinely given, Holy Spirit empowered calling! And it effects everything we do, think  and say.

Flash forward to now.

As we—Christian parents—grow in our capacity to grasp the immense love of God for us displayed in Christ, and the beyond-our-wildest-imagination privilege we have as belonging to God’s divine family, we must paint in vivid colors the beautiful vision of the good news: God’s divinely-appointed King has established God’s Kingdom and we can all live in it — right now. When we talk about learning, or playing, or music, or marriage, nature or anything, we bring the good news about the Right-Now-Kingdom-of- God into the conversation. We commend to our children the beautiful vision of a deeply loving, merciful Creator, a self-giving rescuing Savior, and an ever-present teaching, guiding, helping and comforting Holy Spirit who free us from the chains of depression, anxiety, hopelessness, loneliness, worthlessness, bitterness and every other torment of that other kingdom . We have been given everything we need to live in the new Kingdom and to lives of joy in the face of difficulties and hope in the face of suffering. Our worth and value are unshakable because we are hidden inside the perfection of Jesus.

We are not called to be fearful of our culture: it is passing away. We are not called to be anxious parents: we have a Heavenly Father who cares for us and for them. There is a place and a time to talk with our children about the empty temptation and confusion that our culture offers up under the guise of sexual pleasure and fulfillment. It is tempting for us to focus on the negative consequences of engaging in sexual contact outside of a marriage covenant… but that is not the best way.

The best way, or as Paul put it , the more excellent way, is to commend a massive and breath-takingly beautiful vision of life in the Kingdom of the Beloved Son, including the complimentary nature and shared purpose of male and female image-bearers of God, and God’s design for sexual union in Marriage. To paraphrase a well-known hymn, when you consistently show the beauty in the face of Christ, “the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace”.

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QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. Are you fearful and anxious for your children when you think of the direction our culture is moving in?
2. When thinking on the topic of sexuality—especially in regards to teaching your children—do you mostly think about the negative consequences of sexual sin (e.g. disease, teenage pregnancy, gender confusion, divorce) or do you think with wonder and joy at God’s design for men and women, living in a community of love, whether married or unmarried?
3. Has your grasp on the massively beautiful story of God’s love revealed in scripture, in Jesus and in your own life, grown over time?
4. How can you make a beautiful picture of the gospel central to all your discussions about life with you children?
5. Read Ephesians 3:14-21. Paul prays for the Ephesians to have supernatural power by the Holy Spirit to grow in their comprehension of God’s love so that they may filled with the “fullness of God”, in order to live like He lives. Take time to pray for yourself and your children this way. God’s love is so massive, you can’t understand it without His help.

Treasuring Good News Amidst the Bad

America’s moral, cultural and societal trajectory is disturbing to many Christians. These changes are particularly worrying when they impact our children. Among other things, parents are forced to have conversations about sexuality, pornography, and identity in a manner and on a timetable we likely would not have chosen. News headlines once reflecting realities “out there” are now openly discussed in elementary school classrooms. In the midst of anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed, its good to reflect on what is true. When we treasure Gods’ Word—the definitive proclamation about reality—we can be at peace in the storm and give our children the gift of an unshakable and certain hope.

To begin, here are five pieces of Good News:

1. John 10:14-15 The Good Shepherd knows his sheep, and they recognize his voice. They will come when he calls. Lost family members, friends, even those who seem hostile to the kingdom of God may find themselves listening to the call of love; a strong, kind voice above the din of lies and deception that permeate our modern lives.
2. Hebrews 7:23-24 Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who come to him. As John Wesley wrote, “all the guilt, power, root, and consequence of sin” are destroyed by the work of Jesus. He is in the business of transforming lives.
3. John 3:8, John 16:8-11 Nothing can prevent the Spirit’s ongoing role in calling people to trust in the Wounded Son of God who rescues the lost sons and daughters of Adam & Eve.
4. 2 Timothy 3:12-15 Jesus told us in advance how this world’s pattern plays out and what we are to do in the meantime as we wait for the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior.
5. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 Resting in the love of Christ, he always leads us in triumphant procession and the aroma of our lives is breathed in by those who will respond to God’s gift of life.

AVOIDING THE TRAP OF A BLURRY GOSPEL
Without being immersed in the renewing Gospel of Peace, we fall into fear and anxiety and end up sharing a blurry gospel, obscured with side issues.

In a recent conversation regarding morality in America,  I found I had accidentally drifted into a political “fencing match”. Undoubtedly, there are important political, cultural, and social implications of the Gospel. Loving your neighbor as yourself in a multi-cultural, global economy must have public expression. But without the initial gift of grace, any external shift is a surface change.

SPIRITUAL TRAINING: GROWING IN GRACE
The best training we can commit to, for ourselves and our children, is to uncover the depths of the riches of the God’s love so that we who have been forgiven much can love much. Just as Paul, set aside the lofty speech and human wisdom of the Greek philosophers of his day (1 Corinthians 2:1-2), we should “resolve to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified”.

Training our minds with the knowledge of God informs our actions in the world. Remembering  we are a people in possession of a certain, living and unshakable hope, we don’t lose heart or give in to despair. Acknowledging we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, we endure evil without bitterness and personal indignation. Recalling Christ came for sinners of whom we are the worst, we have great love and grace toward each other and the lost:  the calling card of those who follow Jesus (John 13:35).

SHARING THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
My house is often disorderly and cluttered; “creative chaos” is how I like to think of it. The point is, the state of my house would likely raise the eyebrows of the immaculately neat. If we are honest, sometimes we wish others in our society would simply conform to our personal moral standards instead of making our lives more challenging and our television-watching options more narrow. We might not particularly care if they were still dead in their sin as long as it didn’t splash on us. This is not the gospel. The gospel targets something much deeper than individual sins: righteousness.

When we think of the Good News about Jesus the King, repentance from sin is front-and-center. A Kingdom mindset requires us to understand the morally perfect nature of  God, a standard of righteousness required for all who would live with Him in His Kingdom. John the Baptist proclaimed that the reason for repentance from rebellion to God was because “the Kingdom of God is at hand”. John’s was a general call based on the general reality of the rebellious treason against God’s rule at the center of the human heart that had existed since the Fall in Genesis 3. But was this a call to “clean up your act” in order to merit a place in God’s Kingdom? That seems like a righteousness based on human effort. What about “through grace alone by faith alone”?

After describing the ineffectiveness of the Law to generate inner righteousness. Paul gives a shout of joy:

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. … It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  — Romans 3:20-26

To stand in God’s righteous presence, in God’s righteous Kingdom, we are GIVEN God’s righteousness through trust in the saving work of Jesus who died on the cross to rescue us from sin and death and lives to give us life.

Here’s where repentance comes in. Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount that “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” will have their hunger completely satisfied. Those who hunger for the righteousness only God can give, cast away all rebellion and self-righteousness, eagerly anticipating the appearing of the “bread of heaven” that alone gives life and, when He appears, put their trust in Him alone, the only Way to Truly know the Life-giver. (1 John 4:9-10)

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
To bring this airplane in for a landing, here’s what we can “teach” ourselves and pass on to our children:

1. We ourselves were once prevented, by our own inadequate self-righteousness, from enjoying the life-giving presence of God, the author and source of all that is good, beautiful and enjoyable. (Titus 3:3).
2. Because of His great love, God temporarily overlooked our sins (Romans 3:25-26) until He provided us with His own righteousness through His beloved Son by means of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:4-6) and not because of any good thing we could do.
3. As a result, we now have the righteousness of God, an equal inheritance of eternal life and are being renewed so that we now live and think like our Father in Heaven (Titus 3:7, Romans 12:2). Everyone who has put on the righteousness of God, is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
4.  As a result of this new creation reality, we find ourselves increasingly in conflict with the righteous standards of imperfect, humanity (John 3:20). In fact, we are guaranteed two things: 1) if we want to live in this new, righteous life of our adoptive Father, we will face persecution, and 2) people who reject Jesus will continue down a slope of unrighteous living ( 2 Timothy 3:12-13). But we don’t let those things bother us or stop us from sharing this live-saving Good News, because Jesus, God in the Flesh, willingly suffered rejection so we could have his righteousness (Hebrews 12:1-3).
5. Now, we are ambassadors of reconciliation—we can meet God’s demands of perfect righteousness offered in Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:20). Since our future is assured and we have fellowship with God that can’t be taken away (Romans 8:38-39), we aren’t silent in sharing that God’s Kingdom has drawn near and is open to all who turn from their own self-righteousness and receive the perfect righteousness of the Risen Son. No sin is too ugly, no sinner too distasteful for Jesus, who came to our rescue in full agreement with the Father’s love (1 Timothy 1:15) .
6. Everyone who hears and trusts in the righteousness of Jesus is a full participant in the story (2 Peter 1:1) and receives the full, rich, quality of life and unshakable future hope that Jesus came to give (John 10:10).

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
Imagine a conversation with someone who holds onto their own righteousness (e.g. “My lifestyle is OK.” “I can do what I want with my body/money/time” “I can define myself anyway I choose” “As long as I don’t hurt anyone else…”. “The government agrees with me”, “I’m basically a good person, I never killed anyone.” etc.) 

1. How would you share the good news about the Kingdom of God and the way through Christ to enter into friendship with God?
   • What potential pitfalls would you need to be aware of to prevent slipping into a political or sociological discussion?
2. Do news headlines cause anxiety and fear? Does it help to know that we are promised a degree of suffering? Does it help to remember what Christ endured to rescue you?
3. Is it helpful to think about self-righteousness vs. God’s righteousness rather than the sins of others vs. Christian morality?
   • How can you communicate this in a discussion with someone who has not turned from their self-righteousness to receive God’s righteousness?
4. How will this understanding change your conversations with your children about the issues they face in the media, in school, and with their peers?
   • How might you differentiate between good moral behavior and the righteousness of God?
   • How do you differentiate between the good works that grow out of the new life in Christ and the morality that is common to most people from every nation and culture?

DOUBT IS NOT THE ENEMY OF FAITH

In popular imagination, faith and doubt are pitted against each other, especially in the realm of religion. Were you to ask the average person what ‘faith’ and ‘doubt’ bring to mind, you’d probably get a religion-centric response; not scientific progress, marriage, political concerns, or their own economic future although all those things also involve faith and doubt. Doubt is no stranger in the life of a Christian, often generating deep internal conflict. Having a clearer, Bible-informed understanding of doubt and its relationship to our Christian hope can ease our internal conflict and help us to navigate through times of doubt.

WHAT IS DOUBT, ANYWAY?
Like faith, doubt is not a tangible thing but is a state of being. Doubt is part of our reasoning faculties and is necessary due to the limits of human knowledge. Doubt indicates that what you know about reality has come into conflict with information that seems to contradict that knowledge. Your mental picture of what you ‘know’ to be true has to be updated to include or account for the confusion.

CONFLICT OF THE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN
For example, if you had to swing across a rocky pit on an old rope hanging from an old tree limb, your limited knowledge of the rope’s ability to hold you and the sturdiness of the branch stand in opposition to the sure knowledge that a plunge into a rocky pit will likely inflict bodily harm results in doubt regarding your survival. Until you were in that specific situation, you never had the opportunity to doubt: it is conflict of known and unknown that produce doubt.

DOUBT IN THE BIBLE
As discussed in a previous post, YHWH highly values trusting, relational cooperation: faith. Contrary to  claims by skeptics, this relational trust is reasonable. In the Old Testament faith is never required without sufficient evidence given of YHWH’s identity, character, nature, and power. This is as true of Jesus, (God with us) in the New Testament as it is in the Old Testament.

John 10:25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me

 

John 10:38 “even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

 

John 14:11 “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”

Jesus repeatedly states that ample evidence has been provided to support his claims; trust at this point is more than reasonable.

To return to the analogy of the rope and rocky pit, if you took time to test the rope and branch and determined that it would hold you, or if you saw a larger person swing over first, the unknown factors causing your doubts would be sufficiently addressed to make the rope swing option reasonable. In the same way, the God of the Bible has provided ample evidence throughout history to support his claims of faithfulness, kindness, goodness, and love toward His people, notably in Christ’s death on the cross (Rom. 5:8).

DOUBTING THOMAS
The Christian life is a life of interpersonal faith: reasonable, trusting cooperation in YHWH, the three-in-one God of scripture, what He has done and what He has promised. Repeatedly in the gospels, Jesus explains his nature and purpose, provides signs to authenticate his claims, then calls people into a trusting relationship with the Father through himself, the Son. Having been Jesus’ constant companion for three years would have given Thomas adequate proof to trust that Jesus had risen from the dead. But in light of our understanding of doubt as conflict of known and unknown, I think Thomas’s response was completely reasonable.

Thomas knew about the brutality and professionalism of Roman soldiers regarding crucified prisoners. Besides Jesus, no one he knew could raise the dead back to life, and now Jesus was certainly dead. This new knowledge came in direct conflict with his previous ‘knowledge’ about Jesus. In his understanding, death was the ultimate unknown, the unsolvable, untestable end of all trust. Yet Thomas offered a criteria for overcoming his doubt, a way to “test the rope” and solve the doubt conflict: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25). Jesus did not disappoint:

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:27)

Jesus respected Thomas’s need without judgement, offering him the very evidence he required to overcome his doubt. Only after supplying the necessary proof does he call Thomas to renewed trust: Do not disbelieve, but believe.

DOUBT AS AN OPPORTUNITY
The nature of loving relationship requires active trust (faith). Inter-relational trust is dynamic, not static. Episodes of doubt can serve to increase trust, love and enjoyment in another person. Doubt is therefore not an enemy of faith (or love) but an opportunity to reaffirm the inter-relational connection with the Personal God of history.

AN ILLUSTRATION FROM MARRIAGE
A couple considering marriage provides an excellent example of how doubt is opportunity. One or both parties in an engagement can have ‘cold feet’; doubt about whether or not to go ahead with the marriage. Most often nothing has changed with the other person: the doubts are not (usually) due to a complete misunderstanding of the future spouse’s character or intentions. Instead, the unknown future of a married life, its challenges, demands and dependence on another person, creates a conflict. Reviewing the proven qualities and character of one’s spouse-to-be and considering the wise counsel and example of older married couples can overcome the future doubts, not by guaranteeing certainty, but by providing reasonable grounds to step forward into the adventure of marriage.

BAD DOUBT
In closing, I should note that there is a wicked kind of doubt. Doubting someone who has always been faithful to you, or who has provided ample evidence of  their trustworthiness or ability without cause is unjust. When the one being doubted is the Triune God of Everything, this kind of doubt is literally inexcusable.

In the garden of Eden, Eve was deceived by the serpent who slandered YHWH’s credibility. Taking the word of a lesser being over the word of God, Eve’s previous knowledge of God’s goodness was tarnished by alternate ‘facts’ resulting in tragedy for all of humanity.

In the New Testament, Paul animatedly denounces the Judaizers who had added circumcision to the gospel:

Foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith (Galatians 3:1-5)

Paul indicates that the Galatians had ample evidence of the truth of the gospel through the Miracle-producing presence of the holy Spirit. Doubt in the face of overwhelming proof can not be rationally explained; it is either the result of deceptive “bewitchment” or will-full ingratitude and rejection (Romans 1:18-23).

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. Have you viewed doubt as something to be avoided and feared?
2. Do you avoid books, speeches, films, etc. because you think they will shake your faith?
3. Does your working definition of doubt see it as an opportunity to know and trust the Savior more?
4. Can you think of anytime in the Bible in which God provided no proof of his power or authority prior to asking for an exercise of relational trust?
5. Is absolute certainty a requirement for the relationships you have? Does absolute certainty or reasonable certain better characterize human activity?
6. How can the definitions of Faith and Doubt in this article give you greater confidence in how you live and share your Christian hope?

Can Small Children be Christians?

How do you answer this question? Ever given it thought or looked to scripture to form a bible-based understanding? Whether explicitly stated or not, your answer to the above question determine a whole list of attitudes and actions. Your answer also reveal your fundamental thoughts on what the gospel is and what it means to be a Christian. Without hyperbole, your answer to this question has far-reaching consequences for every child you interact with.

Various Christian traditions hold views relating to children on a host of topics ranging from infant baptism to the mysterious “age of accountability”. These various ideas shape doctrine and practice of devout believers. Rather than addressing any of these ideas however, I devote this article to accomplishing three tasks: [1] note the likely outcomes for answering the questions positively or negatively,  [2] identify a theological issue that shapes how we think about this question in the first place, and [3] use this understanding to define an answer formed by God’s word.

Jesus said that “where your treasure is , there will your heart be also”. We spend time, energy and money on the things we value. Congregations or individuals who do not believe children can be Christians will not devote resources to making disciples of children. At best, people with this mindset will want to surround children with gospel-tinged songs, activities, and content so that they have a Christian foundation in hopes that these children will some day come to faith when they are older, perhaps in Middle or High school. Any overtures to faith expressed by children may only be imitation of adults without complete knowledge of Christian doctrine; cute and endearing, but ultimately of little value. It is difficult to feel enthusiasm or feel impelled to participate in an activity where no immediate fruit is expected or believed to be possible.

At the center of the discussion is a confusion over the nature of salvation. This confusion shows up generally in how we evangelize, but it creates a interesting problem where children are concerned. Often times, we cannot escape the idea that becoming a Christian boils down to intellectually grasping a list of theological doctrines. We know from experience that children think largely in concrete terms. Since a five year old may not be able to grasp the doctrines of the Trinity or Salvation or Biblical Inspiration, we can’t feel sure they really know enough to be saved. This train of thought is a big mistake.

Jesus is crystal clear: a life-giving connection with the Father is only possible through personal trust in Jesus himself. In chapter 6 of John’s gospel, Jesus says that eternal life comes from doing the “works of God” which he identifies as “believing in the one he has sent.”(v.29)

Just a few verses later Jesus states:

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me… For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (vv. 37-40)

Are children capable of having trusting relationships with others? Clearly. Children don’t need to intellectually understand their parents thought process, history or agenda in order to trust and obey them. It is the same thing for trusting in Jesus.

Apart from the ability of children to know and trust apart, another reality makes the saving faith of children credible; unlike a list of doctrines the Persons of the Trinity are active not passive. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. As noted above, Verse 37 states that the Father acts to give people to the Son. This is also true of the Holy Spirit (John 15:26, 16:8-11) who roams the world testifying about Jesus and convicting of truth.

At the heart of Christianity is Jesus Christ, the God-Man who came to save sinners by taking our place on the cross and bringing us to the Father as co-heirs of eternal life. Anyone can relate to him by trust, person to person. Of course continued discipleship is needed with children, just as with adults. Children too need to bask in the amazing story of what God has done through Christ. They need to know about the power of the Holy Spirit to transform them and to empower them to live holy lives. But any child, woman or man can enter into a trusting relationship with the Savior and once begun we can have confidence “in this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.” (Philippians 1:6)

QUESTIONS:

1. Do you believe children can become legitimate followers of Christ, obtaining “a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”? (2 Peter 1:1)
2. Do your attitudes towards children reflect this conviction?
3. What are concrete ways you can encourage the children in our church family in their discipleship?
4. If you assume that particular children’s personal connection with Jesus is genuine, how will that change your conversations with them?