Monday, September 14, 2009
Our Work: Our Calling
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 2Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. (Genesis 1:31-Genesis 2:1, 2)
Last Sunday I talked about bringing order out of chaos and that the first step in that process is making distinctions. Light and darkness, night and day, earth and sky, man and woman, Creator and Created. Today let’s talk about one more distinction made in this passage of Genesis, the distinction between work and rest. In this passage both are good, both are important.
But there was a time in the history of Christianity that one was exalted above the other. In fact I grew up in a culture where the good life, or success, whatever you may call it, is defined by the absence of work. The ideal life is to be able to command others to do the work. It is an exalted position to sit on a rocking chair and speak with a condescending voice to the servant, “O Inday, and tsinelas ko. Inday, isang basong tubig. Inday ilagay mo to sa pridyeder.”
In fact I have observed in Boracay that even the poorest visitor gets a perverse pleasure in being able to throw things at the street. There is an expectation that somebody gets paid to pick up litter that one throws away. For a few days in the island, every visitor is a master. Others have to do the dirty work.
During the time of Rizal the priestly vocation was considered higher than the vocation of the ordinary workingman. The command of the priest was considered the command of God. But Rizal in his letter to the women of Malolos criticized this attitude. He said,
Napagkilala din ninyo na ang utos ñg Dios ay iba sa utos ñg Parí, na ang kabanalan ay hindi ang matagal na luhod, mahabang dasal, malalaking kuentas, libaguing kalmin, kundí ang mabuting asal, malinis na loob at matuid na isip.
You know that the commandment of God is not the same as the commandment of the priest, that religion is not a matter of how long you kneel or how much you pray. It is not a matter of how large is your scapular or your religious medal. Rather it is a matter of proper conduct, clean conscience and a righteous mind.
Rizal was struggling with a belief system that considers prayer more important than work. It was believed that work was a curse and burden to be avoided if it exceeded what was enough for a modest life. The life of a priest and a nun was most suited for that kind of ethic or belief-system.
With Martin Luther there began a new understanding of Christianity.
1. It was a Christianity that understood that every believer is a priest unto God. But how does this priesthood offer its sacrifices to God? Not only in times of worship and prayer. But where everything we do is worship and prayer.
In Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
The body and all it does becomes an instrument for worship, whether it is done in church, or at home or in the workplace. These are various expressions of worship.
Work for the Christian, is not a curse but a blessing. It is the means by which we glorify God. Speaking to slaves who cannot receive earthly reward for their labor Paul said,
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:22-24).
Our work then is a means of glorifying God. Idleness does not glorify God. In his letter to the Thessalonians he discouraged Christians from making themselves a burden to other believers.
Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right. Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed. Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
2. There is another thing that we owe to the Reformers. It is a different attitude towards time and money. The Reformers believed that the idle person who spends one day sitting at home spends more than what he spent for his needs that day. He has also spent the money he should be receiving from his wages.
Furthermore, if he was a businessman he lost the opportunity for his money to beget more money. If you murder a hen you also murder all her chicks for a thousand generation. If you murder a thousand pesos, you lose the potential of those thousand pesos to yield more money.
More than greed is involved here. Excess wealth in the pursuit of honest labor is distinguishab le from avarice. To the Reformers economic gain is a sign of God’s grace.
The Roman Catholic who goes to the priest and seeks to be absolved of his sins finds assurance in the words of absolution. But the Biblical believer who knows from the promises of the Bible such as John 1:12, and the inward witness of the Holy Spirit that he is a child of God (Romans 8:16), finds external assurance elsewhere. One of those external signs is the material blessing of God upon our lives.
Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Reformers to the life of the ordinary believer is their belief in calling. Most of you are in awe whenever pastors talk about their calling. But there is a calling in which all of us can participate. It is the calling to live our lives in the world, and to be used by God so that our lives can bless others. John Wesley said, “Earn as much as you can. Save as much as you can. Invest as much as you can. Give as much as you can.” This summarizes the Protestant work ethic.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Cor 10:31.
In a sense, therefore there is no ordinary believer. All are priests unto God. All share in the calling of giving glory to God through his or her vocation. The priest performs it at the altar, the minister at the pulpit. The farmer’s altar and pulpit is his rice field; the carpenter and mason, the house they are building, the clerk, his or her desk. For others it is the call center, the factory, the store.
As heirs of the Reformation, we have every reason to take pride in the work of our hands. Paul did so. He said, “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ “ (Acts 20:33-36).
We have as much responsibility, then, not only to share the Gospel with our neighbors, but also to share our blessing with the needy. But we can only share what we possess. That is why it is not enough for a Christian to say,”Makakaon lag makabisti ok na.” If can feed ourselves; if we can clothe ourselves, it is enough. It is enough if we live in a world where everyone has equal opportunity to feed themselves and to clothe themselves. But we live in a very unequal world. Some are too ill, some are too weak, some are too discouraged. It is the height of selfishness for us to say that.
• If you are a laborer then pray that the Lord will give you a job that will provide more for you and your family.
• If you are an employee then seek to be promoted.
• If you are a businessman, then pray that the Lord will bless your business so you can hire more people, and be a blessing to the church and its mission. You have a calling to prosper so you can be a blessing.
In 2003 Sonia and I arrived to assume our responsibilities at Faith Village. We did not like what we saw. The place was unkempt, garbage was everywhere. There were only two workers who spent most of the day sitting down and watching over the property.
Today Faith Retreat looks neat and trim. We don’t have the money to landscape but we make us of what we have to create beauty and a restful atmosphere. But the grass is always mown and our calachuchi trees provide color in the summer peak season.
Furthermore we employ nine workers now. And out of our proceeds we send fifty elementary school Ati children and provide scholarship to two college young people. We pay the wages of two preschool teachers. We provide training for the teachers.
With the help of Mission of Mercy and Alan’s church we educate and feed a hundred Ati children every day five days a week.
No, never consider work as a burden. It is a privilege given by God. It is a calling.
Last Sunday I talked about bringing order out of chaos and that the first step in that process is making distinctions. Light and darkness, night and day, earth and sky, man and woman, Creator and Created. Today let’s talk about one more distinction made in this passage of Genesis, the distinction between work and rest. In this passage both are good, both are important.
But there was a time in the history of Christianity that one was exalted above the other. In fact I grew up in a culture where the good life, or success, whatever you may call it, is defined by the absence of work. The ideal life is to be able to command others to do the work. It is an exalted position to sit on a rocking chair and speak with a condescending voice to the servant, “O Inday, and tsinelas ko. Inday, isang basong tubig. Inday ilagay mo to sa pridyeder.”
In fact I have observed in Boracay that even the poorest visitor gets a perverse pleasure in being able to throw things at the street. There is an expectation that somebody gets paid to pick up litter that one throws away. For a few days in the island, every visitor is a master. Others have to do the dirty work.
During the time of Rizal the priestly vocation was considered higher than the vocation of the ordinary workingman. The command of the priest was considered the command of God. But Rizal in his letter to the women of Malolos criticized this attitude. He said,
Napagkilala din ninyo na ang utos ñg Dios ay iba sa utos ñg Parí, na ang kabanalan ay hindi ang matagal na luhod, mahabang dasal, malalaking kuentas, libaguing kalmin, kundí ang mabuting asal, malinis na loob at matuid na isip.
You know that the commandment of God is not the same as the commandment of the priest, that religion is not a matter of how long you kneel or how much you pray. It is not a matter of how large is your scapular or your religious medal. Rather it is a matter of proper conduct, clean conscience and a righteous mind.
Rizal was struggling with a belief system that considers prayer more important than work. It was believed that work was a curse and burden to be avoided if it exceeded what was enough for a modest life. The life of a priest and a nun was most suited for that kind of ethic or belief-system.
With Martin Luther there began a new understanding of Christianity.
1. It was a Christianity that understood that every believer is a priest unto God. But how does this priesthood offer its sacrifices to God? Not only in times of worship and prayer. But where everything we do is worship and prayer.
In Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
The body and all it does becomes an instrument for worship, whether it is done in church, or at home or in the workplace. These are various expressions of worship.
Work for the Christian, is not a curse but a blessing. It is the means by which we glorify God. Speaking to slaves who cannot receive earthly reward for their labor Paul said,
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:22-24).
Our work then is a means of glorifying God. Idleness does not glorify God. In his letter to the Thessalonians he discouraged Christians from making themselves a burden to other believers.
Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right. Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed. Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
2. There is another thing that we owe to the Reformers. It is a different attitude towards time and money. The Reformers believed that the idle person who spends one day sitting at home spends more than what he spent for his needs that day. He has also spent the money he should be receiving from his wages.
Furthermore, if he was a businessman he lost the opportunity for his money to beget more money. If you murder a hen you also murder all her chicks for a thousand generation. If you murder a thousand pesos, you lose the potential of those thousand pesos to yield more money.
More than greed is involved here. Excess wealth in the pursuit of honest labor is distinguishab le from avarice. To the Reformers economic gain is a sign of God’s grace.
The Roman Catholic who goes to the priest and seeks to be absolved of his sins finds assurance in the words of absolution. But the Biblical believer who knows from the promises of the Bible such as John 1:12, and the inward witness of the Holy Spirit that he is a child of God (Romans 8:16), finds external assurance elsewhere. One of those external signs is the material blessing of God upon our lives.
Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Reformers to the life of the ordinary believer is their belief in calling. Most of you are in awe whenever pastors talk about their calling. But there is a calling in which all of us can participate. It is the calling to live our lives in the world, and to be used by God so that our lives can bless others. John Wesley said, “Earn as much as you can. Save as much as you can. Invest as much as you can. Give as much as you can.” This summarizes the Protestant work ethic.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Cor 10:31.
In a sense, therefore there is no ordinary believer. All are priests unto God. All share in the calling of giving glory to God through his or her vocation. The priest performs it at the altar, the minister at the pulpit. The farmer’s altar and pulpit is his rice field; the carpenter and mason, the house they are building, the clerk, his or her desk. For others it is the call center, the factory, the store.
As heirs of the Reformation, we have every reason to take pride in the work of our hands. Paul did so. He said, “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ “ (Acts 20:33-36).
We have as much responsibility, then, not only to share the Gospel with our neighbors, but also to share our blessing with the needy. But we can only share what we possess. That is why it is not enough for a Christian to say,”Makakaon lag makabisti ok na.” If can feed ourselves; if we can clothe ourselves, it is enough. It is enough if we live in a world where everyone has equal opportunity to feed themselves and to clothe themselves. But we live in a very unequal world. Some are too ill, some are too weak, some are too discouraged. It is the height of selfishness for us to say that.
• If you are a laborer then pray that the Lord will give you a job that will provide more for you and your family.
• If you are an employee then seek to be promoted.
• If you are a businessman, then pray that the Lord will bless your business so you can hire more people, and be a blessing to the church and its mission. You have a calling to prosper so you can be a blessing.
In 2003 Sonia and I arrived to assume our responsibilities at Faith Village. We did not like what we saw. The place was unkempt, garbage was everywhere. There were only two workers who spent most of the day sitting down and watching over the property.
Today Faith Retreat looks neat and trim. We don’t have the money to landscape but we make us of what we have to create beauty and a restful atmosphere. But the grass is always mown and our calachuchi trees provide color in the summer peak season.
Furthermore we employ nine workers now. And out of our proceeds we send fifty elementary school Ati children and provide scholarship to two college young people. We pay the wages of two preschool teachers. We provide training for the teachers.
With the help of Mission of Mercy and Alan’s church we educate and feed a hundred Ati children every day five days a week.
No, never consider work as a burden. It is a privilege given by God. It is a calling.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Reordering the Chaos of Our Lives
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, 2the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. Genesis 1:1-3
Growing up after the war we were so poor because my father was too ill to work. I often fantasized about money. I had this recurring dream. I would either be going up or down the bamboo ladder to our house. My foot slips and I would fall. My fall breaks the ground and lo and behold before my eyes is a box full of money. The dream was so vivid I would wake up panting with excitement.
As I was growing into adolescence and learned how to swim, me and the other boys would think of how to use our skill to bring fortune. We would fantasize about a rich woman crossing the bridge. Something happens. The woman falls screaming into the river. Then we would rescue her and naturally she would be grateful and offer to marry her rescuer. Then the rest of us would have to find other rich women to rescue.
Most of us fantasize about getting more money. If the Lord granted you a wish, how would you like him to bless you? Would you rather have it the way of my dream? You don’t have to do anything about it, it shows up like magic. Or would you rather find a rich man or woman to marry?
Do you remember the Disney cartoon of the Sleeping Beauty? Well, she had three fairy godmothers, each with a wand and they could make things appear and disappear. When Sleeping Beauty’s wedding gown was being made, the godmothers could not agree on the color. So with the zip or a wand, the gown turns into blue; another zap of the wand, it turns pink. And so on and so forth.
God can bless us by magic. He did that when the disciples needed money to pay tax. Jesus sent them to the sea to catch fish. And one fish had a coin in its mouth, enough for the poll tax. Not much, this is no goose that lays the golden egg story.
But the miracle of Genesis is not so much creating things out of nothing as much as bringing order out of chaos. To the Hebrews living on the hills of Palestine, the sea was sinister, wild and turbulent. But the Spirit of God brooded over the waters and things began to take shape.
Chaos is confusion, clutter, a mess. Junk.
How do you create order out of chaos? First of all you have to take some boxes and label them, putting some things here and other things there. It may require throwing unnecessary things away. In other words you make distinctions.
And this is just what God did. Open your Bibles to Genesis 1. What did God separate?
• Light from darkness
• Earth from sky
• Land from sea
• Man from animals
• Woman from man
Although it is not explicitly mentioned, there is one more distinction to be made. God is not part of creation. He is distinct from the things he created. He is holy. For that is what holiness means, to be distinct, to be set apart. We are not to confuse God with nature. We are not to confuse God with ourselves. This is what sets apart Bible religion from the religion of Greece and Rome. For their Gods were mere mortals with supernatural powers. They lie, cheat, commit adultery just like ordinary mortals do. God asked, “To whom will you compare me?”
Salvation then is the beginning of the work of creating order out of our confused lives. Let me use my own life as an example of this process of making distinctions.
Before I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ, God wasn’t a part of my life. I see religious people and sometimes I wished I could be like them. But I wasn’t really aware of God. I think of religion as kind of belonging to a club where you have certain rules to follow, certain uniforms to wear at certain times. But God wasn’t a part of my understanding of religion.
1. Then I was introduced to Jesus and things began to change in the ordering, first of all of my awareness of reality. I became aware of the presence of God. Have you experienced working and then without looking back became aware that someone is standing behind you? Somebody has intruded into your space.
I became aware of his place in the affairs of my life. It’s like you’ve been living alone in your dormitory room and then a stranger knocked asking if he could share your room. Remember I’ve known about this person before but he has no part in my life. Now he is sharing my room.
I was used to running my life the way I wanted to, now here’s this person who was getting in the way. Things got complicated. I find that word in FB profiles.
Relationships? Some answer, “Complicated.” Jesus does complicate our life.
He got in the way of my social life, for example. Would I introduce him to my friends? Would I rather not? Could I take him to this place where I hang out with other friends? Would I rather that he kept his own company while I kept mine?
So I began reordering my life with Christ around. I began doing what I have never done before, praying. My mother taught me some prayers. But knowing prayers and praying are two different things. Prayer is awareness of the Other Person before you. Prayers are like reading a book. The characters don’t leap out of the book and talk to you. Prayers are risk free. You do the talking; you do not consider the possibility of interruption, like, “What do you mean?” or “Why did you say that?” When you pray you are aware that the Other Person has something to say about what you are saying.
So praying is an interruption of my privacy. The more I talk the more I am allowing interruptions. But without talk Jesus remains a stranger and that’s difficult to have a stranger rooming with you. That creates a very awkward situation.
2. As soon as I began to see that there is a distinct Person who had become part of my life, I also came to realize that I had to make a distinction with regards to time. Prior to Jesus it was all my time. With his coming, he invites me to his time. Prayer is basically very much my call. I choose the time and the place. But not Sunday. It is his time and he chooses the place not me.
Until I met Jesus Christ Sunday had no significance for me. Other than the fact that I don’t go to school that day and that my father is at home and not working on Sunday, it was still part of my time. When I met Jesus, it became his day. The English language retained the old pagan name which is Sunday or the day of the Sun. But you can’t escape the meaning in Spanish. It is Domingo, which means the Lord’s or the day of the Lord. It is there I meet his people.
3. Now I have to make another adjustment. For, to be frank, some of his people I don’t like at all. I still think that some of my own people were better behaved than this bunch. There was this young man for example who just got in my nerves. He went to the same school as I but he was too loud. He was drawing too much attention to himself and his religion. He would call me in school and shout, “Brother Dionson!” Weird.
But I discover one thing. The difference between his people and my people is that I can easily drop people I don’t like in my circle. But I cannot drop people from his circle. I have a choice to do. I can drop out entirely. But that means losing the people there that I learned to like. I found out that the discipline of staying put with these people is helping me in many ways. I see myself much better because his people provide kind of a mirror through which I see myself. This is not always true in my circle where people just tell me what I like to hear.
Furthermore, I found out that being in fellowship with his people, my circle of friends actually expanded with people I could trust.
4. As I got to know Jesus better I find out there is a gradual but definite reordering of my outlook. I was born in poverty. Early on, I developed a defeatist attitude towards life. This was what scared me as I was graduating in high school. It was not so much that I lacked interest in pursuing a career. It was rather that I wasn’t sure what to do with a career. Finding Jesus in my life was like having an experienced mentor who told me, “Don’t be afraid, I’ll help you.”
It was that assurance that gave me the courage to take up the Christian ministry as my career. In fact it was a relief when I finally decided after months of agonizing prayer what to do with my life. Being in Bible school was a pivotal experience for me. More than the things I learned, the lifelong friendships I developed, and the awesome experiences with the Holy Spirit, what Bible instilled in me was the development of habits that eventually would prove to bless me in ways I never imagined. These habits Sonia and I carried into the raising of our family.
• We woke up before sun-up to read the Bible and pray.
• We ate our meals together.
• We worked from 8 to 5.
• We studied between 7:30 and 9 in the evening.
• We went to bed at between 9:30 and ten at night. We knew nothing of night life.
• We went to church together every Sunday. It was a holy day for us.
• We gave ten percent of our income to the Lord.
• We saved money. Bonuses. Extra income. Gifts.
• We entertained people at home.
There was a time when our squatter congregation was still quite small. I was working at home, pounding my typewriter writing a manuscript for sale to a publisher. An old Japanese gentleman opened the gate and introduced himself as Reverend Sato. Without saying anything he started unzipping his trousers. I was shocked. Is this Japanese going out of his mind? Then he pulled a cloth bag, opened it and gave me a hundred dollars. He said the Lord had told him to find me and give the gift to me.
I have a few experiences like that. But I could see that most of the time, the blessing came like Paul said it in Acts 20:33, “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
The blessing came as I gave. I started my first congregation in Cebu among squatter people. I had to find work to rent a house where we met. I gave a tenth of my income to the District because I was an ordained minister of the AoG. It was like a seed. Our congregation grew. And the time came when I did not have to work. Not only that as the congregation increased in number and as our income grew, they took care of me and my family in a very generous manner.
In my last visit in Boracay I spent a few nights at Beth Shalom our own property in Boracay. We built a school there. It’s small now but it will grow. I sat down at the carpet of grass so carefully tended by Nanay Teling. And I was just overwhelmed by God’s goodness. Through the years the miracles that the Lord brought in our lives were the miracle of being connected with the right kind of people, of being at the right place at the right time. As though an unseen hand was guiding our decisions and even our failures and shortcomings became part of a tapestry of light and shadow that God was creating out of our lives.
Too much clutter in your life? Too many complications? Has somebody knocked at your door, saying, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice, open the door and let me in. Let me help you with that junk. Let’s put order into your life.”
I can tell you this, you’ll never be sorry you let him in.
To Ichtus Youth
“In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.” Acts 2:17
I was overwhelmed by the 6th Anniversary of FNJ last Friday. It says a lot about you.
1. That you could have a church group for 6 years, maintain it and keep its momentum.
2. That you could find IF a church worth loyalty, energy and enthusiasm despite its many obvious shortcomings.
3. That you could keep fellowship with previous Ichtus youth who are scattered abroad.
IF does not have to create a youth movement; it is already here. The boundless energy is there; the bond is there; the spirit of adventure is there.
The question is where to? In this passage about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, young men and old men share the capacity for seeing things that are not. I wish it was the other way around though, old men dreaming dreams doesn’t sound as nice as old men having visions.
You have proven that being Christian and being young can be a lot of fun. It is now time to turn the power of Ichtus youth into the service of the kingdom.
I have four ideas to suggest to you on this 6th anniversary of Friday Night Jam:
1. That Ichtus reclaim the campuses. This has always been the mandate of Ichtus Youth and many of you have come to know the Lord while in college. But what I mean is a determined and aggressive campaign to bring Christ into the campuses.
2. That as Ichtus graduate into Ichtus Alumni you the same drive, and creativity and idealism into the work place. Ichtus Alumni, whether singles or marrieds, consider yourselves as models and as mentors to Ichtus college youth.
3. That Ichtus Alumni now scattered in the country and around the world form Ichtus International, using the internet as means of communication and maintaining reunions and forming extensions of Immanuel Fellowships around the world.
4. That Ichtus serve the wider Fellowship. You are already doing that. Through your diverse ministry involvement. Still, I want to be able to say to you, “There’s an old lady in the hospital that needs a young person to comfort her.” I need to be able to say to you, “I need someone to teach a new Bible study group in Lahug.”
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.” Acts 2:17
I was overwhelmed by the 6th Anniversary of FNJ last Friday. It says a lot about you.
1. That you could have a church group for 6 years, maintain it and keep its momentum.
2. That you could find IF a church worth loyalty, energy and enthusiasm despite its many obvious shortcomings.
3. That you could keep fellowship with previous Ichtus youth who are scattered abroad.
IF does not have to create a youth movement; it is already here. The boundless energy is there; the bond is there; the spirit of adventure is there.
The question is where to? In this passage about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, young men and old men share the capacity for seeing things that are not. I wish it was the other way around though, old men dreaming dreams doesn’t sound as nice as old men having visions.
You have proven that being Christian and being young can be a lot of fun. It is now time to turn the power of Ichtus youth into the service of the kingdom.
I have four ideas to suggest to you on this 6th anniversary of Friday Night Jam:
1. That Ichtus reclaim the campuses. This has always been the mandate of Ichtus Youth and many of you have come to know the Lord while in college. But what I mean is a determined and aggressive campaign to bring Christ into the campuses.
2. That as Ichtus graduate into Ichtus Alumni you the same drive, and creativity and idealism into the work place. Ichtus Alumni, whether singles or marrieds, consider yourselves as models and as mentors to Ichtus college youth.
3. That Ichtus Alumni now scattered in the country and around the world form Ichtus International, using the internet as means of communication and maintaining reunions and forming extensions of Immanuel Fellowships around the world.
4. That Ichtus serve the wider Fellowship. You are already doing that. Through your diverse ministry involvement. Still, I want to be able to say to you, “There’s an old lady in the hospital that needs a young person to comfort her.” I need to be able to say to you, “I need someone to teach a new Bible study group in Lahug.”
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Laws of Prosperity: The New Testament
Luke 6:38. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’
Mark 4:20. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
2 Corinthians 9:6-15. 6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9As it is written,
‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures for ever.’
10He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; 12for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, 14while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Last Sunday we began a series of talks about giving. We started with giving in the Old Testament giving. Today we continue with New Testament giving.
We said that the law did not invent tithing; that it was already practiced among pagan worshipers before Israel became a nation with laws. The law merely regulated how and where the tithes were to be given. Therefore we cannot use the law as an excuse for not tithing.
But we also said that tithing saved Israel from the demonic excesses of other forms of pagan worship. There were no children to be burned, no wives were to serve as temple prostitutes and no eunuchs. The tithe was a sober, mathematically precise manner of giving. This precision is the hallmark of an orderly life, life that is not based on caprice and whimsy. It is not enough to say, “I forgot what the preacher said but it was good.” The practice of tithing helps us to involve the mind in worship and removes capricious and emotional giving which can be disastrous at times.
Tithing then is methodical, precise, a rational mode of worship that is the foundation for an orderly manner of living. There are two fundamental ways in which NT giving differs from OT giving.
1. First, too much method and preciseness in giving can also mean being exacting and calculating, in the negative sense of the term. It is the shield of those who don’t want to give any more than they have to give. These are the people who say to God, “I have given you your fair share; now let me do with mine what I please.”
That is hardly the attitude of one who has experienced God’s grace. We are God’s not once but twice, once by virtue of creation and second by virtue of redemption. We no longer belong to ourselves but utterly and completely Christ’s. It seems to me that we people of grace should do more than the people of the law, not to do less.
The ungrateful does not understand nor appreciate grace. That ingratitude takes him down below the level of the calculating Jew who counts his tithe of cumin. Not only that, it places him below the pagan who sacrifices child and wife to his divinity.
Gratitude distinguishes giving under grace from giving under law. The motive power of the law is fear. Malachi calls those who fail to tithe as thieves. And robbery is a punishable crime. Punishment can only go so far in making a person behave. You know how Filipino drivers behave. They have been fined so many times and yet they never learn.
Gratitude never forgets. If people forget it may be they never really have experienced salvation in the first place. Have you really experienced God’s forgiveness? Have you really experienced being released from Satan’s grip? Have you really experienced deliverance from fear? hopelessness? Have you really experienced healing? If so, how can you be stingy to God? How can you forget?
2. The second fundamental difference between NT giving and giving under the law is this: the tithe is primarily division but giving in the NT is multiplication. Tithe is one over ten. I give to God what I owe to a landlord. It is his share. What I give to God diminishes what remains in my possession. This is the main reason why many who have good intentions fail to deliver. If I have difficulty with ten tenths how can I manage with nine tenths? The NT speaks a completely different language when it speaks of giving. It is the language of multiplication. It is the language of sowing and reaping, or in the language of the entrepreneur, investment and gain.
In Matthew 13, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to seed being sown. If the seed falls on good soil, its harvest is several times-fold the amount of the seed sown. In 2 Cor 9, Paul uses the same analogy. Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly; whoever sows generously will also reap generously. V 6. “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness,” v 10. God will not only increase the harvest; he will also increase your store of seed. In business terms this means not only an increase of profit but an increase of capital.
The NT answers a question posed by economics. Can wealth be created or can it only be distributed? If wealth is finite, for you to get my share is to diminish mine while it increases yours. That is an injustice.
But if wealth can be created, then I can increase my store of wealth without necessarily diminishing yours. This creation of wealth has happened in unbelievable ways within our lifetime. It used to be that wealth is tied up with land and mineral resources. Not anymore. Property is no longer measurable in terms of meters and kilograms. Property is no longer hard but soft. The only raw material of a computer is a small grain of sand that possesses the characteristic of a semiconductor, a material that acts as a gate to open or close the flow of electrons with the speed of light. There is far more wealth in creating software than in making computer hardware. What counts today is creativity of ideas. You don’t even have to invent a completely new product, just improve that one that is already existing. A computer screen that will filter the glare away cheaply. A non-slip cell phone casing. Paper that will degrade rapidly and help in composting. An inexpensive design for healthy and low carbon demand Filipino homes and buildings. In the 60 years since liberation the Filipino jeepney design has not been improved. They are ugly and uncomfortable. They are still made by hand in backyard shops using engines thrown away from Japan. It is waiting for somebody with a good idea.
The words of the Bible are unbelievable. Listen to this: “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” v 11. I don’t know how anybody can interpret this other than what it simply says here.
It is God’s intention to enrich his people. Do you believe God is blest by our poverty? Do you believe God is blest by our misery? God may be glorified despite our poverty, despite our misery, despite our sickness but not because of them.
God is honored when his power and goodness is manifested in our lives. God is glorified when we are generous because of the riches he has bestowed upon our lives. God is exalted when we have become givers and not only receivers.
But haven’t we heard this before? Isn’t this OT teaching also? Didn’t God say if we tithe he will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing there will be no room to receive them?
Yes, of course but the premise is different. God’s blessing is conditioned in the Old Testament by obedience to his law. When in the OT the people failed to tithe, God shut the windows of heaven. Instead of blessing, the people were cursed. Enemies overcame them. Locusts devoured their produce. Famine stalked the land.
We do not hear such curses in the NT. For here the premise is different. The blessing of God in the NT is not conditioned by obedience but by faith. Grace does not operate by fear of the law but by faith in the promises of God.
If Jesus could not perform miracles in Galilee and Judah it was not because people failed to heed the law but because they did not believe. We are poor not so much because we are disobedient but because can’t summon the will to believe. Our failure does not lie in not living up to the commandments but in unwillingness to try so that we can experience the power of faith. When Jesus said, give and it shall be given unto you he was counting on his hearers to demonstrate faith.
Whether it is listening to Jesus’ call to salvation or listening to Jesus’ call to fish, the formula is still the same: by grace through faith. That opens the possibility of wealth open to everyone.
Grace appears to us when we toil all night and there is no fish. Experience tells us that when the moon is full the fish won’t be attracted by the light of our lamps. Not last night, not tonight. Not tomorrow night, And certainly not in broad daylight.
But Jesus calls us, “Children, come to the deep.” Grace always comes to us as a challenge. In salvation we accept the challenge to put our faith in the finished work of Christ upon the cross and say, “He died for me.” In the miracle of provision we put our faith in the promise of Jesus, “Give and it shall be given you, pressed down, shaken together and running over.”
The most important word said by Peter was “nevertheless.” It changed the conversation from “We toiled all night” and “We caught nothing” into “At your word we will go the deep and let down the net.”
Conclusion
Some of you are facing tough situations. This is not the kind of message that want to hear. You want something soothing. A pat in the back. A word of comfort. But if you are toiling and catching nothing. If you have little to show for your labor. If an unforeseen situation has come that is turning all your plans upside down. If you are facing an enemy. What you need is not a pat in the back but a word of faith.
So this morning let’s apply this message to our giving. I want us to give like we have not given before. To give beyond the tithe, beyond calculation and exacting measurement. To give in gratitude and to give in faith. I want the ushers to give every one an opportunity to give. Not as though we are ashamed of what we are doing. That would be robbery. After we have given I would like us to pray God to release his creative, enriching ideas upon us. Come let’s pray for each other.
Mark 4:20. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
2 Corinthians 9:6-15. 6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9As it is written,
‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures for ever.’
10He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; 12for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, 14while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Last Sunday we began a series of talks about giving. We started with giving in the Old Testament giving. Today we continue with New Testament giving.
We said that the law did not invent tithing; that it was already practiced among pagan worshipers before Israel became a nation with laws. The law merely regulated how and where the tithes were to be given. Therefore we cannot use the law as an excuse for not tithing.
But we also said that tithing saved Israel from the demonic excesses of other forms of pagan worship. There were no children to be burned, no wives were to serve as temple prostitutes and no eunuchs. The tithe was a sober, mathematically precise manner of giving. This precision is the hallmark of an orderly life, life that is not based on caprice and whimsy. It is not enough to say, “I forgot what the preacher said but it was good.” The practice of tithing helps us to involve the mind in worship and removes capricious and emotional giving which can be disastrous at times.
Tithing then is methodical, precise, a rational mode of worship that is the foundation for an orderly manner of living. There are two fundamental ways in which NT giving differs from OT giving.
1. First, too much method and preciseness in giving can also mean being exacting and calculating, in the negative sense of the term. It is the shield of those who don’t want to give any more than they have to give. These are the people who say to God, “I have given you your fair share; now let me do with mine what I please.”
That is hardly the attitude of one who has experienced God’s grace. We are God’s not once but twice, once by virtue of creation and second by virtue of redemption. We no longer belong to ourselves but utterly and completely Christ’s. It seems to me that we people of grace should do more than the people of the law, not to do less.
The ungrateful does not understand nor appreciate grace. That ingratitude takes him down below the level of the calculating Jew who counts his tithe of cumin. Not only that, it places him below the pagan who sacrifices child and wife to his divinity.
Gratitude distinguishes giving under grace from giving under law. The motive power of the law is fear. Malachi calls those who fail to tithe as thieves. And robbery is a punishable crime. Punishment can only go so far in making a person behave. You know how Filipino drivers behave. They have been fined so many times and yet they never learn.
Gratitude never forgets. If people forget it may be they never really have experienced salvation in the first place. Have you really experienced God’s forgiveness? Have you really experienced being released from Satan’s grip? Have you really experienced deliverance from fear? hopelessness? Have you really experienced healing? If so, how can you be stingy to God? How can you forget?
2. The second fundamental difference between NT giving and giving under the law is this: the tithe is primarily division but giving in the NT is multiplication. Tithe is one over ten. I give to God what I owe to a landlord. It is his share. What I give to God diminishes what remains in my possession. This is the main reason why many who have good intentions fail to deliver. If I have difficulty with ten tenths how can I manage with nine tenths? The NT speaks a completely different language when it speaks of giving. It is the language of multiplication. It is the language of sowing and reaping, or in the language of the entrepreneur, investment and gain.
In Matthew 13, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to seed being sown. If the seed falls on good soil, its harvest is several times-fold the amount of the seed sown. In 2 Cor 9, Paul uses the same analogy. Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly; whoever sows generously will also reap generously. V 6. “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness,” v 10. God will not only increase the harvest; he will also increase your store of seed. In business terms this means not only an increase of profit but an increase of capital.
The NT answers a question posed by economics. Can wealth be created or can it only be distributed? If wealth is finite, for you to get my share is to diminish mine while it increases yours. That is an injustice.
But if wealth can be created, then I can increase my store of wealth without necessarily diminishing yours. This creation of wealth has happened in unbelievable ways within our lifetime. It used to be that wealth is tied up with land and mineral resources. Not anymore. Property is no longer measurable in terms of meters and kilograms. Property is no longer hard but soft. The only raw material of a computer is a small grain of sand that possesses the characteristic of a semiconductor, a material that acts as a gate to open or close the flow of electrons with the speed of light. There is far more wealth in creating software than in making computer hardware. What counts today is creativity of ideas. You don’t even have to invent a completely new product, just improve that one that is already existing. A computer screen that will filter the glare away cheaply. A non-slip cell phone casing. Paper that will degrade rapidly and help in composting. An inexpensive design for healthy and low carbon demand Filipino homes and buildings. In the 60 years since liberation the Filipino jeepney design has not been improved. They are ugly and uncomfortable. They are still made by hand in backyard shops using engines thrown away from Japan. It is waiting for somebody with a good idea.
The words of the Bible are unbelievable. Listen to this: “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” v 11. I don’t know how anybody can interpret this other than what it simply says here.
It is God’s intention to enrich his people. Do you believe God is blest by our poverty? Do you believe God is blest by our misery? God may be glorified despite our poverty, despite our misery, despite our sickness but not because of them.
God is honored when his power and goodness is manifested in our lives. God is glorified when we are generous because of the riches he has bestowed upon our lives. God is exalted when we have become givers and not only receivers.
But haven’t we heard this before? Isn’t this OT teaching also? Didn’t God say if we tithe he will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing there will be no room to receive them?
Yes, of course but the premise is different. God’s blessing is conditioned in the Old Testament by obedience to his law. When in the OT the people failed to tithe, God shut the windows of heaven. Instead of blessing, the people were cursed. Enemies overcame them. Locusts devoured their produce. Famine stalked the land.
We do not hear such curses in the NT. For here the premise is different. The blessing of God in the NT is not conditioned by obedience but by faith. Grace does not operate by fear of the law but by faith in the promises of God.
If Jesus could not perform miracles in Galilee and Judah it was not because people failed to heed the law but because they did not believe. We are poor not so much because we are disobedient but because can’t summon the will to believe. Our failure does not lie in not living up to the commandments but in unwillingness to try so that we can experience the power of faith. When Jesus said, give and it shall be given unto you he was counting on his hearers to demonstrate faith.
Whether it is listening to Jesus’ call to salvation or listening to Jesus’ call to fish, the formula is still the same: by grace through faith. That opens the possibility of wealth open to everyone.
Grace appears to us when we toil all night and there is no fish. Experience tells us that when the moon is full the fish won’t be attracted by the light of our lamps. Not last night, not tonight. Not tomorrow night, And certainly not in broad daylight.
But Jesus calls us, “Children, come to the deep.” Grace always comes to us as a challenge. In salvation we accept the challenge to put our faith in the finished work of Christ upon the cross and say, “He died for me.” In the miracle of provision we put our faith in the promise of Jesus, “Give and it shall be given you, pressed down, shaken together and running over.”
The most important word said by Peter was “nevertheless.” It changed the conversation from “We toiled all night” and “We caught nothing” into “At your word we will go the deep and let down the net.”
Conclusion
Some of you are facing tough situations. This is not the kind of message that want to hear. You want something soothing. A pat in the back. A word of comfort. But if you are toiling and catching nothing. If you have little to show for your labor. If an unforeseen situation has come that is turning all your plans upside down. If you are facing an enemy. What you need is not a pat in the back but a word of faith.
So this morning let’s apply this message to our giving. I want us to give like we have not given before. To give beyond the tithe, beyond calculation and exacting measurement. To give in gratitude and to give in faith. I want the ushers to give every one an opportunity to give. Not as though we are ashamed of what we are doing. That would be robbery. After we have given I would like us to pray God to release his creative, enriching ideas upon us. Come let’s pray for each other.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Memo to Worship Bands
Here is an article from Christianity Today that I encourage our worship team to read. Articles posted from sources other than me do not always reflect my own opinion. They are meant to be used for discussion. So I welcome your comments. dionson '09
______________________
Memo to Worship Bands
Five sound reasons to lower the volume.
Christianity Today
John G. Stackhouse Jr. | posted 2/02/2009 10:41AM
Can you hear me? You can? I'm sorry if I am shouting, but I have just spent half an hour in a church service with a typical worship band, and my ears are ringing. I'm sure to be fine in a minute. Or hour. Or day—I hope.
Why does everything every Christian musician performs nowadays seem to require high amplification?
I was at a Christian camp not long ago where we gathered to sing around a bonfire. Guitars appeared, but just before I could get nostalgic and suggest we sing "Pass It On," the microphone stands appeared, too. Apparently three guitars for 40 people were not enough. No, they had to be amplified.
I am not 110 years old, friends. I grew up in the 1970s with fuzz boxes, stacks of Marshall amplifiers, and heavy metal bands loud enough to take on Boeing 747s and win. I have played in worship bands for more than 30 years, and like lots of juice running through my Roland keyboard or Fender bass or Godin guitar. Furthermore, I'm a middle-aged man and my hearing is supposed to be fading. But even I find almost every worship band in every church I visit to be too loud—not just a little bit loud, but uncomfortably, even painfully, loud.
So here are five reasons for everyone to turn it down a notch—or maybe three or four.
First, I know it's breaking the performer's code to say so (the way magicians are never supposed to reveal a secret), but cranking up the volume is just a cheap trick to add energy to a room. The comedic film This Is Spinal Tap showed us all the absurdity of using sheer noise to compensate for a lack of talent. (The knobs on the band members' guitars and amplifiers were modified to go to 11.) Do not compensate for mediocrity by amping it up to MEDIOCRITY.
Second, when your intonation is not very good—and let's face it, most singers and instrumentalists are not anywhere close to being in perfect tune—turning it up only makes it hurt worse. If I hear one more "harmony singer" have trouble deciding whether to hit the major or the minor third and instead split the difference at a scalp-tightening volume, I think my head will split also.
Third, the speakers in most church PA systems cannot take that much energy through their small, old magnets and cones, especially from piano, bass, and kick drum. So we are being pounded with high-powered fluffing and sputtering—which do not induce praise.
Fourth, consider that you might be marginalizing older people, most of whom probably do not like Guns N' Roses volumes at church. And if you suspect older congregants may be secretly delighted behind their tight smiles, ask them. I dare you.
Fifth, let me drop some church history and theology on you. By the time church music matured into Palestrina and Co. in the 16th century, it had become too demanding and ornate for ordinary singers. So Christians went to church to listen to a priest and a choir.
The Protestant Reformation yanked musical worship away from the professionals and put it back in the pews. Luther composed hymns based on popular melodies, including drinking songs. Calvin insisted on taking lyrics from the Psalms. This was music in which almost anyone could participate. The problem today, to be sure, is rarely elaborate music. We could use a little more artistry, in fact, than we usually get with the simplistic and repetitive musical figures of many contemporary worship songs.
No, the contrast with the Reformation is the modern-day insistence that a few people at the front be the center of attention. We do it by making six band members louder than a room full of people. But a church service isn't a concert at which an audience sings along with the real performers. Musicians—every one of them, including the singers—are accompanists to the congregation's praise. They should be mixed loudly enough only to do their job of leading and supporting the congregation.
Now, I like Palestrina and I like good Christian rock. So, church musicians, if you want to perform a fine song that requires advanced musicianship, by all means do it. We will listen and pray and enjoy it to the glory of God.
But when you are leading us in singing, then lead us in singing. And turn it down so we are not listening to you—or, even worse, merely enduring you. I know that is not what you want to happen. But I am telling you that's what is happening.
Sorry, again, for shouting.
John G. Stackhouse Jr. is the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. His most recent book is Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World (Oxford University Press).
______________________
Memo to Worship Bands
Five sound reasons to lower the volume.
Christianity Today
John G. Stackhouse Jr. | posted 2/02/2009 10:41AM
Can you hear me? You can? I'm sorry if I am shouting, but I have just spent half an hour in a church service with a typical worship band, and my ears are ringing. I'm sure to be fine in a minute. Or hour. Or day—I hope.
Why does everything every Christian musician performs nowadays seem to require high amplification?
I was at a Christian camp not long ago where we gathered to sing around a bonfire. Guitars appeared, but just before I could get nostalgic and suggest we sing "Pass It On," the microphone stands appeared, too. Apparently three guitars for 40 people were not enough. No, they had to be amplified.
I am not 110 years old, friends. I grew up in the 1970s with fuzz boxes, stacks of Marshall amplifiers, and heavy metal bands loud enough to take on Boeing 747s and win. I have played in worship bands for more than 30 years, and like lots of juice running through my Roland keyboard or Fender bass or Godin guitar. Furthermore, I'm a middle-aged man and my hearing is supposed to be fading. But even I find almost every worship band in every church I visit to be too loud—not just a little bit loud, but uncomfortably, even painfully, loud.
So here are five reasons for everyone to turn it down a notch—or maybe three or four.
First, I know it's breaking the performer's code to say so (the way magicians are never supposed to reveal a secret), but cranking up the volume is just a cheap trick to add energy to a room. The comedic film This Is Spinal Tap showed us all the absurdity of using sheer noise to compensate for a lack of talent. (The knobs on the band members' guitars and amplifiers were modified to go to 11.) Do not compensate for mediocrity by amping it up to MEDIOCRITY.
Second, when your intonation is not very good—and let's face it, most singers and instrumentalists are not anywhere close to being in perfect tune—turning it up only makes it hurt worse. If I hear one more "harmony singer" have trouble deciding whether to hit the major or the minor third and instead split the difference at a scalp-tightening volume, I think my head will split also.
Third, the speakers in most church PA systems cannot take that much energy through their small, old magnets and cones, especially from piano, bass, and kick drum. So we are being pounded with high-powered fluffing and sputtering—which do not induce praise.
Fourth, consider that you might be marginalizing older people, most of whom probably do not like Guns N' Roses volumes at church. And if you suspect older congregants may be secretly delighted behind their tight smiles, ask them. I dare you.
Fifth, let me drop some church history and theology on you. By the time church music matured into Palestrina and Co. in the 16th century, it had become too demanding and ornate for ordinary singers. So Christians went to church to listen to a priest and a choir.
The Protestant Reformation yanked musical worship away from the professionals and put it back in the pews. Luther composed hymns based on popular melodies, including drinking songs. Calvin insisted on taking lyrics from the Psalms. This was music in which almost anyone could participate. The problem today, to be sure, is rarely elaborate music. We could use a little more artistry, in fact, than we usually get with the simplistic and repetitive musical figures of many contemporary worship songs.
No, the contrast with the Reformation is the modern-day insistence that a few people at the front be the center of attention. We do it by making six band members louder than a room full of people. But a church service isn't a concert at which an audience sings along with the real performers. Musicians—every one of them, including the singers—are accompanists to the congregation's praise. They should be mixed loudly enough only to do their job of leading and supporting the congregation.
Now, I like Palestrina and I like good Christian rock. So, church musicians, if you want to perform a fine song that requires advanced musicianship, by all means do it. We will listen and pray and enjoy it to the glory of God.
But when you are leading us in singing, then lead us in singing. And turn it down so we are not listening to you—or, even worse, merely enduring you. I know that is not what you want to happen. But I am telling you that's what is happening.
Sorry, again, for shouting.
John G. Stackhouse Jr. is the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. His most recent book is Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World (Oxford University Press).
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Laws of Prosperity: The Old Testament
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Malachi 3:10
I understand the dilemma that many decent and sensitive pastors face when they have to speak about money in the church. It seems to be self-serving. Even Paul struggled with the issue of whether or not to accept support from the churches. I have one advantage over other pastors in this regard. I have work of my own. I have waived aside the right of remuneration. Because of this I cannot be accused that I preach of this topic for my own advantage.
Early in my Christian life I found the blessedness of giving. As a working student in Bible school I had to work three hours Tuesday through Saturday and then 7 hours on Mondays. My job was digging foundations, mixing cement. I learned the art of laying stones to make retaining walls.
For all that work we received a Bible school education, room and board and a stipend of two pesos every month, the present equivalent is about P200. That money had to be carefully budgeted. First item in the budget was always the tithe of two pesos. The remaining one peso ninety centavos went by order of priority to toilet soap, toothpaste, pomade, laundry soap, charcoal for ironing, and school supplies. I always carried a pocket notebook to take notes in church. At the back I wrote some of the things I could not afford from my two peso stipend. A mosquito net, a pair of shoes, a Bible. I forgot about them. A year later In looked at my notes again and I was surprised. I had all of them! I scrawled at the bottom of the page. “Lord, you’ve done it; thank you!” I began collecting books for a library while still in Bible school. I began saving to buy Christian books. I had to be careful what I buy; and today books bought back in 1959 are still with me: C S Lewis and James Denney among others.
Because of my experience it never occurred to me that people would object to the giving of tithes. I just assumed that people would give tithes if they were taught.
One of the most common arguments against tithing is that we are no longer under law but under grace. This argument not only exalts the law too much but also cheapens grace. This Sunday let me just speak about the first.
Exalting the law too much
I say it exalts the law too much because it assumes that Old Testament believers were happy go lucky, lazy and adulterous thieves until the law came along. Far from the truth.
Take Abraham for example. He lived perhaps half a millennium before Moses received the law from God in Sinai. There was no temple, no regular worship, no priesthood, no nation. Yet Abraham was already giving tithes in Genesis 14. So why did Abraham gave tithes to Milchezedek?
The answer is simple. Tithing was already a universal religious practice long before God called Abraham and long before Israel became a nation. The instinct to go to a holy presence with an offering is a universal instinct. And the tithe answered the question, how much should a worshiper give to his God?
God could have made us with six fingers to our hand. Then we would count by the dozens. But he made us with ten fingers because with the base of ten we can perform the easiest as well as the most complex mathematical calculations. The tithe is a mathematical figure, it is the tenth. What the tithe did was to rationalize worship. Worship is not all feelings. It involves the mind. The tithe answers the question, how much should I bring to the Lord? The tithe takes away the guesswork. It is precise.
As Filipinos we have difficulty with precision. You ask what time do we hold our 2nd service and you get the answer,”Mga alas dies.” Around 10 o’clock. How good was the message? Medyo. What did the pastor talk about? Kuan. Mga and medyo and kuan are the cities of refuge of the uncertain, the imprecise mind.
That is the reason why many Filipinos have problems with mathematics. And without math there is no science, without science there is no industry. Without industry we simply become hewers of wood and drawers of water for other nations, consumers of their produce.
Tithing puts preciseness in the way we manage our resources. Because we know that money is not ours we budget it carefully. We do not spend money on a whim. But most of all we consider money as a means of worshipping God. This is the kind of thing that develops the habits that lead to progress.
Tithing puts a check on wild, emotional and dangerous forms of spending our resources.
Jephthah
We find this emotionalism in a strange character in the 10th chapter of the book of Judges. Jephthah had a sad childhood. He was the son of a prostitute but he grew up in the family of his father’s wife. Naturally this led to trouble. Furthermore the legal children didn’t want Jephthah to have a part in their inheritance. So they drove him away. Jephthah was a born leader and warrior, so when the Ammonites threatened the tribes of Israel who would come to visit but his own brothers. They begged him to lead the army. Before meeting the Ammonites, Jephthah prayed, “Lord if you make me win this battle, the first to greet me on my return, I will sacrifice as a burnt offering.”
The vow was unnecessary. It was rashly spoken. Jephthah the outcast wanted so much to win this battle. It was meant to send a message to his brothers. He, despised son of a prostitute, is better than them. In coming to seek his aid, the brothers were eating humble pie. But he wanted far more. And whatever it was he wanted the result was tragic. The first to meet him at the door was his own daughter. She requested only two months to bewail her virginity upon the mountains of Gilead.
Emotional giving is costly. It is the kind of giving that demonic pagan worship demands. Walking over live coals. Lying on a bed of nails. Human sacrifice. Temple prostitution. Tithing casts away the demonic from worship. All the nations who practiced these excessive emotional and self-destructive forms of worship eventually vanished. Emotional giving is the kind of giving that cults exploit.
If we don’t want to give our tithes to God then watch out for other gods. People who will not give a tithe to the Lord yet will blow that away in one expensive dinner. Christians who will not give tithe but will keep on buying the latest gadgets. Christians who will not give tithes but are forever decorating and redecorating their homes to keep up with the neighbor. Christians who will not give their tithes but have a secret love affair. These are habits that lead to impoverishment.
As I said it was giving too much credit to the law to say that the practice of tithing came out of the law. The law did not invent tithing. It was already there. Pagans practiced it long before the law was given. What the law did was to regulate the method of tithing, especially where and how the tithe was to be deposited. Provision was made so that there were storehouses manned by priests and Levites throughout the land, a portion of which was sent up to the temple In Jerusalem. Bring all the tithes to the storehouse. That is all the law did. Bring the tithe to the church and offer it to the Lord. That is what the law accomplished.
Conclusion
Let me say it again. Tithing puts mathematical preciseness in the way we manage our resources. You will find orderliness in your life. You will learn to manage your resources. You will avoid the excesses and habits that drain your resources. These are prerequisites to progress whether you are a laborer or a professional or an entrepreneur.
The starting point is to acknowledge God as the source of supply and give him at least what other worshipers have done since the dawn of time. If you haven’t practiced it begin now. If irregular do it regularly. If you give only a fraction try to give the full tithe.
When you tithe you will be surprised what other levels of your life will be affected for the better.
I understand the dilemma that many decent and sensitive pastors face when they have to speak about money in the church. It seems to be self-serving. Even Paul struggled with the issue of whether or not to accept support from the churches. I have one advantage over other pastors in this regard. I have work of my own. I have waived aside the right of remuneration. Because of this I cannot be accused that I preach of this topic for my own advantage.
Early in my Christian life I found the blessedness of giving. As a working student in Bible school I had to work three hours Tuesday through Saturday and then 7 hours on Mondays. My job was digging foundations, mixing cement. I learned the art of laying stones to make retaining walls.
For all that work we received a Bible school education, room and board and a stipend of two pesos every month, the present equivalent is about P200. That money had to be carefully budgeted. First item in the budget was always the tithe of two pesos. The remaining one peso ninety centavos went by order of priority to toilet soap, toothpaste, pomade, laundry soap, charcoal for ironing, and school supplies. I always carried a pocket notebook to take notes in church. At the back I wrote some of the things I could not afford from my two peso stipend. A mosquito net, a pair of shoes, a Bible. I forgot about them. A year later In looked at my notes again and I was surprised. I had all of them! I scrawled at the bottom of the page. “Lord, you’ve done it; thank you!” I began collecting books for a library while still in Bible school. I began saving to buy Christian books. I had to be careful what I buy; and today books bought back in 1959 are still with me: C S Lewis and James Denney among others.
Because of my experience it never occurred to me that people would object to the giving of tithes. I just assumed that people would give tithes if they were taught.
One of the most common arguments against tithing is that we are no longer under law but under grace. This argument not only exalts the law too much but also cheapens grace. This Sunday let me just speak about the first.
Exalting the law too much
I say it exalts the law too much because it assumes that Old Testament believers were happy go lucky, lazy and adulterous thieves until the law came along. Far from the truth.
Take Abraham for example. He lived perhaps half a millennium before Moses received the law from God in Sinai. There was no temple, no regular worship, no priesthood, no nation. Yet Abraham was already giving tithes in Genesis 14. So why did Abraham gave tithes to Milchezedek?
The answer is simple. Tithing was already a universal religious practice long before God called Abraham and long before Israel became a nation. The instinct to go to a holy presence with an offering is a universal instinct. And the tithe answered the question, how much should a worshiper give to his God?
God could have made us with six fingers to our hand. Then we would count by the dozens. But he made us with ten fingers because with the base of ten we can perform the easiest as well as the most complex mathematical calculations. The tithe is a mathematical figure, it is the tenth. What the tithe did was to rationalize worship. Worship is not all feelings. It involves the mind. The tithe answers the question, how much should I bring to the Lord? The tithe takes away the guesswork. It is precise.
As Filipinos we have difficulty with precision. You ask what time do we hold our 2nd service and you get the answer,”Mga alas dies.” Around 10 o’clock. How good was the message? Medyo. What did the pastor talk about? Kuan. Mga and medyo and kuan are the cities of refuge of the uncertain, the imprecise mind.
That is the reason why many Filipinos have problems with mathematics. And without math there is no science, without science there is no industry. Without industry we simply become hewers of wood and drawers of water for other nations, consumers of their produce.
Tithing puts preciseness in the way we manage our resources. Because we know that money is not ours we budget it carefully. We do not spend money on a whim. But most of all we consider money as a means of worshipping God. This is the kind of thing that develops the habits that lead to progress.
Tithing puts a check on wild, emotional and dangerous forms of spending our resources.
Jephthah
We find this emotionalism in a strange character in the 10th chapter of the book of Judges. Jephthah had a sad childhood. He was the son of a prostitute but he grew up in the family of his father’s wife. Naturally this led to trouble. Furthermore the legal children didn’t want Jephthah to have a part in their inheritance. So they drove him away. Jephthah was a born leader and warrior, so when the Ammonites threatened the tribes of Israel who would come to visit but his own brothers. They begged him to lead the army. Before meeting the Ammonites, Jephthah prayed, “Lord if you make me win this battle, the first to greet me on my return, I will sacrifice as a burnt offering.”
The vow was unnecessary. It was rashly spoken. Jephthah the outcast wanted so much to win this battle. It was meant to send a message to his brothers. He, despised son of a prostitute, is better than them. In coming to seek his aid, the brothers were eating humble pie. But he wanted far more. And whatever it was he wanted the result was tragic. The first to meet him at the door was his own daughter. She requested only two months to bewail her virginity upon the mountains of Gilead.
Emotional giving is costly. It is the kind of giving that demonic pagan worship demands. Walking over live coals. Lying on a bed of nails. Human sacrifice. Temple prostitution. Tithing casts away the demonic from worship. All the nations who practiced these excessive emotional and self-destructive forms of worship eventually vanished. Emotional giving is the kind of giving that cults exploit.
If we don’t want to give our tithes to God then watch out for other gods. People who will not give a tithe to the Lord yet will blow that away in one expensive dinner. Christians who will not give tithe but will keep on buying the latest gadgets. Christians who will not give tithes but are forever decorating and redecorating their homes to keep up with the neighbor. Christians who will not give their tithes but have a secret love affair. These are habits that lead to impoverishment.
As I said it was giving too much credit to the law to say that the practice of tithing came out of the law. The law did not invent tithing. It was already there. Pagans practiced it long before the law was given. What the law did was to regulate the method of tithing, especially where and how the tithe was to be deposited. Provision was made so that there were storehouses manned by priests and Levites throughout the land, a portion of which was sent up to the temple In Jerusalem. Bring all the tithes to the storehouse. That is all the law did. Bring the tithe to the church and offer it to the Lord. That is what the law accomplished.
Conclusion
Let me say it again. Tithing puts mathematical preciseness in the way we manage our resources. You will find orderliness in your life. You will learn to manage your resources. You will avoid the excesses and habits that drain your resources. These are prerequisites to progress whether you are a laborer or a professional or an entrepreneur.
The starting point is to acknowledge God as the source of supply and give him at least what other worshipers have done since the dawn of time. If you haven’t practiced it begin now. If irregular do it regularly. If you give only a fraction try to give the full tithe.
When you tithe you will be surprised what other levels of your life will be affected for the better.
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