Bryan + Blog = Love

Hello everyone.  Here are some pictures for my wonderful stories.  This, for instance, is Castle Rock Community Church.  The church we partner with here in New Orleans.  It used to be a bank.  Now it is a church.

This next picture is the Yellow House.  We sleep in the upstairs.

Here is Anna on stilts.  We were mudding the seams between dry wall.

I worked on a closet.  Here I am….

Today I was outside.  I was taught how to do exterior siding by Tom.  Tom knows his stuff.  He said he’d hire me for $10/hour.  That’s what those who don’t know what they’re doing start out at.  If you learn quickly, you can make more.  I said I was happy with church work.  Manual labor is hard.

Yesterday Pastor John from Castle Rock (see pic above) preached.  Quite sweet.  Said many memorable things.  My favorite was his spiel on confusing pursuing the Kingdom with pursuing the American dream.

I’ll preach on that one day.

Cheers ya’ll.

Yesterday we spent going to church up in Covington and eating food.  We attended a partner church of the ministry we are working with here (Trinity Church - where many of our groups have stayed …  sleeping on cots… in the sanctuary).  The sermon was real good.  the music was alright.  I missed Eastern Hills.

To get there we had to go over a 24 mile bridge over some big lake.  crazy.

Today we spent a large portion of the day working.   I watched Tom work on the siding.  He spoke of the work in the plural (”we did a good job here”)..  but he really meant “I,” but he was being nice.  “He” did a really good job.  “I” watched.

However, “I” did spend a bit of time ‘mudding’ on the dry wall.  A lot did get done with our team.

It is nice.  Weather in the 70s.  Low humidity.  Living conditions are good.  Food is great.

Ok.  I’m boring.  I’ll try to use stories in tomorrow’s post.

love.

Hello my friends (in my best McCain voice).

We arrived in New Orleans around 2:30 today and have spent some time at the Yellow House (where we’re staying).  Everything has gone well and the weather is quite nice - if not a bit humid…  since I am sweating from just sitting around. When I lived in Michigan, I used to sweat just sitting in class.  That’s why Denver is so nice.

Anyway.  We will be picking up our last team member from the airport in a little bit and then catch some food.  Tomorrow is a bit laid back…  Starting Monday, our week gets real busy.  So, for now I’m enjoying the down time.

So, this is really just a post to say that we’re here safely.  Keep us in prayer.  My sinuses are also going crazy… so pray that I feel 100% soon… and that I can sleep.

Cheers.

Hey.  As I was preparing my talks on the problem of evil, this interview from Steven Colbert kept popping up in my mind.  The guy he interviews has a pretty messed up view of evil.  Colbert, however, holds his own and presents an argument very similar to what we have been discussing.

Thus, I thought I’d share it with you.

The very end is the best part.  (unless you don’t like bleeped out swear words). Enjoy!

We began our series ‘Everyday Struggle’ (aka - ‘Why Life Sucks Sometimes’) last Thursday.  During that talk, we dove into the problem of evil.  “If God is good and all powerful, why does evil exist?” As a supplement to that talk, I want to discuss asking the right questions.  I feel that sometimes when we consider these deep issues, we can ask unfair things of God.

Before we even go into that, I think it important that we consider a balance between God’s mystery and his ability to be understood.  I believe that God has revealed himself to his creation (through his creation, his Word, and his Son) and has made himself known to it.  If you heard Shawn’s sermon this week: Go created and then communicated.  (side note: isn’t it weird that Shawn and my sermons overlap?  Either we are just crazy in tune with each other, or he has my office bugged).  Anyway, God did not just create the world and then sit back and let it go.  He desires to be in relationship with human beings and has revealed truth about himself to them.  I mention this because too often when these difficult questions are asked, good Christian people just default to: “God is beyond our understanding and we’ll never know this side of heaven!” In support, they will quote a verse like Isaiah 55:8 - “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.”  We can certainly agree that the greatness of God is beyond our human, finite understanding.  And certainly the Fall has affected our ability to comprehend the fullness of God.  However, the Bible is clear that God has revealed himself.  And I think it is our responsibility to learn as much about God and his creation as possible.  If we throw in the ‘God is beyond our understanding’ trump card too soon, are we missing out on learning more about God?

What I am saying is this: there must be a healthy balance between pursuing knowledge of God and being humble enough to know that our human minds will never grasp it completely.  God, knowing his creation perfectly, choose to reveal himself in ways they could understand.  Romans tells us that God reveals himself through his creation (”For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities -his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood by what has been made, so that men are without excuse” 1:20).   God has also revealed himself through his Word - the Bible.  Finally, Scripture tells us that God is made known in Christ (John 1:18; “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” Col. 2:9).   The Bible seems pretty clear that God can be known and he has revealed himself in ways understandable by human beings.  So before we simply consent that God can’t understood, we must first do the work to seek to understand what we can about Him.

I think that avoiding tough questions by throwing in the trump card too soon is like saying that you should do something “because the Bible says so.”  Certainly, the Bible is authoritative and the fact that it says something should be compelling enough to get us to do it.  But first, this disregards the issue of why the Bible says that certain thing.  For instance, the biblical view of sex is that it should be reserved for a marital commitment.  Now, the Bible does not just say this for no reason (so that you can just tell someone, “The bible says you shouldn’t have sex, so don’t!”).  Rather Scripture considers the emotional and physical impact that sex has and pushes for a return to God’s original intent for sex.  Not that sex is bad, but that it is best expressed in the way God intended it: between men and women in a marriage.  It seems that God knows the damage that sex can do when done in the wrong situation and wants to protect his people from it.  But when we just say, “The Bible says ‘No’!” and ignore the biblical reasoning for such a position, we do an injustice to God’s word and develop unhealthy understanding of God’s intentions.  Secondly, people who do not hold the Bible to be authoritative will not be persuaded that they should follow God because “the Bible says so.”  They first must hold the Bible to be authoritative in their lives.  But also, we can explain the reasoning that God gives for holding the positions that he does.  We should not just say, “God says not to be obsessed with money,” but rather share what the Bible says about the damage an unhealthy view of money can do to a person and their soul.   As with playing the trump card with difficult questions, I feel we too often take the easy road rather than seeking to understand who God is and why he wants us to live a certain way.

Ok.  With that background and tangent behind me, I also think we should seek to ask the right questions.  What I mean is this: we can’t ask unfair things of God or ask nonsense questions.  Have you ever heard someone pose the question, “Can God create a rock so big that he can’t lift it?”  Or, “can God make a square circle?”  Often times these people are not sincere in their questioning.  They might attempting to disprove God or show the ridiculousness of  the idea of God.  And almost certainly, they think themselves pretty smart having come up with a situation in which the idea of God is threatened.  What is ironic is that these “smart” questions are actually just nonsense (literally).  God could not make a circle with four straight lines because no such thing exists.  It is like asking God to make a lothoies osiehs.  This is impossible because a “lothoies osiehs” is nothing … I just made it up.  It doesn’t mean anything.  Just because it is nonsense to us doesn’t mean that it isn’t to God.  He doesn’t make illogical things logical - or else the ‘logical’ no longer is logical.  Nothing that God could do would count as a straight circle because such a thing is nothing.  To say that it may just be beyond our limited understanding is also not true - that a circle with four straight lines can not be created is obvious - it goes against what a circle is.

Such questions are simply nonsense and are unfair to pose to God.  God is a God of order.  He is not a God of disorder or ridiculousness.  What we can know of God is capable of being understood by human beings.  While we must hold that we may never fully comprehend all of God this side of heaven, but also not give up the search to know all that we can of God.

So, when we pose the problem of evil we are not asking a wrong question.  God’s goodness and the reality of evil pose such a question.  What we can not do is say that God is fully good but inflicts evil.  That is an illogical assertion.  But we can affirm what we discussed last week: that God created everything good but gave humans free will.  Their choice brought about evil (which is nothing more than the absence of the good).   But this God who created and communicated did not just desert his people once they betrayed him.  He entered into their pain and brought restoration through Jesus Christ.  He provided a way for his people to return to him.  And while they live in a world infested with sin, he has promised to be with them and work good out of their suffering.

Alright. This post is longer than I thought it would be. Give me your thoughts….

I’ve been busy planning the above event (if you don’t know what I’m talking about.. you haven’t read the Title… or looked at the pic…  and who doesn’t do that.  All I do is look at titles and pictures…  rarely read the body text).  This week has been a bit crazy attempting to get the copyright license for the film, a projector strong enough to work outside, and getting the advertising out.

A few weeks ago, our group went to downtown Denver and saw an outdoor screening of ‘Casino Royale.’  It was pretty cool - something fun to do on a summer night.  As we were leaving, Jeff (a member of YAM… or a “yammer”- if you like that.. I’m not so sure).. sorry…  Jeff said, “Why couldn’t we do this?”  I figured that we could.   Well, getting all the things together to do it right (meaning, actually paying the fees and not just showing a movie illegally..  getting a good projector …  not a weak one.. etc) is probably the reason these events aren’t so easy to do.

First, getting the lisence.  It really wasn’t difficult to get the rights for a film.  It is just expensive.  Note: there are non-profit rates.  However, showing a film outdoors does not fit into that category..  it actually costs three times as much to show a film outdoors…  rather than indoors.  Who knew?

Secondly, did you know that renting a projector bright enough to work outdoors (even at night) costs over $500 a day?  Well i do.  now.  This information almost put a nix on the whole idea.  However, it was brought to my attention that a family in the congregation has such a projector.  Some people would say, “Yay God!” at this point.  Not me.  I don’t like that phrase.  A little cheesy.  A little demeaning.  A little like a throw-away-phrase.   Rather than “God is good and faithful and He provides, ” we say, “Yay God” and quickly move to more important things.   Sorry..  odd tangent.

Third, since we were paying some cash to get the rights for the film (and we had a good projector lined up), I figured that we better make the most out of it.  So, I did two things by way of advertisement that I hadn’t done before.  First, I printed off some flyers and went to every coffee shop and bookstore in town to put them up.  New fact #7 for today: Not all businesses love you when you ask to put a flyer up.  Some are alright though.  Second, I advertised on Facebook.  I know right? crazy.  They have a whole system where you can pinpoint what age, location, gender, etc you want to advertise to.  So, if you are a male or female living in Aurora or Parker, CO in the ages of 19 to 35… you may just see an ad on Facebook for our August 7th event.

So.  If you are in those categories… please come.  It should be fun.  And now you know everything that went into it.

See you then.

For the past week or so, I have been working on our upcoming Young Adult Fall Retreat (it’s Sept. 26-28, in case you were wondering).  It’s about two months away, but I thought I should be getting some literature out there.  I’m hoping to get forty people to go.  That may be a high number, but why set the bar low?  Anyway.  I was working on a brochure to get out to the masses.  As I was telling my wife about this, she kept asking me if there was a theme for the weekend.  As in, is there some kind of structure to the retreat or are we all just sleeping in a big house?  While in many ways the purpose of the retreat is to connect socially, I will definitely be planning some talks and devotions.  This will all be connected by a theme.  But I did not have a theme.  If I don’t know the theme, how can I plan the retreat?  How can I design the literature?   I need a theme.

Well, I have a theme.  Yes.  I can shout that now…  “I have a theme!”  It is actually one that I thought of a while back… back when I was doing Jr. High.  However, the theme didn’t go over with my boss and it never got developed.  Thinking back, it may be too complex a concept for Jr. High kids (our previous themes included ‘Summer blockbusters’ and ‘Jr. High School Musical’ - not to take away from those ones… they were effective for that audience).  Anyway.  Like many ideas I have, this one came while listening to music (or watching a movie).  Two songs actually.  But I’ll cite one for now (the other is a Derek Webb song).  When the idea came, I was listening to ‘Lack of Color’ by Death Cab for Cutie.  The song starts this way:

And when I see you, I really see you upside down

But my brain knows better, it picks you up and turns you around.

I looked into it (by which I mean I looked it up on Wikipedia), and Death Cab speaks truth.  When our eye retina processes something, it actually is upside down.  Our brain then works to flip the image right side up.  Anna says the same is true for a camera… but I didn’t check wikipedia about that. Ok.  The theme.  As I was reading through the Gospels, a major theme that seemed to jump out was that Jesus saw things differently than everybody else.  He saw the image of God in tax collectors and prostitutes.  He saw the pontential for God to work in times of struggle.  He saw life in death; weath in poverty; understanding in foolishness; etc.  He saw things differently than we do!  It’s like we see things a certain way and we need Jesus to flip it around for us.  We see things upside down.  Jesus shows us how to see things for how they are.

That’s our theme.  I’m still working on a title.  We will be exploring how Jesus saw things.  How we can see like him.  How to flip things and turn them around.  I’m pretty excited.

Back at my home church in Michigan, I remember a rather strange exchange I once had with the parents of a friend of mine.  I do not remember the context of our conversation, but I recall saying, “Good luck!” to them.  As I said this, they stopped what they were doing and stared at me.  “We don’t believe in luck,” they said, “God is in control.”  Instead of saying, “good luck,” they say, “good God.”  I believe after they told me this I apologized for my apparent ignorance and walked away thinking they were weird.  What was so wrong with saying, “good luck”?  I was not really making a huge theological statement about the sovereignty of God or stating my position in the Calvinist/Arminian debate.  I was simply being polite as they went out one some activity.

As I think about this Christian couple who were so convinced that God has his hand in every aspect of human existence (nothing is left up to chance) that they feel compelled to correct their son’s friend who wished them ‘good luck,’  I wonder to what extent they are right and/or crazy.  Is wishing someone ‘good luck’ taking away from God’s sovereignty?  Has God determined every single action in history?  Is there such a thing as chance or a coincidence?

Let me give an example.  A couple of weeks ago I was making a purchase on Amazon.com of books having to do or concerning young adult ministry.  I spoke with Jan (our executive pastor) about book ideas and she mentioned a friend who might have some good book titles.  She emailed him and said she would forward his email once he responded.  I put my order on hold until I got a response and went on with my life.  The next day, Kent (a staff member on maintenance) came into my office.  “I was at the bookstore yesterday, found this book on clearance but don’t think I’m going to keep it,” he said, “if you want it you can have it.”  It was a book called No Perfect People Allowed by John Burke.  I had never heard of the book or the author, but told Kent I’d take a look at it.  Kind of a random event.  Kent and I talk books from time to time, but he has never given me one or mentioned this one before.  That afternoon I got an email from Jan with the book ideas from her friend and the very first recommendation was No Perfect People Allowed  by John Burke!

I reread the email and saw that the title matched the one given to me that morning.  Now, Kent had not talked to Jan or even known that I has asked her for book titles.  He simply found the book for cheap, picked it up, gave it to me.  So, now the question becomes whether this is a coincidence or God somehow working through all of these elements.

A little background on my view of God’s sovereignty.  I believe that God has control over all things on earth and in heaven.  I believe he can divinly intervene on human affairs and that he is an active God in the lives of his people.  I do not think that this control means he determines every single move in history.  He has given us free will to make decisions.  So, do some things happen just out of dumb luck without God’s direct intervention?  I think so.  I do not think that every thing is from God and that some are just coincidences.  Yet, God does work in his creation.  So, how can we tell what is from God and what is just a coincidence?

I’m not sure that I know that answer.  However, getting back to my book story, I do know that I better read that book!  The parts lined up too well that I’d better assume God has his hand in it.  At the same time, this is a rather small thing (reading a book) so the stakes are not too high.  I don’t know.  I think it is cool what things like this line up.  They may be significant or they may not.  But I do know that God can use them to reaffirm his presence in something or to make clear his will.

What do you think?  Where do you land on all this?

The debate concerning the apparent contradiction between Paul and James over the issue of faith and works is one that dates back to the early church. Since the debate is so vast with so many opinions, its presentation here must be brief.

James’ remarks in 2:14-26 on faith and works reach a climax in v. 24 when he states, “You see that people are justified by what they do and not by faith alone.” When read next to Paul’s words in Romans, there seems to be an obvious contradiction. Paul writes, “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

Several theories have been presented throughout Church history. First, Martin Luther saw the contradiction and rejected the book of James, calling it ‘an epistle of straw.’ The canonization of Scripture and Church history have always viewed as an authentic piece of Scripture and we shoul treat it as such. Second, some have argued that James was aware of Paul’s letters and attempted to balance their theology. However, if this were true, James does so only implicitly and indirectly. Rather, James and Paul seem to be talking about very different situations: Paul is justifying the reception of Gentiles into the church without circumcision whereas James is discussing the problem of the failure of works of charity within the church (Davids, 131).

Third, some have offered that James and Paul are using the same words but with two different meanings (same vocabulary but different definitions). Just as they were addressing two different situations, James and Paul had two different things in mind when they wrote ‘faith’ and ‘works.’ James was referring to ‘works’ which come alongside salvation –the results of being a ‘doer’ of the word (1:22) and Paul to ‘works’ of the law which were thought to merit salvation. Craig Blomberg points out that James’ view of works was Christian while Paul’s was Jewish (”works of the law”), and James’s of ‘faith’ was Jewish (monotheism) and Paul’s Christian. What must be stressed is that while both authors use the same terminology, they had very different meanings in mind. Once this background work is done, it seems clear that Paul would have agreed with James (in light of Gal. 5:6) and vice versa.

As we have studied 1 Peter and James, one theme seems to reoccur: trials. The theme, particularly that of suffering, was especially strong in 1 Peter. As we started the book of James, that we would be continuing this topic became apparent by verse 2: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Verses 2-11 answer the question of how a believer should respond to trials (the answer, in case you missed out, was by rejoicing at the maturity they can establish, praying for wisdom, and identifying them as universal and leveling experiences). In vv. 13-18, which we looked at this week, James discusses how a believer should not respond to trials (temptations in particular): they should not seek to blame others, especially God.

In between these two sections comes v. 12, which serves as an encouragement to those facing trials. In this verse James writes, “Blessed are those who persevere under trial, because when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” We did not spend much time on this verse last Sunday, so it is to James 1:12 which we will focus here.

James, here, seems to be following a line of thinking which is well-established in New Testament writing: life, with all of its trials and obstacles, seen as an athletic race. While the athletic imagery might not be as obvious as other places (especially in Paul’s writings), it at least seems clear that James views life’s many trials as a sort of test (parallel to a race or not) in which the one who perseveres obtains a prize. The word translated “stood the test” is dokimos which is a favorite of Paul to signify human or divine approval. This is the goal of the one facing trials, to pass the test or finish the race.

Other places in the New Testament incorporates this athletic imagery (much more overtly than James). Here are a few passages:

• Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize? Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1 Corinthians 9:24-25)
• You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? (Galatians 5:7)
• I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)
• Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2a)

An interesting parallel between James 1:12 is 2 Timothy 4:7-8. In it, Paul writes, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

In this passage, Paul connects “finishing the race” with ‘keeping the faith.’ James would likewise connect it to “persevering in trials,” which could certainly be part of keeping the faith. Notice also that Paul is pointing to a future reward: a crown. Here he calls it the “crown of righteousness.” In 1 Corinthians he referred to a “crown that will last forever.” In 1 Peter, the author mentions a “crown of glory that will never fade away” (5:4). In 1:12, James refers to a “crown of life.”

While it might be difficult to argue that all these authors had the same “crown” in mind, it does seem clear that they all await a future reward for the believer who finishes the race. It is also difficult to pin point what exactly this crown is. The grammatical construction leads to the translation “crown of life” (in James) and should be understood as expressing that life is the content of the crown. I think the best way to understand the crown is to see it as salvation (or eternal life). It is salvation, which is ours in the present time because of Christ, but will not be fully realized until we are with the Father. There is a popular expression in Biblical circles: “already, but not yet.” It is used to refer to those things which are real in the present time (”already”), but are not fully realized or present until Christ returns (”not yet”). I believe this crown should be understood in “already, but not yet” terminology. We have salvation now, but will fully receive it once we have finished the race.

Whether we agree on this point or not, it is clear is that God has promised a reward to those who faithfully run the race of life. Who keep the faith, persevering under trials. James 1:12, being stuck between two sections on trials and temptations, serves as a wonderful encouragement for continuing in the Christian life. It expresses a promise: those who have stood the test will receive a crown of life.