I sure hope he gets caught

The other day I was travelling down the highway about 18 km/hr over the speed limit when someone went by me going much faster than I was travelling.  My reaction was "I sure hope he gets caught by the police."  Sure enough a few minutes later there he was at the side of the road while the police officer wrote out a ticket.  As I went by I suddenly realized that I also was breaking the law but the police had decided to ignore those that drove under 20 km/hr over the speed limit.  Was I any less guilty that the one who got the ticket?  We were both speeding.  Sometimes that is the way we look at sin.  There are little sins and big sins.  I may never commit the big sin but I am guilty of the sin and any sin can keep us out of the relationship with the Father.

Contextualization

First let me define what is meant by contextualization.  According to Dictionary.com it is "to put (a linguistic element, an action, etc.) in a context, especially one that is characteristic or appropriate, as for purposes of study."
I have always disliked answers to questions that are yes and no but I think we will use a similar point here.
Contextualization is necessary.  Cultures do not understand the meanings of words the same as other cultures and to explain things you do have to put it in the context of the culture.

However, having said that it seems taht we cannot make the culture "king" in this.  We need to remember that the message is what is important.  We contextualize so that the message will be understood.  We don't contextualize to be "hip", "with it" but rather to make the message clear.  Someone said that we should teach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.  Just remember that the newspaper does not interpret the Bible but the Bible will interpret the events recorded in the news.

God hates the sin but

I have always heard in churches that God hates the sin but loves the sinner.  However, I was reading in the Psalms this morning and I read this:  "For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome.  The arrogant cannot stand in your presence.  You hate all who do wrong; you destroy those who tell lies.  The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest." Psalm 5:4-6.  In another Psalm we read, "The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion."  Psalm 11:5
So what does this mean and what are the implications for us?  We need to remember that we are not God and we cannot make judgments as if we were God.  We cannot assume that everyone who is not a believer is hated by God as He has also said that He is not willing that any should perish but that all should be saved.  Here is where we hear the Gospel call.  The God who hates sin reaches out to the sinner because of the atoning work of His Son.  The Gospel is for all but we are all under condemnation and without the Gospel we are condemned.  We deserve death and destruction but God took it upon Himself in His Son.

Gospel Slide

I heard once that the first generation believed the Gospel and knew that there were attachments.  The next generation assumed the Gospel and focused on the attachments.  The third generation focused completely on the attachments and had nothing to attach the attachments to. 

Machen once said that we can apply Christianity until there is little left to apply.

We need to remember that the attachments to the Gospel are important but we must not forget first is the Gospel.  The world may need food, clothing, water, education but as my friend Paul repeats in every sermon, "What this world needs more than anything else is the living Word of God." 

We want a king.

In 1 Samuel 8 the people asked Samuel for a king.  They wanted to be like the other nations.  Today we have the same problem in our churches.  We don't desire a king but we do desire to be like other nations.  We want programs that are appealing, buildings that are comfortable and we don't want to offend anyone.  Now good programs are important and we should have buildings that are pleasant to come to, buildings that turn our thoughts and worship to God.  But we must remember that the church is to stand as a counterculture to the world.  When the church tries to be like the world to show the world that they shouldn't be the world the world sees through that hypocrisy. 
We have a King, He is the King of kings.  We don't need to be like the world to win the world we need to be different than the world. 
Enjoy this song by Andrew Peterson.

Sit, Walk, Stand

I was reading Psalm 1 this morning and Psalm 1:1 says, "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers."  I couldn't help but notice that the order is so different from the book of Ephesians where we are instructed to first find our rest in Christ, then we can walk in this world and finally we can take a stand against the enemy.  The wicked man in Psalm 1 first walks with the ungodly (going along with the crowd) then he takes a stand with them (his world view has been shaped by the wicked) and then he sits with them (finding his rest in those that are opposed to the Gospel).

The Gospel tells us that we are first to find our rest in Christ, then we can do service for Him and finally take a stand with Him against the enemy.  This is the same order as creation.  Man was created on day 6 and his first day was a day of rest.  He then was given work to do in caring for the garden.  But when the opportunity came for him to take a stand against the enemy he failed. 

Deep and Wide

We used to sing a chorus when I was growing up called Deep and Wide.  It was a fun chorus and as we sang it we would do the actions leaving out first the word "deep" and then "wide' then both words.  However, as a child I only knew it as a chorus, a fun chorus and I didn't understand what it meant at all. 

However, I want to go away from the meaning for a moment and talk about the church.  We have heard of churches that are a mile wide and an inch deep.  They reach hundreds of people but change very few.  On the other hand there are churches that are very deep but not very wide.  They dig into the Word but have very little influence in the community or the world.  The churches influence is to be both deep and wide.