It is sad hearing people who loudly profess to follow Jesus but don’t sound anything like Him when it comes political discourse. What can we learn from a powerful king who lived thousands of years ago about our faith and politics today? 

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright." [Psalm 20:7-8]

David writes something as important today as it was 3000 years ago. People found their security in the strength of their king and his “chariots and horses”. If they had a strong king and big army, they felt secure. This is where we need to listen today. 

We are equally guilty today. All over social media Christians vie for their political candidate, proclaiming why their candidate and party better represent the values of Christ. Sadly, many Christians have sacrificed the values of love and grace in their speech, all on the altar of politics.  

Our current dilemma is who will be our next president. Christians are divided, but honestly neither candidate wholly represents Christ-like values. Both political parties and candidates need a reboot, a recasting of vision, and some serious repentance. 

Enter the psalmist. David was king of Israel when he wrote this psalm, yet he doesn’t place his trust in the strength of his government. He knows that armies and governments “collapse and fall” but that those who trust in the Lord will “stand upright.” That is where I would love to see change in our culture: that would "stand upright" as we engage this political season. 

And, yes, I said engage! I think every American should vote, and if campaigning is your thing, you should do that too. Be engaged and see your civic duty as the privilege that it is. Many around the globe would love the opportunity to vote, even for the two candidates we have to choose from! 

Yet hear the heart of the psalmist when he says to “trust in the Lord”. Don’t trust in politics, media, political parties, or presidential candidates. They all “collapse and fall” at some point. 

“Trust in the Lord” about our nation, our world, and even the future of the Church. Not a single president can change the world for better or worse unless God permits. 

“Trust in the Lord”, and repent of the accepted rhetoric of the day. A follower of Jesus is one who follow Him in speech as well as worldview. One who stands upright is one whose speech matches their faith. 

The Unchurched in America

One of the elders in my church sent me a link to this article by Barna.

https://www.barna.org/barna-update/culture/698-10-facts-about-america-s-churchless#.VIsNLYvP70B

After you read that quick article, let me offer some thoughts on ministry implications ...

#1 - this is exactly why we no longer have to consider "mission work" as going somewhere. The need for mission is greatest right here in our own neighborhoods. Partner this with the facts in #6, and you see that our need here in LA/OC is great.

#3 - the idea that so many of the unchurched have attended church, and have chosen to be "unchurched" is exactly why we are high on the value of biblical preaching, gospel centrality, and culturally relevant, in our church. This is why the ideas of doing things "the way we always" have is so flawed. People are not returning to churches, in many cases, because what they have to offer them is so weak. People have visited churches looking for something - expecting something, and when they have not found it, it is because the churches have lost sight of what truly has power, and traded it in for what they think the culture will respond to. The number one thing people say they like when they visit our church is our emphasis of the Bible. Why has the church at large missed this?

#6 - this is why we are constantly talking about, aiming into, and supporting, planting churches. We are so in need of reaching our part of the country, that the only way this will happen is through church planting. The primary way the leaders that God used to start "the church" in an unchurched culture (the first century) was by planting churches. All of the book of Acts is a story of church planting.

#8 - this is exactly why we call the older and more mature believers in the church to conceed in style and approach for worship, teaching, and image, because we are losing an entire generation. Each generation is slipping further and further away. They must become the focus of our direction or we will not only lose our faith in the next generation, but our entire nation will suffer when we lose the very thing we were founded on. Those who are mature in their faith are called by God to become that which will serve the next generation in reaching them. Doing things "the way we always have", or "the way I like them", is selfish, and requires us to submit our hearts to God in repentance.

#10 - this should indicate that the harvest is ripe for the worker. People identifying as oriented towards Christianity, should indicate that we have common ground with those who need Jesus so deeply. It is not like we have to convince them that Buddha is wrong. We just need to show them that what they inherently already profess requires their submission to it. God is not a God who is disengaged: God is a personal God, founded in Jesus Christ, that requires our full submission and worship. The gospel can no longer be about hawking Heaven to people, offering them an eternity that is disconnected from our today. But, instead, it requires our submission to God today that will result in an eternal outcome.

What Bible Translation is Best?

One of the greatest gifts that God has given us is his Word - the Bible. Some of the only things that might be better than the Bible are God’s love for us, and the salvation Christ accomplished by his work on the cross. Beyond that, I cannot think of much else in this life that is a greater gift to us than God granting us the revelation of himself in writing for us to study.  

However, with so many translations to choose from, how do we know what is best for us? It can be completely discouraging to someone who doesn’t know much about choosing a Bible.

There are many English translations on the market. Many Christians have a preference, most preferences seem to come from what they used as a child or when they first came to faith. Hopefully, this short message will help you in choosing a translation.

Every Bible we have today is a translation from ancient manuscripts: these ancient writings have been around for hundreds to even thousands of years. To get them into English, or any other language that you and I can read, they have to be “translated”. There are two  main “types” (styles) of translations: “dynamic equivalent’ and “literal equivalent”.

Dynamic Equivalent vs. Literal Equivalent 

A “dynamic equivalent” translation is a “thought-for-thought” translation. The scholars who use this method read a sentence or paragraph, basically a full thought, and attempt to translate it into common language so that it is both true to the original intent, and readable in the new language. 

A “literal equivalent” is a more “word-for-word” translation. The translators take the original language and attempt to translate every word from one language to another. This is not always as easy as it sounds, as one word in a language may have multiple equivalents in another language, or really no word that is the “literal equivalent”.

Let me say this before we move on: no translation is perfect. Anytime you translate from one language to another, no matter what style of translation you use, you inevitably run into some problems. However, you can make an educated decision based on what you know and choose the Bible that is best for you.

Pros and Cons:

Dynamic equivalents often make a very readable translations, that flow well verbally, and land well in the ear of the reader. They flow really well because of their design. Whole thoughts are translated at a time, so when they are written out they are written with the design of being read together in the new language. The clunkiness of word-for-word translation is overcome here. 

The problem that can arise with a dynamic equivalent translation is that you are getting interpretation mixed in with translation. When one person takes someone else’s “thought”, and tries to find the dynamic equivalent to that “thought”, there is inevitably the translators own “thought” added to it. Those that have sought to do this have worked very hard at keeping their own biases out of it, but some inevitably bleeds through.  

Literal equivalent translations of the Bible are often the choice of teachers. The reason for this is accuracy. Those who prefer this style of Bible want to know what the Bible “says” (translated), not what the Bible “means” (translated). This style of translation makes it a better teaching tool.

The problem you can run into with a literal equivalent is that it can read a little clunkier than dynamic translations. There are also sometimes problems with words: some words have more than one meaning, others have more than one counterpart in the new language, and still others have no real words that are the equivalent in the new language. This means sometimes you have to take a word and create a phrase, or vice versa. 

A good example of a word translation issue is the English word “love”. There are at least three words in Hebrew, and four more in Greek, that we translate into love in English. Hebrews and Greeks had different words for familial love, physical love, and unconditional love. We have “love”. So, the question is, do you define love (add meaning) or do you simply use love? If you add for clarity you are going beyond literal translation (word-for-word). If you don’t, have you not only carried the word, but the meaning correctly?

There are no real right or wrong answers here (but there are some very highly opinionated people about translation issues!). Let me give you some common translations.

Popular examples of “dynamic equivalent” Bibles are: the New International Version (NIV), Living Bible (TLB), New Living Translation (NLT), Today’s New International Version (TNIV), and “The Message” by Eugene Peterson (no abbreviation).

Popular examples of “literal equivalent” translations are: the King James Version (KJV), New King James Version (NKJV), American Standard Version (ASV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the English Standard Version (ESV).  

Choosing a Bible

The first question I like to ask people that ask me about choosing a translation is simply what they will read. Any Bible that you will read is better than you not reading a Bible. Now, that being said, there are some that are better than others. 

My preference is to stay with literal equivalent translations for what has been already said above: I want to know what the Bible “says” not what it “means”. I want to be able to derive the meaning from the words God actually chose to be written. 

ESV (www.ESV.org)

First, my preference in a Bible, is the English Standard Version. That is what we use every Sunday in the church, and what we stock in the pews. The reason for that is that is a literal equivalent translation that has the best scholarship behind it. The other literal equivalents like the KJV (400 years old), and even the NKJV (32 years old), are good, but do not have the best scholarship of the last several decades. The ESV grows out of the Tyndale-KJV legacy, with a more accurate and more readable translation. 

NIV (www.NIV.org)

If you are going to choose a dynamic equivalent translation, I will suggest that the NIV is your best choice. The New International Version was originally published in the 1970s after about 10 full years of effort. There were 100 scholars engaged, from across all streams and theologies of Christianity, as a way of balancing bias. They also made for a very scholarly translation. The second thing they did that I like was to balance “word-for-word” translation with “thought-for-thought” translation, to get the best result.  The NIV underwent another “update” that was released in 2011 to address some issues that were found after its release. Overall, this is a good, very readable, accurate translation.

Study Bible Suggestions:

The following are three of my favorite study Bibles. They have great articles 

• Gospel Transformation Bible (ESV) CLICK HERE
• Reformation Study Bible (ESV) CLICK HERE
• Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible (NIV) CLICK HERE

(note the last one is available only in digital format)

May you grow in your study of God’s Word!

Pastor Jeff 

Am I Not More To You?

Am I Not More To You?

1 Samuel 1:1 - 2:21

The story of Hannah is found in 1 Samuel, and tells the story of Hannah being the wife of a man to whom she can bear no children. Hannah is barren and other women mock her for her “womb being closed”. She is loved deeply by her God and her husband, but the fact that she could not have a child plagued her. Hannah would weep uncontrollably, and often go without food. One day, her husband asked her, “Am I not more to you than 10 sons?” [1 Samuel 1:8].  The very next scene is Hannah in worship before God, still pleading for a son.

The story is a great one because the outcome is that God gives Hannah a son named Samuel who becomes a great prophet. However, if the outcome was the only point to be drawn from this, the story would start with Samuel’s birth. Yet, it doesn’t, it begins with Hannah.

I had to ask myself if God is enough for me. If my prayers are never answered the way I want them to be; if the church I pastor never becomes what I dream for it; if those that I disciple never see the potential Christ has for them; and, if the lost people I love never meet Jesus; is God enough?

God are you not more to me than all this?

We often read historical accounts as disconnected stories that only serve as background for what God “really wants to say”, rather than reading them as Spirit-breathed words meant for us to read in their own context and setting. The story about Hannah is also a story about a priest named Eli, who has wicked sons who also “serve” God at the Tent of Meeting. However, they steal, extort God’s people, and sin with the women who come to worship. What eventually happens is that God judges Eli and his sons for continuing to take from God what is not theirs to take. 

The same thing thing could be asked of Eli and his sons. Was God not enough for them? Was what God had blessed them with not enough to satisfy them? Were they not satisfied with their place before God? The answer for them, similar to Hannah, was no. What God had provided was not enough.  

Now there is one huge difference in the two parallel stories. In the case of Hannah, what her heart longed for drove her to pursuing God for it. Her heart was unsatisfied, but she brought her cares directly to God. Through tears and fasting we find Hannah always before God in worship and petition. 

This is not so with the sons of Eli. What their hearts longed for they stole and extorted. Their longing for things that God had not given them caused them to sin. This makes all the difference in the the story. God blesses Hannah with Samuel, but God judges the priest and his sons and removes them from ministering.

1. What does your heart long for?

In our hearts we all long for something that we do not have. Maybe if we are a young man or woman, we long for someone to spend our life with, someone we can love and will love us back. Maybe if we are sick we desire healing. If we are without work, we desire work. If we are lonely, we desire love. If we have, often we want more. Our hearts all long for something that God has not provided.

As a pastor, I often find that I long for things that God has not yet blessed me with. It is too easy to look at other pastors and desire their gifting, their budget, or whatever. All the things that look so appealing from the outside stir in my heart, and I find myself unsatisfied with what God has given me. It hurts to say this out loud, but it is still true, and honesty must come before repentance. 

It is this place, when our hearts long for what God has not given us, that we must search deep within our hearts to see how we are responding.

1. Does the longing of your heart cause you to worship, or cause you to sin?

Hannah longs deeply for a son, but her longing drives her to worship. She weeps and fasts, as she cries out to God. Hannah gives the desires of her heart over to God. She worships God for years with no answer. 

The sons of Eli, on the other hand, allow their desires to become sin. They sin to achieve what is in their hearts. Eli, their father, calls them to repent, but to no avail. Their hearts are corrupted by their longing, and God judges them for their sin. 

As a pastor this stands as a strong warning to me and to all who are in ministry. However, this is a challenge that we all face. We all want something we don’t have. We all desire something to be different. The question is how we respond to it. Does our desire cause us to worship or to sin? 

Is God enough to satisfy your heart?

Can a person love Jesus, and still commit suicide?

In continuing the blog series “Christianity and Suicide”, one of the most common questions centers around how a person can love Jesus, and still commit suicide. It comes out in statements like, “I thought he was doing so good”, and “but, he seemed like he had such a strong faith.”

Often, suicide becomes a question about one’s faith. Can a person genuinely follow Jesus and still have such deep pain that it can end in death? If so, did Christianity “work”? Was his or her faith real? How can someone be so “changed” in one sense, and still be so “unchanged” to the point of death? 

Possibly the best case study of a character in the Bible would be King David. Here are a few things we know about the famous ruler of Israel.:

• He was a great kid who loved God - 1 Samuel 17
• He married the love of his life - 1 Samuel 11
• He was well loved by others - 1 Samuel 20
• He loved to dance, sing, and worship God - 2 Samuel 6

Here is what else we know about King David:

• He had been a murderer and adulterer in his past - 1 Samuel 11
• He was plagued by fear often - Psalm 3
• He felt like God wouldn’t answer him - Psalm 4
• He felt like God was angry at him - Psalm 6

David was so plagued by his emotion, that he often wrote and contemplated death.  David writes, 

O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O LORD—how long? Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.  [Psalm 6:1-7]

The desperation in David is the same desperation that leads someone to the brink of suicide. The combination of being plagued by the past, and a perception of separation or distance from God can leave a person feeling like there is no other option. Imagine the radical swing from the high emotions of dancing and singing in worship, to the lows of feeling distant from God, and you begin to see how the “energetic” and “happy” can quickly shift to the desperate and empty. These two terms in quotations are the words that were often used to describe my good friend who just took his own life. 

Another man in the Bible named Job writes this, 

“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me? When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. [Job 7:11-16]

Job was known to be an amazing man of faith and follower of God, but like David, he struggled with the turmoil in his life. The tumult of pain in his head was too much for him at times. He uses words like anguish and bitterness that he cannot even escape in his sleep.

Others, like Moses and the Sons of Korah, often struggled with times where death seemed like a better answer than life. As Job says above, “I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.” Even Jesus while in his humility prayed, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.”

To be perfectly clear, I am not advocating for suicide. I believe taking your own life is never the right answer. However, when the question is asked if a person can love Jesus faithfully, and still want to die, the answer is yes. Sadly, and regrettably, the answer is yes.

The question that we are left with is what makes one person who deals with great depression and chooses to live, different from the one who chooses to take their own life? 

Hope. When a person loses hope, they have nothing left. 

It is said that a person can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but not a single minute without hope.

My prayer for you is that you never lose hope. 

“We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown.” 

~ John Calvin

Living Between the Highs and Lows of Ministry

In his commentary on Mark 4:21-34 RC Sproul writes, 

“Every year in the United States, thousands of pastors leave the ministry.  Some leave for moral reasons, but most leave because they feel unappreciated by their congregations. They feel like they are spinning their wheels, that they’re preaching their hearts out but nothing is happening.”

As a pastor I have had the privilege of leading in multiple congregations over the past decade. I have experienced times of feeling appreciated, and times of feeling unappreciated. Admittedly, I have struggled with wanting to quit ministry more times than I can count. There are days, weeks, months, sometimes even long seasons, where the weight of ministry feels overwhelming and the temptation is to do something else - anything else.  

The opposite side of the coin are times of excitement and rejuvenation in ministry. There are times when I can see what God is doing in the church, and I can see lives being impacted.  A recent example would when as a church we baptized a whole bunch of people in one day. Some made decisions of faith on the spot, and could not wait to get into the water of baptism. There was joy and excitement, and people’s lives were being forever changed. Those days are great, and I never consider quitting ministry in those times.  

The issue is how to live in between the lows and the highs, and not wanting to quit during the lows.  

When I first read the words in the commentary quoted above it made me consider why I have had such polar swings in ministry. Could this just be normal? Here is the problem that I see: in both examples above, both good and bad, the basis of my emotional standing is based solely on what I can see.  

In the above quote, Dr. Sproul is commenting on a parable in Mark where Jesus says,

And [Jesus] said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29 ESV)

Jesus shares a parable about a man who scatters seed and how it grows. He has done his job, but there is no growth; not yet. It takes time, but it eventually happens. The parable is a great reminder from Jesus that we are called to do as pastors. Here are some thoughts I pulled out of this passage for you to consider:

• Jesus teaches us that we are talking about the “Kingdom of God”. We are not just raising crops of some kind, like the man in the parable.  I know this is simple, but we need an occasional reminder of the goal we are laboring towards. We anticipate the realizing of the Kingdom of God: Christ physically reigning in glory on earth! Is there any heartache, any “lack of appreciation”, that is not worth living to see that day come? Perspective helps.

• Jesus tells us that the job of the man in the parable is to “scatter seed”, and then “when the grain is ripe” he is to harvest it.  My tendency is to think that I am also in charge of the growth.  I love what the parable says the man does after scattering, “He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows”. The man sleeps because his job is done. The lord causes the growth, not the man. My time is often spent working on the growing part, and that is when I fail to see what is my role, and what is God’s alone. This can lead to me feeling inadequate (because I am!), and wondering why I am not appreciated. The parable continues, “The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.” I love the words “by itself”. It reminds me of who is in charge.

• At last the man, “when the grain is ripe”, is invited into the “harvest”. God allows me to participate in the joy of seeing the Harvest. He doesn’t, however, put me in charge of it. I  often tend to slip into the mode of measuring my ministry (for better or worse) by the size of the harvest. It is no wonder my view of my ministry is like a roller-coaster of emotions. I am measuring my value by something I cannot control.

How different it would be if I lived like the man in the parable. I scatter the seed I am given (a beautiful gospel message), and then I rest in the security of knowing God alone causes the growth. I am invited into the privilege of seeing the harvest, and I can take joy in that, but I am not allowed to take value in it. My value comes from  what Christ has done in me alone. There will be days, weeks, or longer, that people won’t appreciate me the way I like, but at the end of the day, God still provides a harvest.