I want to tell you about a city, a well known, popular, the-place-to-be, kind of city. It was on the coast as you might expect. At the time it was the 4th largest market in the world. The city arena seated 24,000 people for public events and sporting spectacles, larger than many of todays Verizon sized arenas. Sports and athletics were almost worshiped in this city. The education system of this city was legendary as it boasted one of the largest libraries and collections of literature from all over world. The city was proud of its sophistication. Commerce was booming and sorcery, astrology, and sex were selling. This city contained the largest building ever dedicated to sexual expression and the worship of sex. In fact, it was at the time called one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

And then something began happened that sent shockwaves throughout the political, social, and economic cultures in this city.

A preacher arrived and for 3 months spoke in churches that he was familiar with, until they kicked him out and set out to publically discount his message. He then just rented a public facility and continued to speak about Jesus everyday to anyone from this city who would listen. And listen they did. Even though this preacher spoke against the sex trade that sustained much of the economic foundation of the city, even though he claimed that only through Jesus could anyone be saved and that any other person or object that men and women worshiped didn’t even exist and was therefore worthless, even though this preacher was unimpressed with their culture their politics and their famous personalities… the people listened. This preacher and his message and the lifestyles that those who believed him were rejecting and giving up were the talk of not only this city but the whole region of the country!

And then the businessmen who were seeing their bottom line affected by the life changes that people were making decided that they couldn’t afford to sit back and let their industries go under. One man who was adamant about stopping this preacher called together his union of other businessmen and made his case. They agreed, got very vocal, and took their cause to the streets of the city. It worked. It wasn’t long before they had almost the whole city convinced that because of this preacher and his message their entire way of life was threatened with extinction. They couldn’t find the preacher so they grabbed two of his workers and took them to the arena. The whole city followed just to see what was going on. Racial tensions began to boil, chanting and yelling ensued, and the whole place was about to go up like a match. A city official stepped in front of the crowd after a couple of hours and spoke some plain truth to those in the arena. He told them unless they each were ready to face rioting and maybe other charges; they had just better go home now. And they did.

The preacher decided after this event that 3 years was enough and it was time for him to move on to share his message with other cities. The believers in Christ who remained in this city were many. This new church would become a strategically important outpost of truth in an increasingly dark and troubled world.

As with most spiritual movements, over time the purity of the message of the gospel that the preacher had shared began to fade. The culture of the city overall was still carnal, worldly, greedy, and sexually perverse. Leaders in the church that the preacher had planted began to try to make peace with the larger culture. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to let a little of the city’s influence effect the life of this church. After all, they had lived in this city a long time and they understood the political, social, and economic ramifications of totally rejecting the long held and long esteemed way of life of this city.

The preacher heard of the weakening convictions and moral and spiritual compromises that the church had allowed to take root. So he sent someone to lead this church on a course correction. Imprisoned for his faith and his preaching in another city, the preacher wrote a letter to his protégé because he had heard of the opposition he was facing from the city, it’s culture, and those in the church who had led the movement toward a politically more palatable tolerance of all beliefs in the church that had once so proudly and effectively stood solely on the gospel of Jesus Christ as it’s only message.

What could one person do against such odds? Could one voice make a difference? The situation was complex and his opponents were well read and made convincing arguments. The protégé of the preacher was relatively young and inexperienced compared to the preacher. So the first letter the preacher sent to him contained instructions on what he was to do in facing these enormous odds, how to respond and react to accusation, and perhaps most importantly, how to prepare for a difficult mission that many would rather run and hide from.

The preacher: Paul

The city: Ephesus.

The instruction from Paul to Timothy: train yourself in godliness (1 Timothy 4:7)

Our city is not that different. Our call to represent truth in word and deed is consistent with Timothy’s. God has a plan to use you and to use Cornerstone to make a deep impact with the gospel in a secular society that seeks to crowd out the voices of Truth.

Are you ready?

How’s your DEW60 this week?

Angry Over Sin

Initially its shock and sadness; the loss of life, the devastation; how can it be? “Why” comes first. After why, the real reason sets in. Sin. Evil led to sin that led to death . . . and the pattern continues to this day. When sin entered the world death was not far behind. In the meantime, sorrow and pain and loss and misery and many more results of sin came along. Why? The answer – man made his choice and made it poorly. That choice to sin, to violate the command of our Holy God, was the beginning and we have not yet reached the end. At some point it all just makes us angry – and it certainly should.

Our Lord Jesus got angry about this very thing – this thing of sin. In John 11:33 we see our Lord angry over the result of sin entering the world. He sees death and sorrow. He sees some who weep as if they have no hope and others with hope yet sorrowful and miserable all because of the work of the evil one in the lives of our Lord’s own created images of Himself. People who were knit together by this Holy God with a love exceeding our deepest thoughts and feelings and imaginations. Yes, He was angry. Angry that sin – for a time – would have its way.

How angry are you about sin? Your sins, the sins of others, the sins of our society – how angry? The killing of babies goes on. Man’s chosen excesses continue. Many other failures of man continue. How angry are you about sin? Angry enough to change your ways? Angry enough to work to change our society’s sinful laws and practices? Angry enough to work to help victims of man’s own poor choices? What will you do?

Jesus got angry. He did something about it!! Will you?

Doulos

It’s easy to say we are followers of Christ and miss what that entails. Paul said he was a doulos. Unlike a normal household servant, a doulos was a slave (yeah it’s Greek). And a slave had no rights. They were like property. Or like a CD player. If it messed up you could just chuck it. Except they did not get chunked, they got killed.

And Paul addressed himself as a doulos (Romans 1).

For definition’s sake, a slave was completely consumed with the will of their master.

This was their purpose.

To Give

Work

Sweat

Serve

Bleed

and Die for their master.

Are you a doulos for Christ?

Be consumed with the will of the Master.

--Ben

For Your Children’s Sake (Reading the Bible Through as a Family Adventure)

A few days ago, my twelve-year-old son—prompted, in part, by Barry Wingfield’s recent sermon, DEW60—said to me: “Daddy, we should read the Bible through this year together.” His words moved me with a sense of excitement and anticipation that I hadn’t experienced since I bought my iPhone! (My goal every year is to read the Bible through in a translation I’ve never used before, so that I might see with fresh eyes the stories that I’ve heard for so many years. So this year, my son and I have chosen the New Living Translation.) We're only a few days into it, but it's already been a rich blessing.

Thus, I propose to you Three (Random) Reasons to Read the Bible Through as a Family.

1. Biblical literacy in America has reached an all-time low.

Let me offer just a couple of examples: In January 2009, following the BCS Championship Bowl, in which quarterback Tim Tebow came out with John 3:16 written on his eye black, the top Google search for the next week was ‘John 3:16.’ Could it be that the Bible has become so unfamiliar that its once-most-recognizable verse is now completely foreign. Brian Lowery commented:

Isn't it awfully telling that people actually had to look up John 3:16 on Google to know what it says? It used to be that you could bank on people knowing at least a few biblical texts, and John 3:16 was one of them. It has, after all, been broadcast at pretty much every professional game long before Tebow smeared it on his face-often on poster boards, and usually by a guy wearing a rainbow wig. People saw it and thought, Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'For God so loved the world.' I get it. Now, was that a first down? But last night a good part of America saw the text and thought, What the heck does that mean?

Well, if people don’t know John 3:16, at least they know who Adam and Eve are, right? Don’t count on it. A friend of mine is a professor at a Christian university, and in one particular class when he mentioned Adam and Eve, one student innocently raised his hand and asked: Weren’t those the first missionaries to Africa? (Yes, I did say, Christian university!)

Clearly biblical literacy can no longer be assumed. If we want our kids to know the Bible, the simplest way to make that happen is to read it together with them.

2. The tenets of Atheism are promoted largely by those who didn’t know their fathers.

This is fascinating to me. Nearly all of the renowned atheists that we read about in our erstwhile philosophy classes (e.g., Nietzsche, Hume, Russell, Sartre, and Camus) grew up without fathers. So what we have in their writings and provocations may very well be them projecting their fatherless experience upon God, and thus concluding that God doesn’t exist. Michael Wittmer says this: "How our children perceive us and our love towards them goes a long way toward how they understand the love of their heavenly Father.” And what better way to show our children that we love them than by (the doubly beneficial effort of) introducing them to the story of a God who reveals himself on every page of Scripture, and who is deeply interested in them.

Plus, as with any literature, reading the Bible prompts questions, and questions spark dialogue. After only a few days of this reading plan, my son and I have already had four or five conversations about faith, spirituality, and God. We’re not just learning about God, we’re doing it together. And if ninety percent of being a good dad is just showing up, then it doesn’t matter if we have all the answers (of course, we won’t!); at least, we’re taking an interest, and that's huge.

3. You (and your children) may discover that the Bible is not what you thought it was.

"Now, some people think the Bible is a book of rules," says Sally Lloyd-Jones, "telling you what you should and shouldn’t do. The Bible certainly does have some rules in it. They show you how life works best. But the Bible isn’t mainly about you and what you should be doing. It’s about God and what he has done.

Other people think the Bible is a book of heroes, showing you people you should copy. The Bible does have some heroes in it, but (as you’ll soon find out) most of the people in the Bible aren’t heroes at all. They make some big mistakes (sometimes on purpose), they get afraid and run away. At times, they’re downright mean.

No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne–everything–to rescues the ones he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!

You see, the best thing about this Story is–it’s true. There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling on Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them. It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. And at the center of the Story, there is a baby. Every story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in the puzzle–the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture."

2010 won’t be the first time I’ve read the Bible through, but it will be the first time I’ve read it through with my son. I’ve offered three reasons that I’m excited about this, but I can think of many more. As you strive to do your DEW60 (Diet, Exercise and Worship) in 2010, why not bring the family along! You may take your family on a journey that's unlike anything you've ever experienced.