Counter-Culture
In a conversation I recently had with a friend who isn’t a believer, we discussed the Word of God: what it is and what it is for. I was asked how I’d respond to questions, or how I’d react to things that are contrary to what Scripture teaches. I was also asked if Scripture is still relevant today because “the world has changed so much since Biblical times.”
I paused and thought for a little bit. Making the other person nervous and myself nervous because what was to be said next could hinder the acceptance of the Gospel by this person.
In my previous blog, I wrote about the character of God, and how it is unwavering and steadfast. So, I decided to use that to introduce what I was going to present. I provided scripture to show how it is true and why it is necessary to have a God who is wholly steadfast. Because, to answer their question about relevancy, if our God changes then His word does, too, and scripture would not be relevant today. Since He does not, Scripture is relevant and very necessary today.
While we are bombarded with things and changes that current culture says we should accept, the Word of God is unwavering. One current hot topic right now is gay rights. I was asked by this person if I’d attend a gay wedding of someone we both knew.
I felt trapped. Do I answer with Scripture and appear arrogant, or do I dance around the subject hoping it goes away?
I chose Scripture, and tried my hardest to not appear arrogant or like I’m better than anyone else, because I’m not. I took that time to name sins; in many forms. Things like lying, stealing, cheating, lust, disobedience, murder, pornography, malice, jealousy, gossip, and the list goes on. I also explained that while I would not judge the people who’ve been part of those things, I also wouldn’t condone their sin; again in any form, as I’d hope those around me wouldn’t allow me to continue to sin.
The Bible says that any and all sin distances us from God. I say again, ALL sin distances us from God. If what Scripture says is true, because again it’s the Word of God, and the character of God never changes; these things are all still sinful, including homosexuality.
I paused. I took a breath and waited for what I thought was going to be backlash. There was none, I could see that God was working. There are questions being answered, and changes being made in this person’s life. I hope soon, they’ll trust wholly in Jesus.
You see, the Bible says “All Scripture is God-breathed,” and that it is useful for so many things. So it’s certainly not just a list of general suggestions for living life, rather it is designed for directing our entire lives to Jesus Christ.
Until we fully allow Jesus access to our lives, we’ll never understand all that God has said, and even after submitting to Him, it’s a slow and steady growing process.
While all this is true, there’s an inverse side to all this. Not all things our Christian culture says is true. This can get a bit tricky and step on a lot of toes, so I’ll keep it light and get to the point. There are certain things that get preached and attributed to the Bible or God’s character, that simply are not true or even in the Bible. This is why knowing Scripture is important.
If we do not weigh what we are taught against the Bible by those who claim relationships with Jesus, we may believe something that is contrary to what God has for us.
While I don’t condone cheating, there’s a great example to be found in it. Believing blindly what we’re taught, is like cheating off someone else’s answers during a test. if they’re wrong, we’re going to be wrong, as well. There is going to be a rude awakening when those test results come back.
We’re to weigh everything against scripture because 2nd Timothy 3 explains that it is “good for teaching, and rebuking, and correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
All around us is culture, and it will influence us. It’s what we do in reaction to this culture that defines who we are, and who we represent.
-Jarin
Kingship and You.
Think for a moment if you will, about your life. Think about what happens when things don’t go according to plan, or when coming up with a plan is difficult. Think about when someone else had an agenda for you and your life. All these situations are not fun, and can result in having an idol, in our lives.
For me, I desire to lead, to exert leadership. Control. Leadership is my control idol. I have a natural tendency to be a leader. Whether good or bad, I tend to have the ability to be the leader. When I don’t get the opportunity to lead, I get frustrated pretty easily, because I have an insight that would make the situation better, at least in my mind. Leadership can become an idol pretty quickly in my life, if I don’t keep my heart in check, and the Lord on the forefront of my mind.
Looking back at “according to plan,” what’s this say to you? I think you’ve got something in mind. It doesn’t have to be what I deal with. Maybe in control looks like making sure your body looks the right way, and you control it with the way you eat (or don’t eat.)
Maybe you deal with lack of control, and hurt yourself. Maybe it is control over other people, and playing mind games with them. Whatever it is, you know your version of control, and what dangers lurk within. You know the control that these items have over you.
In the book of Joshua, God tells us to be strong and courageous, because He is with is. While this passage is talking about the calling God had over the life of Joshua, I think we can pull some important items from it, describing the character of God.
Scripture tells us that God is the same always. Specifically it says, “He’s the same Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.” So we know that His presence in our lives is unchanging, and that He constantly seeks to have communion with us.
It’s at this point that I think we should establish that idols don’t necessarily have to be something we like. An idol is anything that we either submit to, or allow to have control over our lives. We can enjoy it, but sometimes we don’t like it at all.
It’s because God desires to have communion with us that He also deserves to have the place in our lives that we submit completely to him. Let’s interchange the words idol and control with kingship; because Christ is king. Psalm 22:28 states “For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.”
Not only does God desire that kingship over our lives, it’s already His!
Finally, 1 Peter 5:6 gives us the best course of action for our lives, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.”
Submit to the kingship of the Lord, because He’s worthy of it, and because making Him an idol in your life, won’t let you down. Let His control and direction be what you submit to, what you let control you, because in the end, it’ll allow you to be used of God, and exalt you to better make Him known.
– Jarin
From the Dark comes Light.
In the last couple months, I’ve been in a funk; both spiritually and physically. Consequently, my ministry began to suffer, and my leadership of those around, too. I’ve been in a dark place for a good bit of time, and have recently begun to see the Light. I received a kick in the pants(metaphorically) by my good friend Shane, who writes here occasionally as well. My writing here won’t be as good as usual, I’ve not written in sometime. But here we go:
So begins a new journey, and pursuit of life intertwined with Christ.
Over the last few days, excitement and desire to serve Christ has been brewing. I’ve met some new people who are just as excited if not, more excited than I am, about ministry. Something profound that I’ve experienced is the desire to minister, brings opportunity.
Last night was such an opportunity.
I heard about a last minute concert that was featuring a band I’ve only ever dreamt of seeing. So, I asked an awesome gal, whom I met the day previously, to go with me. Can’t go to a concert alone, y’all. It was a lot of fun, and we really, at least in my opinion hit it off pretty well.
After we left, we went into Dallas, and explored. We looked at Christmas lights, and walked around. We decide to run into Downtown, and look at lights there.
Up walks James, a man who is homeless. Now, prior to meeting him, myself and this young lady were talking about ministry and how serving people was important, and about ministry goals in serving the homeless was of value. No more after than 3 minutes after reaching the end of the conversation we’re approached by James.
Now, in this moment, I could do one of two things. Either I could pass him by, which is not hard to do, or I could respond to the call to serve. We chose the later.
James hit us up for a couple bucks, and I said, “I’ll do ya one better, let’s buy you a meal.” James energetically agreed. We walk a bit and talk to him. Turns out he’s a Vietnam War vet, lost his job and was in state jail for something involving alcohol, but from speaking with him and listening to his story, I can tell his life is back on the straight and narrow. Praise God.
We get to the restaurant and order him a meal, and continue to talk with him. Then enters John. Just a random dude, with a “COEXIST” tattoo on his forearm. John says to me, “Y’all are awesome, man. It’s cool to see people with compassion.” I got an opportunity to present the Gospel really briefly with this guy.
I pray that God will speak and work on both gentlemen, both James and John. Interestingly, their names are both Biblical.
All this to say, I feel as though God placed me in a moment to “put my money where my mouth was,” and serve Him through serving James and John. I feel as if I am back and where I need to be, to effectively minister for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It feels good to be home.
Current Climate? HOSTILE.
It’s been a few days since the election for the President of the United States, and President Obama has been re-elected for a second term in office. So, even those people who live under a rock should know what’s going down now. That being said, if you didn’t know, well, SURPRISE!
It’s been long enough now that Facebook has calmed down a bit, at least in my group of online friends. It seems many times huge events draw so much fervor. It rages for days and days and days, then, suddenly, disappears. KONY 2012, Facebook Gold, football, and the list goes on and on. These all gather so much distress, or praise, and people get upset or on fire for them, then suddenly it’s withered away
So, now that many people have calmed down, I think it’s safe to make some assertions about how the Body of Christ should react to the re-election of Obama. So many people want to call him the anti-Christ, or talk about how terrible he is, or how Texas should secede from the Union. We’ve heard all this before, right? But is it right?
“Did you pray THE Prayer?”
image from dipity.com
Hello. My name is Jarin and I’m concerned about your soul. Is it going to be in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ? If not, let’s pray THE Prayer. This prayer is the only way you can know for sure if you’re saved. Let’s pray it, come on, let’s pray the prayer. Give your soul to the Lord.
The truth is, I am concerned for your soul. However, I won’t approach you that way. In fact, I won’t ask you to pray the prayer.
“WHAT? YOU WON’T PROMPT WITH THE PRAYER?” is probably what you’re screaming in your head.
The answer is, “no, I won’t.” I’ll show you scripture that lays out how salvation works. In fact, I plan on doing that here.
It’s been almost a couple years since this incident occurred, but I’d like to spell out the story for you.
Funday School
Image from turbophoto.com
I have had some conversations with people in instrumental moments in my life. When my leadership was still developing along with my understanding of faith-based community, the issue of Sunday school came up. The question specifically asked: “is Sunday school necessary?”
At the time I immediately asserted that, “YES! Yes it is.” I had no basis for that answer, just the fact that I’ve always gone and been a part of Sunday school leadership. I stuck to my guns in the debates and discussions. I couldn’t understand church culture WITHOUT Sunday school, or that culture would vary so vastly. Unfortunately, my ability for communication and putting ideas together were poor.
(At this time, I admired greatly a guy named Joab. He was intelligent, creative, and wasn’t afraid of tough questions, or challenging authority. Joab has since been a person who I’ve admired. I learned a lot from him, and his finesse with words has rubbed off on me a little bit. So since the discussions I had regarding Sunday School, I’ve been trying to think like Joab in an effort to answer the question.)
The idea of simply sitting in a main worship service and listening to a preacher for an hour and going home, the main fellowship that special time of handshaking awkwardly for 10 minutes tops, seemed absurd. How do you get to know people? How do you invest in the lives of others?
I have begun to investigate if my stance was correct, and if I could effectively answer the question about Sunday school, either affirming it’s necessity or proving I was wrong in my stance and understanding.
Obviously, there’s not Scripture that says specifically that “Sunday School” must take place. “Thou shalt part-take in Sunday School. 1st Hezekiah 10:30” simply doesn’t exist. So, let’s get into what is actually in scripture.