Part 1, How should Christians Fight?

When was the last time you offended someone or disagreed with them or were hurt by something they did? It happens all the time. And often times it can lead to a deeply damaged or broken relationship. But it doesn’t have to end that way. The good news is that God is forming a new community of people who don’t settle for disunity. It doesn’t mean we will always agree or never offend…it does mean that we must have the courage to handle or disagreements wisely.

So the Big Question I want to answer is, How do we handle our disagreements Christianly?…meaning, in a manner that confesses we are a gospel-centered community and reflects that we have been supernaturally transformed by the Spirit of God.

I do not suggest that these posts will be exhaustive, rather they will reflect some of my recent thoughts on the subject. You in fact my have some reflections or questions that might add the discussion, if so I invite your engagement.

But in my mind the first question that must be answered is Why even Bother?

In the house I grew up in there was little conflict or open disagreement and so my own natural tendency is to avoid conflict and suppress disagreement. But shortly after my wedding (a happy 6 years ago) I learned that such an attitude is not an environment for healthy relationships. Similarly in the organism of the local church, our very health as a body demands that we deal with our differences and disagreements. I don’t want to jump into the how just yet, but here are some reasons why.

We are members of one another. The NT explains that the church is like a body (Rom 9; 1 Cor 12; Eph 4). That shows that we are all different and distinct in our role or function, yet we are unified in our purpose and place. God has designed us to be connected to one another, like it or not. Consider Romans 12:5

”so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

We have been joined in Christ to one another. That means that we have responsibility to one another. We are accountable to one another. We are responsible to one another. Our actions and our words affect one another. We must not think that our actions do not affect others, they in fact affect the whole body. Disagreement breaks up the harmony of the body and must be addressed.

Dissension affects our Worship. In other words God cares about our reconciliation. Our relationships with one another can affect our relationship with God. If we have disharmony with one another then God wants us to deal with that before we go about our public worship. Jesus even encourages us to go get right with or brother, if we have offended them before we bring our gifts to God (Matt 5:23). That means go apologize or ask forgiveness or acknowledge your part in the offense and seek reconciliation.

Dissension affects our Witness. The church as the “body of Christ” is the place where the gospel is incarnated or “lived out” for the world to see. Part of our witness to the fact that we have switched our allegiance to Jesus as Lord is how we as a new community exist in a way that is according to the Spirit and not the flesh. For example, that means when “outsiders” see how we handle our disagreements, they will see such a difference that they are drawn to the Lord to whom we witness (Matt 5:16). When our body breaks down… when the community is in controversy…our witness is a community is cloudy.

I remember one experience while being involved in a Christian leadership team on my college campus. I had the horrible habit of being late to every meeting (a habit that my wife has nearly reformed me). At one particular meeting I strolled in late and was rebuked by one of the members at how my behavior was negatively affecting the attitude of the group. It communicated a selfishness and laziness on my part and showed disrespect for the other members of the team. I was initially embarrassed and hurt, but soon realized that they were right and worked to improve in that area of my life.

Do you have some good or bad stories about dealing with disagreements or personal offenses?

Passing by a Neighbor

It happened again on the way to work today. There I was minding my own business and it just happened. It had been a regular morning. I woke up when my son started yelling out my name. I showered…I ate my breakfast…I helped get my kids up and I was off to work so I would not be late. Then it happened, a simple thing, really. As I was preparing to turn left I saw a guy with his hazard lights on pushing his car out of the stream of traffic to the side of the road.

And I had the chance to put “me” on hold for a few minutes. Although cars were streaming down the road, there were no cars behind me in the turn lane, so as time slowed to a crawl I sat and pondered the choice as I watched this poor fellow push his car to the side of the road.

“Should I help him?”
“I really should!”
“But I might be late to the office…and I’ve got some important stuff to get to.”
“And what could I do to help anyhow?”
“Plus he probably has a cell and just needs to make a call to AAA.”
“So what…why not at least try?”
“But how am I going to cross all that traffic…and my day is busy.”

You’ve had that same conversation with yourself. They are simple little decisions…but in the end they make all the difference, because they reveal our heart. Jesus had a way a boiling the big stuff down to simple decisions.

What did Jesus say was the greatest commandment? To love God with all you’ve got AND to love your neighbor like they are you (Mt 22:37; Mk 12:30; Lk 10:27). You can’t get any simpler than that.

One observant listener quipped to Jesus, “well then who is my neighbor?” And Jesus told a heart-pricking story which gave the answer, anyone whose path you cross who is in need. The question is “am I willing to be neighborly?” Do I have the heart to live out what I say I believe…namely, that I do love Jesus with all of me. Such a heart turns the same energy which is applied to selfish interests towards others in selfless acts. When the opportunity arises, be selfish on behalf of the one in need, for their benefit. But that requires putting “me” on hold for a bit. A simple thing, but it makes all the difference.

So just when I am about to flick on my turn signal I notice another car has beat me to the punch. The driver almost instinctively pulled out of the whizzing traffic, like their kid dropped their favorite pair of sunglasses out the window. They are just as quickly out of the car and walking toward their neighbor in need. Whew…I’m off the hook

I flick on my turn signal and turn away from the car and towards work. And for the rest of the ride I consider how much more I am like the religious leaders in Jesus story who passed by the man in need.

Being neighborly requires interruptibility. How uninterruptible I am.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:3-8

Is Environmental Concern UnChristian?

In a recent discussion about the effects of man's rebellion against God we agreed that things are not the way they were designed to be. Everything has been affected...by sin. As Wayne Grudem says, "We don't live the lives we were originally designed to live, and we don't live in the world we were originally designed to live it." Everything is different know. But the story of the Bible is the good news of God working to redeem and restore broken people in a broken world.

So I posed the question, "What role should Christians play in caring for Creation?" The response varied but drew mostly blank stares. Why? I think largely because we view God's work of redemption as a spiritual work in the spiritual world, which has little to do with our physical world. The result is that Christians focus their concern on the spiritual aspect of people. This is not bad, don't get me wrong, but is this two-fold focus, spiritual or invisible and people, a bit of a reduction of what God is doing in his kingdom through the gospel?

I notice that when Paul is talking about the future glory of those who have been made alive by the Spirit (Romans 11:19-21) he mentions more than people:

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

It appears more than just mankind are under the bondage of sin, everything has been affected. It also appears that the things and stuff of creation, which God said were good (Gen 1) and sing out his praises (Psalm 148), long for their redemption, restoration & future glory.

It also seems that Jesus message about initiating the reign of God (or kingdom of God) involves a universal supremacy over things seen & unseen. Consider Colossians 1:15-20):

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

It thus seems logical that his plan of redemption involves the reordering of things seen & unseen, spiritual and physical into their created harmony. If this is the case, then Christians who have begun this new life (2 Cor 5:17) and who order their thinking around the message of the kingdom (Matt 5-7) should be involved in redemptively caring for Creation. Not because we care about plants more than people, but because we have been redeemed (in part yet awaiting our full redemption) and we are ordering our lives under God's work to redeem all of creation.

There are groups of Christians who are trying to work out the implications for everyday life of these grand ideas.

One is an upcoming Conference called Christianity & the Environment in September 2006. Here is the goal of the conference:

This conference on Christianity and the environment is being held to understand better what it means for us to demonstrate a Christian perspective as we live our lives at the interfaces of the three “worlds” (natural, engineered and human). The challenge for this conference is to articulate how we can consistently demonstrate Christian virtues (such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) at the interfaces of these three “worlds” in our public and private policies.

Another is a group called Care of Creation, which is trying to mobilize the church to its wholistic gospel ministry for all of creation. Here are CoC's 3 loves:
1. Loving God by worshiping him in all we do;
2. Loving God's People by sharing the good news we have in Jesus Christ, and by strengthening and empowering local Congregations to join in...
3. Loving God's World by working with and through his people to care for and heal God's hurting creation.

How now shall we live in this broken world of broken people?

6 tips for a picture-perfect vacation

I'm back after a bit of hiatus and still have my family vacation on my mind. Our family of 4 packed up our mini-van and recently drove down to Sarasota, FL for some rest and relaxation. Since summer is the time for vacations I thought I'd add a list of 6 things that you should do on vacation.

1. See an old friend: When you get away from the office, invest some time in catching up with an old friend. Since we drove to Florida from Ohio we used this excuse to break up our trip by "inviting" ourselves to a couple of friends houses. We stopped in Knoxville, TN for 1 night on the way to FL and visited with some friends we hadn't seen in 11 months and stopped in Atlanta, GA on the way back to see some friends we hadn't seen in 9 months.

We felt like we had 2 extra mini-vacations be breaking up our trip this way. And we realized how refreshing it was to spend time with people. Our time away from home was great, but it is better when you can spend at least part of it with friends.

2. Try a new style: Don't be afraid to experiment with a new style. It keeps you playful, experimental and from getting dull. In our house that meant that all the boys got haircuts, including dad. And we had fun breaking out our beach clothes and cool new sunglasses. For us vacation is a chance to break out of the ruts of life, with a hope to bring some of that freshness back home.

3. Do a new activity: Whenever I try something new I experience a bunch of things that are healthy. I first have to admit that I am a novice and I might fail a bit. The humility is good for me. I then have to face a bit of fear and nervousness about trying something I have never done before. My stomach gets butterflies and my heart starts pumping...all those things associated with jitters. Then I end up using new muscles or new parts of my brain that haven't been active in a long time. At the end of the day I feel like I have really lived. On this vacation, Caden was probably the most daring when it came to trying new things. He had never been in the ocean and during our first time on the beach he was out "riding waves". Mind you, he was only 3 feet out in the water...but for a 3 year old those can be the trickiest waves to ride.

4. Sleep in Late: The longer the better. Have nothing on the schedule...just sleep. It is refreshing to wake up just because you are done sleeping, instead of to the annoying beep of an alarm. It just feels good. We didn't do too much of this because of number 5.

5. Wake up Early: I know this contradicts number 4, but plan enough days so that you can do both during the same trip. There is something nice about waking up and having the feeling that there is no need to rush out to some meeting or off to school. There is a lightness and an enjoyment about the cool of the morning when there is no rush. It is great to eat on the porch as the sun peeks over the horizon. To go for an early bicke red or walk before the day heats up. To feel like you have warmed up to the day and done something, then to look at the clock and see it reads 9:00am. We were up before 7:00am nearly every day in Florida, not by our choice, but by the choice of our boys who felt that number 5 is how we should spend our week together:)

6. Eat something new: If you are in a new place then you have to try a new restaurant or a new dish. Find out what the locals eat and where they eat it and then jump right in. We ate lots of fish in Florida, but our boys favorite was trying as many flavors of Italian Gellato as possible, always in a chocolate chip cookie cone. They even were able to share one cone between the two of them...hopefully a sign of future sharing.

I know you don't need any tips on how to spend your time off work. Just being away from our regular routine of work and office and deadlines is refreshing enough. I hope you have a trip planned and you enjoy it as much as we did.