It Should Be About Him .... And Us

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of a period of fasting, praying and alms giving known as Lent which is associated with several Christian denominations most especially the Catholics. Interestingly I have read two interesting articles from the Federalist website which were posted by Mollie Hemingway (@MZhemingway). The first article written by Rev. Todd Peperkorn, a pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Rocklin, Carlifornia argues that we should not generally reject the practice of Lent because we believe they are ancient customs which have no place in this modern world. He recognises the argument that some make that such practices tend to make us feel self righteous in our observance of them. He quotes Matthew 6:2, 5 and 7 where Jesus points out what hypocrites do and admonishes us not do do those things. Rev. Peperkorn argues that while Jesus did not want us to go the way of the hypocrites, he is certain that Jesus wanted us to do the opposite of what the hypocrites do. He argues that in a world of several distractions, Christians need to block out the distractions and focus more on more thing, Jesus.

On the other side of the spectrum is Brian Lee, pastor of Christ Reformed Church in Washington DC's Logan Circle neighborhood. His argument is that such observances lead to a form of self righteousness which arise out of pride in our works. He argues that this gives the feeling that we can please God with our works. According to him, Jesus fasting was all about purifying us while our aims with regard to fasting are about purifying ourselves which is wrong. He also argues that some of the rules regarding abstaining from certain foods and practices goes against the grain of the doctrine of sanctification. He argues that the most important thing is to love. Love God with all our heart, our strength and our might.

I agree with both sentiments to a certain extent. I believe that every Christian should practice some form of spiritual discipline not just at a particular time of the year but if possible, every day. I really don't believe in Valentine's Day, the commercialised day of love because of the associations. I believe God and Christ are the epitome of love. If there was to be a day of love, it should be celebrated on the day the birth of Christ is celebrated. But Jesus said we were to love God and our neighbour. I don't think that is something to be practiced or observed on a particular day. Therefore while I do not think Lent is a bad idea, I also do not believe fasting or prayer should be left to a particular period of the year. It should be an every day lifestyle. Like my pastor says, prayer is for God while fasting is for us. Fasting helps us discipline the flesh in order to be more attune to God. If there is a benefit to it and draws us closer in our pursuit of God, then we should eagerly adopt it shouldn't we?

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

God Isn't Into Equality

Joel 2:28-29  "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit."

One of the major buzz words of the present age that we live in is the word "gender equality" and the proponents of this movement tell us that their aim is equal pay for women who do the same work as men. I support this. However I must confess that I have always wondered why the proponents are always looking for the next Carly Fiorina (and now Marissa Meyer) the equality never extends to supporting women who want to be the best carpenter, plumber, electrician or truck driver. Just saying.

The book of Joel gives us an indication of the plans God had for mankind in these last days. He promised that he was going to pour out his spirit upon all flesh and "your sons and daughters" would prophesy". God promised us his spirit so that we would all prophecy. Now if you're looking for someone who believes in equality then God is your man. However I don't think equality was God's main purpose. I believe his motivation was the knowledge that in order for him to fulfil his plans in these last days, he needed both men and women. So when it came to his purpose with regard to ministry, he made men and women equal. Therefore the equality is derived from the purpose intended. I therefore do not believe God has given us his spirit so that we can be less than he meant for us to be. It would be a waste of the power of the spirit.

I have been immensely blessed by the ministry of women like Joyce Meyer, Michelle Hammond and every woman I have been blessed to listen to or read their book including my pastor's wife. I'm sure that I would have loved listening to Katherine Kuhlman or Aimee Semple McPherson if I had lived in their times. I believe women were meant to minister and not just be adjuncts to the men. But I also believe in spiritual authority and respecting authority. While I believe women should be able to preach (I refuse to use to use the word "right"), I believe there should be respect for authority where they do not yet do so. 

I have somewhat followed the arguments for and against the ordination of women in both the Anglican and Catholic Churches. It's interesting to note that those against the ordination of women are mostly men who are in positions of authority. However what has been most disturbing to me are the comments of those in support of the ordination of women. The Church is not a business or a corporation and it does not run on the same principles as the world. Jesus said that we are in this world but not of this world. The main reason given by those arguing for the ordination is that of "equality". I have never once heard the argument that women too should minister because they also have God's spirit. In the end, it always sounds like they want the "right" to minister simply out of good old fashioned ambition. What the Apostle Paul calls the pride of life. I have also been appalled by the way they denigrate the leadership of their churches even as they try to get people in the world to put pressure on so that they can have their way. Romans 14 tells us that if we desire to do or be anything in God's kingdom it should solely be out of love. Love for God and for his people. Not out of love for ourselves. 

I am disturbed at all the the things we want to label as a right. Working with God is not a right but a privilege. It's not not something to be fought for or to vilify others over. I believe it something to be sought for with prayer and discussion. Ministry is about serving other people and not about satisfying a desire for position. If we have a dream of serving God in ministry, how can we as Christians justify the murder of people we claim to want to serve with our words and actions? What would we have gained? What would we minister? What would we minister? God is not as concerned with what we achieve as to how we achieve it. God is mostly concerned with our character, not our results and that is something we should always have at the back of our minds.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers, http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.  

   

Same Difference

“Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from strange wives.” Ezra 10: 11

Sometime ago, I read an article by Kay Warren where she was talking about her new book, “Choose Joy”. The article was in the form of an interview and she told the interviewer how she had suffered from depression and how she was different from her husband, Rick Warren in their outlook to life. She talked about how she hoped the book would help those that suffered from depression. The article was lovely and enlightening. However what disturbed me were the people commenting. One and all, they were all complaining about “the church”. Their grouse was with how the church did not understand what it was to suffer from depression and how the church looked down on those that suffered from depression. Their complaints were enough to make anyone feel depressed since I assumed they were Christians themselves to be reading an article from a Christian magazine. I might have been wrong. One of my thoughts was that if Christians were complaining about the church so much, why then would anyone want to become a Christian? Another thought was that the people who were complaining about the church so much had forgotten that they were part of the church.

I recently read another article via a link on Michael Hyatt’s Twitter feed that got me disturbed. The link was to an article by Joel Miller (I think). Mr. Miller was flabbergasted at the comments by Christians who saw nothing wrong with the pornographic content of the book, 50 Shades of Grey because according to some of them, “they got married in the end”. There were other comments by "Christians" along the lines of how the book could help married couples with their sexual lives.

These two things got me thinking about how there seems to be no difference between those who say they believe in Christ and those who don’t believe in anything. Christians now swear and use the F word because we think it cool, drink alcohol, dress provocatively in the name of fashion and looking good, we think the Bible is a story book filled with recommendations at best and totally old fashioned. We have as much divorce and extra marital affairs in the church as out of it. In fact, there is practically no difference now between those that say believe in God and those who curse God.

I believe the problem is that instead of letting the Word shine through us, we have allowed the world into our hearts. Because we do not know what the Words says and we are not living it, we have allowed the world to tell us how to live. Instead of being like Jesus and reflecting him, we have become like the world. Because we reflect the world and are like the world, the world sees no reason to change. Like the verse of scripture above and several other verses of Scripture in the Bible, God has always called us to be separate and not to be unequally yoked. We have not done this and therefore we are not expect from the upheaval that is in the world.

Over the next few weeks and months, I hope to share the ways in which the church has refused to give the world an alternative and had refused to reflect Jesus and has become like the world around it.

In your opinion, in what ways has the church become like the world around it?     

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
― G.K. Chesterton

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, a novel published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers:

http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx

He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, a story of love and redemption:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/