Originally published June 27, 2017
A lot of people don’t want to be in a church because?
Because the church is full of?
Hypocrites.
Churches are filled with hypocrites. (more…)
Tag: faith
-
The importance of constant gospel focus
Originally published October 31, 2016
As someone who doesn’t have kids, over the last few years, more and more of my friends have began to have children.
When you have your first kid, you’re a member of a new club. You are a parent. Being a parent is something that becomes part of who you are. Your whole life, you haven’t had kids….but then you leave the hospital, and you have this baby.
I’ve always thought, “Wow. That must be so…weird!”
Your whole life, you haven’t had kids, and then suddenly you have one, and forever. (more…)
-
Meaning of the bronze serpent: the gospel in Numbers
In Numbers 21, the Israelites experience victory over the Canaanites but soon fall back into grumbling and complaining.God brings a plague of snakes upon the people. It’s a divine judgment.Their grumbling against God was to their downfall. But the people beg for mercy.8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.-Numbers 21:8-9Moses prays. God tells Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. So God doesn’t simply take the snakes away. He also doesn’t prevent people from continuing to get bitten by the snakes.But once bitten, a person could respond by faith in the Lord by looking to the serpent on the pole.It’s an odd story. A number of questions might come to mind.Isn’t that idolatry? Making this bronze serpent?In the Golden Calf episode of Exodus 32, Moses is on the mountain receiving instruction from the Lord. He’s there for 40 days and the Israelites get restless. They take their gold and melt it into the image of a cow.Why is it ok with the bronze serpent?It’s a totally different situation. Most importantly, because God told them to do it this time.Secondly, this wasn’t idol worship because they weren’t worshiping the serpent.The serpent didn’t represent God to the people.There are many wonderful gospel themes in this scene.The Israelites sin against the Lord.And so God brings a plague of snakes upon the people as divine judgment.And yet, once the people repent and the bronze snake is made, it is in looking to that by which people are healed.A symbol of death becomes a symbol of lifeSnakes were bringing death, but looking to this particular snake brought the promise of healing.A symbol of judgment the Lord then uses as a symbol of victory.The cross was the greatest symbol of judgment and condemnation in the Roman world.A brutal punishment. And yet, it is to the cross that we see Christ’s victory over sin.Perhaps you look at the story and think “but why a snake? Aren’t snakes bad in the Bible?”Yeah, so are people, but it is through a man that we are saved. The Lord Jesus, both God and man.The gospelIn a person being healed because of looking to the snake, it took what they were doing out of their hands. It was entirely the work of God.So too we see this in the gospel. It is not based on us, or how good we are. We are totally helpless to heal ourselves from the disease of sin. It is looking to the cross, to looking at what Jesus has done, to trusting Jesus by faith that we can have salvation.It’s foolishnessThe serpent doesn’t make sense.The world is confounded by the gospel and the message of grace, the idea that we can be freely forgiven based on what someone else has done.The world is offended by the message of salvation by grace.Paul says in 1 Corinthians that the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).We want to save ourselves. We want to see how we measure up and to feel good about how good we are.The gospel is that you cannot earn it. You look to what Jesus has done.Salvation for the undeservingThe Israelites were grumbling and complaining and blaspheming against God, and yet God saves them.Jesus came into a world where people condemned him, polluted against him, betrayed him, and killed him.While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).In both looking to the serpent and the death and resurrection of Jesus, what people needed was faith.In the Gospel of John, Jesus will make specific reference to this event in Numbers. John chapter 3, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, the Pharisee.Jesus says “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” (John 3:14)Moses literally lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole.And Jesus was literally lifted up on the cross.There, Jesus compares himself being lifted up to the bronze serpent.For the Israelites who were afflicted by the serpent’s bite, life was found by looking to the bronze serpent. For us today, eternal life is found by looking to Jesus.The main idea of our passage this evening is that: Opposing God brings death but true life is fond by faith.Are you trusting in Jesus?We’re infected with the venom of sin. And it’s a killer. There is nothing we can do on our own to take out that poison. The only antidote is found in looking to Jesus.Look to him. Love him. Live for him. -
Would it be better if parents raised their kids without religion?
A friend recently asked me this question. As a Christian, there are several reasons why I believe the answer is no.This reminded me of an article I read a couple years ago by former NFL running back Arian Foster. In an article he wrote for Yahoo, Foster was talking about his parenting philosophy. When it came to faith, he said:
The flying spaghetti monster. There are billions of people on Earth with hundreds of religions and sects that trickle off each other. I will never tell her what to believe in. I know parents are very influential on kids’ spiritual beliefs and that can be a positive or negative thing. I can give her a basic understanding of religions when she starts showing interest and asking questions. But I will remain silent otherwise. How can I make a young mind believe this is the truth for them when they don’t yet have the capacity nor the cognitive desire to delve into something like this? If she shows interest I would advise her to fully investigate a religion and see if it fits her. And if she chooses none of the above, I’ll be fine with that as well. The values I instill in her should guide her to her decision. What’s most important, I believe, is to support her decision no matter what.
Foster argues that he doesn’t want to push religious beliefs saying “I will never tell her what to believe in” and “I can give her a basic understanding of religions…but I will remain silent otherwise.”
To raise a child without faith can be framed as “not telling them what to believe in.” However that’s clearly affirming and privileging a secular worldview. It’s raising someone with a default setting of irreligion.
Foster says that he’s fine if she eventually chooses faith (I don’t doubt his sincerity in that). But he argues that what matters more than raising someone according to a faith tradition is raising them with a certain set of values. That was similar to my friends question. Instead of raising someone according to religion, why not just raise them to be good/benevolent?
The gospel is predicated on the idea that a person can’t be good on their own. And faith in Jesus Christ is essential to the salvation of a person’s soul. For a Christian, that is part of why a hands off approach to faith does not harmonize with parenting. Any loving, Christian parent should raise their children in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. This isn’t unique to Christianity. It’s true of the major faith systems. There is no faith tradition (that I’m aware of) that says “Hey, raise your kids outside of this faith and see what they believe.”
I understand why someone who’s not religious would have such a view that undermines the role of faith in a person’s life. Christian faith is meant to be a parent’s source of meaning, morality. It’s meant to shape your life, your family, and your parenting. The idea of not passing that tradition onto one’s kids is fundamentally inconsistent.
Furthermore, the Bible constantly commands parents to raise their children to know the Lord. In the Old Testament, the Israelites failed to do this which was the source of a lot of their struggles.
The Book of Deuteronomy commands:
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
-Deuteronomy 6:6-7
For Christian parents, it’s not meant to be an option. Ultimately no one can control what someone believes. But a kid needs to be given every chance to hear the gospel. It is faith in the gospel by which souls are saved. Also the flavor of the month in our society today is about letting kids dictate everything (faith, gender, etc). But they have to be raised with a foundation.
There’s also covenantal theology but I’ll save that for another post.
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
-
Why Jesus? Couldn’t there be another way?
Originally published August 22, 2017
“Atonement” is a theological word that gets mentioned. In short, atonement refers to the work that Christ has done for those who have faith in Him to earn their salvation.
I think people sometimes approach the gospel with skepticism. Jesus died for the sins of all who believe in him.
I know I used to ask was “why do we need this? Why do we have to believe in Jesus? Is sin such a big deal? Why is he the only way?” (more…)
