Josh Benner

Tag: gospel

  • God’s truth is true. Even if we don’t like it.

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    I was recently reading a profile on a popular singer. The profile said that she had been raised going to church but she had stopped going because she disagreed with the church’s teachings on LGBT issues. Because the church didn’t agree with her, she left.

    We try to dictate what truth is, based on preferences.

    LGBT issues are a hot button political topic right now. Many don’t like the idea of a God who disapproves of those lifestyles and so, just like the singer, people decide that God affirms it. They overlook clear Biblical teachings and concoct arguments based on feelings.

    God is awesomely holy and perfectly righteous. We are not.

    And because we’re not, there can be times where we read something in the Bible, where our initial gut reaction is to dislike what God has done or to dislike his moral will.

    There are people who don’t like that God is just and a judge. So people simply decide to ignore those texts. They throw out the true notion of God for one that accepts everything they want to do.

    Some people want to believe that a person doesn’t have to have faith in Jesus to be with him, and so they decide that being a good person is the basis on which God judges the human soul. But that’s not a Biblical idea. Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me” (John 14:6).

    There are people who like to speak for God and suggest that God is too distant. That such an infinite God wouldn’t care about the world, therefore it doesn’t matter what we do. That’s an assumption which contradicts the Bible. These people still often assume there’s a heaven. So they believe in a God who made the world, but doesn’t care about it. Yet, he made a paradise for people from the world that he didn’t care about?

    Based on what?

    Based on nothing! Based on what a person wants to believe. Based on the god a person makes up in their own mind.

    We’re created in God’s image, he’s not created in ours. And it’s tempting to believe in a God who only believes in what you believe in.

    Or people pick and choose which teachings of the Bible they want to apply to life and disregard the others. All sorts of ways that humanity tries to speak for God.

    It can be really hard for us to not want to create these caricatures of God.

    Even for people in the church. We might not talk about it. We might not say it in Sunday School or in a small group. But is there something about God, where you see it in the Bible but have a justification for why it’s not true?

    If you believe in a God who never disagrees with what you think, you might be worshipping a god you’ve made in your own image rather than you worshipping the God in who’s image actually you’re created.

    There can be times where we don’t understand a teaching, perhaps we don’t like a teaching. In those times, let us walk by faith, to trust that his ways are good. That his ways are higher than our ways.

    Do you have any areas of your life today where you struggle to not justify a certain sin?

    It’s so tempting to want to believe in a God who only believes in what you believe in. But God’s truth is not up for a vote.

    It’s so tempting to undermine the gospel and to say it’s really about how someone lived, regardless of what they believe.

    It’s about trusting in Jesus.

    That is how the unholy are made holy. Jesus is the great high priest who gives us access to God. And that is true, regardless of what we want to be true. Salvation is entirely the work of Christ.

    People undermine the morality of the Bible. They suggest that it’s just teachings created by men. Or suggesting that God doesn’t really care how we live.

    Again, that’s an assumption people make based on what they want.

    The God of the Bible does care. Because he’s a Holy God. And he made us for Holiness and righteousness. Maybe you have an area where you struggle to accept something about God’s word. I pray that the Holy Spirit would convict you of that. I pray that you might know that God is good. When I say his truth is true, regardless of what we want, that it’s not up for a vote, my point isn’t that it’s just a top down dictator imposing things upon us.

    Thanks for reading my 500th post! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    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.

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  • Political correctness shows why we need the gospel

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    Comedian Kevin Hart. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

    Last week, it was announced that Kevin Hart would host the Academy Awards in February. But then some Tweets were unearthed that used the word “gay” in a negative light. The Tweets were several years old, but as a result of the backlash, Hart withdrew from hosting the awards show two days later.

    I notice several theological themes in our current social discourse.

    Law 

    With modern political correctness, there are a dizzying amount of rules. And there is no consideration given to historical context or accepted norms. The rules are treated as universally binding. In June, an award named after famed writer Laura Ingalls Wilder was changed due to the fact that Wilder used terms for Native Americans that were common in her time and vernacular.

    The modern PC movement reminds me of the Pharisees in the gospels. The Old Testament had laws, but then the Pharisees added laws on top of laws. So many rules and laws that it became impossible to follow. It was crushing. Jesus railed against the pharisees for placing crippling burdens upon people. Constantly changing language. (more…)

  • Lauren Daigle catches heat for punting on LGBT question

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    Lauren Daigle’s new album “Look Up Child” has been incredibly poplar. It’s been a #1 album on Christian charts but the incredibly talented singer has also been achieving mainstream success with her album reaching as high as third on the Billboard Top 200, a rarity for a religious album. She’s even appeared on the Tonight Show, Ellen, and Dancing with the Stars.

    On a recent interview with Domenick Nati, Daigle was asked if she believed homosexuality was a sin. The singer responded: “You know, I can’t honestly answer on that…too many people that I love (that) are homosexuals.”

    Within Evangelical circles, Daigle has been heavily criticized this week.

    She did have an opportunity to publicly defend the sanctity of marriage.

    But I can also appreciate that it was a difficult situation to be in. Because it’s an issue where it’s hard to disagree and not be viewed as hateful or bigoted. It’s an issue that warrants individual conversations rather than broad commentary.

    I do think she could have handled that question better than she did, but she was basically put in a no-win situation.

    I know many Christians would disagree with me.

    But I think we can make a mistake of weighing homosexuality ahead of other areas of sin, as if it’s preeminent. We can put it on a pedestal.

    Don’t misunderstand me. I do believe it’s a sin.

    And if you’ve ever listened to my preaching, I don’t think I’m someone who would be accused of taking sin lightly.

    All sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All are equally dead in sin apart form Christ. The gospel is not saving someone to heterosexuality but it is saving people to Jesus. The gospel is not “get straight and then get saved,” it’s to come to Jesus where you are. The starting point of the gospel is not to try to change a person’s orientation. It’s to love people unconditionally, and invite them into a relationship with Jesus.

    The Bible is clear that marriage is between one man and one woman. The Bible is clear that the only framework by which a sexual union can be morally engaged in is through marriage. The Bible is clear that anything outside of that is sin.

    But someone want people beating their chest in the public arena on this issue.

    It’s true that in the Old Testament, there were prophets who warned Israel of divine wrath and judgment. In the New Testament, Paul called out those who were distracting people from the gospel. Jesus railed against the sinfulness of the moral teachers. But these were groups within the Jewish religious communities.

    I’m not arguing for cultural relativism. God is righteous and God has a righteous standard to approach him: Jesus. My point is that in the Bible, within the faith community, because it was a faith community, there was a common and agreed upon standard to which to hold people accountable and question people for disregarding.

    God’s moral will is still righteous, and holy, and good. And immorality should be addressed. But in the context of desiring to build relationships, does calling out everyone’s individual sins need to be the starting point? Or is the issue not about one particular sin but a sinful nature and a life that is sinful and opposed to God apart from Christ?

    The disease for all of humanity is sin and the cure is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    I have no doubt that she does have relationships with people who are homosexual that she genuinely loves. It’s a complicated subject. It’s a hard balance to maintain relationships and to hold to fundamental Biblical truths which many dislike. Because those relationships are important. And publicly coming out with a hard line position against homosexuality could be harmful to relationships. She’s a singer not a theologian.

    I can appreciate not wanting to alienate a lot of people (not just in terms of record sales and popularity), but also not wanting to turn people away from a message.

    Much of our society has made up its mind on this subject and so a traditional Biblical view will make a person seem hateful and homophobic. The idea that you can “love the sinner, not the sin” has been rejected by much of the culture.

    However we love the sinner, not the sin in all sorts of other areas of life. Why is there no room to love people while morally disagreeing on this issue?

    I know some are extremely critical of Daigle. I don’t see what that really accomplishes. Frankly, the vast majority of people will never be in the position she’s in with the platform she has. I’ve heard people say that she’s not even a Christian based on her response. That seems a bit heavy handed. The Apostle Peter denied even knowing Jesus on Maundy Thursday.

    The starting point needs to be the gospel.

    Since she was asked, I do have criticism that she basically avoided the question. If she doesn’t have an opinion on that issue, she needs to study the clear Biblical teachings on the matter. If she does think it’s wrong but didn’t want to say it, she should have more backbone than that.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    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.

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  • Continuing dialogue on the death of American missionary

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    Much has been said about John Chau, the American missionary who lost his life when trying to approach the Sentinelese tribe, who live on a remote island off the coast of India.

    There are different camps people fall into with this story. I wrote about this last week. Some people looked at a story of a Christian going to another part of the world to try to reach others with the gospel with such scorn that they practically celebrated his death.

    I literally saw people comment that they weren’t even sorry for him. I think that’s pretty sick.<!–more–>

    Others were apathetic to his death because he was exposing people to diseases. I’m not a doctor, he might have been, however he had been heavily immunized and even spent time in quarantine before going. At the very least, it seems that Mr. Chau was thoughtful to avoid that (and he had also received medical training).

    I’ve been critical of the methods used to approach the Sentinelese people. I still do believe that things could have been approach in a manner of better judgment, especially once the situation was obviously perilous. But I also might have been unfair in my initial assessment.

    From the available information, Chau had put a great deal of thought into this trip. It wasn’t throw together on a whim. He had planned for this trip. He had trained for this trip. I always thought his desire was admirable: reaching people with the gospel who had never been reached with it.

    It’s a complicated story because people fall into many camps. There is the aforementioned group who are hostile to the gospel and its spread. There are people who aren’t necessarily hostile to the gospel but who were opposed to this particular effort because of the risk of disease.

    But Christians also have differing opinions. I think we should remember the good things about Chau’s effort: having a desire to reach the lost with the gospel. He was in an extreme situation but so many of us aren’t even willing to share the love of Jesus with a friend or neighbor because we’re so uncomfortable.

    As I’ve said, I think that there is room to question some of these methods. Not even to bad mouth a young man who lost his life, but just in terms of evaluating missiological strategies. Ed Stetzer, who’s a missiologist and author noted a couple of Bible verses that apply to this situation. In Matthew 10:14, Jesus told his disciples: “if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.”

    There is a lot of hatred in the world. Missionaries and Christians lose their lives and are persecuted for their faith.

    I still think it’s fair to question if Christians should deliberately put themselves in positions where they are facing almost certain death?

    It appears that Chau never had any sort of end with the Sentinelese people. Perhaps more information will come out, but standard avenues to try to reach and positively interact with a society seemed to be closed off.

    Christians should pray for the Sentinelese people, and to pray for John Chau’s family.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    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.

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  • The true test of love

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    Everyone loves love.

    But not everyone agrees on what love is.

    Much of society associates love with tolerance and acceptance.

    And while we can agree that love is good, truly having love for people is challenging. Yes, it’s easy to love family and good friends. Jesus addresses that in the Gospel of Luke: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that (Luke 6:32-33).” 

    The Bible shows us what love is on the cross. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).”

    In 1 John 3:16-17, the Apostle John says:

    By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

    -1 John 3:16-17

    It’s easy to agree with that. It’s easy to see the virtue in that.

    But what an incredibly difficult picture of love that is. I don’t think that it exclusively means dying (the second half of the passage talks about helping those in need, which assumes someone is alive to do that).

    Being apathetic to what people do, and calling that love, is easy.

    Just saying you love people is easy.

    Actually loving people is hard. Actually serving people is hard.

    And perhaps the truest test of love is how we treat those who are hardest for us to love. Again, it’s easy to love those who are nice to us. It’s easy to love those we like.

    But we’re sinful. And we all have those who are harder for us to love. Who is it who is hard for you to love? Maybe it’s someone who believes differently politically. Maybe those of another religion. Maybe it’s those who are rich or those who are poor and on the bottom of society’s rungs. Maybe it’s criminals or those who battle an addiction or have a mental disorder. Maybe it’s more than one of these groups.

    Again, it’s easy, in theory, to agree that we should love everyone.

    But whoever it is who’s the hardest for you to love is who you need to love. It’s a message that makes no sense to the world. And it’s a message that Jesus died to bring to the world.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    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.

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