The Pastor's Pen

Faced with a world in rebellion, a world full of exploitation and wickedness, a good God must be a God of judgment. N. T. Wright

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:00:02 +0000

As we have been saying in our Sunday morning sermon series, the cross reveals to us God’s dilemma. God has a dilemma? Yes. It is a dilemma rooted in the essence of His being. Thus, it is an ontological dilemma. God is righteous and cannot allow injustice to go unpunished. God is also loving and as a result does not want anyone to perish. Therefore, God’s dilemma is that His righteousness demands justice but His love will not let us go. Now most of us want justice, especially when “we” have been wronged. But we often deny God that very right when He has been wronged and instead demand mercy. The message of the cross is that God, in order to be merciful, must first exact justice. He does this by exacting His justice on Himself in the form of the Son.

Intelligence

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:21:48 +0000

At first glance, the Butterfly seems like a simple creature. Certainly, compared to humans, the Butterfly possesses less intelligence and no capacity to think or reason and its communication skills are limited. But to look deeper at this beautiful creature reveals something extraordinary. As the Caterpillar moves into the cocoon something remarkable happens. Its entire cellular structure dissolves into a soup. It then draws upon a different set of DNA to inform the cells and restructures itself into a Butterfly. Why is this remarkable? Upon completion, there is nothing left of the Caterpillar. The Caterpillar, from a cellular standpoint, ceases to exist and an entirely different creature, with an entirely different DNA emerges. In order to accomplish this the Butterfly needs two things; information and language. The information must come from outside of the Caterpillar. Second, language requires both intent and understanding. Something must intend to communicate and the receiver must understand what is trying to be communicated. For example if I say Godispresent you will understand this. But what if I communicate pdiodsrenetg. I have used the same symbols but they cannot be understood. They are not arranged in any order that the communicator and the recipient can understand. Thus, a language system is necessary and intelligence is required for language and communication. For Natural Selection to accomplish this it would require nothing short of a miracle.

Designed By God

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:33:10 +0000

There is a great deal of talk these days about power and energy. How can we get more energy to provide the power that we need in order to live? One alternative that seems to hold possibilities is the power of solar or sun energy. For quite some time now science has recognized the immense power of the Sun and its potential to provide a limitless source of energy. But how do we explain the Sun? Why does it give off so much energy and never seems to be depleted? An even better question is, how is it that the Sun is so vital to life? Several years ago some physicists developed what became known as the Anthropic Principle. The AP states that our solar system and the universe seem to have the fundamental physical constants that are the exact numbers necessary for the sustaining of life. To put it another way, the universe seems to have been designed for the express purpose of sustaining life.

Whereas many of Israel’s neighbors viewed the Sun, Moon, and Stars as divine bodies that determined events and forces in the world, Israel believed that the celestial lights were nothing more than the creation of God. Think about that for a moment. The Sun, with its immense power and energy, was created by the power of God’s Word. Does this seem remarkable? Well think about this. If the biblical God exists, then the universe cannot be explained by our material world. “No problem,” you say, “we have science to explain it.” But science must also do the same thing. At the Quantum level, things get very strange. So strange, that the typical senses that most of science relies on (material world), don’t help us. We have to move into the world of theory and hypotheses. We have to move outside the material world. This is exactly where God is, outside the material world. The Christian simply places his/her faith in God. The Secularist places his/her faith in the material world, which cannot explain the origins of the material world.

Orderliness Designed by God

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:47:17 +0000

The beauty of the Natural world is in large part due to its orderliness. Everything works in a harmonious balance with the exception, of course, of man. But that’s a different sermon. The Naturalist, or Secularist, would have us believe that this is all the result of random chance. That matter came together to form atoms, which then came together to form elements, which then came together to form the basics of the cell and so on and so on. Of course prior to life, the universe must first come together by random chance in order to provide the perfect habitation for such life.
The Bible reveals to us a different scenario. Th Bible reveals to us that prior to the beginning of life, there was an orderliness to the cosmos that was conducive of life. That orderliness was anything but random. Rather, it is an orderliness designed by God to enhance, extend, and under-gird the structures of life.

God is Always at the Center

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:04:05 +0000

What we think about ourselves, about our lives, our purpose and meaning in this world, all flows from what we think about God. Whether or not a person believes in God will determine their moral and ethical worldview. For those who believe in God, what they believe about that God will determine many of the choices they make in life. Many people today, who claim belief in God, are no different from the ancient pagans, whose god(s) were only secondarily concerned about human deeds. For some, God is nothing more than a philosophical concept, a spiritualized self.
The bible, beginning in Genesis 1, disavows all such views of God and places the one true God over and above all things. What can be known of God is only what God reveals of Himself, and God reveals Himself first and foremost as creator. If this be true, then creations meaning and purpose can only be found in Him. We cannot find and know ourselves apart from Him.

A Christmas Reflection

admin — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:06:19 +0000

Many of us are familiar with the holiday classic, “ A Christmas Carol,” or at least we are somewhat familiar with the character Ebenezer Scrooge. What many may not know is the context of the classic Christmas story. Contrary to what some movies may portray, Christmas was not a widespread celebration in the early 19th century as it is today. In fact, Post-Revolution America and England witnessed sporadic celebration. A wreath hung on a door, perhaps a salutary greeting of “Merry Christmas,” but many did not stop to recognize this special day. The West was being swept up in the Industrial Revolution, fortunes were being made and charity, love, and hospitality as well as Church attendance were waning. Then something began to happen. In 1822 the publication of a book of Christmas Carols, ”Some Ancient Christmas Carols” followed by another such book ”Selection of Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern” in 1833 began to draw peoples attention to the importance of this wonderful day. In 1841 Prince Albert of England, the German-born husband of Queen Victoria brought with him the German tradition of the Christmas tree and then, in 1843, Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol” intended to convict Victorian-era England of its neglect of good-will, charity, and hope. What followed was the publication of the first Christmas cards and the revival of the public signing of Christmas carols.

Let us take care today that a new Charles Dickens is not needed to draw us back to Christmas. Rather, as Linus reminded the Peanuts gang, let us remember that Christmas is about the birth of a savior.

Philippians 3:13

admin — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:11:07 +0000

Philippians 3:13 states, “ Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of [it] yet; but one thing [I do]: forgetting what [lies] behind and reaching forward to what [lies] ahead.” Paul here is talking about the goal of Christian perfection. That is, knowing Christ fully and the power of His resurrection. This is the goal of every Christian. To continue moving forward in Christian maturity and being perfected in Jesus Christ. The problem however, that which prevents so many of us from moving forward, is the continuing practice of looking back. This is perhaps one of the most problematic verses for most of us. Why? Because so many of us are strangled by the past.

Independence Day

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:41:12 +0000

This coming 4th of July celebrates not only the Independence and beginning of America but it celebrates as well, a tectonic shift that took place in the prevailing wisdom of the day. The unique American ideal was that Freedom and Equality could be held in equal tension. Moving into the 19th century Europe believed that freedom and equality could not coincide because freedom meant that some would succeed and others would fail. Therefore, in order to have equality, freedom must be curtailed.

De Tocqueville, wrote that America had indeed been able to make both work. Why? Because America did not interpret equality as “sameness” as the Europeans did. For Americans, equality was defined through the Puritan theology of equality of worth, not equality of wealth, possessions, land, etc.

This is pertinent today because liberals view freedom and equality as on either/or condition. The government must invoke equality, identified as sameness and in order to do so freedom must be curtailed. Conservatives believe that freedom and equality can exist because equality means equality of worth not outcome.

The Full Image

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:47:43 +0000

In the Old Testament, images of God were strictly forbidden (Ex. 20:4; Dt. 27:15) because nothing could capture the complete reality of God. Therefore, it would lead to confusion. Among Israel’s pagan neighbors, images of a god served not only as objects of worship but as a means of controlling the god. Prohibition of images therefore served to protect against false realities of God and the belief that somehow God could be manipulated. It is somewhat striking then that Paul, a Pharisee, would use such a word (Col. 1:15), in reference to Jesus and His relationship to God. He would only have used such a word if he were convinced that Jesus represented the full reality of God.

A little further in Colossians Paul adds that all the “fullness” of God resided in Him. What did he mean by this. Here the imagery is that of the presence of God coming down and “filling” the Temple(Ez. 10). When God’s presence filled the Temple there was no part of the Temple that was absent of God. In the same way God filled the person of Christ. By using the terms that Paul does he leaves no doubt that in the person of Jesus we have both God and man. Not just a god, but the God. Therefore, the claim that Jesus was a lesser god is not substantiated by Scripture. Neither is the claim that the deity of Christ was a fabrication of the Constantinian church supported by the biblical evidence. Rather, in Jesus, we have the exact representation of God. God has come to man and shown us what He is like through the person of Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus through faith; they shall be saved.

Christianity and Man’s Greatest Problem

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:47:18 +0000

Timothy Keller in his book, “The Reason for God” has written what I believe is a keen insight with respect to the truthfulness of Christianity. He states, “Christianity has within itself remarkable power to explain and expunge the divisive tendencies within the human heart.” No other religion or non-religion can explain the continued divisiveness that plagues humanity. With all man’s great accomplishments the one that most eludes him is the ability to end once-and-for-all the enmity that has proven so destructive of humanity and the desire for community. It is Christianity alone that provides the key to unlocking the enigma of human violence. Yes, there have been atrocities performed in the name of Christianity. But Christianity as we find it in the New Testament and proclaimed in the Apostolic preaching of the cross provides the reason and solution to man’s greatest struggle.