A time for fasting...

"And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast."

In Matthew 9:15, Jesus says of the disciples, "when the bride groom shall be taken from them, then they shall fast. The discipline of fasting, long regarded as a stalwart of the Christian faith, has of late suffered from serious neglect. It seems we fundamentalists (evangelicals) have assigned fasting to the ascetics. In casting out their lifestyle as meaningless legalism and ritual, we have also done despite to fasting. My friends, these things ought not to be so.
Fasting is a useful spiritual discipline for any believer, and now, the beginning of a new year, is an opportune moment to seek God in fasting and prayer. But before beginning, it might be useful to remind ourselves of a few things that fasting is and isn’t.
First, fasting is not simply ritual. The oft-abused passage in Isaiah 58 is an example. In it, God declares:

Isa. 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

In this passage, the people of God have accused Him of being indifferent to their fasting (v. 3). They describe Him as not seeing their fasting and taking no notice when they afflicted themselves. God responds by telling them their fasting is of no value. In a time when they should be seeking Him, they continue to indulge their own lusts (v. 3) They continued to oppress their neighbors and live in rebellion to the revealed will of God (v. 4). God is incredulous; "Did they really think fasting with that type of heart was going to honor or invoke a response from Him (v. 5)?" Rather, God says, show justice and mercy to those in bondage (v. 6). Help the poor and hungry (v. 7). Then, in verses 8-14, God tells them the benefits of righteous living (which are not at all related to fasting):

8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rearward. 9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: 11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. 13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

The point of the passage (many, many interpreters’ errors notwithstanding) is that ritual is no substitute for obedience. Fasting is not a bell on the celestial service counter that brings instant attention from the Almighty.

Second, fasting is not for show. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, briefly addresses fasting:

Matthew 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

The hypocrites put on a sad face and looked weak in order that others might recognize their high level spirituality. Jesus accorded them their reward, then gave instructions to one who would truly seek God in fasting. "Do it in secret, for God, and He will see it, and He will reward you."

So, why and how do we fast? I believe there are essentially only two reasons for fasting. The first is because I hunger for God. As His child, I long with all my heart to know Him better, to hear Him more clearly, to sit at His feet, to worship Him with my whole being. By crucifying the flesh, I free my spirit for communion with His Spirit.

The second reason is because I do not hunger for God (1). It is unfortunate that the good gifts of God can often overshadow the Giver. My life can be so consumed by things of little consequence that I am unable to focus on the One who is everything. Most of the diversions in our life are not wrong except they divert us from God Himself. Take note, in the parable of the sower, of the one who "the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things enters in, chokes the word, and it becomes unfruitful - Mark 4:19." We fast that we might increase our desire for Him by decreasing our desire for His gifts.

Brothers and sisters, let us seek Him. Let us seek Him on behalf of ourselves, our families, our churches, and our nation. Let us seek Him with all of our strength. Let us seek Him in prayer and fasting.

Just a servant,

Bro. Tom

(1) With gratitude to John Piper, whose book "A Hunger for God" greatly influenced my thinking in this area.

Paraphrase of Isaiah 1:10-20

Hey, you bunch of queers, listen up! This is God speaking. Let’s give a little attention to what the Bible says, you hypocrites! Why do you even bother to come to church? I have had all I can stand of your "worship" services. I’ve had enough of your Sunday school. Who told you to do any of those things, anyway?

There’s no point in your even coming to me. I’ve had enough of your singing, your pious prayers and your "Bible" preaching. Your whole church service is disgusting. You’ve done enough Christmas cantatas and sunrise services. They just annoy me. I’m tired of listening to you.

When you pray, I will stop up my ears. When you look for me, I will hide my face. I won’t hear you. Your hands are full of the blood of lost sinners, desperate poor people and aborted babies.

Clean up your act! Change your ways! Repent! Stop doing evil! Learn to do right. Help the lost, the helpless, the orphans, the widows, the unfortunate and oppressed.

Come on guys! Listen to me! As bad as it is, if you just work with me, we can fix this thing. Although your sins are as wicked as Satan himself, I can make you clean. Though you be teetering on the edge of destruction, I can still save you.

If you’ll just come to me and work with me, I will save you and protect you. But if you don’t, you have only destruction and judgment to look forward to. That’s all I’ve got to say.

Waiting on God

It's a little bit eery sometimes to know something needs to be done and be unable to do it. In our case, the church is badly in need of additional space. We recently started a Sunday school class for married couples in the hallway. The first week it had twenty-four people in it. Now twenty-four people in the hallway may not have much meaning for you, but it tells me we need more education space.

Same is true of the parking lot. Two weeks ago a late comer had trouble finding a space, even with the Sunday school teachers parking on the grass.

Additionally, the church has never had a fellowship hall or a kitchen. Optional, you say? Well, I agree in principle, but they surely are convenient.

So....the latest survey shows we need (would like to have) about 14,000 square feet of building (combines fellowship hall with gym for Christian school). At $65 per square foot, it doesn't take long to figure out we're nearing the seven figure range. No problem, you say, just go get a loan.

Well, there is a problem. The Scripture is pretty clear concerning borrowing money. Debt is bondage (Proverbs 22:7). The borrower is servant to the lender. Well, then, if the head of the body (the church) is Jesus Christ, then should the body place itself in bondage to any other organization, say, a bank for instance. The answer is clearly no.

Well, if we need seven figures and we barely have six, how do we deal with it?

I see three options:

Downsize.
Wait.
Disobey.

Disobedience is out. Downsizing is possible but may not meet even the most immediate need. The final option is most unpalatable but most Scriptural. We pray...and wait.

He will be glorified in this and every other situation.

Just a servant,

Tom

Alternative Literacy?

Alternative literacy?

One statistic of great interest to missionaries is the literacy rate of a given country. The literacy rate is an estimate of what percentage of a population is able to read and write. The reason the statistic is important is readily apparent. If a nation or people group has a high level of literacy, then literature, such as tracts and books, can be a significant part of the outreach program. It means the people are able to read not only a gospel tract, but subsequent discipleship and training for ministry can use written material. If the population is largely made up of illiterates, then both evangelism and training must be approached from a completely different direction. In fact, many missionaries entering primitive cultures are required to teach their people to read, and some are even required to distill a heretofore unwritten language into written form. Then, and only then, can the Bible be translated and the people taught to read God’s word in their heart language.
It is an interesting fact that although the United States has a relatively high literacy rate, very few of us actually devote much time to reading. An article published by CNN/Money in 2004[1] quoted then NEA chairman Dana Goia telling the Associated Press, “It’s no longer a case of Johnny can’t read, it’s Johnny won’t read.” American Association of Publishers’ president Pat Schroeder attributes the decline in book reading to “all the other alternatives that compete for your time”. "The Internet, cable TV, and computer games, account for much more of the trend away from books," agrees another.
An alarmist would say we’re forgetting how to read! Actually, it’s not so. We know how to read. We do read when we must, but our preference as a nation is not to read. We still seek information; our information simply comes from sources other than hardcover books.
So what does this mean to the church? Some would say nothing, quoting (or misquoting) 1 Corinthians 1:21 and loudly proclaiming that the gospel is to be preached (orally) and anything else is unbiblical. They are convinced that anything other than “straight” preaching is using worldly methods for God’s work. They become indignant at the idea of using television, radio, drama, videos, web-sites, or even PowerPoint© displays in an attempt to reach a particular audience.
The answer may lie in our understanding of the purpose of any kind of media. Media, in whatever form, is used to link individual cognition with social phenomena. That is, media communicates the ideas of a culture or society to the individual members. Television is not anti-literacy. It is alternative literacy. Just as a book, it is a tool used to convey a message. In performing its function, it is a very effective tool.
When we returned from the mission field, I was immediately impressed with the great usefulness of two new tools, the cordless screwdriver and the cell phone. We already had both phones and screwdrivers, but for the vast majority of uses, these simply worked better.
Recently at Grace we have begun to utilize a number of tools to make our message clearer, more accessible, or more attractive. Like any tools, they cannot in and of themselves perform work; they simply enable us to work more effectively. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and the Bible does contain all truth necessary for our lives. These things do not and will not change. But the means to convey truth can change, and should change if we are to keep our communication relevant in a continuously evolving culture.
We are leaving the era of Christian radio. We are full in the midst of global internet access, podcasting, digital audio and video recording, cell phones and Blackberrys. We must recognize not only the opportunity, but the obligation to take the message of Christ and reach people wherever they are.
I heard another brother recently make the statement, “We have the greatest message in the universe. Why would we wrap it in toilet paper”. Why indeed?

Just a servant,

Bro. Tom

[1] Christie, L. Endangered, the American Reader. http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/09/news/bookreading/

Measurable Christianity?

I have recently spent some time studying what is known as a Christian Life Profile Assessment Tool. The idea here is that we can measure the level of our Christian maturity (spirituality) through the use of an objective assessment.

The assessment divides Christianity into what the authors call 30 Core Competencies. There are ten each under the categories of beliefs, practices and virtues. Beliefs are basic doctrinal issues such as the Trinity, Salvation by Grace, Authority of the Bible, etc. Practices include worship, prayer, Bible study, spiritual gifts, and others. Finally, virtues are those fruits which the Bible says should be readily evident in our Christian lives, such as love, joy, peace, patience, etc.

In the assessment, each individual is given 120 statements which they are to rate from 0 (does not apply at all) to 5 (applies completely). Thus, a sample statement might be, "I control my tongue". The examinee is then to determine whether this "does not apply to me" - 0, or it "applies to me completely" - 5. After rating every statement, he or she must total the scores to determine areas of the thirty core competencies where they have strengths (high scores) or weaknesses (low scores). Recognizing our propensity to sandbag, the assessment requires that each participant get ratings in the same areas from three additional people who are close to them and able to judge these areas. These assessments, call the "one another" assessments, are shorter (40 statements instead of 120) and are designed to be relatively easy to complete.

After one completes the assessments (self and one another), the totals are calculated, presumably giving a clear indication where spirituality is less than desired and giving guidance on which areas need work. Each person designs their own plan for improving their walk with God, then finds one or more people to be accountable to for the follow-up.


Taken as a whole, there are some very interesting aspects to this process, such as:
- can you measure spirituality?
- does this provide an artificial standard?
- is it legalism to try to "train" everyone to a minimum spiritual level?
- and others I haven't thought of yet.

At the same time, it is an intriguing possibility.

So, fellow bloggers, what think ye?

Just warming up

This post is just to let my friends and neighbors know that I am joining the ranks of the great underground influence peddlers. I am now a spin doctor with electronic instruments. I am a blogger.

Actually, I already know the nature of my first, ah-hem, serious post. But I don't have time to post it today. So.....the world will have to wait.

But be warned, I'm just warming up.

This is going to be great!

Bro. Tom