Unity and Diversity

The idea of “Separate but Equal” was once used as a tool to enforce policies of prejudice in the American South. The idea that someone should go to a different institution based upon skin color as a matter of public policy has thankfully gone the way of the dinosaur. Unfortunately this philosophy is still voluntarily practiced in too many of our churches. Christians need to understand that churches should not be segregated because most assuredly there will not be a segregated Heaven.

The Apostle John describes the diversity he beheld in that world to come in Revelation 7:9:  “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.” It is clear that diversity will be the norm in the New Jerusalem. The writer of the book of Hebrews said in 12:28:  “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.” The key word in this passage is “receiving.” It is God’s intention that we receive the kingdom. Something that is received is not earned or created, and that is an important distinction.

As the passage points out, when we understand that the Kingdom has been received, the appropriate response is thankfulness. Unfortunately, many today are involved in Kingdom building rather than Kingdom receiving. Kingdom building ends in pride whereas Kingdom receiving ends in worship. It is important then to understand what the Kingdom of God looks like. What does it look like at your church? In the book “Vintage Church,” Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears define the local church as “…a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of Baptism and Communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the Great Commandment and Great Commission as missionaries to the world for God’s glory and their joy.” The first word of this definition is of particular significance. Community. Are we experiencing the Kingdom of God in community?

It has been my experience that many churches are built around the ideas of affinity rather than received in the context of community. The difference in affinity and community is this - community encompasses the ideas of diversity, while affinity is all about uniformity. Churches built on uniformity tend to have members who all look alike, dress alike, think alike, and generally share the same interest and values. The common denominator is what they like. These types of organizations are often cults of personality and preference. And as many have observed, you can never really know if you are in a cult until the last day, then its too late!

However, churches that have received the Kingdom value diversity in community. Not everyone shares the same interest, not everyone looks or dresses alike, nor should they.  It is not about them, but rather, it is all about Christ. The Body of Christ is not identified by its uniformity but by its unity around the person and work of Jesus Christ. This has been modeled for us from the beginnings of the New Testament Church. When Jesus selected his disciples, as recorded in Matthew 10, Mark 3, and Luke 6, He selected men of diversity to come together in community. Consider that eleven of them were from the country, one from the city, some owned businesses and lived lives of quiet anonymity, others like James and John seemed to be somewhat well-connected to the religious establishment of the day. In the group was Matthew a tax collector, employed by the Roman Government, and Simon who was a Zealot, who openly opposed the Roman Government and sought its overthrow. These men were chosen by Christ to work together. Likewise we have been chosen by Christ to work together to advance the Kingdom we have received.

And certainly it must be stated that in our striving for diversity we never compromise the Gospel. We should never redefine the Gospel or what it means to be a Christian to gain a wider audience or more diverse crowd. When the consistent message of the Gospel is proclaimed, it is God who gives the increase. But it is God who does the choosing and not you or I. We are not building our own Kingdom, but we are receiving the Kingdom that He has given to us.

The Church is set apart to represent God’s Kingdom on this earth. If we are content to segregate ourselves in conclaves of our own affinities, we miss God’s purpose and intention for our lives. He calls us to live in community with one another, unified around His Word and work and not according to our preferences or prejudices. If everyone at your Church is just like you, then perhaps you should step up and reach out to those unlike you, and by doing so extend the Kingdom of God into uncharted territories. A Kingdom that we are blessed to receive and share. 

Worry much?

"Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."-Philippians 4:5-6MSG

Today in ministry I shared this verse with a new Christian who is struggling with anxiety and worry, I also shared it with a young mother who is facing the reality that her son is going to have to experience surgery. Life gives us all plenty to worry about. The challenge isn't to escape worry and anxiety, but to allow those feelings to move us to prayer. I thought about that old song "Count your blessings"  In 1897, Johnson Oatman Jr. published his song entitled “Count your blessings”. The first verse of that song begins:

“When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.”

The challenge of Oatman’s song is the challenge of the Word of God. The song was based on the admonishment of the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

As we lay our lives over the teaching of Scripture, it challenges our perspectives on what is good and what is bad in our lives. Because, according to God it is all leading to the same place, the glory of the eternal purposes of God.

And ultimately it is our perspective that guides our lives. Are we living our lives from the perspective of fear or faith? What we often view as adversity can cloud our perspective. But the challenges of the Word of God seek to correct our perspective.

Consider when in Luke 12:22 Jesus challenged his disciples “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life…” Think about how this challenge of Christ is so counter intuitive to our view of everything that we do and how we live our lives. We live in constant anxiety endeavoring to improve what we view as the negative aspects of our lives, when in fact we should, as Jesus counsels, “Instead, seek God’s kingdom, and these things will be added to you.” (Luke 12:31)

In this context Jesus says not to worry about food, clothing, because it is our heavenly Father who clothes flowers and feeds birds, creatures that do not bear His image. So how much more will Christ care for us who are made in His likeness and image. The issue with Jesus in Luke 12 is not our stuff but rather our God. When we treat our stuff in a way in which we should seek God, the stuff leads to stress. The results our clear when we seek food for comfort it leads to obesity, when we seek clothing it leads to debt as we chase the ever changing trends. Rather we should seek the Holy Spirit as our comforter and seek to be clothed with garments of praise that glorify God.

Notice that the challenge Jesus gives is this; instead of looking at ourselves we should focus our attention on the kingdom of Christ and when we do we have the promise that God will add to out lives the things that we need. Jesus challenges us instead of being fearful in the face of adversity, but rather to be faithful. Faithfulness is the antidote for fear.

Superman doesn't get the gospel right

I took in the lasted film adaptation of Superman, Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. The film was mildly entertaining, with the first hour being much better than the second, which featured extended fight sequences and a disjointed story line. But what struck me was the effort that was made to overtly exploit Christian themes. Of course, this is not new, the story of Superman has a long tradition of Christ comparisons. But it seems that past adaptations were more subtle, whereas at one point in this film there is a scene where Clark Kent enters a church where he is seeking guidance for his next move. In the framing of the shot Clark Kent is in the foreground and Jesus is ensconced in stained glass behind him. Clark Kent, a.k.a. Superman, is seeking guidance in a church while pictured behind him is Christ seeking guidance in the garden of Gethsemane. The scene ends with the priest telling Kent that sometimes "before you can trust, you must take a leap of faith", while this makes a memorable line, it isn't true. In Christianity our trust of God isn't based upon a "leap of faith" but it is based on the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is ample evidence to demonstrate that Christ lived, died, and rose again, which has implications for my life. Since Christ is the only one in human history to demonstrate that he was God by raising himself from the dead, I have decided to listen to what he has to say about my sin and salvation. No blind leap of faith here, just trust and faith based upon truth.

While I am happy anytime Hollywood attempts to weave gospel themes into films, it felt odd watching their over the top, in your face, effort to do so, while rarely getting it right. In fact this morning I discovered a website encouraging pastors to utilize the film in their Sunday sermons. http://manofsteelresources.com/. In many ways all superhero movies are adaptations of the gospel, with the lead hero endowed with supernatural powers, saving humanity from evil, often sacrificing themselves to accomplish this. But the problem with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel is that they just get the message wrong.

I thought of five ways Man of Steel convoluted the message of the gospel:

1. The over arching view of mankind in the film is that; "Humanity is naturally good, and that we can rise to our potential." The Bible clearly teaches that we are not naturally good. Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." There is no spark of goodness within in us. We are fallen creatures, totally depraved, outside the intervention of God on our behalf we have no hope of salvation.

2. Man of Steel wants us to believe that the enemy is out there, when the Bible teaches that our greatest enemy is within. The greatest enemy of humanity isn't from the Phantom Zone but from the contents of of our hearts. Jesus makes this clear in Matthew 15:11 "it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” The enemy within can only be defeated through the symbolic death of repentance and giving our lives to Jesus Christ, who literally died in our place and rose again to give us eternal life. 

3. Progress doesn't solve the problems of humanity. Here the film does a decent job of communicating that with all of the technological advances of Krypton, in the end they could not save themselves. But when the scene shifts to earth, that message seems to be forgotten. Because what saves humanity ultimately is the advanced technology that was left on earth by early visitors from Krypton. Scientific advances will never solve the intrinsic problems of sin and depravity. Only Christ on the cross can do that for us. 

4. Morality isn't an adequate redeeming agent. Throughout the film the morality of Superman and the inherit goodness of humans is cited as a reason that they are able to prevail over the evil invaders from Krypton. But our notions of right and wrong are skewed by our depravity. Any thing that is ultimately good in this world is a reflection of God's grace, and no amount of good works on our behalf, no matter how noble is capable of measuring up to God's standard of righteousness. 

5. Unlike Superman Jesus is not a fairy tale. Again I applaud the efforts to retail old stories in new ways. But one inherit problem that I see with the attempt to cast Superman as a gospel allegory, is that in the minds of audiences it could communicate that somehow both Superman and Jesus are equally fictitious. Jesus isn't just another story made up to facilitate tradition, morality, or the American way. Jesus is an actual historical figure, who lived, died and backed up his claim to be God through his resurrection from the dead. This is the gospel. By virtue of the fact that he is God, we should put our trust in him alone to save us from our sins. 

Man of Steel in some respects makes a decent effort of re-tailing Christian  themes. But if the intention was to tell the gospel story in a way that truthfully tells the story of Jesus, I recommend going to the source, Christ and his word, the Bible. 

10 ways to battle hypocrisy

Hypocrisy has been described as an inconsistency between what is professed and what is practiced. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 2:1 "Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind." But how do we go about ridding ourselves of all hypocrisy? Every one is a hypocrite in different areas of life. I came up with ten ways to battle hypocrisy in my life, maybe you can come up with some others. What do you think?

1. Admit that you aren't perfect: 1 John 1:8 says "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." All of us have room to improve and the gospel of Christ is the power of God to change for the better. Even in the our areas of expertise, we can still get better. Admitting our shortcomings, identifying them and making a commitment to work on them will help us in guarding our lives against inconsistencies.

2. Practice accountability: Who are the people that speak into your life. Do they know you well enough to correct you when you are wrong, without you being offended? If there is no one in your life who loves you enough to tell you uncomfortable truths about yourself, then you need to work on cultivating those relationships. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 5:21 "Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." Are you practicing submission by allowing others to correct and encourage you? We all have blind spots, areas of our lives that we cannot see, and need others to see for us. A good place to start with developing these kinds of relationships is to get involved in a local church where accountability is practiced.

3. Tell the truth: This one is hard in many respects. Although many of us would consider ourselves honest people, the Bible makes it clear that we are not. "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure...", the prophet Jeremiah tells us, so how do we go about telling the truth to others and to ourselves? A good place to start is with the instruction of Christ in Matthew 5:37 "Just say a simple "Yes I will", or "No I won't", anything beyond this is from the evil one." Avoid excuses, or exaggeration, make a commitment to do something and do it, or be honest and say "No", and then don't feel guilty for being honest. This principle applies to what we say to others and to ourselves.

4. Pray: Maybe this is obvious. But in prayer we open ourselves up to what God's Spirit may want to speak to our hearts or reveal about our lives. In Psalm 51 there is recorded for us David's prayer of repentance after his act of adultery, in verse six he prays, "Behold you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart." Pray these kinds of prayers, and give God an opportunity to correct and cleanse any hypocrisy that may be lurking in your life.

5. Read challenging books and articles: If we are not careful we will spend most of our life pursuing what is easy and comfortable. Apathy cultivates hypocrisy. So in order to combat apathy it is important that we challenge our thinking and actions. One good way to do this is by reading and endeavoring to apply what we have read in challenging areas of our lives. Start reading today!

6. Help Others: By focusing less on ourselves and more on others, we will diminish the need to prop ourselves up with falsehoods. When you and I help someone we enter into a place where we "lose ourselves", this is a good thing. It starves our unhealthy need for attention, and feeds the positive needs of our souls with the nourishment of kindness given and received.

7. Stay Busy: Downtime will often lead to imagining and fostering false truths about ourselves and others. Keep your mind and body busy with productive activities such as volunteering for your church of a charity. Exercising is great for your long term health and short term well being as well, anything that contributes to productivity in our lives and minds is a step in the right direction.

8. Rest: This is not a contradiction to number seven, but a reminder that in all of our busyness we must get plenty of rest. Even God understood this, giving us the perfect example of working six days and resting on seventh. Understand that your body and mind need rest, by doing so you will be better equipped to do the work that God intends for you to accomplish.

9. Practice silence and solitude: Balance your life by spending time by yourself, without all the noise of life intruding. When we are constantly around others, we may feel the need to exaggerate the impression we want to make leading to acts of hypocrisy. Proverbs 10:19 cautions us "Too much talking leads to sin, be sensible and keep your mouth shut." Find creative ways to be quiet and alone during the day.

10. Laugh: Stop taking yourself so seriously. We all do funny things, so don't be afraid to laugh at yourself. Practice making yourself the butt of the joke, and encourage others to laugh at your expense. This will diminish your need to disguise your short comings and will authenticate your desires for transparency, while endearing you to others. The words of Proverbs 17:22 are still true, "A cheerful heart is good medicine..." Take the medicine of good cheer and watch the symptoms of hypocrisy dissipate.

Jesus reserved some of his most powerful rebukes for hypocrites, calling them "whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones" (Matthew 23:27). These are just a few ways to avoid that indictment of Christ in our own lives. The challenge for all of us is to practice authenticity and to follow the path of repentance, understanding that God's grace is always available for all of our needs.

Hope for Hurting Marriages

Scot and Candy Loyd 

In Genesis 2:24, God gave the parameters of perhaps His greatest invention: marriage. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

This passage was referenced by Christ in Matthew 19:4 in His response to inquiries about divorce and re-marriage from the religious leaders of the day. Jesus made it clear that God’s formula from the beginning was one man plus one woman for one lifetime equals marriage. The Apostle Paul endorsed this equation as well in his writings to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 5:31, adding in verse 32, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”

Our Work and God's Glory

In his short story “Leaf by Niggle,” J.R.R. Tolkien provides insight to the struggle many of us face in our lives. Specifically, how do we labor effectively under the curse of sin in our world, families, careers, and the daily grind of our existence? The piece was first published in The Dublin Review and came at a point in Tolkien’s life when he despaired that he would ever complete his epic work The Lord of the Rings.

Niggle, the story’s title character, is a painter whose unique name means “to work in a fiddling or ineffective way, spending time unnecessarily on petty details.” In the story, Niggle is inspired to paint a mural of a grand tree surrounded by a beautiful landscape. But throughout the story he is distracted from his work and is plagued by the thought that he is about to die, which Tolkien describes with the metaphor of a journey. Niggle tells himself, “I shall get this one picture done, my real picture, before I have to go on that wretched journey.” At the end of his life he has managed only to paint a single leaf.

As he journeys to the afterlife, Niggle hears two voices, one that derides him for wasting his life by answering all of the distractions which consisted mostly of helping others, and another voice that comforts him because he was willing to help others. When Niggle arrives at his destination, he finds a picturesque landscape with the beautiful tree that he had labored all of his life to create.

Like Niggle, all of us struggle with the meaning of our lives. In the final analysis, what is it that we have contributed? What of note have we created? The good news of Niggle’s story is that in eternity the perfection he longed for in his created work was realized. In 1 John 3:2 we read these inspiring words, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” The realization of our desires to be in Christ and to be like Christ will be realized when Christ returns.

But until that day, we are called to be faithful to the task to which all of us have been called. We labor in faith knowing that God and the power of the Holy Spirit will make up the difference between what we have imagined and what we have accomplished. Often the key is in discovering what God has uniquely asked you to do and then doing it with purpose and sincerity. For example, God has privileged me to lead a church. As a pastor I am charged with proclaiming the gospel of Christ and serving the people of our congregation. Many days I feel I do an inadequate job of accomplishing the task set before me, but I take comfort knowing the grace of God that has called me to this position is the same grace that keeps me. And I know that one day the people that I serve will be presented before Christ, perfected by the grace of God.

You may not be a pastor, but whatever your calling in the context of your family and life, know that you are not laboring alone and that one day your labor will be perfected in Christ. As Tim Keller observes about Tolkien’s short story, “The world before death – his old country – had forgotten Niggle almost completely, and there his work had ended unfinished and helpful to only a few. But in his new country, the permanently real world, he finds that his tree, in full detail and finished, was not just a fancy of his that had died with him. No, it was indeed part of the true reality that would live and be enjoyed forever.” 

Obama the Anti-Christ?

With the many scandals currently surrounding Barack Obama as President of the United States, the web of intrigue that has sprung up around him continues spinning and perpetuating speculation about his origins and his destiny. Many continue to wring their hands, furrow their brow, and solicit monies to support further investigation into the “true” birthplace of the 44^th President. This speculation runs from the ridiculous to the surreal. For example, a youtube video claims to be an in-depth study of Luke 10:18, wherein Jesus reports seeing “Satan fall from heaven as lightning.” The maker of the video has concocted a shaky theory. Although the New Testament was originally written in the Greek language, this “scholar” insisted on reading it in Hebrew. Through a series of linguistic gymnastics, he managed to wrestle a pronunciation where “lightning and Satan” sounded a bit like “Barrack Obama.”

The sarcastic cynic in me wonders how this important insight has remained hidden for 2,000 years of church history, and how long it took the author of the “Obama is Satan” video to find a New Testament scripture that, when read in Hebrew, almost sounded like the name of our current President? Clearly, some people have too much time on their hands.  This example of the current manifestation of “end-time madness” may be laughable, but stories like this are not rare. It seems with every emergence of new global personalities voices erupt with the chants of the discovery of the Anti-Christ. In recent history, popular authors have fictionalized events surrounding their interpretations of New Testament prophecy fueling these theories. For the most part, these popular books are based on a single view of Scripture, which was unknown to the Church or to the world prior to the mid-19^th century, whose adherents are known as Dispensationalist.

This view came into vogue through the teaching of John Nelson Darby, a minister with the Plymouth Brethren in the mid-1800s. The highlights of this particular view of the Bible, specifically when dealing with prophetic passages, are widely accepted. Yet we need not embrace this understanding, to truly identify the spirit of antichrist. Before John was exiled to Patmos, where he wrote down his Revelation, he wrote in 1 John 2:22 “Who is the liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son…. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us -eternal life.” John makes it clear that those who are not abiding in Christ, and have not the message of the Gospel abiding in them have embraced the spirit of all that is opposed to who Christ is and what he represents. 

This should impact how we respond to the endless and often mindless preoccupations as to the correct understanding of end-time events. What we should embrace is the message of the Gospel which is sufficient to our hope as the people of God, that Christ will return to Earth, bringing clarity, peace, justice and reward with him. In light of John’s writing we should examine our lives in the light of God’s word so that there is no denying of Christ with our lifestyle while we acknowledge him with our lips.

 Although I do have many disagreements with the current occupant of the White House, the focus of my scrutiny is best spent on the occupant of my house. It is far more likely that I will find the antichrist when I examine the preoccupations of my heart than when I examine the headlines. We should not live our lives seeking the identity of the Anti-Christ, but rather in praise of the majesty and glory of The Christ, Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Opposition to Revival

The revival led by the Apostle Paul in the city of Ephesus as recorded in The Acts of the Apostles chapter 19, serves as a great example of the opposition we should expect when God begins to do His work of revival and blessing. The city of Ephesus was a great metropolitan city in the first century with a population, by some accounts of 250, 000, and was home to one of the wonders of the ancient world, the temple of the goddess Artemis, the roman goddess of fertility.

Paul entered the city, and immediately begins to preach Christ. Paul understood, as we should, that cities are the cultural centers of the world, and culture and influence flow out of cities to the rest of the region. If we seek to influence the culture for Christ we must be prepared to preach Christ in the cities. The narrative of Acts 19 reveals that Paul faced three specific kinds of opposition that is as prevalent in the 21st Century as they were in the first. Paul faced theological opposition, demonic opposition, and cultural opposition.

First, Paul experienced theological opposition. His first encounter upon entering the region was to meet with disciples of John the Baptist who did not have the whole story of the gospel. Paul responded to them with the preaching of the gospel. It is interesting that the litmus test for the Apostle Paul in discerning the spiritual condition of these disciples was that of receiving the Holy Spirit, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” The Spirit filled life is a genuine mark of a believer’s life. When these disciples answered no to Paul’s inquiry, he immediately proclaimed Jesus to them. “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” (Acts 19:4 ESV)

Paul then entered the synagogue in Ephesus, where for three months, he “…spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.” Paul then faced continued theological opposition to the gospel. “But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew himself from them and took disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.” (Acts 19:9 ESV)
The theological opposition that Paul encountered in Ephesus, came in two forms, those uninformed of the gospel, who when they heard believed, and those who when they heard “…continued in unbelief.” This pattern is often repeated today, as Disciples of Christ we are charged with the proclamation of the gospel, and we will be sure to see those who will oppose the truth of God’s word. It is important to note that the Apostle Paul withdrew himself from this assembly when the truth continued to be in contention. Often unity is held up as the paramount value among Christians, but we must remember that truth, the fundamentals of the gospel is ultimately what challenges and changes lives. The Apostle Paul understood this, and so should we.

Next, Paul faced demonic opposition; in the form of a group of itinerate Jewish exorcists. The “Sons of Sceva” employed the method of the Apostle Paul when attempting to deliver those possessed with evil spirits, an attempt that did not work. As Acts 19:15-16 reports, “…the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you? And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so they fled out of the house naked and wounded.”

C.S. Lewis observed, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” Make no mistake, Satan is real, but he is no match for Christ. It is interesting that the ministry that was marked by imitation in Acts 19 left these men “naked and wounded”. And when we attempt to defeat Satan in our own power the results will be the same, but when we trust Christ and the power of the gospel, the results will be miraculous. Revival is reported in Acts 19:20, and may the same be said of our communities. “So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily”, this happens when we as Christians we employ the weapons at our disposal to defeat the enemy. So that as Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 2:11, “…Satan may not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

Finally, Paul faced cultural opposition in Ephesus, as his preaching of the gospel went to the heart of the culture and threatened the very livelihood of those who worshiped what they created. As Demetrius the silversmith reported in Acts 19:26 “…this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.” When we faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, the culture will be threatened, because all culture that is not centered in Christ is an expression of that culture’s idolatry.

G.K. Beale in the book, “We become what we worship”, observed, “What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or restoration.” As observed in the book “Doctrine: What Christians should believe” by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, “One of the recurrent themes of the Bible is that idols are deaf, mute, and blind, and so are idol worshipers who do not hear from God, speak to God, or spiritually see God.” Idolatry began with Adam, continued with Israel in both the Old and New Testaments, and is present today. Ultimately according to Romans chapter one, we end up worshiping ourselves as the final act of idolatry. But Paul confronted the idols of his culture with the power of the gospel, as should we.

In his final address to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, Paul reminded them “…I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. In the end it was the gospel that prevailed in the face of adversity in Ephesus.

The preaching of the gospel and the revival that follows will still prevail today, in the face of any and all opposition.