It’s been said that college and 20-something’s are most passionate about three things: sex, the end times, and will there be sex in the end times? This is why I love this generation!
Well here is some insight to one of those interests. I’ve always been scared to read the book of Revelation because I have been intimated by charts and graphs and weirdo’s telling me to quick grab some bottled water and canned food and hide in a dungeon because the end of the world as we know it is at hand. But as I mustered up the guts to actually read Revelation I found two things.
1. The book is not about the end so much as it is intended to encourage God’s people to worship and exalt Christ!
2. No one knows the day or hour when Jesus will return.
Revelation 20:4-6 tells of Jesus having a thousand year reign during the end of the world. and the dead coming to life. This verse in particular has given rise to three main schools of thought within Christianity.
1. Premillennial View
This is the most popular view among Christians. Any “Left Behind” fans? In this movie you will see something called “the rapture” occur by which all Christians are taken from earth and calamity (tribulation) occurs for 7 years. After the seven years this view holds in a literal thousand year reign of Jesus to be ushered in after the rapture. This view also believes in two resurrections. The first are believers. The second are non believers. Premillinnial’s believe there are signs pointing to the world constantly getting worse, not better.
2. Postmillennial View
Some Postmillennial’s believe in a literal thousand year reign but many contemporary scholars do not. The thousand year is symbolic. Here there is only one resurrection of all believers and non believers which happens after the millennium. The church ushers in the millennium for Jesus to return. Tribulation will occur but won’t happen until after the epic reign of Jesus. This means that the church is to share with the whole world. This is a positive outlook stating that we can evangelize the whole world.
3. Amillenial view
This view looks at the apocalyptic genre of Revelation and thus concludes that the thousand year reign of Jesus is purely symbolic. Like Postmillennial’s this view believes there will only be one resurrection. Believers may be risen before non-believers but the events happen close together. Like the Premillennial’s, this view believes that the world is only getting worse. Only Jesus can change the world.
All three of these views are held by evangelical Christians. Yet while there are differences there are three aspects of the end times that all evangelicals do agree on.
a. Jesus will return one day. At his return Christ will finally defeat all evil in an undeniable way.
b. A bodily resurrection of all people who have ever lived, followed by a final judgment will occur.
c. Believers will reign with Jesus forever while unbelievers will be separated from God’s presence.
So what’s the point? No matter where you stand theologically we know that Jesus will return. You don’t need to get caught up in dates and charts and graphs trying to discern the exact date of his arrival. No one knows. But we do not this: “We are children of God.” (1 John 3:2a) Thus right now today if your profess faith in Christ you are already a child of God.
But look at the rest of the verse: “but what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2b) So even though we are already children of God, we have not yet reached our full potential in God. This will not happen until his return. This is my theology. We are already but not yet with God.
So where does that leave us? “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” (1 John 3:3) this means that you and I are living between the times! While we live between the times we are called to sanctify our lives (1 Thes. 5:23) and continue to live out our everyday lives like it is our last!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Monday, June 8, 2009
Dwight SHREWD
If you are a fan of the TV show “The Office” then it is clear that you most certainly love Dwight Schrute. Do you remember the episode where for but a brief moment he gets to rule the office as the new boss while Michael is at corporate? Dwight Schrute in all his shrewdness develops a reward system for the employees by creating
the Schrute Buck!
The Schrute Buck was his shrewd way of keeping his “subordinates” in line and making them love him for it… surely an act of creative genius. That is until the office begins to out Shrewd Schrute. Creed simply printed out a couple hundred thousand Schrute Bucks and tried to cash them in for several thousand dollars! Dwight Schrute’s Shrewdness quickly came to an end.
Believe it or not this episode has a striking resemblance to one of Jesus’ parables in the Bible. Luke 16:1-9 tells of Jesus speaking to his disciples about a manager that realizes he is about to lose his job. Apparently the manager was accused of wasting his masters’ possessions and was told to give an account for his management. Being too proud to “dig” and too “ashamed to beg” he came up with shrewd plan. He went to his masters debtors, asked them what they owed him and then lowered their debt to his master to gain favor in their sight! Cunning I know.
Why would Jesus tell his disciples this story? Is Jesus actually condoning this kind of shrewd behavior as a way of living? Well….YES, sort of.
In v. 8 the master does exactly the opposite of what one might think. Rather than becoming angrier with the manager he actually commends the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. But why? What does the master see that is commendable or praise worthy?
The answer…his shrewdness. While condoning the lack of integrity and the dishonesty he commends his shrewdness. To be shrewd is to be to have sharp keen awareness of practical matters around you. The manager was commended not for his dishonesty but for his resourcefulness and intuitive grasp with practical situations. Jesus is using a worldly situation to reveal the power God gives us to use our minds. Our minds are gifts from God and are to be used for his kingdom.
Jesus said in v. 8b that “the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” So imagine if followers of Jesus used their God given minds for his Glory and not their own gains! Imagine if we balanced our prayers of “God show up and move” with that of being shrewd in practical situations.
Donald Miller in his book “Blue Like Jazz” shows a perfect example of being shrewd for God. In one of the nation’s most secular universities he sets up a “confession booth” on the campus mall. Thinking that the booth is for students to confess their sins, they are shockingly pleased to find out that the Christians in the booth are the ones confessing and apologizing to them for any Christians who may have poorly represented Jesus.
So what do you say…go be shrewd for God. Like Dwight you may not start out with the greatest idea, but the more you practice the better you will become. Ask God to increase your Shrewdness.
the Schrute Buck!
The Schrute Buck was his shrewd way of keeping his “subordinates” in line and making them love him for it… surely an act of creative genius. That is until the office begins to out Shrewd Schrute. Creed simply printed out a couple hundred thousand Schrute Bucks and tried to cash them in for several thousand dollars! Dwight Schrute’s Shrewdness quickly came to an end.
Believe it or not this episode has a striking resemblance to one of Jesus’ parables in the Bible. Luke 16:1-9 tells of Jesus speaking to his disciples about a manager that realizes he is about to lose his job. Apparently the manager was accused of wasting his masters’ possessions and was told to give an account for his management. Being too proud to “dig” and too “ashamed to beg” he came up with shrewd plan. He went to his masters debtors, asked them what they owed him and then lowered their debt to his master to gain favor in their sight! Cunning I know.
Why would Jesus tell his disciples this story? Is Jesus actually condoning this kind of shrewd behavior as a way of living? Well….YES, sort of.
In v. 8 the master does exactly the opposite of what one might think. Rather than becoming angrier with the manager he actually commends the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. But why? What does the master see that is commendable or praise worthy?
The answer…his shrewdness. While condoning the lack of integrity and the dishonesty he commends his shrewdness. To be shrewd is to be to have sharp keen awareness of practical matters around you. The manager was commended not for his dishonesty but for his resourcefulness and intuitive grasp with practical situations. Jesus is using a worldly situation to reveal the power God gives us to use our minds. Our minds are gifts from God and are to be used for his kingdom.
Jesus said in v. 8b that “the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” So imagine if followers of Jesus used their God given minds for his Glory and not their own gains! Imagine if we balanced our prayers of “God show up and move” with that of being shrewd in practical situations.
Donald Miller in his book “Blue Like Jazz” shows a perfect example of being shrewd for God. In one of the nation’s most secular universities he sets up a “confession booth” on the campus mall. Thinking that the booth is for students to confess their sins, they are shockingly pleased to find out that the Christians in the booth are the ones confessing and apologizing to them for any Christians who may have poorly represented Jesus.
So what do you say…go be shrewd for God. Like Dwight you may not start out with the greatest idea, but the more you practice the better you will become. Ask God to increase your Shrewdness.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Heavy Weight
Have you ever seen the World Strongest Man Competition? I'll never forget watching a 300lbs. man strap himself to a 747 commercial airplane and drag the plane from one point to another. I had dreams once to be in this competition. The only problem I had was being a 140lbs. soaking wet and well....lets face it, roids aren't even going to help this wirey body.
Shear mass isn't the only kind of weight that can be heavy though. Did you know Words can be weigh a ton. In fact there is one word that carries an extremely heavy weight. It's a word that when said makes me exhausted just hearing it....are ya ready?
PROCESS....
Yep, process. Sick huh! You can take 5 if you need to.
I have a love/hate relationship with this word, much like I do with lifting weights. it's often painful during the workout but the results are great!
I loath this word because I am product of this culture. I'm a classic type A personality, living in a fast food, fast internet, get it now, "have it your way" how you want, when you want culture. Process is the last word we want to hear. Sophomore's and Juniors in college know what I'm talking about. You're too far in to quit, but not far enough in to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Have you ever said things when studying for that exam like, "oh wouldn't it be awesome if I could just insert a chip in my head that gave me all the answers!" Or "wouldn't it be great if I could just fast forward to graduation or my new job"
The honest truth is that process is painful. So why then does Jesus seem to emphasize it so much? Why are his statements implicitly telling us to keep going? Wouldn't be easier if he just inserted a "perfect relationship with God" chip in us so that we could avoid the pain?
Did you know that Jesus' most common command was "follow me." He said it over 200 times in the Bible. In Luke 9:23-25 he said something profound:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross (once in your life? yearly? seasonaly?...oh no wait) DAILY and FOLLOW ME. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
Do you see it? There's something divine, something heavy going on in Jesus' words...that when lifted brings...life, brings joy, brings purpose. The daily process oriented journey is the point. In fact I would argue that the process of following Jesus is just as important as the destination of the warm fuzzies we look forward to so often in our relationship with God.
The destinations we seek are really more mile markers than and ending point. These mile markers of memorable moments are to be celebrated and remembered, yet we are called to so much more. We are called to the adventure to keep on going, keep on journeying to know and become like the infinite God we serve!
As we can see in Jesus words through Luke, his teachings are anti intuitive. It's easy to pick up our cross once, by praying a prayer for salvation, or going to that cool event, or thinking we have payed our dues. If that's our mindset than we've missed everything!
It's like Jesus is saying:
immediate struggle creates lasting freedom.
But
immediate relief creates lasting struggle, and ultimate death.
the joy of daily process of dying to ourselves brings the abundant life that Jesus desires for us to have in Him (Jn.10:10)
I have a weight lifting buddy who likes to tell me "pain is just weakness leaving the body!" Process is refining and Jesus allows us to journey with him daily as means of knowing and becoming more like him...as a means of worshiping him and marveling over the painful but all so glorius process of giving ove his life so that we may have life.
The process, the journey is extremely weighty when applied. If you don't believe, just go on a roadtrip with some of your closest friends. You just may find that the journey getting there was just as memorable as the destinations you visited.
Shear mass isn't the only kind of weight that can be heavy though. Did you know Words can be weigh a ton. In fact there is one word that carries an extremely heavy weight. It's a word that when said makes me exhausted just hearing it....are ya ready?
PROCESS....
Yep, process. Sick huh! You can take 5 if you need to.
I have a love/hate relationship with this word, much like I do with lifting weights. it's often painful during the workout but the results are great!
I loath this word because I am product of this culture. I'm a classic type A personality, living in a fast food, fast internet, get it now, "have it your way" how you want, when you want culture. Process is the last word we want to hear. Sophomore's and Juniors in college know what I'm talking about. You're too far in to quit, but not far enough in to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Have you ever said things when studying for that exam like, "oh wouldn't it be awesome if I could just insert a chip in my head that gave me all the answers!" Or "wouldn't it be great if I could just fast forward to graduation or my new job"
The honest truth is that process is painful. So why then does Jesus seem to emphasize it so much? Why are his statements implicitly telling us to keep going? Wouldn't be easier if he just inserted a "perfect relationship with God" chip in us so that we could avoid the pain?
Did you know that Jesus' most common command was "follow me." He said it over 200 times in the Bible. In Luke 9:23-25 he said something profound:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross (once in your life? yearly? seasonaly?...oh no wait) DAILY and FOLLOW ME. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
Do you see it? There's something divine, something heavy going on in Jesus' words...that when lifted brings...life, brings joy, brings purpose. The daily process oriented journey is the point. In fact I would argue that the process of following Jesus is just as important as the destination of the warm fuzzies we look forward to so often in our relationship with God.
The destinations we seek are really more mile markers than and ending point. These mile markers of memorable moments are to be celebrated and remembered, yet we are called to so much more. We are called to the adventure to keep on going, keep on journeying to know and become like the infinite God we serve!
As we can see in Jesus words through Luke, his teachings are anti intuitive. It's easy to pick up our cross once, by praying a prayer for salvation, or going to that cool event, or thinking we have payed our dues. If that's our mindset than we've missed everything!
It's like Jesus is saying:
immediate struggle creates lasting freedom.
But
immediate relief creates lasting struggle, and ultimate death.
the joy of daily process of dying to ourselves brings the abundant life that Jesus desires for us to have in Him (Jn.10:10)
I have a weight lifting buddy who likes to tell me "pain is just weakness leaving the body!" Process is refining and Jesus allows us to journey with him daily as means of knowing and becoming more like him...as a means of worshiping him and marveling over the painful but all so glorius process of giving ove his life so that we may have life.
The process, the journey is extremely weighty when applied. If you don't believe, just go on a roadtrip with some of your closest friends. You just may find that the journey getting there was just as memorable as the destinations you visited.
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