LOVE DOES NOT AFFIRM SIN

I'm re-posting this for some of my friends.

Prayer Summit - April 5

 

Saturday, April 5

ABC-MI Prayer Summit

Come join us for a day of powerful prayer, worship, and fellowship at our First Annual Prayer Summit!

By American Baptist Churches of Michigan

Date and time

Saturday, April 5 · 10am - 12pm EDT

Location

West Highland Baptist Church

1116 South Hickory Ridge Road Milford, MI 48380

About this event

• Event lasts 2 hours

Welcome to the ABC-MI Prayer Summit! Join us at West Highland Baptist Church for a day filled with prayer, worship, and community. The people of ABC-MI churches will gather for the purpose of praying for the movement of God among & through us.

LUNCH PROVIDED

Psalm for an Aborted Child

 

You saw me before I was aborted.

Every day of my brief life was recorded in your book.

Every fleeting moment was laid out before my horrific ending. 

Psalm 139:16

Translation mine.

The Love of Jesus Is Different

(Melting ice on my front porch)

I am praying for a love like Jesus.

To love as Jesus loves.

Like this.

Our culture has trained you to hate. You have been taught this: 

"Do unto others, as they do unto you."

You are to be different than this.

If someone loves you, you are to love them. 

If someone hates you, you are to love them. 

If someone slanders you, you are to bless them.

If someone hurts you, you are to pray for them.

You must understand them.

Then you will do wonderful things for people who hate you.

That's different. That's from another world.

This will show who you really are, and who you belong to.

You get no extra credit for loving someone you find lovable.

Anyone can do that. Everyone does that.

Even Isis does that.

You are different from that.

You are a new creation, with new power.

God's DNA determines you.

You are to be like Him.

You are to love as He does. 

And one day, you shall be like Him.

Therefore, love and be as He is, now.

Matthew 5:43-48

"Whenever, contrary to the world’s vindictiveness, 

we love our enemy, 

we exhibit something of the perfect love of God...,

Whenever we opt for and not against one another, 

we make God’s unconditional love visible; 

we are diminishing violence 

and giving birth to a new community."

Henri Nouwen, You Are the Beloved (p. 49)

***

Love Is What God Is 

Love Is What God Is

(Downy woodpecker in my backyard)

God is love. Love forms the very being of God.

"Love" is an essential attribute of God. Just as a triangle cannot not be three-sided, God cannot not-love.

Christian Trinitarian Theism best expresses this idea that God is love. In  this way.

1. God is a three-personed being. God is, essentially, a being-in-relationship.
2. God as Father-Son-Spirit makes conceptual sense of the idea that God is love. This is because "love" is relational. "Love" requires an "other," an object to-be-loved.
3. So, in the very being of God there is a unity of otherness. Which allows for love.

God's essence is love. Just as an apple has appleness, God cannot not-love you. 

God does not love you because there is some command external to his being he must follow. God is love, therefore all God's thoughts and actions are loving.

God's love for you is genuine, 100% pure-squeezed love.

This means that when God thinks of you, he has a good feeling. God likes you. You are God's child, his son, or his daughter.

God made you, and what he has made God calls "very good."

You are deeply loved by God. Nothing can change this because God is love.

Now Reading...

 

I've settled down in our home office today, and am beginning to read two books.

The first is The Arc of Truth: The Thinking of Martin Luther King, Jr. By King scholar Lewis Baldwin. Reading a book like this adds to my ongoing African American religious studies, and my teaching as an Adjunct Professor at Payne Theological Seminary.

The second is Does the Bible Affirm Same-Sex Relationships? Examining 10 Claims About Scripture and Sexuality. By Rebecca McLaughlin. Christianity Today gives this one of the best books of 2024. 

"Critically evaluating ten arguments for affirming same-sex sexual relationships on biblical grounds, McLaughlin combines cogent, accessible, and convincing exegesis with testimonies from those (like her) who experience same-sex attraction but believe that faithfulness to Christ precludes acting on it. Beyond defending relevant biblical prohibitions, she sketches a positive vision of life and opportunity within the church, grounded in an ethic of friendship love encompassing all believers. With its marriage of compassion and intellectual rigor, this book equips us to respond thoughtfully to the cultural confusions of our age." —Greg Welty, professor of philosophy at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

***

For more, see my working bibliography. 

Understanding and Responding to Sexuality Issues: A Brief Bibliography

Those Who Have Been Forgiven Much, Worship Much

 

(Worship at Redeemer)

This morning I read the story of the prostitute who anointed and kissed the feet of Jesus. It happened at the home of a Pharisee named Simon. It made me think of the worship at Redeemer. 

As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, 

she began to wet his feet with her tears. 

Then she wiped them with her hair, 

kissed them and poured perfume on them.

This troubles Simon. He chastises Jesus for allowing her to do this. Jesus responds, saying, "Simon, I have something to tell you."

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. 

One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 

Neither of them had the money to pay him back, 

so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

On Sunday mornings I look at our people, my friends, my sisters and brothers. Some are crying. Hands and hearts are open. Some are smiling and rejoicing. How beautiful this is! 

Why these responses? Because whoever has been forgiven much, worships much. But whoever has been forgiven little, worships little. True worship is in direct proportion to one's experience of forgiveness. Were Simon the Pharisee at Redeemer, he would be troubled by what he sees.

During worship I often think of how much I know I have been forgiven of. I also think of the unknown I have been forgiven of. To forgive is to have a debt cancelled. I don't have to pay any more. To forgive is to bring back into relationship. By the blood of Jesus, I find forgiveness. Atonement. Release. Forgiven, I am a captive set free. This moves me to tell God how much I love him, to say how thankful I am, and to worship him.

To worship.

προσκυνέω,v  \{pros-koo-neh'-o}
1) to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence  2) among the Orientals, esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and  touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound  reverence  3) in the NT by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make  obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication  3a) used of homage shown to men and beings of superior rank  3a1) to the Jewish high priests  3a2) to God  3a3) to Christ  3a4) to heavenly beings  3a5) to demons

To kiss.

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

To realize this is the beginning of worship.

Resources on Healing

                                                 (The River Raisin, in our backyard)

(This coming Sunday at Redeemer - Clay Harrington, one of the pastors at the Cincinnati Vineyard Church, will preach on healing.)

At Redeemer we pray for people to be healed. 

Here are some resources I draw on about healing.

BOOKS

John Wimber, Power Healing

Francis MacNutt, Healing

MacNutt, The Healing Reawakening

Charles Kraft, Christianity with Power: Your Worldview and Your Experience of the Supernatural

Kraft, I Give You Authority

Kraft, Deep Wounds, Deep Healing

Kraft, Confronting Powerless Christianity

David Seamands, Healing for Damaged Emotions

Randy Clark, Authority to Heal

Candy Gunther Brown, Testing Prayer

Candy Brown, Global Pentecostal and Healing Prayer

Craig Keener, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts

Craig Keener, Miracles Today

Michael Brown, Authentic Fire

Lee Strobel, The Case for Miracles

J. P. Moreland, A Simply Guide to Experience Miracles

Eric Metaxas, Miracles

SOME BLOG POSTS

N.T. Wright on Jesus, Healing, and Miracles: Getting Skeptical about Skepticism

The Healing Waters of Redemptive Prayer

Prayer & Divine Healing

I Am a Continuationist (Not a Calvinist Cessationist)

Why Doesn't God Heal Everybody? Some Thoughts.

Where Prayer Focuses Power Falls

Praying for the Sick Is One Sign of a Normal Church

Craig Evans on Jesus' Miracles

Healing For Damaged Relationships

Suggested Books on Healing and Prayer

Healing Fear, Worry, & Anxiety Part 1 (Sermon)

Dr. John Piippo - "Prayer and Healing" 04/18/15

Understanding Comes First

 

(Monroe County)

To answer before listening— that is folly and shame.

Proverbs 18:13

I wrote a letter to a young person whose marriage was struggling. There's a lot of fighting and yelling in this marriage. One of them keeps repeating past failures to the other,. The  other called me and asked, "Why do they have to keep reminding me of mistakes I've made in the past!"

Here's the note I sent to them. 

Dear _________:

Understand ______. 

Understanding always comes before evaluation. 

Linda and I spend little time evaluating each other,

and tons of time understanding one another.

To understand is to love; 

to be understood is to be loved and to feel loved.

Understand why ______ feels a need to repeat things to you. It's probably because they feel you are not listening, 
or because they cannot trust you. 

You do not need to defend yourself.

Work to understand why they feel the need to repeat things to you, 

and they will begin to feel understood, 

which is to feel loved.

Communicate with me as needed, and we'll talk on the phone again.

Blessings,

PJ

Making judgments without understanding is the cause of many relationship breakdowns. To judge without understanding is foolish. Here's the order of relational priority:

1. Understand.
2. Evaluate. (If at all.)

In knowledge and relationships, understanding comes first. And, while understanding another person takes time, it is time well spent.

(After sending that note I went looking for a book in my library - To Understand Each Other, by Paul Tournier. This is one of the books that shaped Linda and I in how we approach relationships and marriage. We used to give newly married couples a copy of it. For those who value depth and wisdom, Tournier's works are must reading.)

***

One of my books is Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

In God's Kingdom Character Comes Before Ability

(Gabriel's, in Ypsilanti, Michigan

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; 

and to goodness, knowledge; 

and to knowledge, self-control; 

and to self-control, perseverance; 

and to perseverance, godliness; 

and to godliness, brotherly kindness; 

and to brotherly kindness, love. 

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, 

clothe yourselves with compassion, 

kindness, 

humility, 

gentleness 

and patience. 

Bear with each other 

and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. 

Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 

And over all these virtues put on love, 

which binds them all together in perfect unity. 

. . . whatever is true, 

whatever is noble, 

whatever is right, 

whatever is pure, 

whatever is lovely, 

whatever is admirable

—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

think about such things.

Philippians 4

One great truth to be harvested from the fields of the history of Christian spiritual formation is this: A person's doing must emerge out of their being. Therefore, make your first priority formation into Christlikeness. Everything you do flows from this.

Of primary importance is who I am in Christ, and the shape my heart is being formed into (Christlikeness). This is about a person's character, not their abilities. This involves the character of Jesus, being formed in us. (Galatians 4:19)

What we authentically do is an emergent property of who we are. Our "doing" supervenes on our "being." Our doing is entailed by, or is consequent on, who we are, and what we are becoming. What we authentically do (what we have a "heart" for doing) inexorably flows from the shape of our heart.

If we don't get this order right, two bad things will happen:

1) we will evaluate ourselves by what we do, rather than by who we are in relation to Christ; and 

2) we will view and use others in the church for what they can do, rather than for who they are in relationship with God and us. 

These two bad outcomes provide one reason why pastors and people burn out in churches.

Getting this ontological order of priority correct is crucial in the development of real Jesus-community. Eugene Peterson writes:

"If we identify people functionally, they turn into functions. We need to know our people for who they are, not for what they can do. Building community is not an organizational task; it is relational - understanding who people are in relation to one another and to Jesus and working on the virtues and habits that release love and forgiveness and hope and grace. (Eugene Peterson and Marva J. Dawn, The Unnecessary Pastor: Rediscovering the Call, Kindle Locations 2376-2378)

This is where the Entertainment Church and the Program-Driven Church fail. John is viewed as a "guitar player," rather than seen, first, as a person. John's function becomes what is important (because "We need another guitar player!"); thus, John is "used" by the church and, in the process, will get used up.

Peterson writes:

"What I want to point out is that this way of looking at and identifying Christians in community has a way of functionalizing them in our minds, thinking of them not for who they are in community, in relationship, but for what they can do. It is significant that as the Pastorals [the Pastoral Epistles] refer to the members of the community it is as men and women embedded in relationship - Paul was looking for character, not ability." (Ib., Kindle Locations 2371-2373; emphasis mine)

**
My books are:

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God

Deconstructing Progressive Christianity

31 Letters to the Church on Praying

31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship

Encounters with the Holy Spirit (co-edited with Janice Trigg)

The Great Invasion: 31 Days of Christmas

The Difference Between Making Judgments and Judgementalism

Downtown Monroe

Jesus tells us to stop judging other people. (Matthew 7:1) Here are some thoughts I have about this.

§  We can, and will, make “judgments” in life. This is unavoidable, and is not the thing Jesus warns us against doing. Consider this judgment: Killing people for fun is wrong. I judge that to be “true.” 
Every day we make hundreds of judgments, ranging from moral judgments such as "Sex trafficking is wrong," to “This cup of coffee is too weak,” or "That color looks better on you." When Jesus says “Judge not” he is not referring to making moral judgments or aesthetic judgments or legal judgments or scientific judgments, but is referring to judgmentalism. Judgmentalism is different from making judgments.

§  A “judgmental” person weighs in on the hearts of other people and pronounces, like a trial judge, a verdict. (See James 4.) Such as: “guilty.” Or: ”That person is bad.” Or: "You deserve punishment." A judgmental person sees themselves as both judge and jury over others. Judgmental people feast off making moral and spiritual judgments about the motives of other people. Judgmental people see the worst in others irregardless of evidence to the contrary. Judgmental people make pronouncements without evidence, without understanding and compassion, even in the face of counter-evidence, and even on the basis of manifestly false evidence. Judgmentalism is the bedfellow of gossip and slander.

§  Behaviors can and should be judged, but the human heart is difficult to assess. If someone steals from you it is not wrong to say, “They stole from me; stealing is wrong; therefore what this person has done is wrong.” But why did they steal from you? Here’s where caution is advised. Because you and I do not have access to the human heart. Judge the behavior; refrain from judging the person’s heart. How many times I have been either positively or negatively surprised when a person’s true heart becomes evident. Which leads me to say…

§  I have, at times, assessed the hearts of people incorrectly. When my assessment has been negative I’ve built a case against that person. That’s neither good nor helpful. It breeds bitterness. I have made mountains, not only out of mole-hills, but out of no-hills. 
Consider Proverbs 20:5, which says that “the purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters.” You and I lack epistemic access to the deep waters of another person’s heart. I can’t at times figure my own heart out! How then can I expect to accurately read the hearts of other people? If you wonder why someone did something that affects you negatively, why not ask them rather than put them on trial in your own mind and before others? 

§  If God reveals to you some negative aspect of another person’s heart it is only so that you can pray for them or, with permission, help them. God doesn’t entrust such privileged information to judgmental people.

§  In John 7, in one of his confrontations with the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus asks them to “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.” They have, again, misjudged Jesus. This is because what is seen with the eyes is not equivalent to what lies in the heart. It may “appear” to me that a person has just given me a nasty look. I should not conclude from this that they have a nasty heart. Maybe, maybe not. 
Many years ago, when Linda and I were dating, one of her friends told Linda that it appeared I did not like this friend because of the look on my face. Linda assured the friend that I did like her and, by the way, that’s how my face normally looks. You can’t judge a book by the cover. 

§  Judgmental people are fearful people. Judgmentalism works as a barrier erected to ward off self-scrutiny. If I deflect attention away from my own sin and failure and get people to look at the surface-appearance of sin and failure in someone else, I can breathe easier. Instead of crying out “Search me O God, and know my heart,” the cry becomes “Judge them, O God, for I know their hearts.” Probably not.

§  It’s hard work being the judge of the world. I have spent too many hours trying to figure out what is going on in the brains of other people. Now I am more and more giving this responsibility to God. What a relief! He calls me to love others, not judge them. God is able to speak into the hearts of all the people I find myself wondering about. In the meantime I will do well to allow him to speak to my own heart, and leave the judging of others to him.

I am asking God for freedom from judging the hearts of others. I can make judgments about things without being judgmental towards people. But note this: one cannot make a reasonable judgment without first understanding. It is foolish to judge without understanding. 

#1 – Understand.

#2 – Evaluate if needed.

***
SEE ALSO:

Judgmentalism Is a Form of Violence 

Judgmentalism and Making Judgments 

Judgment Grows In the Soil of Forgetfulness 

Understanding People Is Superior to Judging People