From Matthew 28 (The Message):

18-20 Jesus gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

From Luke 24 (The Message):

45-48 Jesus went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way. He said, “You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations—starting from here, from Jerusalem! You’re the first to hear and see it. You’re the witnesses.”

From 1 Corinthians 9 (The Message):

16-17 If I proclaim the Message, it’s not to get something out of it for myself. I’m compelled to do it, and doomed if I don’t! If this was my own idea of just another way to make a living, I’d expect some pay. It’s not my idea but something solemnly entrusted to me.

19-23 Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

24-25 You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.

26-27 I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.

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It is my belief, therefore, that the Gospel Message is the following: that salvation, healing, and wholeness is available for all, both now and in eternity, by grace through repentance and faith in Jesus, as expressed in the above words by Jesus himself and by Paul. Therefore, that is all I will ever have time for, aside from the bare necessities of life. That is the God-given logic of our faith, my friends!

Are Christians responsible to fight for change into the unredeemed culture and world? I don’t think so, but I think our lives can be an example of what love and freedom looks like. We talk a good game, but we need to look no further than our own lives and relationships to realize where we need to change. I think we need to be good stewards of our lives and this earth, but never losing sight of who sustains both. Jesus gives us the hope both in this life and beyond that he can bring compelling change to all of creation.

Merry Christmas.

First, I’d say that the church needs to maintain it’s prophetic voice. That means that political operatives shouldn’t have the same prominent role that they have had in the church through organizations like Moral Majority and Christian coalition, which were named and adopted the approaches of their founding political operatives (Weyrich and Reed.) Leadership should come from those whose first commitment is not to a political agenda, per se. There should be a more prominent influence by pastors and other leaders who are in more direct contact with pressing out the implications of the gospel with a wide variety of people and who are more imbedded, so to speak in the body of Christ.

Second, I think it means we shouldn’t accept such a narrow agenda as was adopted by the religious right groups. This was essentially a political decision: you can mobilize people more effectively for a couple of issues (abortion and opposing the state allowing same sex marriage) if you limit your focus to these two issues.

Third, I think it means we shouldn’t align ourselves so strongly with one political party. In the same way that I think it’s a mistake for African Americans to be so strongly aligned with one party. People get taken for granted when that happens, as has happened with single issue voters and the Republican party. I don’t think any one party has the corner on the truth when Jesus is the plumbline for truth.

Fourth, I think it means that we should be very careful about adopting a group think mentality on any one issue. The religious right has done this with abortion. Witness how much trouble Rich Cizik got into trouble for simply suggesting that the government provide access to birth control for those who can’t afford it in order to reduce the number of abortions. This goes against a major constituency in the pro-life lobby so it is considered a kind of heresy. The same goes for supporting distribution of condoms in Africa to reduce the transmission of Aids. That’s a great example of a group think setting in so that deviations in that mindset are viewed as a kind of heresy. People get excluded for having views that are outside whatever the coalition has come up with.

In the case of environmental concerns, I think there should be quite a diverse set of perspectives on how to best exercise the biblical mandate of good stewardship over the earth. I tend to think that nuclear power should be used more than it is, in order to reduce dependence on coal burning power for electricity generation–known to be a very dirty form of energy use. Many environmentalists don’t agree with this. There will be significant differences on how to reduce carbon emissions. I think there should be room in the church for many different perspectives on this. Including people’s assessment of what is causing climate change. I personally think that the preponderance of science clearly indicates that it is human caused and prudence suggests that the burden of proof should not be reasonable and not overly exacting before we take steps to reduce the damage, especially when those steps are needed for other reasons (dependence on oil, care for future generations, etc.) But that’s all in the “debatable issues” category that Paul speaks of in Romans. We love one another through those differences, just as we do in differences over young earth creationism, theistic evolution, etc.

Currently, I don’t think there’s a great danger of environmental concern turning into a lock step group think within evangelicalism because there has been such a strong alliance with conservative politics that it is still a minority perspective within evangelicalism. (Focus on the Family, the most powerful Religious Right group and the President of the largest Protestant denomination, Richard Land, both don’t accept the scientific evidence for human cause climate change, along with virtually all the conservative a.m. talk radio hosts.) But we should definitely learn from our mistakes of the last 30 years and apply them to the next thirty!

How do you count the alleviation of human suffering in your understanding of human salvation?

The global warming issue, also now referred to as global climate change, is one of the most politically hot topics of the day. There seem to be the same types of struggles and debates that have accompanied the leadership of the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition movements in the past. I will agree that the Creation Care movement is in its infancy, but the political tide has shifted and the movement will now have its voice leading across our government. It appears to me that there is a new breed of political operatives working the environmental issues.

Is this a purely God ordained movement? How is this new emphasis, aligning ourselves with science/government politics, any different than those movements of the past critiqued in this post? What other sins should we ask the world to forgive us for? What about other leaders in the body of Christ, who would lean to the belief that the political/environmental movement is at the leading edge of the great falling away? What level of morality will be associated with environmental sins? Is this something that pastors like Tri will want us to seek forgiveness on an individual level?