Warning: this is a post mostly for my political friends in DC. It may not be super-relevant to anyone else. No, it’s not what you’re thinking. This isn’t a post about the Republican Party.

National Community Church (my church) is doing a sermon series on topics that we (being both NCC specifically and churches in general) don’t like to talk about, and we’re using the “elephant in the room” metaphor as our theme. This week, we’re talking about politics, and I want to invite you to come.

I can’t promise you’ll like everything you hear, but you won’t be told that if you hold X political position then you’re ungodly, going to hell, or a sinner. In other words, neither you nor your party will be demonized, and I think you may see a side of Jesus and his followers that is different than the ones you see in the news.

So, if you’re interested in politics and have a negative view of Evangelical churches for political reasons, I encourage you to drop by a service this weekend.

We meet in four locations around DC:
Saturday, 5:00 & 6:30 @ Ebenezers Coffeehouse (Capitol Hill)
Sunday, 9:00; 10:15, & 11:30 @ Union Station Theaters
Sunday, 10:00 @ Georgetown Theaters
Sunday, 10:30 @ Ballston Common Mall Theaters

If you decide to come, drop me a comment here or on Twitter or shoot me an e-mail. I’ll try to be at whatever service you pick. If I don’t hear from anyone, I’ll be headed to the G-town service. Hope to see you there!

Update: Just a quick note, the 5:00 service @ Ebenezers is usually packed out, so if you’re interested in going Saturday night, the 6:30 service would probably be your best bet.

This is the kind of out of the box thinking that has brought the Obama campaign so far. Regardless of your political persuasion, you’ve got to admit that this is creative and not the type of thing you expect to see from a serious presidential campaign.

I wrote down some thoughts as I read through the Gospel of John that I thought I’d share with you. These are just my observations. They may very well be riddled with theological and interpretive errors. I haven’t done any sort of due diligence in checking any of this. If you think I’m off on something, please let me know. I’d like to learn more.

One other note, you’ll notice that the comments stop at chapter twelve. This is because I took fewer notes on the last nine chapters and because WordPress was kind enough to lose the notes I did take.

• Day 1 (1:19-28)
  • John the Baptist (JtB) is at Bethany
  • The Pharisees ask JtB if he is the Christ
  • JtB prophesies about Jesus
• Day 2 (1:29-34)
  • Jesus comes to JtB and is baptized
• Day 3 (1:35-42)
  • Andrew, one of JtB’s disciples, follows Jesus
  • Jesus names Simon, Andrew’s brother, Peter
• Day 4
  • Jesus calls Phillip
  • Phillip brings Nathanael to Jesus
• The Third Day (2:1-2:11/12)
  • Must mean the third day of the week, not chronological to the other 4 days

Spirit

• 1:33 – Baptized with the Holy Spirit
• 3:5 – Born of the Spirit
• 4:23-24 – Worship in spirit and in truth
• 6:63 – The Spirit gives life
• 8:39 – Living water is the Spirit

3 – Jesus teaches Nicodemus about Himself (perhaps a bit cryptically), and then JtB gives testimony about Jesus. – 5:31 – Jesus goes over testimonies about Himself.

3:18 – Anti-Inclusivism?

3:22-31 – JtB’s Humility

3:36 – Semi-Inclusivism?

4:27 – It’s interesting that no one asked.

4:46 – Cana again, I wonder if there was something special about Cana to Jesus.

5:28-29 – Semi-Inclusivism?

It’s beginning to seem that the Gospel of John is an apologetic of sorts for who Jesus is. It starts with “In the beginning was the Word…,” focuses a lot on John the Baptist (who testified about Jesus), and by the fifth chapter, Jesus has already explained who he is at least three times (Nicodemus in ch. 3, the Samaritan woman in ch. 4 & the Jews [Pharisees?] in ch. 5). Of course, there are miracles interspersed that seem to argue for Jesus’ divinity as well. And again in ch. 6 Jesus explains who He is. (I’m going to stop mentioning it every time He does this.)

Recurring theme: Jesus was sent by God (the Father).

Recurring theme: Food – Jesus as the bread of life, drinking living water

8:31 – It seems odd that Jesus goes on to criticize the Jews who apparently believed Him.

8:53 – Oh irony!

9 – This interplay of miracles and Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God continues.

10 – This is the first parable, and again, it is Jesus explaining who He is.

10:38 – Jesus says that the miracles prove who He is.

11 – Lazarus dies

11:16 – I love this verse. Jesus’ disciples have just warned him not to go to Judea because the Jews want to kill him, and what does Doubting Thomas’ say to the rest of the disciples after Jesus says they should go anyway? “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Maybe we should call “Doubting Thomas” “Courageous Thomas” instead!

12:10 – The chief priests were going to kill Lazarus too. These were some pretty messed up dudes.

Date: 10/25/2008 – Disclaimer

John Stuart Mill has an essay entitled “On Liberty” in which he explains how words lose their meaning. He says that the best example is Christians. Christians say beautiful things but don’t believe them.

I say these things:

• It’s better to give than receive
• Love your neighbor as yourself
• If someone asks you to go one mile, go with them two
• Judge not, lest you be judged
• Pure religion is taking care of widows and orphans

I do these things:

• I give more than I receive
• I love my neighbor like myself
• I go beyond what people ask of me
• I don’t judge others
• I take care of widows and orphans

There’s a huge discrepancy between what we say and how we act. You know what the word for that is, hypocrisy.

We see Christ’s calling, and then we see the way that they act.

84% of young people say they know a Christian. 15% of those people say that they Christians act any differently
49% of young people have a negative perception of Christians.
Among young people, negative perception of Christians is three times larger than it was a decade ago.
Judgment, hypocritical, political party, anti-homosexual, boring, and confusing are the words used to describe Christians
Love respect, trust, and hope are used very infrequently in regards to Christians

Do we act like Jesus or do we live it in our heads and go out and live a different set of principles?

Modern day Christian behavior seems decidedly unchristian. There’s a difference between the Scripture, between the red letters in the Bible and the way we live out our lives.

I love the Church. I am a product of the Church. Many of the examples in my life come out of the Church. The Church is the Bride of Christ.

The same people that ran towards Jesus in the Bible often run away from Christians.
God came to earth as Jesus to bring salvation, experience our suffering and pain, pay the price for our sins, and became our high priest and mediator before God.
I went to Thailand a week and a half ago and prayed, “God, break my heart.” It came out of my mouth. I hadn’t intended to pray it, but it stuck with me. When was the last time I prayed that, “God, break my heart as yours broke.” The incarnation is God coming as man to bring us salvation, deliverance and healing. Yet a lot of times we just ignore the heart of God. I’m not talking about pity or guilt or sadness. I’m talking about a deep penetration within our hearts, a deep understanding, about how God sees the need in the world around us.
These realities don’t scare me. They make me sad, give me anxiety, but they don’t scare me because we have a message of hope. I believe God has called us to step into the power he has so beautifully laid out for us. What if the Church began to care about the things that God cares about, to care for the poor, for the widows and orphans, not to judge but to love.
We talked about A1:8 a couple of months ago. It’s about stepping out and doing, about “we will.” One of my favorite moments about the trip to Thailand that we just returned from. We had gone out and talked to girls in the bars and invited them to church, and on Sunday night I was speaking and three of them came. We had them stand up and honored them and welcomed them. We will care for the needs of those around us. A1:8 is about taking “what if” to “we will.”
When you step out and make yourself available to God, God will challenge you.
Change of place, plus change of pace, equals change of perspective and priorities.

I’m preaching to myself today. I’m glad you all could be hear, but my heart is being purged because of all of the stuff I’ve built up in here. I need God to shake me up.

A good summary of the work of Christ – Luke 4:18-19 – The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor…
Do any of these words cross your heart or mind on a regular basis?

Jesus said that he came to serve, not to be served, to give his life as a ransom for many.

This is the secret of what we’re talking about today. We’re not talking about an image problem. We’re talking about an action problem. We don’t need to get excited about an issue. We need to get excited about Jesus Christ. He will lead us to the people we need to serve. Jesus leads us to those places.

We talked about going to Thailand here, but we didn’t really understand. Then we got there and heard about it second hand. Then we saw it first hand and were disgusted by what we saw. The first night we went out we were overwhelmed. I was overcome by a myriad of emotions, anger, disgust. I believed it before, but I don’t think I really believed it until I saw it.

John 4 – Jesus hangs out with the Samaritan woman at the well. These are people who don’t hang out. Samaritans didn’t hang out with Jews, but Jesus wasn’t worried about perceptions or categories.

Our days and nights in Thailand were strikingly different. We saw these bright, shining faces during the day, and at night we went out into a place with neon signs where girls were traded as commodities, where they don’t have nametags but numbers. In one bar you could throw a ping-pong ball at the girl you want. Girls were treated as objects. It was disgusting.

There was a moment where we were sitting on the second floor of a bar drinking a coke. I looked in the face of one of the girls and it hit me; this is the girl at the well. God gave me his viewpoint. He said that behind all of that stuff, she is not a number. She is a name. She is a daughter of the living God, created in my image. She’s not number 8. Her name is Em.

Isaiah 43 – For I have called you by name, and I love you. And I care about you, and you’re better than this. And I want to wrap my arms around you and take you out of this, take you out of this environment.

Let me ask you a question today, does your heart break as God’s heart break? When you see suffering does your heart break? Or is the world right about us. God help us. Lord help me.

What personal sacrifices are you making, what family sacrifices are you making for the Kingdom of God, for the thing that God deeply cares about. Do the things of the Kingdom of God captivate my heart. I’m talking about me, and don’t you dare think that this message is for the person next to you. It’s not. This is more than giving a few bucks or giving some money. It’s more than a donation.

Are you willing to allow your life to be turned upside down? Are you willing to give everything you’ve got?

The elephant in the Church today is that Christ followers forget to follow Christ. We have Godliness in form but not in feature. It’s on the exterior, and we’ve been called to the carpet by the world.

I’ve looked the lost in the eye this week, and do you know who the lost is? It’s a good sweethearted girl who is broken, who needs someone to speak into her life.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: An authentic church is one that lives for others.

Jesus said to share the living water.

John 4:28 – Leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and told people to come and meet Jesus. Jesus didn’t try to save a town. He tried to save one girl.

Destiny is what God chose for you.

I’ve been full of it lately. Ideas, thoughts, things to say, and things to write that is.

Maybe this is part of the “it” that Craig Groschel talks and writes about. I feel like I’ve got a million things to say and do. It’s hard to explain. You know that feeling you get when you’re in a meeting and you’ve got something you want to say, that thing you need to say. That’s how I feel, just in life in general. I’ve written four blog posts in the last few days that I haven’t actually finished. (I really need to work on that.)

Let’s hope I’m full of the Spirit and not full of crap. As Jesus said in Luke 6:45, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

Date: 10/19/2008 – Disclaimer

I’ve read lots of books by lots of different authors with lots of different worldviews, but this is not an easy topic. I want to approach it with humility. Besides, 30 minutes should be enough time to discuss a topic like this, right?

I know we have a lot of people at all of our locations that come from different perspectives, and I may open up a can of worms, but this is the stuff we need to be talking and thinking about.

Genesis 1:1

I’d like to share a bit of my spiritual and intellectual journey. I grew up in church, and my mom read me Bible stories, some about creation. I had Sunday school teachers who used flannel graphs to explain creation. A Creator has always seemed intuitive to me, but I also realize that I grew up in an environment that would cause that and others didn’t.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said that there is simplicity on the near side of complexity and simplicity on the far side of complexity. I think many Christians settle for simplicity on the near side of complexity, but I think God has called us to a far side faith, and we try to do that here at NCC. Our Alpha course is an example of that. We also try to create a culture where the most important decisions ought to be the most informed decisions.

I grew up going to church, but I had a near-side faith, if you will. When I went to college, I knew what I believed, but I didn’t know why I believed what I believed. The University of Chicago was a highly intellectual environment. One of my core science courses was taught by a professor who very clearly did not believe in God. I remember sitting in the class and experiencing cognitive dissonance between what I believed and what I was being taught as fact. My professor was basically teaching us about the Big Bang and evolution. I’m not sure how to reconcile my faith and science. By the way, I decided to do my term paper on intelligent design. I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder on a project. I got an A.

I look back on that. I’m a few years older and wiser, and if I knew then what I know now, I don’t think I would have been as frightened by what I was hearing. I’ve learned a few things about science and theology since then. This is a conversation about it, but we all need to discover why believe what we do.

I was made to feel somewhat foolish believing in a self-existent, infinite God. People would ask me where God came from. It’s the first cause question. It’s beyond the ability of the human mind to fathom that, but those who believe in creation by random chance have to answer that as well. My question is, “Where did the soup and single-cell amoeba come from?” It seems to me that on the causological issue, it’s a mystery no matter how you look at it. It seems that those who believe in God are put on the spot and those who do not don’t have to meet the same standard of proof.

You can’t prove or disprove the existence of God. It’s a tenet of faith, but it goes both ways. Michael Guillen says: there are two types of people in the world, those who believe in God and those who believe in something else (a god of randomness). It takes faith to believe the universe is the magnum opus of a creator, but I think it takes more faith to believe it all just came from randomness.

This weekend I was reading about the Jens-Olsen clock. It is the most complicated clock in the world. It is also the most accurate. It has parts that won’t move for 2500 years. It has 15,000 parts. Imagine if someone in Copenhagen (where the clock is located) told you that the clock wasn’t designed by anyone, that it just appeared after a large explosion.

[Lots of facts about how complicated, intricate, and precisely balanced our world is.] It seems to me that our planet is perfectly synchronized to sustain human life. Is that the result of random chance or is that the result of intelligent design. All I’m saying is, let’s not make the mistake of thinking that religion takes faith and science doesn’t. I think there is tremendous evidence that points to intelligent design, but in the end it comes down to Hebrews 11:6. By faith we believe that what is made comes from not from what is seen but is unseen.

This is just scratching the surface of one small issue, but I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about some theological issues. The Bible does not explicitly put a timeline on human history or the age of the Earth, but I think the unspoken assumption by a lot of people is that the Earth is young. I think that causes some cognitive dissonance for Christians.

I think a lot of the dissonance comes from the translation of the word “day” in Genesis 1. What I think you have to remember is that this was written thousands of years ago by an author inspired by God by an author who I don’t think was trying to write a scientific treatise for your biology class. I’m not saying there are scientific mistakes. I’m just saying you have to appreciate the context in which it was written.

The Hebrew word for day in Genesis 1 can be translated in a variety of ways. It can me a 24 hour day, sun-up to sun-down, or an age, eon, etc. It was used in each of these ways in the Old Testament. I know that there are some literalists who would suggest that anything other than a 24 hour day is a slippery slope.

Let’s talk about hermeneutics for a minute. It’s a fancy word for interpreting the Bible. On a very simple level, it’s important to remember that there are different literary genres in the Bible. I think you have to interpret the Psalms artistically. I think you have to interpret the historical part literally. Some people want to explain that away. I believe that God created Adam and Eve from the dust of the earth. When you translate prophecy, you’d better not do that literally because it’s going to be weird. If you translate Revelation literally, you’re going to be wrong because it wasn’t written that way. Jesus was using hyperbole when he said “pluck out your eye if it causes you to sin.” I’m pretty sure at all of our locations we’re allowing women to come in without headcoverings even though Paul said that women needed to wear them. Why? Because in Paul’s culture that would have been weird. It would have drawn a ton of attention for a woman not to be wearing a headcovering. It would have been a distraction.

So, going back to the evolution/creation debate, back to the tension. I know this may not be what you want me to say in this message. Some of you want me to get into macro and micro evolution, punctuated equilibrium, but no. I think what happens for many of us is that we just take one side or the other and discard the other side. I want to propose a middle way. Let me say up front that all truth is God’s truth. I believe that the Bible is a special revelation from God, but also that creation reveals God. Paul said that God is seen in nature. If that’s true, then every “-ology” is branch of theology. I think we ought to send our kids into science with the same degree of encouragement that we send our kids to the mission field. We ought to be discovering the cure for cancer, discovering new species and new planets, unlocking the genetic code.

I think what I want to suggest is that science is not something we need to be afraid of; it is a spiritual endeavor. Solomon taught not only about spiritual matters but about science as well. I think the more discoveries we make, the more we learn about God.

Emerson: The religion that’s afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide.

It’s not always easy to reconcile those two things. This is a bizarre place for us to end. I think we’re so afraid of the “E” word that we’ve made a mistake. When I say that I believe in evolution, not referring to macroevolution, not saying that we come from apes, but do I believe in microevolution? Of course, it’s something we ought to celebrate. God created us with an evolutionary capacity, the ability to adapt to environments. Here is the great irony. Evolution is a testament to God’s creativity. I think microevolution may be one of the greatest testaments to God’s creation. I think it’s kind of like sex. Let’s give credit where credit is due, sex was God’s idea. Sex is a gift from God. Are there parameters? Absolutely, it was a gift from God to be enjoyed by husband and wife in the context of marriage, but God never gets any credit for that because the enemy has co-opted that because the abuses in our culture are ruining people’s lives. I think the exact same thing has happened with the concept of evolution. What I’m trying to say is, let’s not be afraid of this. Let’s celebrate it.

Einstein: Science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind.

What I want to do is talk about those four words, “Let there be light.” We use words to communicate, but God uses words to heal and create. Prior to the 20th century, some of the leading scientific minds didn’t believe in a beginning. It was called the steady state theory. Now we know that the universe is expanding.

Stephen Hawking: Most people do not like the idea of a beginning, probably because it smacks of divine intervention.

I think that most people oppose the idea of God not because of scientific reasons but because if He exists, you’re accountable to Him.

The Doppler Effect: Galaxies are still being created at the edge of the universe.

Thus, “Let there be light.” Is still creating. Everything you look at is an echo of a creator that said “Let there be.”

Forget the science, science is gone now. We teach in our classrooms the assumption that everything is random chance. We think that the idea that we are a cosmic accident has no implication. You think that the depression rampant in our culture isn’t an effect of that. You take out God, you suck the meaning out of our lives.

You are not an accident. Someone needs to hear that this weekend. You were created by an omnipotent God big enough to know the hairs on your head, and he has a plan and a purpose for your life. You were created by and for God, and some day you will stand before God.

Here’s some good news, an amazing thought. Let’s not get embroiled in all of the debate and controversy, let’s study it and wrestle with it, but let’s zoom way back out. Isn’t the universe that we live in an amazing place. I was on a flight this week, and it was the first time in a long time I’ve been in a window seat, and for almost the entire time I stared at the moon. It was brilliant as it glared off the cloud cover beneath the plane. It was amazing. You think about everything God has created. 1 Cor 2:9 – No one can conceive what God has prepared for those who love him. Creation is a glimpse of eternity, a glimpse of heaven. We will experience things that in our current condition we cannot process.

So, I’ve kinda gotten into this whole blogging my notes thing, and I think I’m going to start posting notes that I take during sermons at church as well. Please note (pun intended), that these notes do not necessarily reflect my opinions or theology and that at times I may misinterpret or mischaracterize a speaker’s intended message, so make sure you watch the sermon first if there’s something in them that concerns you.

Unless otherwise specified, let this serve also as my general disclaimer for all notes that I post henceforth, whether from NCC or any other venue.

I’d appreciate your responses (be they simple yes or no answers or lengthy explanations) in the comments. Let me be clear. I am not asking if these organizations should take positions on issues. I am not asking if they should engage in healthy debate or try to advance a viewpoint they believe is Biblical. What I am asking is if these organizations should go so far as to actually say, “You should vote for Senator Bill Smith for President.”

My reason for asking is that I wonder if it doesn’t somehow muddy the Gospel when a Christ-centered organization supports a particular candidate or party. Does it imply that the organization believes Jesus supports that candidate/party. It’s one thing for a group that happens to be comprised of Christ-followers to endorse a candidate; it’s another for a group whose mission is explicitly centered around Jesus or the Gospel to endorse someone.

Like I said, I’m not talking about taking a position or having a debate about issues, although I would consider an “issue ad” that said “John McCain doesn’t care about the poor” or “Barack Obama kills babies” to be an endorsement and not honest debate.

And just so someone doesn’t pull the Hitler card, let me state for the record that in the case of someone like Hitler, yes, I do believe that the Church should speak out against that person. With this question, I’m more concerned about typical American elections than extreme scenarios.

Update: To clarify, I’m not talking about a legality issue. I’m not asking if these organizations should or should not be legally allowed to endorse a candidate. I’m questioning whether or not, as followers of Jesus running a Christ-centered organzation, the people who operate the organization should have the organization endorse a candidate (what they do individually is a different matter).

Update 2: Grammar/Style issues addressed.

…does he still love it when I give begrudgingly?

What does it mean to be a Good Samaritan when you see ten homeless people in five minutes?

How do you teach someone who is wasteful with what little they have how to be responsible with their money and belongings?

How do you help find a job for someone who is homeless and hasn’t had a steady work in years?

That’s the conference cycle, right? Go to a conference or retreat, get all jazzed up, “meet God,” and then come home and change nothing.

Not this time. This time is different. Two weeks ago I was at Catalyst, and then last week I was in Chicago for Willow Creek’s Group Life Conference. Catalyst inspired me, and Group Life taught me (and then inspired me). And I’m never going to be the same again.

Real life has already set in. In many ways I feel the same as I did before I left, but I’m determined to continue to seek the face of God, to continue to wake up early to spend time in prayer and in the Scriptures. I’m determined to share the love of Jesus with others.

Plans I made have already been delayed, but I will continue to forge ahead. And I MUST continue to seek God.

It’s not easy, but I want it.