Archives For Theology

The Difference Between Real Faith and Fake Faith

If 2020 has taught us anything about faith, it’s that fake faith isn’t enough.

Our culture is literally overrun with fake products. You can get fake versions of just about everything at a cheaper price than the originals. I fly through many international airports, and in many countries, you can buy a fake $15,000 watch in airports for $100. It looks and functions just like the real one.

Most of the time, getting a fake version of something isn’t a big problem. You may be able to get by with a fake watch, but you can’t survive spiritually with a fake faith. Fake faith won’t give you security in the midst of a global pandemic. Fake faith won’t help you survive an economic catastrophe. Fake faith can’t heal generations of broken cross-cultural relationships either. 

James tells us fake faith is “dead.” In times of trial, this dead faith won’t help our churches. That is why there has never been a better time for us to help the people in our congregations develop real faith. 

What does real faith…

Continue Reading

The Biblical Mandate to Serve People with Mental Illness

Healthy living must be an important issue for the church, giving Christians the opportunity to lead the effort globally to minister to people with mental illness.

The Bible says Jesus dealt with people who had all kinds of afflictions—including mental health issues. I love Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Matthew 8:16, where he writes of Jesus, “That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill” (The Message). Jesus modeled ministry to the mentally ill.

For 2,000 years, the church has cared for the sick. In fact, the church has cared for the sick longer than any other institution. We invented the hospital. Go into nearly any country in the world and you’ll find that the first school and the first hospital were started by missionaries. Christianity has always been a preaching, teaching, and healing faith.

But there’s another critical reason why the church must take the lead in addressing mental illness. Churches are typically the first organization that families in pain reach out to. When a family is having a mental health crisis, they don’t…

Continue Reading

What’s So Important About Easter?

More than two thousand years ago, in the Middle East, an event occurred that permanently changed the world. Because of that event, history was split. Every time you write a date, you’re using the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the focal point.

What’s so important about Easter? It’s important because it proved that Jesus was who he claimed to be. He was God in the flesh, and he came to earth to save us.

Three events occurred in a dramatic succession on that Easter weekend: the trial of Jesus, then the death of Jesus, and finally the resurrection of Jesus. Let’s look at each of those events and their implications.

The Trial

Jesus actually went through six trials. In that one night, he was brought before Annas, Caiaphas (the high priest), the Sanhedrin (the religious Supreme Court), Pilate (the governor of Jerusalem), Herod (the governor of Galilee), and then back to Pilate. At the end of those six trials, what did they find to accuse him of? Nothing. He had done nothing wrong. They brought in people to make up phony charges, but those didn’t stick. Finally, they convicted him on…

Continue Reading

Subversive KingdomSome people talk as if the church isn’t necessary to this endeavor anymore, that it no longer applies to his plan and mission to the same degree it once did. They say, “God is at work outside the church”–and, yes, he is. They say, “The kingdom is bigger than the church”–and, yes, it is. They say, “The kingdom of God is not the church”–and no, it isn’t.

But the missionary purpose that forges our identity, placed within us by a missional God, continues to draw us into the core of his kingdom activity. The ministry of his gospel has been designed “so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church” (Eph. 3:10, italics added). And so that through us, he receives glory.

The church, therefore, remains his central tool for accomplishing the subversive kingdom’s agenda. No, we are not the means of reconciliation any more than the misinformed modern citizen is the potential conduit to heaven on earth. God does the saving, not the church. But just as he sent Jesus here to establish a beachhead for the kingdom, and just as Jesus dispatched his first disciples…

Continue Reading

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2 (NIV)

New Years ResolutionsHow are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? Have you already given up on them?

One of my friends made these resolutions to guarantee success —

  • I won’t lose ten pounds this year.
  • I commit to watching the Super Bowl this year.
  • I will listen to my iPod at least four days a week.

There is one guy who I suspect played for keeps when he made New Year’s resolutions. You know him, the zealot who could never do anything half-way, the let’s-get-real-about-our-faith Apostle Paul.

My thought is Paul only had one resolution on his list New Year’s list – ‘This year I resolve to know nothing but Christ and him crucified.’ (1 Corinthians 2:2)

Paul’s message is radically simple: Salvation is in Christ alone.

  • It’s not Christ plus your call to ministry.
  • It’s not Christ plus your theological education.
  • It’s not Christ plus the size of your congregation.
  • It’s not Christ plus your powerful preaching.
  • It’s not Christ plus how many you lead to Jesus.
  • It’s not Christ plus your years of sacrifice.
  • It’s not Christ…

    Continue Reading

Color.ofCross.pcomTIME Magazine is calling it, “The Massacre of the Innocents“. And, it was.

Yet, that phrase has another meaning that many might not know. The Gospel of Matthew recorded this:

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the male children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men. Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be consoled,because they were no more” (Matthew 2:16-18).

Bible scholars think that this small village of Bethlehem had a population of about 1000, which means about 20 infant boys would have been killed by Herod’s evil command. Yes, 20 children. Though Jesus was not among the killed, the weeping was real and loud for those who experienced yet another loss. And, we know that God grieved with Rachel who weeped for her children.

Yet, outside of the Gospel of…

Continue Reading

You were an orphan once. You may have grown up with a father and a mother. Physically, you may not be an orphan.

But you were a spiritual orphan. You were a spiritual orphan until you were adopted by God. The Bible says in Ephesians 1:5, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” (NLT)

God loves you so much that He adopted you into His family. And He doesn’t do so begrudgingly. He takes great pleasure in doing it.

The Bible also says, “To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, Father, my Father. So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children.” (Galatians 4:6-7. GNT)

God gives you all He has because you are now His child. We should show the same generosity toward physical orphans – those without parents – on our planet.

All throughout…

Continue Reading

Teach Your Congregation 5 Ways to Recognize God's Truth

About 40 years ago, I was at a camp in the mountains. Alone in a room, I prayed, “God, if there is a God, I’m open. If you’re real, I want to know you’re real. And, Jesus Christ, if you can change my life, if there is a purpose for my life, I want to know it.”

You know what happened? Nothing. I didn’t get goose bumps. I didn’t cry. No bright lights shown down. Nothing.

But that was the turning point in my life – because I was no longer biasing myself against God. I wanted to know the truth, even if it was inconvenient.

As we teach our congregations, we need to help them understand that Truth can be discovered once we develop an attitude of openness that says, “I want to learn God’s Truth more than anything else.”

Once they understand this, we can explain that God uses these five ways to show us what is true. You can take these points and adapt them for use in your congregation —

1. Through creation

We learn a lot about God and a lot about truth…

Continue Reading

Get a Life!

By Jon Walker

“’And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh,’ says the Lord. ‘But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.’” (Jeremiah 45:5 NKJV)

“Once you get into the real world, you’ll find it’s not as easy as that.”

“You’re in for a rude awakening when you get out of here and into real life.”

These are things we might say to students who’ve never experienced life outside of school. But the truth is, even after we graduate, we still haven’t reached our real life in Christ.

We become real, healed, full human beings when we connect with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Until then, we’re still sending postcards from a fantasy life.

Our maturity in Jesus brings us closer and closer to real life, as established by God before he set the foundations of the world.

Thomas Merton, the prayer-centered monk, spoke in terms of life in the nasty-now-and-now being like an onion. God keeps peeling away the layers until the real you is revealed.

In a sense, God is explaining that when he says, “I will bring adversity on all flesh” (Jeremiah 45:5 NKJV)….

Continue Reading

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

In faith, we know this to be true:

God manages circumstances.

Whether I turn to the right or to the left, my ears will hear a voice behind me, saying, “This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21 NIV).

He makes my paths straight as I lean on him and acknowledge him (Proverbs 3:5–6). He’s placed a hedge around me and he blesses the work of my hands (Job 1:10).

God says he is the only one capable of interpreting circumstances: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways . . . . As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9 NIV).

When I see the circumstances the way God does, he says, “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of…

Continue Reading

Holy BibleAbout a week ago a reporter published an article in the Orange County Register about Saddleback Church that contained many errors and false assumptions:

It erroneously stated that we have a partnership with a local Muslim mosque.

That is false.

It erroneously reported that we had agreed to not evangelize with Muslims.

That is false.

It erroneously reported that we believe Saddleback and Muslims worship the same God.

That is false.

It erroneously used a picture of our new PEACE Center as the example of a program of cooperation with Muslims.

That is false.

It erroneously reported that our church had agreed to a theological document with Muslims.

That is false.

Usually, we try to ignore the false statements made by media, and especially irresponsible bloggers, because 1) Reacting to every false report would take up most of our time,  2) It is almost impossible to undo an error’s damage once it is on the Internet, 3) God knows the truth and he is the only one we must please, 4) It is Christlike to  remain silent in the face of  false accusations, 5) God blesses us even more every time we trust him with our…

Continue Reading
Pages: 1 2

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 (NIV)

TimeTiming was important to Jesus; everything in its time at just the right time. On his mission to bring you and me from death to life (Romans 6:13), he never rushed or struggled to play catch up.

He clearly worked from a different clock than everyone else. Instead of Eastern Standard Time, Jesus seemed to be on Eternal Standard Time. He never arrived late and he never arrived early, he simply arrived according to his purpose.

Jesus was born at exactly the right time to be in Bethlehem with his parents, right as the stars aligned to announce the birth of Israel’s long-awaited king. When he was older, he stayed to study Scripture in the temple, even though his parents left for home.

When others thought he was late, Jesus arrived just in time to raise Lazarus from the dead. When his brothers wanted him to go with them to the Festival of Shelters, Jesus told them, “Go on to the festival. My time…

Continue Reading