Issue 26 // July & August, 2015
The Christian View: Creation By Francis A. Schaeffer
Creation & Culture Christ Illustrated in Nature Review: The Things of Earth
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In this Issue 5 LETTER FROM THE ELDERS The theme of this issue is Creation: Seeing and Enjoying God in it. Creation is seen as a way that God generally reveals himself to the whole world. ‘For God’s invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.’ (Romans 1:20)”
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THE CHRISTIAN VIEW: CREATION
REVIEW: THE THINGS OF EARTH
This book challenges Christians to examine how their faith should ultimately lead them to a greater love and stewardship of God's creation. Please enjoy Chapter 4 of this awesome book.
Andrew Walker shares why he commends The Things of Earth, a book conversant written by Joe Rigney that encourages us to see the world not in shades of grey, but in rapturously explosive technicolor.
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GLORY IN YOUR STORY "Nothing that happens to you today is really ordinary. Every small and great thing you encounter or do has millions of stories behind it that are so enthralling that you would sit dumbstruck for days just to learn about them."
CHRIST ILLUSTRATED IN NATURE
BOEHMS: QUAKES IN OUR LIVES
"In this excerpt from Miscellanies #108, Jonathan Edwards lists a variety of scenes from nature and suggests which attributes of Christ they were made to picture."
An update from Ed Boehm, Redeemer missionary to Nepal, as their family transitions back to living in the states.
CREATION AND CULTURE
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THE BIBLE IS FOR US Summer is not a time to take a vacation from our Bibles. Dustin Thompson shares three encouragements that will hopefully propel us toward a summer filled not only with all of the blessings of God’s good creation, but with the Word.
Bill Walsh summarizes the lessons he has learned on how to engage culture and the arts as a believer. May they be helpful for any Christian who is thinking deeply about God’s creation and culture.
Art Department CONTENT DIRECTION Chuck Forsberg Lorie Schnell Bill Walsh
DESIGN & LAYOUT Chuck Forsberg CONTENT MANAGER Lorie Schnell
WRITER/EDITOR Anne Lynn
PHOTOGRAPHY Bill Walsh
Letter From the Elders
Dear Redeemer Family, Welcome to the July/August edition of our Momentum magazine. If this is your first time reading Momentum, I want to welcome you. One of the purposes of Momentum is to give everyone at Redeemer a place to go to discover what is happening here. Summer is a busy time, especially in Minnesota, and we all want to get out and enjoy the warm while we have it (I think it is scheduled for July 7 & 8). This summer at Redeemer, the Pastoral Search Team is hard at work, interviewing and evaluating candidates for our future Preaching Pastor. We are trusting that the Lord will give us the man of his choosing in his timing. The theme of this issue is Creation: Seeing and Enjoying God in it. Creation is seen as a way that God generally reveals himself to the whole world. “For God’s invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” (Romans 1:20) He is gracious to do this because he wants to manifest himself to all men and women on the earth, so that they would be without excuse when faced with God. But God has specifically expressed himself in the person of his son, Jesus Christ; the word become flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserved so that we could be a new creation in him. I have many memories of enjoying God’s creation. I remember one moment well. My son and I had hiked to the top of Observation Point (Elevation 6,508 ft.) 2,100 feet about the floor of Zion National Park. As we sat overlooking the canyon, it seemed that the scene had not changed in a long time. Then I remembered the flood in the past decades that destroyed the park road. Even looking at the serene picturesque view, with its grandeur, it was a reminder of God’s power over his creation. But it was also a reminder that God loves beauty. He could have created a monochrome world like a two-dimensional paper drawing. But on top of the world looking over the canyon stretched before me, I realized that God is a God of infinite creativity, color, shapes, and shading. He did this for our joy and to draw attention to himself and his son Jesus Christ. I love Fernando Ortega’s song This Good Day as he celebrates God’s gift of creation: Morning sun, morning glories; Pouring down the hill Through my window; I can feel the ocean breeze Noisy sparrows fill the oak trees; Swallows can't stay still And in the glad commotion; Lord, You speak to me
pastor DOUG SWEET pastor WARREN WATSON pastor PAUL BURR pastor MARK SUCHTA pastor BOOMER PEEL pastor JOHN SWEET
If rain clouds come; Or the cold winds blow You're the one who goes before me; And in my heart I know That this good day, it is a gift from You; The world is turning in its place Because You made it to; I lift my voice to sing a song of praise On this good day Enjoy this issue of Momentum on this good day. Pastor Paul
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MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
Pastoral Search Update
God is at Work! By Connie Cullen
G
od is at work in the search process for RBC's next senior preaching pastor. I feel quite certain that nearly all of Redeemer's members and regular attenders would agree with that statement. We've been taught enough about God to know that it's true. But I am writing to encourage you with the news that as a member of the search team, I have seen and experienced this with my own eyes and heart. God is at work among us. God is at work! As an independent local church, RBC has no denominational hierarchy to supply pastors or referrals. Instead, our team has taken the criteria established by our elders and prayerfully brought them to like-minded seminaries, pastors, and organizations. We've received their encouragement, their fellowship in prayer, and their recommendations of men who could pos-
sibly serve our congregation. We've made contact with those potential candidates, asking them to prayerfully consider whether the Lord may be calling them to ministry here. We've provided them with our Creeds and Confessions, our Mission and Values, information about RBC and its ministries and about the Twin Cities and Minnetonka. We've conducted several levels of interviews with these men. We've read their books and blog posts, and we've listened to hours and hours (and hours!!) of their sermons. We've had detailed and frank discussions with one another about what we've heard and seen. Throughout this process, we've continued to pray for unity and clarity as we seek to identify the man God is calling to minister here. At points along the way, we've reached consensus that certain candidates are not suited for our position.
There is still some distance to the finish line. Our team and our elders are committed to exploring and carefully examining any candidate's theology and doctrine, philosophy of ministry, leadership style, and character in every way available to us. That takes time. As we've made progress in that direction, our elders are now at the stage of holding a series of in-person interviews with one pastor. The search team also continues to seek and evaluate additional qualified men. We are desperate for your continued prayers on our behalf and on behalf of our elders, especially as these interviews become deeper and more intense. Please pray that we would have wisdom, clarity, and unity as we move forward, and that we would continue to encourage one another in love." // RBC
JULY & AUGUST 2015 \\ MOMENTUM
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Creation & Culture Nine Reasons Why I'm a Photographer By Bill Walsh
F
or a number of years, as I approached mid-life, I secretly prayed that the Lord would give me some kind of artistic outlet. Since my childhood, I had grown up with a deep appreciation of culture and the arts, but never had any means for expressing my own vision. Digital photography landed on the scene just as I turned 40. My wife bought me my first camera that year. Before I knew it, the beauty of autumn in Minnesota was propelling me into a lifetime pursuit. And a vocational shift around that time also opened up huge doors for international missions and global travel. Shooting images in other cultures became a driving force for my artwork. During this same season, the Lord was leading me through some significant upheavals in my worldview, mostly related to engaging culture and the arts as a believer. I was reading widely and collecting books, articles, and quotes from respected writers. The following nine points and quotations summarize well the lessons I was learning, which became the foundation for how I approach the art of photography for 6
MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
the glory of God. I suspect that they might be helpful for any Christian who is thinking deeply about culture.
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CREATION IS A GIFT FROM GOD. IT IS MEANT TO DISPLAY AND COMMUNICATE HIS GLORY. The Great Master Author has sent forth several volumes; among the rest is one called the "Book of Revelation," and another styled the "Volume of Creation." We have been reading the Word-volume and expounding it for years, we are now perusing the Work-volume, and are engrossed in some of its most glowing pages. Our love for the sacred book of letters and words has not diminished but increased our admiration for the hieroglyphics of the flood and field. That man perversely mistakes folly for wisdom, who persists in undervaluing one glorious poem by a famous author, in order to show his zeal for a second epic from the same fertile pen. It is the mark of a feeble mind to despise the wonders of nature because we prize the treasures of salvation. He who built the lofty skies is as much our Father as he who hath spoken to
us by his own Son, and we should reverently adore HIM who in creation decketh himself with majesty and excellency, even as in revelation HE arrayeth himself in glory and beauty. Charles Spurgeon; A Chapter from the Book of Nature From Lugano, Italy; June 1865
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GOD HIDES HIMSELF IN CREATION. UNBELIEVERS SELDOM SEE HIM IN IT, BUT BELIEVERS ARE GIVEN EYES TO SEE, SO THEY CAN GLORIFY GOD THROUGH IT. [The spiritual man] alone can distinguish the position from the Word, the divine mask from God Himself and the work of God. Until now we have dealt only with the veiled God, for in this life we cannot deal with God face to face. Now the whole creation is a face or mask of God. But here we need the wisdom that distinguishes God from His mask. The world does not have this wisdom. There it cannot distinguish God from His mask. When a greedy man, who worships his belly, hears that "man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4), he eats the bread but fails to see God in the bread; for he sees, admires, and adores only the mask. He does the same with gold and with other creatures. He puts his trust in them as long as he has them; but when they forsake him, he despairs. Martin Luther; Commentary on Galatians Vol 26, page 95-96
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IN ORDER TO GLIMPSE THE GLORY OF GOD IN CREATION, WE ACTUALLY HAVE TO ENGAGE ACTIVELY WITH THAT CREATION. Jonathan Edwards describes one of his experiences communing with God in nature: As I was walking there, and looking up on the sky and clouds, there came into my mind so sweet a sense of the glorious majesty and grace of God, that I know not how to express.... The appearance of everything was altered; there seemed to be, as it were, a sweet calm cast, or appearance of divine glory, in almost everything. God's excellency, his wisdom, his purity and love, seemed to appear in everything; in the sun, moon and stars; in the cloud, and blue sky; in the grass, flowers, trees; in the water and all nature. Jonathan Edwards; His Early and Rapturous Sense of Divine Things; 1758
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ALL ART HAS ONE SOURCE: GOD’S UNIVERSE. WE CREATE NOTHING, BUT ONLY IMITATE THE CREATOR. Our work in any field of the arts will be imitative. We will be thinking God’s thoughts after him—painting with His colors; speaking with His gift of language; exploring and expressing His sounds and harmonies; working with His creation in all its glory, diversity, and in-built inventiveness. In addition, we will find ourselves longing to make known the beauty of life as it once was in Paradise, the tragedy of its present marring, and the hope of our final redemption. All great art will contain this element of being an echo of Eden: Eden in its original glory, Eden that is lost to us, and Eden restored. Jerram Barrs; Christianity and the Arts Online Article; Covenant Theological Seminary; Page 7
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CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS ARE GIFTS FROM GOD, WHICH WE SHOULD NOT NEGLECT. Culture consists of the artifacts, institutions, and conventions by which people define, sustain, and enrich themselves. Culture includes the arts, law, languages, economies, philosophies of teaching and learning, family life, community traditions, and much more. All culture ultimately derives from the fact that people are created in the image of God and gifted by Him in many varied ways. After all, the psalmist tells us, God has given gifts of all kinds to all kinds of people, even those who are in rebellion against Him, with the idea that He might express Himself through those gifts, as they are brought to bear on the task of creating culture. T.M. Moore; Consider the Lillies A Plea for Creational Theology; Page 101
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CHRISTIANS SHOULD AVOID QUICKLY JUDGING CULTURAL EXPRESSION AS SACRED OR SECULAR. GOD ALSO REVEALS HIMSELF IN SECULAR CULTURE, THROUGH HIS COMMON GRACE. Repeatedly in the history of the Church, Christians have been tempted to devalue the richness of creation and therefore to devalue also the arts, as if it would be somehow more “spiritual” to live a life devoid of beauty, of good things, of music, of literature, of painting, of color, etc. It is as if bare simplicity, barrenness, and even ugliness were somehow considered to be more pleasing to God. Behind this idea is the conviction that it is only what is “spiritual” that matters, JULY & AUGUST 2015 \\ MOMENTUM
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and that the physical, therefore, is only of secondary value at best. In this view, the arts are thought of as an optional, rather extravagant, and unnecessary extra in life. But this belief is nonsense, and is, according to Paul, a heresy of the most serious kind, for in the end it is a denial of the goodness of creation. Jerram Barrs; Christianity and the Arts Online Article; Covenant Theological Seminary; Page 4
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CHRISTIAN CULTURAL EXPRESSION SHOULD NOT SOLELY FOCUS ON THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE ROMANTIC, BUT SHOULD INCLUDE THE FLAWED. The Christian worldview can be divided into what I call a major and a minor theme. First, the minor theme is the abnormality of the revolting world…Men who have revolted from God and not come back to Christ are eternally lost; they see their meaninglessness…There is a defeated and sinful side to the Christian’s life. If we are at all honest, we must admit that in this life there is no such thing as totally victorious living. The major theme…is the meaningfulness and purposefulness of life…God is there, God exists. Therefore, all is not absurd. Man is made in God’s image and so man has significance. [This] rests on the existence of the infinite-personal God who exists and who has a character and who has created all things, especially man in his own image. Man is fallen and flawed, but he is redeemable on the basis of Christ’s work. This is beautiful. This is optimism. If our Christian art only emphasizes the major theme, then it is not fully Christian but simply romantic art. On the other hand, it is possible for a Christian to so major on the minor theme, emphasizing the lostness of man and the abnormality of the universe, that he is equally unbiblical. …for the Christian, the major theme is to be dominant. Francis Schaeffer; Art and the Bible Intervarsity Press, 1973; Pages 56-58
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CULTURE THAT GLORIFIES GOD IS A FORETASTE OF WHAT WE WILL EXPERIENCE IN THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH. Art, music, literature, crafts, technology, clothing, jewelry, education, food preparation—all are part of society or culture, the creative accomplishments of God’s image-bearers. Human creations are an extension of God’s own creative works, because he created us to reflect him by being creators. 8
MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
As humans, we glorify God by taking what he created from nothing and shaping it into things for our own good and for his glory. The entire universe—including angels and living creatures in Heaven—should look at our creative ingenuity, our artistic accomplishments, and see God in us, his imagebearers. If that’s true now, how much more will it be true when there’s nothing in us to dishonor him? We should expect the social dynamics from Earth to carry over to the New Earth, except when they’re a product of our fallen-ness or when God reveals otherwise. God created his image-bearers to glorify him in creative accomplishments, and he’s pleased by them. God is pro-culture; he is the creative artist behind and over human culture. Randy Alcorn; 50 Days of Heaven; Pgs. 225-229
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THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST IS THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE OF BRINGING HEAVEN AND EARTH TOGETHER, THROUGH HIS INCARNATION. HE SERVES AS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR THOSE ENGAGED IN ARTISTIC PURSUITS. All art portrays the god whom the artist serves. In this sense, all art is "representational": it represents, again, the God or god whom the artist serves. Art reaches to both heaven and earth, fusing them together. If we attempt to do this in our wisdom, the result will be a greater schism between heaven and earth. Christ is the ultimate example of this fusing: the incarnation of Christ, the divine becoming a man, therefore, is the greatest example in which all artists can find inspiration. Christ's unique significance for the artist goes even deeper than mere inspiration. I believe that He is the only true source of inspiration available to us to learn from. Christ's incarnation resolves the most difficult dichotomy that exists for an artist; that is the dichotomy of form and content. Makoto Fujimura; Ten Commandments for Artists Online Article
// RBC
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Pollution and the Death of Man Chapter 4
The Christian View Creation By Francis A. Schaeffer
T
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he beginning of the Christian view
would never have been modern science without
of nature is the concept of cre-
the Biblical view of Christianity.
ation: that God was there before
It is the same in the area of nature. It is the Bibli-
the beginning of the space-time
cal view of nature that gives nature a value in itself:
continuum and God created everything out of
not to be used merely as an argument in apolo-
nothing. From this, we must understand that cre-
getics, but of value in itself because God made it.
ation is not an extension of the essence of God.
Jean-Paul Sartre stated that the basic philo-
Created things have an objective existence in
sophic problem is that something exists. And
themselves. They are really there.
nature is there—even if man doesn’t know why.
Whitehead, Oppenheimer, and others have
Christians know why it is there: because God cre-
pointed out that modern science was only born
ated it out of nothing, and it is in its place! Creat-
out of a surrounding consensus of historic Chris-
ed things are not an extension of God’s essence.
tianity. Why? Because, as Whitehead has empha-
They are not a “dream of God,” as some East-
sized, Christianity believes that God has created
ern philosophies claim; they are really there. That
an external world that is really there; and because
may sound naive and obvious, but it is not; it is a
He is a reasonable God, one can expect to be
profound concept with profound consequences.
able to find the order of the universe by reason.
Think of Hume’s arguments against cause and ef-
Whitehead was absolutely right about this. He
fect. They were demolished in Hume’s day-by-day
was not a Christian, but he understood that there
experience because nature is really there, and it
MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
Pollution and the Death of Man
So the Judeo-Christian God is unique: He is infinite and He is, at the same time, personal. Now how did He create? On the side of His “He creates all things, and He alone isinfinity Creator. elseHeiscreates created. thereEverything is the great chasm. all Only things, andeverything He alone is Creator. Everything else He is infinite, and only He is the Creator; else is dependent.” is created. Only He is infinite, and only He is the Creator; everything else is dependent. So man, the animal, the flower, and the machine, in the Biblical viewpoint, are equally separated from God in that He created them all. On the side of infinity man is exists because God made it to exist; and existing, as separated from God as is the machine. the particulars of nature affect other particulars of THE PERSONAL-INFINITE GOD
nature which are there.
Man
It is intriguing to note, as we did in the preceding chapter, that after the Reformation the Dutch
Chasm Animal Plant Machine
painters began to paint nature, no longer feeling any necessity to restrict themselves to religious subjects. In fact, from that time on religious sub-
Man Animal Plant Machine
Chasm
the nature which we paint is also worth something
So on the side of the infinite the chasm is between God and everything else, between the So the and Judeo-Christian God is unique: He is inCreator all created things. But there is another side—the personal. Here finite and He is, at the same time, personal. the animal, the flower, and the machine are below Now how did He create? On the side of His the chasm. On the side of God’s infinity everyinfinity thereis isfinite the great chasm.separated He creates all thing else and equally from things, andonHe alone Everything else God; but the side is ofCreator. His personality, God hasis
in itself. This is the true Christian mentality. It rests
created. Only He is infinite, and only He is the Cre-
upon the reality of creation out of nothing by God. But it also follows that all things are equally cre-
ator; everything else is 48 dependent. So man, the animal, the flower, and the machine, in the Biblical
ated by God. All things were equally created out
viewpoint, are equally separated from God in that
of nothing. All things, including man, are equal in
He created them all. On the side of infinity man is
jects were relatively rarely painted. Most artists had suddenly found that nature was worth painting, and that it is properly Christian to paint it. Now it follows that if we return to the Reformation’s Biblical view that nature is worth painting, so
their origin, as far as creation is concerned.
PollutionDeathMan.76867.int.indd 48
as separated from God as is the machine.
All of this depends, of course, on the nature of
So on the side of the infinite the chasm is be-
God. What kind of God exists? The Judeo-Chris-
tween God and everything else, between the Cre-
tian God is different from all the other gods in the
ator and all created things.
world. The Judeo-Christian God is the person-
But there is another side—the personal. Here
al-infinite God. The gods of the East are infinite by
the animal, the flower, and the machine are be-
definition, in that they contain everything includ-
low the chasm. On the side of God’s infinity ev-
ing the male and female equally, the cruel and
erything else is finite and equally separated from
the noncruel equally, and so on. But they are not
God; but on the side of His personality, God has
personal. In contrast, the gods of the West—the
created man in His own image. Therefore, man’s
Greek and the Roman gods, the great god Thor
relationship is upward rather than downward—a
and the Anglo-Saxon gods—were personal but
tremendous factor that opens door after door for
were always limited and finite.
the comprehension of confused modern man.
2/4/11 8:55 AM
“Only when a man comes and casts himself upon the prophesied Messiah of the Old Testament as the Savior does God become his Father.”
Man is separated, as personal, from nature because he is made in the image of God. That is, he
plant and the atom are created.
has personality, and as such he is unique in the
There is a parallel here to our call to love. The
creation; but he is united to all other creatures as
Christian is told to love as brothers in Christ oth-
being created. Man is separated from everything
er Christians only. All men are not our brothers
else, but that does not mean that there is not also
in Christ, as the liberal theologian would have us
a proper relationship downward on the side of
believe. From the Biblical point of view, brothers
man’s being created and finite.
have the same father. Only when a man comes
But his relationship is not only downward. Albert
and casts himself upon the prophesied Messiah
Schweitzer related himself to the hippopotamus
of the Old Testament as the Savior (for Christ has
coming through the bush, because Schweitzer
come in His substitutionary work) does God be-
had no sufficient relationship upward. But man is
come his Father. This is clear from the teaching
made in the image of God, who is personal; thus
of Jesus. Therefore, not all men are our brothers
he has two relationships—upward and down-
in Christ.
ward. Of course, if he does not find his relation-
However, just because the Bible says that not
ship upward he will have to find this relationship
all men are our brothers, it does not follow that
(or integration point) downward. Christians reject
we are not to love all men as our neighbors. So
this totally because we know who man is; we are
one has the tremendous impact of the teaching
not threatened by the machine as modern man
of Jesus about the good Samaritan: I am to love
is, because we know who we are. This is not said
on the basis of my neighborliness all that which is
proudly, but humbly and reverently; we know we
one blood with myself. And the New Testament
are made in the image of God. We reject an atti-
uses that expression, “one blood,” to indicate the
tude that makes our integration point downward.
unity of all people by God’s creation. We are peo-
Christians reject the view that there is no distinc-
ple who know we have one common origin with
tion—or only a quantitative distinction—between
all races, all languages, and all people.
man and other things; and they reject the view
But only the Christian knows why he has a
that man is totally separated from all other things.
common origin. The evolutionist, the “modern”
As a Christian I say, “Who am I?” Am I only the
man, has no real reason to understand a com-
hydrogen atom, the energy particle extended?
mon origin or a common relationship among men,
No, I am made in the image of God. I know who
except a biological one: people breed. That is all
I am. Yet, on the other hand, when I turn around
with which they are left.
and I face nature, I face something that is like my-
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self. I, too, am created, just as the animal and the
MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
The Christian, however, understands that peo-
This is a concept that no other philosophy has.
ple are all from one origin. We are all of one flesh;
Among other things, it explains the machine func-
we are of one blood. One can say that from the
tions of man. For example, we have a common
Biblical viewpoint, there are two humanities: one,
lung system with dogs and cats. This is not sur-
the humanity that stands in revolt against God,
prising. Both man and these other creatures have
and the other, the humanity that used to be in re-
been created by God to fit a common environ-
volt against God (because none of us came into
ment. There is a common relationship in these
this second humanity by natural birth). The mem-
mechanical functions, which relates man down-
bers of this second group, having believed on
ward. There are machine functions to man. Psy-
Christ, have cast themselves upon God and have
chologically there is a conditioning, not only in the
become the sons of God.
animals but also, to a more limited extent, in man.
Yet one must never forget there is only one hu-
This is to be expected, in view of our relationship
manity, and this is no paradox. There are ortho-
both downward and upward. Nevertheless, this
“ Therefore, intellectually and psychologically, I look at these animals, plants, and machines,...I begin to think differently about life. Nature begins to look different. I am separated from it, yet related to it.”
dox Christians who will not let it be said that there
is not my basic relationship. I am not afraid of the
is only one humanity, because they so strongly re-
machine. I am not overwhelmed or threatened,
ject the liberal emphasis upon the one humanity at
because I know I am made in the image of God.
the expense of justification, but this is shortsight-
I can see why I have mechanical functions and
ed. There are two, but one. The Christian is called
some conditioning, because I have this downward
to understand that there are two humanities, and
relationship to “lower” things (though, as we shall
to love his brothers in Christ especially; and yet
see, the term “lower” is not ideal). Therefore, intel-
Christ also lays upon us the love of all men, as our
lectually and psychologically, I look at these an-
neighbors, because we are one.
imals, plants, and machines, and as I face them
It is the same in regard to nature. On a very dif-
I understand something of the attitude I should
ferent level, we are separated from that which is
have toward them. I begin to think differently about
the “lower” form of creation, yet we are united to
life. Nature begins to look different. I am separated
it. One must not choose; one must say both. I am
from it, yet related to it.
separated from it because I am made in the image
Notice the phrase “intellectually and psycho-
of God; my integration point is upward, not down-
logically.” This is a very important distinction. I
ward; it is not turned back upon creation. Yet at
can say, “Yes, the tree is a creature like myself.”
the same time I am united to it because nature
But that is not all that is involved. There ought to
and man are both created by God.
be a psychological insight, too. Psychologically I
“Christians who do not believe in the complete evolutionary scale have reason to respect nature as the total evolutionist never can, because we believe God made these things specifically in their own areas. ”
14
ought to “feel” a relationship to the tree as my fel-
not cutting down a person; you are cutting down
low-creature. It is not simply that we ought to feel
a tree. But while we should not romanticize the
a relationship intellectually to the tree, and then
tree, we must realize God made it and it deserves
turn this into just another argument for apologet-
respect because He made it as a tree. Christians
ics, but that we should realize, and train people
who do not believe in the complete evolutionary
in our churches to realize, that on the side of cre-
scale have reason to respect nature as the total
ation and on the side of God’s infinity and our fi-
evolutionist never can, because we believe God
niteness we really are one with the tree!
made these things specifically in their own areas.
This relationship should be not only for aesthet-
So if we are going to argue against the evolution-
ic reasons—though that would be enough rea-
ists intellectually, we should show the results of
son in itself because beautiful things are import-
our belief in our attitudes. The Christian is a man
ant—but we should treat each thing with integrity
who has a reason for dealing with each created
because it is the way God has made it. So the
thing with a high level of respect.
Christian treats “things” with integrity because we
We warned earlier against allowing Platonic con-
do not believe they are autonomous. Modern man
cepts to color our Christian thinking. Platonism re-
has fallen into a dilemma because he has made
gards the material as low. But we certainly cannot
things autonomous from God. Simone Weil’s
think the material low when we realize that God
statement that modern man lives in a decreated
created it. We can think of things being created
world is acutely perceptive. Everything is decreat-
in different orders, but that is a very different con-
ed; everything is autonomous. But to Christians
cept from thinking things are low in the sense of
it is not autonomous, because God made it, and
base, as opposed to high. God made everything,
He made things on their own level. The value of
and any sense of lowness (with its poor connota-
the things is not in themselves autonomously, but
tions) has no place here. To think of them as low is
that God made them—and thus they deserve to
really to insult the God who made them.
be treated with high respect. The tree in the field
The second reason why the material is not low
is to be treated with respect. It is not to be ro-
is that Christ’s body was raised from the dead.
manticized, as the old lady romanticizes her cat
This really is a very important point. The resur-
(that is, she reads human reactions into it). This is
rection of the body should be held as a doctrinal
wrong because it is not true. When you drive the
reality, and further as a truth that gives us an atti-
axe into the tree when you need firewood, you are
tude toward life.
MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
Christ’s body really was raised from the dead.
lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life.” But with
It could be touched, and He could eat. And this
God’s written covenants there is also the cove-
resurrected body is now somewhere. We would
nant of creation. The covenant in the Scriptures is
reject Tillich’s view of Heaven as a “philosophic
a propositional, verbalized covenant; the covenant
other.” I think that John Robinson, in Honest to
of creation rests upon the way God made things.
God, was right, from his viewpoint, in making the
God is going to deal with them as He made them.
ascension, rather than the resurrection, the cru-
God will not violate either covenant. He will always
cial point. I think he really understood the impli-
deal with a plant as a plant, with an animal as an
cations. A physical resurrection might happen
animal, with a machine as a machine, and with a
somehow or other in the modern theologian’s
man as a man, not violating the orders of creation.
world, but what you could not have is a body that
He will not ask the machine to behave like a man,
could eat ascending into “the philosophic other.”
neither will He deal with man as though he were
To the modern theologian, that is an unthinkable
a machine.
concept. In contrast to this, we believe in the as-
Thus God treats His creation with integrity:
cension; the Bible tells us that the physically res-
each thing in its own order, each thing the way
urrected body of Jesus is somewhere in the un-
He made it. If God treats His creation in that way,
seen world.
should we not treat our fellow-creatures with
The resurrection and ascension prove there is no
similar integrity? If God treats the tree like a tree,
reason to make false dichotomy between the spir-
the machine like a machine, the man like a man,
itual and the material. That is a totally non-Biblical
shouldn’t I, as a fellow-creature, do the same—
concept. The material and the spiritual are not op-
treating each thing in integrity in its own order?
posed. The fact that our bodies are going to be
And for the highest reason: because I love God—I
raised also speaks of this.
love the One who has made it! Loving the Lover
Another thing to notice from the Biblical viewpoint is God’s covenant of creation. God has giv-
who has made it, I have respect for the thing He has made.
en us certain written covenants in the Scripture.
Let us emphasize—this is not pantheistic; nev-
He has made tremendous promises—for exam-
ertheless, this respect for all created things must
ple, the covenant promise to Abraham and to the
be consciously exercised. Consciously we are to
Jewish people. And He has given the promise to
treat each thing in its own order and on its own lev-
the individual in the New Testament: “He that be-
el. Like so many things in the Christian life, this at-
“Thus God treats His creation with integrity: each thing in its own order, each thing the way He made it. If God treats His creation in that way, should we not treat our fellow-creatures with similar integrity?”
“The man is always there and he is always a Christian under the norms of Scripture, whether in the classroom or at home.”
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titude does not come mechanically, because God
value for it. He treats it as a “thing” in the worst
is treating us like man and expects us to choose
possible sense, to exploit it for the “good” of man.
and act like man. Thus we must consciously deal
The man who believes things are there only by
with the integrity of each thing that we touch.
chance cannot give things a real intrinsic value.
The good modern architect struggles to use
But for the Christian, there is an intrinsic value.
materials with integrity. Consequently, for exam-
The value of a thing is not in itself autonomously,
ple, if he is using poured concrete, he wants it to
but because God made it. It deserves this respect
look like poured concrete and not like brick. An-
as something which was created by God, as man
other area of integrity for the architect was em-
himself has been created by God.
phasized by the great architect Wright, who put
It is true, as Lynn White points out, that many
forward the concept of the integrity of the building
“Christians” are worse off in the area of ecology
to the integrity of the terrain. So there is this desire
than animists, who think there are spirits in the
in our own day to treat material honestly. If we are
trees and so they don’t cut down the trees care-
to have something beautiful, a landscaping that
lessly. However, although this is true, it is not be-
is going to stand with strength, we shall have to
cause Christianity does not have the answer, but
keep in mind the integrity of the terrain and the
because we have not acted on the answer; not
integrity of the material used. Although this con-
because Christianity does not have a view that
cept is true for all men (since they are made in
gives a greater value to the tree than the animist
the image of God, even if they do not know it), yet
can give it, but because we haven’t acted on the
Christians have a special understanding of it be-
value that we know, or should know, it has as a
cause of their special relationship with God. And
creature of God.
our conscious relationship with God is enhanced
This is an extension of Abraham Kuyper’s
if we treat all the things He has made in the same
sphere concept. He saw each of us as many men:
way as He treats them.
the man in the state, the man who is the employer,
In sociological things modern man deals only
the man who is the father, the elder in the church,
with sociological “averages.” But in the modern
the professor in the university—each of these in a
field of ecology he begins to scream, “I am dying
different sphere. But even though they are in dif-
in my city and my ocean is dying.” This goes far
ferent spheres at different times, Christians are to
beyond sociological “averages.” His inner attitude
act like Christians in each of the spheres. The man
to nature is involved. How is he treating it? Mod-
is always there and he is always a Christian under
ern man has no real “value” for the ocean. All he
the norms of Scripture, whether in the classroom
has is the most crass form of egoist, pragmatic
or at home.
MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
Now, here is the extension: I am a Christian, but
and that could be touched. This body was not just
not only a Christian. I am also the creature, the
an apparition or a “ghost.” And this same body
one who has been created; the one who is not
ascended into Heaven and went into the unseen
autonomous, dealing with these other things that
world. The body that can eat is still in the unseen
equally are not autonomous. As a Christian, I am
world, and will one day in future history be visible
consciously to deal with every other created thing
in the seen world again.
with integrity, each thing in its proper sphere by
Our resurrection is of the same kind. When Christ
creation.
comes back again, our bodies are going to be
To summarize this chapter, let us reiterate the
raised from the dead. It is going to be a real phys-
fundamental fact that God has made all men and
ical resurrection, and consequently whether it
all things. He has made my body as well as my
is Jesus’ body or our body the emphasis is the
soul. He has made me as I am, with the hungers
same: God has made the body, and the body is
of my spirit and my body. And he has made all
not to be despised and considered as low.
things, just as He has made me. He has made the
The same sort of emphasis is found explicitly in
stone, the star, the farthest reaches of the cos-
God’s covenant of creation at the time of Noah.
mos. He has done all this!
In Genesis 9:8-17we have God’s covenant within
To think of any of these things as intrinsically low
the relationship to creation. “And I, behold, I es-
is really an insult to the God who made it. Why do
tablish my covenant with you [mankind], and with
“He says: ‘I do set my bow in the cloud for a token of the covenant between me and the earth.’ God makes a promise here that embodies all creation. God is interested in creation. He does not despise it. ”
Christians lose their way when it seems so clear
your seed after you; and with every living created
and so definite? Why should I say my body is low-
thing.” So God says this, His covenant, was with
er than my soul when God made both my body
mankind, but equally with all creation. Then again,
and my soul?
in the thirteenth verse, He says: “I do set my bow
Second, Christ’s incarnation teaches us that the
in the cloud for a token of the covenant between
body of man and nature is not to be considered as
me and the earth.” God makes a promise here
low. After all, Jesus took on a real body because
that embodies all creation. God is interested in
God had made man with a body. So, in the incar-
creation. He does not despise it. There is no rea-
nation the God of creation took on a human body.
son whatsoever, and it is absolutely false Biblically,
More than that, after the resurrection Jesus Christ
for the Christian to have a Platonic view of nature.
could eat and be touched. The Bible insists on the
What God has made, I, who am also a creature,
real, historic, space-time resurrection of Jesus, so
must not despise.
that there was a resurrected body that could eat
The Excellencies of Christ Illustrated in Nature By Tyler Kenney
T
he triune God had a purpose when he set his final creation, man, in the midst of such a marvelous universe. He wanted every aspect of that universe to teach man something about him. Psalm 19:1-4 and Romans 1:20 tell us this. "The heavens declare the glory of God"; that is, they show forth "his eternal power and divine nature," along with the rest of creation. In this excerpt from Miscellanies #108, Jonathan Edwards lists a variety of scenes from nature and suggests which attributes of Christ they were made to picture. “[T]he Son of God created the world for his very end, to communicate himself in an image of his own excellency... So that when we are delighted with flowery meadows and gentle breezes of wind, we may consider that we only see the emanations of the sweet benevolence of Jesus Christ; when we behold the fragrant rose and lily, we see his love and purity. So the green trees and fields, and singing of birds, are the emanations of his infinite joy and benignity; the easiness and naturalness of trees and vines [are] shadows of his infinite beauty and loveliness; the crystal rivers and murmuring streams have the footsteps of his sweet grace and bounty. When we behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an evening cloud, or the beauteous bow, 18
MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
we behold the adumbrations of his glory and goodness; and the blue skies, of his mildness and gentleness. There are also many things wherein we may behold his awful majesty: in the sun in his strength, in comets, in thunder, in the towering thunder clouds, in ragged rocks and the brows of mountains. That beauteous light with which the world is filled in a clear day is a lively shadow of his spotless holiness and happiness, and delight in communicating himself.� (Paragraphing added.) Tyler Kenney (@tylerkenney) is a former content strategist at Desiring God. He and his wife, Kristen, live in Florida. Used with permission from Desiring God. www.desiringgod.org
By Jon Bloom
There’s Staggering Glory in Your Story “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)
T
he story behind your existence is wilder than any story humans have imagined. Have you ever thought about it? Statistically speaking, you should not exist. How unlikely was it that your parents ever met? And even when they came together you were just an argument or headache or television show or phone call away from never being conceived. Multiply those by millions of converging conversations and glances and illnesses and books and storms and dreams and travels and schools and wars and ambitions and sorrows throughout human history that had they been altered just slightly, you would not be. And nothing that happens to you today is really ordinary. Every small and great thing you encounter or do has millions of stories behind it that are so enthralling that you would sit dumbstruck for days just to learn about them. And your extraordinary life is shaping and being shaped by many other lives, human and non-human, as it goes along. In ways both witting and unwitting your words and actions are influencing the course of other lives. Your choice of a parking spot could have a life-altering effect on someone else. Do not let a belief in the sovereignty of God dull your amazement over this. Let it add, not detract, from your wonder! Just think of how God designed his creation to occur.
15 million birch tree seeds in a season might produce a tree or two. A few hundred ova and a few billion sperm might produce a few children over the course of a marriage. Some 200 billion galaxies and more than 70 sextillion stars might produce a planet that sustains life, not to mention incomprehensively complex, marvelous, conscious beings who can contemplate the glory of such improbabilities. Some look at creation and see meaningless randomness and natural selection. What do you see? Do you see the staggering glory of divine selection (election) out of all the possibilities? And all that glory before we even get to the most glorious story: redemption! You live in a universe that is filled with trillions, septillions, bazillions of creations, some incomprehensibly huge and others inconceivably small. And each one, like you, so unlikely, so improbable as to be miracles, whose very existence would cause each of us to exclaim in worship: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created!” If we just stopped long enough to look. Used with permission from Desiring God. www.desiringgod.org
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The Bible is For Us 2 By Dustin Thompson
S
ummer is a great time for family, cabins, beaches and grilling out. I’d like to add one more thing to the list—summer is a great time to pursue Bible reading. As I thought about my need to be encouraged in my summer Bible reading, the first verse that came to mind was an odd phrase that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 10:6. As Paul was looking to correct and inform the Corinthians in regards to many questions about Christian living, he pointed them to the Old Testament by saying, “Now these things took place as examples for us”. I’d like to provide three Bible reading encouragements from 1 Corinthians 10:6:
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GOD HAS SPOKEN: With warm summer nights arriving and New Year’s resolutions fading into our distant memory, we’re often tempted to leave the Bible by our nightstand. Paul’s reminder to the Corinthians, and an encouraging word for us as well is that God has spoken. He has provided us a Word and we should take advantage of it. The Bible is for us. We might be tempted to want to hear God speak to us audibly, but we have something better—something more reliable—the Bible! He has already spoken in His word. God has provided something for us so that we might better understand Him and his purposes. Enjoy reading the Bible this summer.
CONTEXT IS KING: A second encouragement for your summer Bible reading has to do with an important distinction between words—prepositions, to be specific. Notice Paul says that the Bible was written for us. To often we open the Bible and read it as if it was written to us. Alas, I am unable to find Paul’s letter to Dustin in the New Testament. Instead, God has so designed our Bible that we would be most encouraged by wrestling through what the writers intended for their original audience and by doing so would find encouragement for ourselves. The Bible wasn’t written to us but it was written for us. True encouragement from the Word comes as we wrestle through how the first readers would have been helped and then find similarities to how we too can be encouraged by what the Bible says. Enjoy wrestling through the context as you find genuine encouragement in your Bible this summer.
3
READING THE OLD TESTAMENT AS A CHRISTIAN BOOK: Finally, Paul’s comment about “these things took place as an example for us” is a reference to the Old Testament. Paul had just finished telling the Corinthians about Israel’s exodus and wilderness grumblings. Paul’s point, then, is that the Corinthians would have been more prepared to live their Christian lives had they spent more time thinking through the Old Testament. The Old Testament is not an outdated Christian history, but a God inspired book that is able to “make us wise for salvation through Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). Enjoy reading the Old Testament as a Christian book this summer! My prayer for Redeemer is that we would have our summer filled with all of the blessings of God’s good creation—but even more that our summer would be filled with the Word. I hope Paul’s word of encouragement in 1 Corinthians 10:6 will be a helpful guide for your summer reading! // RBC
Adult Education Update
d e s u a P F SG By David Morse
A
dult education has always been a pillar of Redeemer Bible Church, a focused point of energy in the life of our church. This flows naturally from our mission as a church to enjoy, embody and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ so…believers are built up in the gospel…to the glory of God. One of the primary ways in which we have set out to accomplish this mission is by providing avenues of learning through what has been called the School of Gospel Formation (SGF). This program, birthed from our mission and vision, was developed as a way for someone to move through a full curriculum over a certain number of years, developed and ordered much like a degree or certificate program so that he or she could become fully immersed in the life and theology of Redeemer Bible Church. And more than that, so he or she could become a more well-rounded Christian thinker. The goal of SGF was never to be just another kind of “Adult Sunday School,” but instead a formulaic approach for growth in systematic, biblical, and
practical theology. As such, SGF required many hours of intense labor by many individuals. After a successful spring semester in 2014, various things within the church forced us to suspend temporarily courses offered through SGF, but because of the commitment and values of Redeemer the elders and ministry leaders overseeing SGF desired to re-launch the ministry in the spring of 2015. We accomplished that goal by bringing back one class and offering a couple of small weekend seminars. Praise Jesus! As with any program or ministry those leading must look ahead, and as we have done this we have realized that bringing back SGF for yet another semester would not be wise for several reasons: • The intent and structure of SGF may or may not fit into the vision of RBC moving forward. • The time and logistics to bring SGF back for another semester as it was intended is unfeasible at this present time.
• The desire of the leaders and elders is to leave space for the vision that will be cast and adopted moving forward as a church (especially as we move through the pastoral candidating process). • The mission of SGF may be better accomplished with some structural and identity changes. Because of this, while we remain unflinchingly committed to adult education, we have come to an agreement that it is in the best interest of our body to once again press the pause button on SGF as we consider how best to implement adult education in the future. We thank you for your patience during this time as we seek to bring glory to our Father in Heaven through adult education at Redeemer, and we ask that you pray earnestly for this ministry as we think about how to best move forward for the good of our body and the good of the world. // RBC
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By Andrew Walker JOE RIGNEY The Things of Earth: Treasuring God by Enjoying His Gifts. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014. 271 pp. $16.99.
I
love music and movies. It’s not that I merely partake of them as routine hobbies; it’s that I relish opportunities to listen to music that tunes my affections in a multitude of ways. I get drawn into films where the narrative and character development are so profound that I’m sincerely saddened when it ends. I savor the creativity of the human spirit. Now, this review isn’t a debate into the prudence of watching or not watching certain films or listening or not listening to certain music. But the book under review, Joe Rigney’s The Things of Earth: Treasuring God by Enjoying His Gifts, certainly helps individuals learn why we enjoy anything at all. The Things of Earth is an exercise in applied hedonism; that is, it investigates what the proper enjoyment of creation and culture means for people caught up by the richness of the gospel. The book takes as its animating center the theme that has come to be associated with John Piper: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. Piper says as much in the foreword, writing that Rigney’s book is “complementary” and one that “needed to be written” which is no small amount of praise. 22
MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
SUNSETS AND BACON The professor of theology and Christian worldview at Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, wants to show what the God-centered life looks like in the routines of everyday experiences, delights, and pleasures— how do we enjoy the things of earth? How does God maximize joy in such things as pumpkin crunch cake, tickle fights with our children, and West Texas sunsets? Yes, you read that right—tickle fights. And why is bacon evidence of God’s goodness? The answer is provided in the philosophical theology of Jonathan Edwards and C. S. Lewis. Rigney doesn’t say that he bases his argument on philosophical theology, but that’s what’s happening, and he does so ably and intriguingly. Physical pleasures, sensible pleasures, emotional pleasures, and relational pleasures all come to us as part of the triune God’s highest duty to, and love for, himself—to “communicate and extend his fullness outside of himself, or, to use another image, in order to invite creatures to participate in his own triune life” (31). Rigney proceeds to explain: “God glorifies himself by inviting us to participate in his trinitarian fullness [and] by extending his glory so that his divine life comes to exist in creaturely forms” (41).
CELEBRATING EMBODIED THEOLOGY The Things of Earth is also aesthetical; the God who gives glory, beauty, and goodness actually communicates himself through creation, createdness, and creatureliness. As Rigney observes, “God’s love for God pushes him into creation” (62). Seen from this angle, the book is a vivid primer on developing an embodied theology; a theology that doesn’t exclusively focus on celestial intricacies but embraces the finitude of human experience as something given and good. Looking backward, The Things of Earth helped me understand a recent story from my own life a bit more viscerally. On a business trip I listened to David Brooks’s address at The Gathering titled “How to Be Religious in the Public Square.” The whole speech is terrific, but listening to it I teared up from the beauty of a story about Dorothy Day’s experience giving birth. She writes: If I had painted the greatest painting, if I had sculpted the greatest sculpture or written the greatest symphony, I could not have felt the more exalted creator than when I did when they placed my child in my arms. And with that came a need to worship and to adore. I’ve never given birth to a child, but I have two daughters; and Rigney’s book helps give thought and explanation to the profound glories the things of earth—such as children—provide. The answer is nothing less than God himself manifesting the intelligibility of his glory in tangible experiences. THREE DISTINCTIVES How should we evaluate The Things of Earth within broader evangelicalism? First, I’ll admit I’m not aware of another book that seeks to accomplish quite what Rigney’s arguing for here. I see few evangelical books that offer popularized-but-still-complex accounts of deeply philosophical, theological, and aesthetical realities. Rigney’s volume is popular and accessible, but it requires a close reading. That serves as both a warning and an inspiration. Second, Rigney should be commended for his use of narrative theology. Narrative approaches to Scripture have seen a resurgence of interest within the fields of theology, but they aren’t always prefaced with a vital adjective: biblical. The Things of Earth’s narrative arc prioritizes scriptural authority and helps us see God’s activity through the lens of story and participation.
“...it investigates what the proper enjoyment of creation and culture means for people caught up by the richness of the gospel.” Third, I was most impressed with Rigney’s reliance on trinitarian theology to make his case. With Edwardsean flavor, he ably pulls out the rich implications of a thoroughgoing trinitarianism. Sadly, the doctrine of the Trinity remains understudied and underemphasized in the popular works that dominate evangelicalism. The Things of Earth is a welcome contribution to a vital doctrine. DEFENSE OF BEAUTY I’m almost 30, which makes me somewhat young, but growing less so all the time. The older I become, the more I’m convinced that beauty is the most profound defense for the Christian faith. That may sound odd, but were it not for the “Godness” of God I wouldn’t be able to account for beauty’s actual existence, splendor, and meaning. Rigney’s book is a defense of beauty’s realness, truthfulness, and all-out earthiness. I strongly commend The Things of Earth, a book conversant in deep truth about ordinary things—ordinary things packed with potency to see the world not in shades of grey, but in rapturously explosive technicolor.
Andrew Walker is the director of policy studies at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is also a PhD student in Christian ethics at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewtwalk. Used with permission from The Gospel Coalition. www.thegospelcoalition.org
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Missionary Update: The Boehms
The Quakes in Our Lives By Ed Boehm
O
n April 25, 2015, at about noon, a portion of the earth’s crust upon which Kathmandu rests (an area about 74 miles long by 37 miles wide) experienced a sudden, cataclysmic uplift of four feet and was shifted ten feet to the south—part of the fallout of a massive 7.8 earthquake. The quake actually originated 9 miles below the surface of the earth (50 miles to the northwest of Kathmandu), where there was a rupture or split along a fault line—the result of the build up of pressure from two massive tectonic plates mashing and grinding against each other. Meanwhile, back on the surface, we and about 3 million other people in the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding area experienced a violent jerking and shaking, a 45-second nightmare ride on a rocky wave of rumbling terror to our allnew GPS destination. At the time of the quake, I was at a Nepali church. The pastor was up front reading Scripture when the shaking started. I giggled nervously to myself the first few seconds, thinking this was just another insignificant jiggle among a number of
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MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
other jiggles I had experienced through the years. But then, the rumbling really started, the shaking got very jerky and violent, hanging fans started swaying, and I realized this wasn’t your garden variety quake. Some people started screaming and ran out the back of the church, others stayed where they were and prayed. I got down between some chairs (drop, cover and hold!), praying helplessly, waiting for it to end – whatever that might mean. When the shaking stopped I texted my wife Kelly, who was at home with the boys to let her know I was okay. She texted back that they too were all okay. Relief! For many in Kathmandu and the outlying districts closer to the epicenter, the earthquake meant much loss and grief: buildings collapsed, people lost their homes, their loved ones (over 8000 people died), their livestock, and perhaps most damaging of all, their sense of security, especially with the seeming endless aftershocks and a second significant quake on May 12. It will take many years to recover both physically and emotionally, and to adjust to the ‘new normal’.
O
n June 28 at about 9:30 pm the Boehm family will experience rupture and displacement of a much different kind than the recent quakes: we will board Qatar Airlines Flight 651 and travel back to the US, which will be our new home for the next three years. While this relocation won’t be as harrowing as the earthquakes (Lord willing!), on a personal/emotional level, it will certainly be unsettling, disruptive, and involve loss and grief. On one of our cupboards in our kitchen we have four sheets of paper, each with a question at the top: ‘What are we going to miss about Nepal? What are we not going to miss about Nepal? What are we looking forward to about living in America? What are we not looking forward to about living in America?’ Underneath we are writing down our answers to those questions. It’s an acknowledgement that while there are going to be losses in this transition, for sure, there will also be gains, just like with any other major change. It’s been good as a family to process this bigger picture together. Here are a few things on our lists: Things we will miss in Nepal? Friends, both expat and Nepali, and the sense of community, helpful people, taking a U-turn anywhere you want, riding bikes everywhere, mangoes, momos and wai-wai. Things we won’t miss in Nepal? Unpredictable, dangerous traffic, noise, high ping, dust/pollution, everything’s always negotiable. And on it goes. At the top of the list of things we’re looking forward to in the US is the extended time with loved ones we haven’t seen much of the past 20-plus years. Kelly and I are particularly looking forward to worshipping with like-minded believers, and soaking in consistent, solid Bible teaching at church! We also can’t wait to draw in deep breaths of fresh, clean air and enjoy wide, open spaces. In fact, this time away from Nepal comes at a really good time. We are pretty exhausted from things that have taken a huge emotional toll on us these past few years. We are looking forward to respite and rest from the thick of the battle for a time. But those who have been through this transition before say that one of the hardest things to deal with is a loss of identity, the chafing question below the surface: Who am I? Yes, our identity is ultimately in Christ, but on a human level, after 23 years of living and working in South Asia, and working in the ministry of Bible translation for minority languages, we will undoubtedly struggle with how we fit in back in America. Even though Kelly and I hope to return to Nepal in 3 years with our youngest son, and, in the meantime, I will continue with translation consulting from the US (virtually, with a few trips to Nepal each year), we still are moving on to a very different chapter of our lives. Especially for our boys, the adjustment will be huge and the identity question will be an ongoing one.
“...our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.”
So, please be patient with us, if we seem a little bit odd, or out of sorts. It may take us awhile to get acclimated. We hope you won’t mind if our boys call a soccer field a football pitch, or if they don’t seem quite as patriotic as might be expected. Don’t be surprised if we point with our chin instead of our fingers, if we shake our head in a funny way so that you don’t know if we mean yes or no, or if we need to use a few Nepali words to express what we really mean. And as you think about this imminent quake in our personal lives, and the adjustments ahead in this ‘new normal’, please pray that we put our trust in the sovereign God of Psalm 46:1, who is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. // RBC JULY & AUGUST 2015 \\ MOMENTUM
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Gospel Life More encouraging blog posts can be found at: RedeemerBibleChurch.com/resources/blog
What’s Your Shoe Size? By Pastor Paul Burr
O
ne of my favorite Monty Python skits is built around the question, What’s your shoe size? That is the question that pervades daily life in this skit. In the skit, they were trying to get the fire brigade to come to the house and they answered all the questions with “yes,” except when the phone operator asked what their shoe size was. It is a nonsensical question that throbs in the mind of this crazy skit, but no one questions why it is asked. To every other question asked in the skit, the answer is yes. When Gabe introduced J. D. Greear’s Idol Detector questions and I started answering them, all of a sudden I realized that all the questions had the same answer. Here are the four he picked for us to answer:
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MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
• What is the one thing you most worry about losing? • If you could change one thing about yourself right now, what would it be? • What thing have you sacrificed most for? • What triggers depression in you? Like the shoe size skit, I realized one answer, one idol, kept coming to the surface. For me it was that my work was becoming my identity. “My ministry role” is the answer to all the questions above. There you have it – one answer fits all. The Lord used these questions to highlight this one idol in my life. So how do I kill this idol? I put my ministry role in proper perspective in relation to the gospel and to Jesus in my life. I put my trust in Jesus. I run to God’s Word.
Psalm 57:1-2 (ESV) Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. God Most High is my refuge, the one who fulfills his purpose for me. My idol, my ministry role, does not fulfill the purpose for me, but the Lord does. That is the answer I am looking for. By the way, I am a size 9. // RBC
Gospel Life More encouraging blog posts can be found at: RedeemerBibleChurch.com/resources/blog
Sleepless Nights, the Word, and a Sympathetic Savior By Pastor John Sweet
I
don’t know about you, but if I wake up at night I find it nearly impossible to get back to sleep. My mind starts running as soon as I realize where I am, and the questions start to flow…Why did I say that to that person at coffee time today? Is my daughter safe? Did I pay the mortgage? Is our budget on track? Am I spending too many hours at work? Or at church? Is that customer going to sue my company? Am I prepared for that meeting tomorrow? The questions keep coming, and I know I’m going to be awake for at least a couple of hours. Hebrews 4:9-10 says, “there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” I know in my heart that I love Jesus, and I have trusted in Him as my Savior. I’m part of the people of God. So why, even when I know and trust a sovereign God, do I seem at times so
far from God’s rest as I toss and turn and try to settle my mind? The fact is, as a fallen creature, living in a world cursed by sin, I am powerless to settle my own mind. When Jesus returns I will receive a body free from sin and its effects—including worry. In my life today, however, only the power of the Holy Spirit can settle my restless heart, by God’s grace. Yet the writer to the Hebrews tells me I am still responsible to enter into God’s rest—to “strive to enter that rest” (v 11). So, I am both powerless and responsible! How can this be? Fortunately, the answer is found in the balance of Hebrews chapter 4. The Holy Spirit works to change my heart through the means God has ordained in this world. Hebrews 4:1216 tells us those means are God’s Word and prayer. In verse 12, the writer tells us that as we read, study, and memorize God’s Word, it pierces our
hearts and exposes our sin—in my case the sin of unbelief in a God who has been only faithful to me for nearly 50 years! If the story ended there, I would be crushed. But the writer continues in verses 14-16 to show how my Savior, Jesus, is patient with me because he experienced first-hand what it was like to live as a helpless human being. Jesus sympathizes with our weakness (v 15), so you and I can “draw near to the throne of grace” through prayer. Oh, what a blessing that the veil was torn in two! I still have trouble sleeping sometimes. More and more every day, though, the Holy Sprit has been allowing me to see my sleeplessness as a gentle nudge back to the Word and to talking with Jesus. I can honestly say that those 3 AM worship times have been some of the sweetest I have ever experienced. Praise God he (sometimes) loves me enough not to let me sleep. // RBC JULY & AUGUST 2015 \\ MOMENTUM
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Financial Update
Generosity Doesn’t Go On Vacation
By Pastor Paul Burr
G
od doesn’t take vacations. One of the unique things about the ministry year in Minnesota is that summer is the time people like to get away on vacation. For some
By the Numbers
churches, this is also a time when giving goes on vacation. I love to run scenarios with numbers, especially RBC’s finance numbers. I looked at giving trends over the last five years. I compared “Winter” giving (January through March) with “Summer” giving (June through August). You’ll
BUDGET $ 676,612
GIVING $ 717,774
$ 32,078
OPERATING EXPENSES $ 685,696
never guess what I discovered. At no time during the last 4 fiscal years did summer giving lag winter giving. In oth-
FISCAL YEAR TOTALS // THRU JUNE
er words, summer giving was even or outpaced winter giving, with summer on average almost 5% higher than winter. So well done Redeemerites! So, again this year as we all are planning our summer vacations make sure that we also plan our summer giving. Using electronic giving or PushPay is a great way of
800 K 700 K 600 K 500 K
making sure our generosity doesn’t go on vacation. God
400 K
doesn’t take vacations, neither does the gospel, it is al-
300 K
ways working. // RBC
200 K 100 K 0
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MOMENTUM // JULY & AUGUST 2015
GIVING EXPENSES BUDGET
How I Met Jesus More encouraging blog posts can be found at: RedeemerBibleChurch.com/resources/blog GREGG WILLIAMS My testimony of how I came to know Jesus is a miraculous journey. I am one of nine kids and we grew up with lots of family outings and events that involved alcohol. I began sampling and drinking alcohol at a very early age. By the time I was in high school, I was drinking regularly and in large quantities. This was the beginning of a downward spiral that culminated with a DWI when I was 23 years old. On September 7th, 1991, I was in a wedding and met a nice young lady named Vikki Chambers, who was in the wedding also. I barely got to know her then, but had an opportunity to see her again when the couple whose wedding we were in had a party in October. Prior to this party, I had gone to court for my DWI. On the day of my court appearance, September 29th, I had to see a court assessor and he convinced me that I needed to quit drinking and take treatment seriously. He told me I was a professional drinker and that if I didn’t make a drastic change in my life, I wouldn’t make it to 30! I took what he said to heart, and wanted to stay sober at least to give treatment a chance. I haven’t had a drink since that day 24 years ago! At the party I previously mentioned, I worked up the courage to ask Vikki out on a date, and she said okay. I told her it would have to be in a week or so, because I had to go to the workhouse the next morning as part of my punishment for the DWI. She still said okay! The workhouse was full, so I was sent home to serve that time on home detention. Praise the Lord for that! The first call I made was to Vikki because I was so excited, and she and I talked for 2-3 hours that night on the phone… and every night that week. On one of the first dates, Vikki invited me to church, and I said okay. The
sermon was long and I fought to stay awake. When she invited me back the next week, I kind of felt like I wanted to go, but wasn’t thrilled with the idea. I was surprised that the preacher picked up right where he left off from the previous week, and it sort of made sense. Vikki & I continued to date and most of those dates ended up back at the Chambers’ house, having conversations with Vikki and her mom Barb about the previous sermon and whatever questions I had. It was very easy for me to see the depths of my sin and my need for a savior. Although the story has many more moving parts, the fall of 1991 is when my miracle happened: I quit drinking, met my wife Vikki, and gave my life to Christ. Vikki and Barb had led me to the Lord! Praise our loving Father who orchestrates salvation for wretches like me! // RBC VIKKI WILLIAMS It was at an early age that God chose for me to encounter the truth of the saving grace of Christ, His pursuit, sacrifice and deep love for me, His gospel and glory. Up until a few years ago, I was blessed to have a mother who loved the Lord deeply. She talked of Him often and every time she did, she wept with gratitude and love. I am so thankful to have grown up hearing the gospel from her and at Sunday school weekly here at this Bible-teaching, Bible-believing church, RBC. It may be a new building, have a different name and different teachers, but God has made sure His gospel has been proclaimed here through the years. Learning the testimonies of God’s people from the Bible and also from the lives of His people that live now – their struggles with sin and unbelief, then God pursuing them, their redemption and Christ’s perfect walk for us, death
and resurrection for His glory – was and is foundational and instrumental to my salvation today. I put my faith in Christ initially at around 8 years of age. I would take bike rides on the rural roads around my home with my dog and talk to God. I would ask Him to make Himself real to me, help me to see that He really existed, loved me and had me in His hands. I had a tremendous amount of fear of people, the dark and death. I continually had nightmares that often stayed with me throughout the day. God used this to cause me run to Him for safety, to learn of His love for me in His word, and ask those who I felt loved God (like my mom) to explain the gospel to me again and again. I can tell you most emphatically, HE answered those prayers!!!! In addition, He saved me, opened my eyes to my sin and rescued me from myself!!! In my late teens and into college, I strayed with my outward life and behavior. I foolishly believed that the promises of success and happiness from this world were more sound than God’s promises. I basically tried to live with one foot in God’s world and one foot in this world. God used an unplanned pregnancy as His shepherd's hook to pull this wandering sheep back into His fold -- something to get me to stop, come back, and ask, “Why Lord?” All in one instant, life took a big turn. I knew God was loudly present. I met my husband at a wedding when my son Austin was about 6 months old; Gregg’s story fit in perfectly with mine. God had designed Gregg through his experiences with his own trials to be looking to love someone just like me! It was sobering, but the beginning of a new plan, a new story for us – one that had and has Christ firmly planted in our lives. // RBC JULY & AUGUST 2015 \\ MOMENTUM
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Affinity Groups YOUNG ADULTS Are you in your 20s or 30s looking for a way to connect at RBC? Look no further! RBC Young Adults would like to invite you to join our next gathering!
LAKE DAY AT THE TREBESCH’S DATE: Saturday, August 15th TIME: 3:00pm LOCATION: Jesse & Katie Trebesch’s home (283 Halsey Ave NE, Buffalo, MN 55313) WHAT TO BRING: Your own food to grill and a dish to share. A swimsuit and any fun water toys (tubes, floaties, etc.). Children are welcome. For more information, contact Katie Trebesch at 612.462.4596 or kathryn-lindquist@bethel.edu.
HILLTOPPERS HillToppers is a great way for Redeemer’s “older” crowd to get connected and have fun (emphasis on fun!). If you are over the proverbial “hill” (50s, 60s, 70s & up), please join us for our next event!
“5TH SATURDAY” BREAKFAST DATE: Saturday, August 29 TIME: 9-11:30am LOCATION: Ministries Building. Potluck breakfast to be followed by games on the Ministries Building lawn. Please RSVP to Pat York by Wednesday, August 26. Email: yorkp711@ yahoo.com; Cell: 612.508.4408; Home: 952.473.5196
DORCAS DAMES The Dorcas Dames are named after a disciple named Tabitha (Dorcas in Greek) who was a well-known and wellloved seamstress in the Bible (read Acts 9:36-42 for her story). If you enjoy sewing, we would love to have you join us in making baby quilts that will be donated. It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or a fanatic quilter, just plan on having lots of fun!
QUILTING SESSION DATE: Friday, August 21 TIME: 9am - 3pm LOCATION: Ministries Building WHAT TO BRING: Your lunch and sewing machine. For more information, contact Jean Bradford at retrojean@q.com.
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ALIVE youth summer camp AUG 6-10th
Sign up NOW // www.tiny.cc/loazzx Pine Lake Camp // 32203 230th St., Eldora, IA 50627 contact // youth@redeemerbiblechurch.com
REDEMPTION SUMMER BIBLE STUDY
PSALMS SUNDAYS @ 9am STARTING JUNE 28th
July
August
SUNDAY // 5th
SUNDAY // 19th
SUNDAY // 2nd
SUNDAY // 16th
10a | Gathered Worship
9a | Gathered Worship *LT 9a | Youth Bible Study 11a | Gathered Worship *LT
9a | Gathered Worship 11a | Gathered Worship 6p | The Lord's Table
9a | Gathered Worship *LT 11a | Gathered Worship *LT
THURSDAY // 6th
9a-3p | Dorcas Dames
THURSDAY // 9th 10a | Park Playdates
SUNDAY // 12th 9a | Gathered Worship 11a | Gathered Worship 9a | Youth Bible Study 6p | The Lord's Table
THURSDAY // 16th 10a | Park Playdates
THURSDAY // 23rd 10a | Park Playdates
SUNDAY // 26th 9a | Gathered Worship 9a | Youth Bible Study 11a | Gathered Worship
THURSDAY // 30th 10a | Park Playdates
10a | Park Playdates 6:30p | Newcomer's Dinner
SUNDAY // 9th 9a | Gathered Worship 11a | Gathered Worship
THURSDAY // 13th 10a | Park Playdates
SATURDAY // 15th
FRIDAY // 21st SUNDAY // 23rd 9a | Gathered Worship 11a | Gathered Worship
SATURDAY // 29th 9a | Hilltoppers Breakfast
SUNDAY // 30th 9a | Gathered Worship 11a | Gathered Worship
3p | Young Adults Lake Day
Thursday
AUGUST 6th
Sunday
SEPTEMBER 13th
Newcomer’s Dinner
Membership Class
THURSDAY, 6:30 - 8:30 PM | FELLOWSHIP HALL
10:30 AM | MINISTRIES BUILDING, RM 102
New to RBC? We'd love for you to attend our next Newcomer's Dinner. This is a great opportunity to learn more about Redeemer and meet some of our leadership. Families with children are welcome. Email office@redeemerbiblechurch. com to sign up!
Local churches in a community are like the individual members of the body of Christ – full of wonderful diversity. This class presents an overview of Redeemer’s vision, values, doctrine, mission, plan, structure, and is the first step in becoming a membership at RBC. Sign up for this class: office@redeemerbiblechurch.com. * Includes The Lord's Table