Veritas Aequitas

Ezekiel 3:5-7 “For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel, nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you; yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate.”

I’ve just begun rereading-through the prophets. I started Ezekiel today, and in the initial monologue from God to his chosen messenger, Ezekiel, are these striking words!

As if to ward-off any unwillingness on the part of the unsuspecting Ezekiel (like Moses tried to argue with God), God tells him not to worry – His words will be with him, and He will protect him from the rebellious house of Israel who won’t heed his words.

The house of Israel should listen because it’s a prophet who has been among them. And yet they’re so hardened, that even the warnings, exhortations, and condemnations of the Lord Almighty will be ignored!

How many times has God sent to you and I messengers with His words that we’ve ignored? I can say it’s at least in the hundreds for me – all those Sundays I was in church, ignoring my Sunday School teachers, the pastor, parents, concerned church members.

Years of not caring, and sometimes willful refusal to listen. How fortunate I am that God is patient with us! I wasn’t converted till sometime in or after highschool – my mid to late teens.

But Israel – God’s CHOSEN people! Israel – the nation for whom God destroyed pagan cultures, nations, and peoples so they could have an inheritance promised to them. That Israel. The Israel who was in captivity in Babylon because of their sins was going to ignore yet another faithful messenger God was sending them.

God told Ezekiel he’d be ignored – but he still had to deliver his message. We know Ezekiel was faithful to his calling, because it has been recorded for us. But I shudder to think of the souls condemned who wilfully ignored and refused to listen to him when God Himself sent him to them!

God is patient, indeed – but His patience is not forever. Eventually, He gives those up who will not listen. Even when He knows they willnot listen, though, He still sends messengers to them pleading that they repent and turn to God! Israel was going to be liberated from their captivity in another couple decades, but how many souls were lost to eternity because they wouldn’t heed the Lord’s message?

3:17-19 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself.”

Ezekiel was God’s warner in his day. Today we’ve been given pastors, teachers, godly parents, and friends – all of whom are trying to warn those around them of God’s coming judgement. Ezekiel was absolved of the blood of his countrymen because he gave them the warnings from God.

Are we taking heed to that warning issued to Ezekiel today? Are we engaging those around us, warning the of what is coming if they do not repent? Are we trying to talk to our neighbors, family members, friends, coworkers? Are we sharing the wonderful news of redemption through the sacrifice of Jesus? Or are we hoarding that news all to ourselves? Will we squeak into heaven when we die because we’ve thrown our sins on Christ, but nothing more? Or will be triumphantly presenting our captured souls before the Lamb – showing Him that we have been faithful servants, reinvesting what has been entrusted to us for the benefit and furtherance of the kingdom?

I have just completed my 28th year as an individual person.

A year ago, I worked for HP and was getting ready to go to Chicago to start the rollout of HPSA for HSBC.

11 months ago I was getting ready to go to London to participate in more HSBC stuff.

10 months ago I was enjoying a week vacation away from technology in Bamber Bridge, UK.

9 months ago my parents were just getting ready to head back to NY after visiting me in NC for a couple weeks.

But while all those were fun, they pale in comparison to what happened 8 months ago. On 1 February 2009 I was “matched” with a Kentucky girl named “Christina” on eHarmony.

I sure didn’t know 8 months ago how very, VERY different this year would be from any previously.

A few days after being matched with Christina, I started making plans to go to Hong Kong for work to complete the HSBC rollout. Then, part way through February, I found out my position was being targeted for a “workforce reduction” due to slow services sales.

7 months ago I was in Hong Kong, finalizing my work with HSBC, and searching for a new job – and, oh yeah! – talking to this sweet southern girl in Kentucky.

I was also being intermittently spoken-to by a recruiter in Singapore about some HPSA contract work for an “investment bank”.

Part way into March I moved from merely emailing Christina to talking to her on the phone.

6 months ago I was more aggressively job-hunting because my tenure with HP was closing-out quickly. I was also planning a week trip to Florida with my dad for the EAA’s Sun-n-Fun convention and airshow.

5 months ago I was debating whether or not to accept the position with Barclay’s Capital. Oh – and planning to meet Christina in person for our first “date”.

On 9 May I met Christina at a small Italian restaurant in Corbin KY called Dino’s. We enjoyed some pasta, talked, and then went to Cumberland Falls. Talked more, watched the flood waters course through the gorge, noticed a wedding party getting pictures, and then headed into town for a coffee – where we again talked more.

After a few hours, we parted, and I headed-on to Detroit to visit some old friends I’d never met.

2 weeks later, we were making plans for a trip to Asheville for our second in-person date. I had already decided I liked Christina a LOT, but was nervous about expressing that – so I held off till just before our time together was done. Turns out I coulda said something sooner, cause [thankfully!] she felt the same way

Next up was scheduling a trip to meet her parents. I spent a bunch of time in KY before I left for Singapore. Wish I’d spent more!

3.5 months ago I arrived in Singapore for a few weeks to start working for Barclays. I was also eagerly awaiting my month-long trip back to the US to see my sweetheart.

Part way into July I boarded my flight for Tokyo, as the first leg in a 36-hour Thursday which was going to terminate with me driving to Corbin to see Christina. The next day we flew to Boston for my friend Dan’s wedding.

The following weekend I made official a commitment I’d already made in my head weeks previously, and asked Christina to marry me!

Now I’m counting-down the days (9.5!) till my fiancée arrives in Singapore for two weeks!

It’s truly amazing how much can happen in a year. Or a month. Or a day.

I’m continually amazed, awed, and thankful at how God orchestrates everything in our lives together for good.

I can only imagine what God has in store for the next year! If it goes anything like I hope, my next birthday won’t be alone – it will be with my wife!

Tim Challies has posted an interview with the author of Gospel-Powered Parenting, William Farley.

This book is going on my to-read-and-share list

I came across this post by Dan Edelen yesterday, and want to share it with you.

How quick we are to presume we know the whole story! I never noticed the passage in Ezekiel before, either!

How many of the things in that list – arrogance, gluttony, apathy, uncaringness/unlovingness, haughtiness – are you and I guilty of?

Again how true is what Jesus says to his disciples: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

There is no one sin that is any worse than another – we’ve all sinned and deserve death and punishment.

How awesome is it that God provided a way of escape through his Son!

to complete my claim with technorati, I must add the claim code: ix2uwqbvn3

I came across a great resource yesterday: http://www.translatum.gr/bible/download.htm.

Several versions available, and all free

I’ve written recently about both baptism and church membership.

In those two posts, I argue both that the modern concept of “membership” is wrong, and that withholding baptism from a professing believer implies a more perfect knowledge of the state of someone’s soul than a mere human can claim to have.

If membership is a Biblical concept in some fashion, is there a legitimate rationale for “stages” or “types” of membership, or disallowing membership until the applicant has reached a given age?

What I mean is that if there is a way of defining “belonging” to a church without the manmade additions as seen in modern church membership, is there a reason to have a series of member statuses. For example, junior member, full member, transient/associate member.

Is there any Biblical or otherwise reasonable warrant for limiting the responsibilities or roles of a member because of their age? For example, does it make sense to dismiss “junior” members when issues that need to be handled by the church arise but are of a “mature” nature (perhaps sexual sin, or public incidents involving drugs, etc)?

If there is reasonable warrant for such levels, how does the church determine at what age a person should go from “junior” to “full”? Should it be up to the parents of the member? Is it entirely based on age? Is it a determination that needs to be made from the member’s standpoint, by speaking to the elders about a change in status?

Of course, if there is a staged membership concept, it could be abused by people not wanting to become “full” members, and keeping themselves as “junior” for as long as they could.

My question about associate/transient membership is more related to a person who spends a lot of time traveling or splits his work between a few places for more than just a week or two at a time. Such a transient status could allow a level of local responsibility with a given church, for example in St Louis, while maintaining a similar status with another church in, say, Detroit.

If we use Paul’s commendations of various people from one church to another, then it seems there is warrant for an associate concept of church belonging. Of course, as with the “junior” and “full” concepts, this could be abused by someone who wanted to avoid responsibility at all by claiming they were committed to the other church(es) they belong to, and really do nothing with any of them.

What are your thoughts?

I came across this except recently in my meanderings, and feel it is worth reprinting here.

---

Many think of Jesus as a weak, sad looking fellow. He has been depicted as such by artists around the world for thousands of years.

I could be wrong, but personally, I think Jesus was a man’s man. Remember, Jesus was a carpenter. In those days, nail guns, circular saws, chainsaws, and belt sanders were not available. To be a successful carpenter, you needed to be patient and strong. You chopped down a tree with your axe, cut it to a manageable length by hand, then carried it by hand or beast to the work area, cut it to finished length by hand, hand shaped it, and hand nailed it. I think Jesus was physically strong, with rough, calloused hands.

With that in mind, let’s look in Mark 11. Here, Jesus is heading to Jerusalem for His final days. In Mark 11:11, He walks through the temple and “looked round about upon all things”, then He went to Bethany for the night. While Jesus was in the temple, He saw that the people had forgotten the significance of what the temple represented. They had become callous to the importance of the building. They had become indifferent, even cold to the presence of Almighty God who was worshipped there. The merchants had taken up space for business within the temple proper, carrying on commerce and haggling over profits on holy ground. People were taking shortcuts around town by wandering through the courtyard, as if the temple was just another building or some obstacle to be crossed through as quickly as possible. It is doubtful behaviour like this would have been permitted in the days of Moses or Joshua. Frankly, as some might say, “they were cruising for a bruising”.

At some point after walking through the Temple and reviewing what was happening there, Jesus sits down and makes a scourge (per Strong’s, the Greek word is phragellion, and means “a whip, that is, Roman lash as a public punishment“). Notice Jesus was not out of control, nor did He throw a furious fit about what He saw in the temple; He simply looked around, then calmly left for Bethany, and made His whip. The next day (per verse 12) Jesus enters the temple again, and begins cleaning house.

Now, consider John 2:15. Jesus goes into the temple, driving out the moneychangers. Can’t you see a greedy merchant, ticked off at Jesus, going to the temple guards, demanding that they stop Him? I can imagine the guards looking at Jesus, looking at his whip, and then looking back at the merchant, and saying, “Hey pal, I’d like to see YOU go try to stop him!”

Is there an appropriate age at which someone can be considered for baptism? Is there an “age of majority” that needs to be considered before allowing someone who professes faith to be immersed in the baptistery?

I am a firm adherent to believer’s baptism. When a sinner is saved by grace, it is both their responsibility, and their privilege to be baptized and join the church.

But at what age can a profession of faith be “trustworthy”? Is there something magical about turning 16, 18, 20, 21, etc that makes a statement about an internal change of heart more true or more believable? I was not converted until about when I graduated high school. I knew for a long time that I was playing by the rules so I didn’t get in trouble. So by the time I was a Christian, no church I knew of would have had an issue with baptizing me.

But what about people I know who were converted around age 6? Or 10? Or 13? What is about turning 16 or 18 that makes some churches think that now they can believe that a person is really saved? What must be going-on in a converted child’s mind when a church won’t let them be baptized for 8 years because they’re only 10? Does that not lead to a great deal of self-doubt and wondering if what they’ve learned and accepted and believed is really true?

If a person has been truly saved, they can never become “unsaved” – but they can struggle with issues of assurance for years because someone they trust (a pastor, parent, Sunday school teacher, etc) has told them they have to wait.

All of the examples we have in the Bible of people declaring their faith in Jesus have them immediately being baptized as soon as a suitable source of water can be found. Yes – the apostles had special insights that our pastors can’t have today. However, even in the Jerusalem church were there found people who agreed to lie to the Holy Spirit about how much money they received for the plot of land they sold.

Were Ananias and Saphira false converts? I don’t know. But they didn’t show well in the only instance we have recorded of them in the Bible.

My personal conviction is that upon a credible profession of faith, any person should be baptized as soon as possible. As humans, we will make mistakes. We will occasionally recommend the wrong person to the church. Or misapprehend a profession as being what we want to hear, rather than what is really going-on. A verbal profession, followed by some [short] time of observation by both the person’s family, the church, their friends, and maybe coworkers ought to be enough to determine the likelihood of their statement being true.

But when that short observational time is done – and they’re still following what they claim to believe, withholding baptism from them becomes no longer a verification that they are what they say they are, but a way for the church to impose extra rules on top of the examples shown to us in the Bible’s account.

As reported on The Fishermen, http://thefishermen.us/?p=332. 41 questions to ask a church.

A. Theological Questions

1. What is the church’s statement of faith and how did the church devise it?

2. What has been the most vexed theological question the church has faced? Has there ever been a church split over theology or practice? Why?

3. On the wider scene, what theological trends and strands of false teaching would the elders at Ballymoney be particularly concerned about at the moment?

4. What are the key functions/roles of an elder at Ballymoney?

5. What is the elder’s relationship to the pastor? (For example, is the pastor an elder? Do the elders perceive themselves as, in some way, subordinate?)

6. What would the church’s position be on the role of women?

7. What is the church’s position on the function of charismatic gifts?

8. Is there a different kind of membership for someone differing on secondary issues? Would it ever be considered?

9. What kind of church government structure is practiced? How does it work out in practice?

B. Ministry-Philosophy Questions

10. What is the process of being baptised and becoming a church member? How is baptism and membership encouraged?

11. What are the expectations laid upon church members?

12. How does the church practice church discipline? (What sort of discipline has been practiced in the past?)

13. Do the elders have any plans for expansion of the building or church planting?

14. What, if anything, would the elders want to see change or develop in the future? (each elder might want to answer individually!)

15. Do the church members generally (and happily) follow the lead of the eldership?

16. Can the elders give evidence of an openness to growing in their role? (by eg. reading resources on eldership, attending conferences, having a weekend away with pastor, etc)

17. In what ways (if at all) do you think my young age might affect my reception both in the church and among the eldership?

18. What would be the minimum and maximum expectations be of the frequency of the pastor’s preaching? (ie. is one Sunday evening off in preaching a month the minimum acceptable; on the other hand, would preaching every service without fail be deemed unhelpful)

19. What items in the current services are non-negotiable? What other items are deemed acceptable and have been featured in the past? Is the pastor responsible for putting together all orders of service?

20. Is the current practice of communion (format, timing, gap between service and communion) set in stone?

21. What sorts of things do the Ballymoney elders feel the pastor should not be doing with his time?

22. What are the congregational/eldership expectations (these two may be different) regarding pastoral visitation?

23. How often are business meetings conducted? Does the pastor moderate this? Are they productive and generally positive? What is typically discussed?

24. Does the church have a yearly budget and if so, how is it put together?

25. What is the church’s attitude and approach to missionaries?

26. Who is responsible for the website and library and how easy would it be for the pastor to make a significant input into each of these areas? (Note: I believe these resources would have some relation to my teaching function as a pastor)

27. Has the church ever had Fellowship Groups? If so, what is the leadership’s feeling about their significance?

28. What are the leadership’s views concerning counselling?

29. How would you sum up the spiritual health of the congregation in qualitative terms (against measurements like prayer, heart for evangelism, love for one another)?

30. What kind of impact have ‘the troubles’ and its aftermath had on the Ballymoney congregation?

31. Pardoning the expression, are there any ‘sacred cows’ in the church?

32. Would the congregation consider adding an additional paid staff member at any point?

C. Personal Questions

33. Would the elders have any objection to the pastor working from a church office? (my preferred place for sermon prep)

34. What is the view of the elders regarding the pastor resourcing himself? (conferences; the odd retreat to read & plan, etc)

35. Are there any expenses for things?

36. What is the rationale regarding days off and holidays?

37. Is there any scope for ‘preaching away’ from Ballymoney? (Note: I would be very cautious about doing much of this, especially early on, however)

38. Do you think it would be relatively easy for a young family to settle into the church/town? What challenges might Nicki and the children face?

39. What role would the pastor’s wife be expected to have in the church?

40. What are the schools like in Ballymoney?

41. How easy might it be to buy an affordable house in the Ballymoney area?

The original edition of this list: http://unashamedworkman.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/41-questions-to-ask-a-potential-church/.