I’ve been doing a lot of reading and studying recently about heaven and hell. Our youth group kids had a lot of questions about the afterlife, so on Wednesday nights we’re diving into Scripture to find out what has been revealed to us.

I am by no means close to reaching any definitive conclusion for myself about what happens when we die, but I’m on that journey. I’m currently reading a book by N.T. Wright called Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. So far, it’s very interesting. Wright has already touched on a lot of the questions I have, and I’m excited to see where he goes with all of this.

That being said, I want to simply put my own questions out there. Maybe you’ve wrestled with some of them yourself. If you have any good book suggestions or any other thoughts on the issue, I would be more than happy to hear from you.

My initial thoughts & questions:

• Are heaven and hell only experienced after you die?
• Is the whole point of heaven to be a place where disembodied souls go to rest on the clouds and get a good base tan in the constant sunlight?
• Have we gotten our whole concept of heaven wrong, especially in our beloved hymns? I mean, is it even biblical to think that one day we’ll “fly away” to “God’s celestial shore”? Where did that idea come from?
• Is the resurrection promised to believers the same as that experienced by Jesus – a full, bodily resurrection? Or is that resurrection merely the continuing existence of our spirits?
• Is heaven really going to be a purely spiritual existence or is it going to be a continuation, a remaking, of the purified and redeemed physical universe?
• Why can’t we, as a church collectively and as believers individually, come to some clear consensus about the afterlife?
• If the only hope of eternal life and heaven is to be realized after we die, then what’s the point in praying that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven?

A lesson by Patrick Mead and our weekly reading assignments at our church have got me thinking about Hagar lately. Hagar gets kind of a bad rap. She was the one that Abraham got pregnant (at the request of his own wife). She gave birth to Ishmael who has traditionally been regarded as the father of the Arabs. Muslims trace the history of their faith back to him. The descendants of Ishmael were violent, aggressive, and territorial. And to this day, many blame much of the unrest in the Middle East on this one son of a slave woman.

Disclaimer: I have no references for the above statements. I have not done the historical research. I am simply passing along what I have been taught, whether true or not.

Regardless of the historical implications of this…subsitutionary impregnation…the story of Hagar is both tragic and beautiful.

Hagar was an Egyptian woman. Kind of. She may not have been Egyptian in nationality, but she was probably one of the “gifts” given to Abraham and Sarah by Pharaoh. In an attempt to speed up the fulfillment of God’s promises to them, Sarah got the bright idea for Abraham to sleep with Hagar. That should have been the first red flag.

And then after Hagar conceives, Sarah gets jealous of Hagar and starts mistreating her. Couldn’t see that one coming. This is beginning to sound like a bad reality show.

Sarah’s hazing becomes so over the top that Hagar runs away. She’s gone. Done. Finished. But where would she go? She has no family, no friends, no support system, no home. Sarah doesn’t chase after her. Abraham doesn’t go searching. But God does.

   The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
   “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
   Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” (Genesis 16:7-10)

   She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”  (Genesis 16:13)

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob. (Genesis 21:15-16)

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
   Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
   God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt. (Genesis 21:17-21)

I’m well on my way to completing and surpassing my goal for 2012 of reading 2 books per month or 24 books for the year. Here’s my list so far. I try to read one Spiritual/Religious/Ministry book and one fiction novel at a time.

1. King’s Cross, by Timothy Keller
2. Forgotten God, by Francis Chan
3. Erasing Hell, by Francis Chan
4. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. Miracles, by C.S. Lewis
7. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
8. Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman
9. The Hunger Games, by Susanne Collins
10. Catching Fire   ”   “
11. Mockingjay    ”    “
12. Technopoly, by Neil Postman
13. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams
14. Long, Dark Tea Time of the Soul    ”   “
15. Shattered, by Dean Koontz
16. Beautiful Outlaw, by John Eldredge
17. The Practice of the Presence of God, by brother Lawrence
18. Timeline, by Michael Crichton
19. Kingdom Come, by John Mark Hicks and Bobby Valentine
20. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
21. Speaker for the Dead  ”   “

I’ve been reading through and thinking about the story Jesus tells in Luke 16:19-31. It’s commonly known as “The Rich Man and Lazarus.” It’s a story about…a rich man and a guy named Lazarus. Gotta work on better titles for Jesus’ stories.

Lazarus was a poor, disease ridden beggar who stationed himself right at the edge of the rich (unnamed) man’s driveway. In a strange turn of events, they both kick the bucket. Angels deliver Lazarus first-class into Abraham’s side (the word “bosom” makes me uncomfortable). But the rich man was simply “buried.” Guess he had to take a ride in coach for the first time ever. The rich guy wakes up in Hades.

Upon waking up, the rich guy set about doing one thing rich people do really well – he started complaining. It’s hot. I’m thirsty. Send someone to serve me right away.

It takes him some time, and a stern lecture from “Father” Abraham, but the rich man finally realizes his fate. He had enjoyed all the comforts of his earthly life by stepping all over people like Lazarus. Now it’s his turn to suffer. This realization hits him in waves.

Then he poses another request: “Send Lazarus back to my brothers to warn them not to do what I did.” Noble enough.

But Abraham’s response is the final burst of the bubble. “They have Moses and the Prophets to listen to. If they won’t believe them, then they won’t believe even if someone is raised from the dead.”

(Insert creepy Twilight Zone music here.)

But in a strange, roundabout way, the warning is made, the request fulfilled. Sure, it’s doubtful that the rich man’s brothers were in the audience when Jesus was telling this story, yet the warning was issued to all those who would listen. Jesus is playing the part of Lazarus, and we’re all brothers of the rich guy.

Hear the warning from beyond the grave: Don’t love the comforts of this world so much that you become blind to those who are perpetually uncomfortable.

Can you believe this guy? He’s messing with John 3:16. Who does he think he is?


No doubt, if you went to Sunday school then you probably memorized this verse at one point or another. And it’s a great verse. I think it speaks volumes in only a few words – the summation of the entire gospel message.

Here’s how it reads in most translations:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV 2011)

God loved the world so very, very much that he gave his only Son. Because he did that, everyone who believes in him will not lose his life, but will live for ever. (Worldwide English Translation)

For this is how God loved the world: he gave his one and only Son that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament)

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (Holman Christian Standard)

We Christians, especially in the West, love to try and make Scripture speak favorably of the “American Dream.” We take verses like Philippians 4:13, as we saw yesterday, and shove them into a part of the puzzle where they just don’t quite fit. I want Paul to be saying that I can be whatever I want to be and do whatever I want to do as long as I’m keeping my eyes on Jesus. That sounds like a brilliant plan for successful “Christian living.” But that’s simply not what he says.

Another well known verse in a similar vein is Jeremiah 29:11. The unfortunate thing is that most people who claim this as their favorite Bible verse *probably* have never read the context, much less the rest of Jeremiah.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

If there ever was a verse indicating that the American Dream is in line with Scripture, it’s this one. It’s like a pep talk before the big game. It’s the reassuring send off to a college freshman. It’s the hope that overcomes the butterflies as you begin a new career.

Or is it?

This is in the context of a letter written from Jeremiah to those carted away into exile in Babylon. Everything they have ever known has been taken with them. If they’re lucky, they might have some family members of friends around them.

Their country is in shambles. Their home is hundreds of miles away. People all around them have been killed. They have no money, no possessions. Their God has abandoned them. They are now forced to live in a pagan land among brutal people who worship false gods.

Complete and utter decimation of everything they had ever known.

And now they get this letter from a prophet back home telling them to get comfortable?! Are you kidding me?

Get married. Start a family. Buy a home. Plant a garden. Get settled and cozy because you’re going to be here a while. It’ll be your grandkids who make it back home, not you. And while you’re at it, go ahead and pray for the prosperity of the very country that ruined your life because if they prosper, you will prosper.

Wow.

When we’re in the midst of a crisis, the last thing we want to hear is that it’ll all be okay. Things will get better soon.

God doesn’t do that. He essentially says, “I warned you this would happen. I told you. But this is your new life now. Get used to it. See you in seventy years!”

You see, all their lives the people of Judah had been looking after themselves. If you trace your way back through Kings and Chronicles you will see that most of their decisions were extremely selfish and short sighted. But now, for the first time ever, God is challenging them to think about future generations. When God says, “I know the plans I have for you,” He’s not talking specifically about the recipients of that letter. He means their grand children.

The readers are stuck. They got themselves in a bind and now they can’t get out. Tough luck. But in seventy years, God would return, gather their grand children and great grand children, and lead them all back home. Or at least He would lead all those who wanted to leave Babylon, which by that time would become their home.

So when you read this verse, Jeremiah 29:11, it’s still a verse loaded with hope. But it’s not hope for you. It’s hope for your grand children if you do the right things today.

This is not a verse of hope and comfort, it’s a verse of challenge. Are you up to the challenge? Will your grand children be better off because of the choices you are making right now?

“When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, “declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” Jeremiah 29:10-14

According to the popular proverb, “You should never meet your hero.” The idea is that this person has become so idolized in your mind and your imagination that you are bound to be disappointed if you actually get to know them. They are human, after all. They will probably end up ruining your dreams and fantasies. You will never be able to watch their movies, read their books, or buy into their hype ever again.

With the strength of Jesus I can get my degree and start my career.

With the strength of Jesus I can score the game winning touchdown.

With the strength of Jesus I can overcome this disease.

With the strength of Jesus I can repel down this glacier…?

We take the phrase translated “everything” or “all things” a bit too generally. We act as if Paul had been talking about fighting wild beasts, standing up to kings, surviving ship wrecks, driving out demons, all sorts of heroic and manly stuff (which he did, by the way). But that verse is taken HORRIBLY out of context.

Here’s how the NIV 2011 reads: “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”

That reading is a bit harder to take out of context and apply to just about anything. “All this” forces you to look back at what “this” really is. Look at the whole thought in context:

I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

What Paul is claiming to be able to do in any and every situation through the strength of Jesus is to be content. I can be CONTENT through Him who gives me strength. Well that certainly changes things. He’s not talking about overcoming anything. He’s not talking about getting out of a jam. He’s not talking about doing heroic things for God. He’s talking about being content.

You see, this broader context does not mesh well with our Western worldview. Not at all. If you want something, go get it. If you need something, you have a right for it to be provided. No one should have to be poor. Everyone should be given an equal chance to become millionaires. Your life is not complete unless you have X, Y, and Z.

But we don’t even hear this sermon preached much in the church. When was the last time you heard a preacher talk about being content with what you have? Okay, but when was the last time you saw the church actually doing that?

You see, I think the true spirit of this passage speaks volumes to our society. We don’t need Scripture to tell us that we can accomplish anything, that we can be and do whatever we set our minds to. The world tells us that already! We need Scripture to tell us that no matter where we find ourselves, God is there to take care of us. We don’t have to have it all together. We don’t have to have the biggest house, the nicest cars, the trendiest clothes. It doesn’t matter what’s in our bank account. It doesn’t matter what’s in our wallets. God will take care of you!

This is what Paul says just after that:

Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

I think it’s time for Christians, myself included, to take a look around and realize that we are amply supplied. If anyone has ever had more than enough, it’s us! But it’s time to stop relying on anyone but God to meet our needs.

Now that’ll preach.

As a worship leader flipping through the song book week after week to get ready for Sunday morning, I am amazed at the vast array of songs we don’t know. Occasionally one will catch my eye, and I will do a quick search on YouTube to learn it.

That happened to me today. I came across song #93 in Songs of Faith and Praise. The tune was composed in the early 1800s and the lyrics were written in the mid-1960s.

It’s called “God, Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens.” Not the catchiest title, but check out the lyrics:

I wish we knew this song! I think I will try to teach it sometime soon. How cool would it be to sing in church about space travel and atom splitting?

But not only that. I think this song points out a fact that we don’t really acknowledge a lot. Humanity was created to share in the creative process. That’s why God gave us the cognitive skills to rule, subdue, and fill the earth. That’s why he allowed us to name and categorize the animals. He entrusted us with the power to create, to explore, to discover, to enjoy, to advance.

The debate between science and faith is not going away any time soon, as far as I can tell. As God’s children, we should not think that any scientific discovery could somehow “disprove” God. If we think the universe is too mysterious, too complex, too vast for it to be created by God, then our idea God is too small.

The author of this song also points out that our scientific and technological advancements have the potential for either great evil or great good, to heal or to kill, to create or destroy.

Read these lyrics again. Let the message really soak in deep. With this song in mind, go back and read Genesis 1-4.

And let us all pray that God will be the one to guide us in our scientific and technological advancements, that He will lead us as we join in the creative process with Him until our goals and His are one.

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Exodus 20:3-6

How much more plainly could God put it? He’s God. Period. Don’t serve or worship or exalt anyone or anything else. Just don’t do it! This is one of the most clearly stated commands we’re given. He even goes to great lengths to explain all the things we’re not supposed to do and the reason for the command.

You don’t get that a lot. 

Yet there is one name that keeps popping up: Ba’al.

It literally means “Lord,” similar to adonai or kyrios. Various deities were given the title “Ba’al” from Ur to Canaan to Carthage. A quick word search through the NIV shows the name “Ba’al” in its various forms and contexts used 134 times from Genesis all the way to Romans.

Ba’al is hidden inside the name of Babylon (Ba-baal-on). The name was even tossed around during the time of Christ. The head of the demonic forces, according to the Jews, was Beelzebul, which means “Lord of the High Place,” or “High Lord.” But the Jews, clever with word plays, switched the name to Beelzebub, or “Lord of the Flies.”

Ba’al took on various forms and functions from place to place. In Canaan Ba’al was known as the God of Thunder, Rain, Weather, and Agriculture. Knowing this helps us understand the actions taken by YHWH through his prophet, Elijah, in 1 Kings 17-18.

Ahab married Jezebel, a woman that today’s rappers would write ugly songs about. She lured Ahab into Ba’al worship to the extent that Ahab built a temple and an altar to Ba’al in the capital city. Elijah says don’t do it. Ahab says I’m gonna. Elijah says stop it. Ahab says make me. Elijah says okay.

So Elijah prays to YHWH, not Ba’al, and God withholds rain for three years. Ba’al is powerless to do anything about it. The ground dries up. Crops fail. The economy collapses. People suffer. But YHWH, not Ba’al, provides for his people.

That leads up to the famous showdown on Mt. Carmel. Two altars, two bulls, two deities, only one pillar of all-consuming fire.

God wins. YHWH is Lord.

Ba’al should have bit the dust. Word should have spread that Ba’al is utterly powerless. All his worshipers and prophets should have raised the white flag and turned to YHWH.

So if God could display his supreme power over all other gods, then why are false gods still being worshiped long after the BC-AD switch over??

I think it’s because idols and other gods are things we think we can control. We make up these gods and then think we can manipulate them into giving us what we want.

We create the iPhone and think that if we just use it correctly then it will bring us a sense of connection, fulfillment, entertainment, and efficiency.

We create cosmetic procedures and think that if we just get the right surgeon with the latest techniques we can turn back the clock on the aging process.

We create capitalism and believe that if we just use the system, invest here, spend there, sell that, buy this, then we will somehow come out on top.

We create social environments in which we put on our best show in order to gain acceptance and validation from those around us.

We create Ba’als in our image, and then they turn around and shape us into theirs. We become tools of our tools. We surrender power to that which we created to give us power. This is a miserable way to live!

River vs. iPhone – who wins?
Tornado vs. Mansion
Gravity vs. Cosmetic surgery
Death vs. Doctor
Time vs. Money

God wins. He won in Genesis, he won in 1 Kings, he wins in Revelation, and he still wins today. Everything you own will eventually end up in a land fill. You body will die and return to the earth.

So if your Ba’al is god, then worship him/it. But if YHWH is God, then worship him (1 Kings 18:21).

The talk of the NFL season thus far has been the replacements referees. The veteran referees are holding out on some labor dispute with the NFL and have been in a lockout for the past few months. So the NFL decided to bring in a bunch of replacement referees.

I bet football fans never thought they would be wanting their officials back!

The discontent has been growing over the past couple of weeks. A bad call here. A missed call there. Confusion about the call followed by a five minute staff meeting on the field.

But last night and this morning, all of football fandom is in an uproar over a botched call on the last play of Monday Night Football between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks.

On a last minute Hail Mary to win the game, the Seahawks’ quarter back tossed a jump ball into the end zone. The Packers’ defensive back came down with the ball. Game over.

Except that the Seahawks’ receiver had one arm wrapped around the defender with his hand touching the ball. The replacement refs signaled a touchdown, giving the Seahawks the victory.

Now, all of the fans, commentators, players, and coaches know the call should have gone in favor of the defender who clearly had first possession of the football. But the officials signaled the call, the officials reviewed the call, the officials confirmed the call. There is nothing else to be done. Game over. Seahawks win.

Think about it. The ruling of a few trumps what everyone else knows to be true. Even when the ruling is clearly inaccurate, the ruling still stands.

Now think about how this works in society.

Nietzche declared in the late 1800s that God is dead.

Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Stephen Hawking, Sam Harris, and others have devoted their lives to “proving” that God does not exist.

Philosophy classes in colleges across the country declare that God does not exist.

Okay. If you say so!

But who put these guys in charge? Why do they get to make the call? Where do they get their authority?

There are literally billions of people worldwide who would beg to differ. Why does the ruling of a few declare something to be universally true?

Their bad call could cost millions of people more than just losing a game. This missed call will cost people their souls for all eternity.

These “Brights,” as they call themselves, are no better than the replacement referees.