To be fair, these questions emerge out of our experience of the way things work in the world. We do not get good grades at school or a good pay at work without doing what is required. In those contexts the relationship is clear between what we are given and what we do. We work, and then are given our due.

It can be easy to bring such a mindset into our approach to God. In the early chapters of Matthew we read about Jesus as Israel’s promised King and the message that his kingdom, or reign, is coming. Then we read his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount in which he presses God’s standards of right living beyond rules against murder, adultery, and breaking an oath to the underlying heart issues of hatred, lust, and falsehood in any speech. Our tendency may be to see these as rungs on a ladder that we must climb if we are to be worthy to belong to Jesus.

On the other hand, we have seen in the beatitudes that the ones Jesus calls blessed are those who come to him empty handed: the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek. So we might assume that if Jesus calls us blessed for our humble posture of receiving his grace, the instructions on how to live do not have any meaningful bearing on our lives.

As you may have guessed, both approaches are wrong. To approach Jesus’ ethical demands as a ladder to God is to ignore Jesus’ blessings on those who declare spiritual bankruptcy and mourn over their sin. Yet to ignore Jesus’ call to right living altogether denies that he is truly King, with the right to rule over our lives.

So how do we understand Jesus’ free grace and ethical demands? In the Sermon on the Mount this relationship is captured by the word “righteousness.” On the one hand, in Matthew 5:6 Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” That is, he speaks his blessings on those who yearn desperately for a right relationship with God and others. On the other hand, in 5:20, Jesus says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The relationship between these texts requires more than one paragraph, but here is a starting point. Those who are in right relationship with God are those who come to him in humility, poverty of spirit, and confession of sin. Theirs, Jesus says, “is the kingdom of heaven” (5:3). In this sense righteousness, or right standing with God, is a gift. From this freely-given relationship between poor mourners and Jesus the King comes a new way of life, a new righteousness that goes beyond law-keeping and external adherence to rules to a heart thoroughly submitted to Jesus as Lord. The very humility and brokenness that bring us into relationship with God propel us deeper into living under his reign as we embrace his authority at the deepest layers of our hearts–all the way down to our lust, hatred, desire for human accolades, and anxiety over daily needs. Both senses of righteousness–right standing and right living–are thoroughly relational, all flowing from our new relationship of belonging to King Jesus.

We have many weeks to work this out as we move through the Sermon on the Mount. As we do, may we continue to humbly confess our sin and allow King Jesus to change us into his own image, that we might, from the heart, live rightly toward God and one another.

Pastor Chris

This injustice against the unborn–in the cause of justice for their mothers–has sparked movements filled with vitriolic rhetoric and even lethal violence. This history leaves us as Christians asking how we ought to engage such an issue. And we have no better guide than Jesus’ beatitudes in Matthew 5, which we are currently studying on Sunday mornings.

Jesus, the King, speaks blessings over those who respond to his rule in a particular way. This is not a buffet line of options but multiple descriptions of the same posture: before this glorious and righteous King they embrace their spiritual poverty, they weep over their sins, they do not assert themselves for their own agenda, they are desperate to see God’s justice become the norm on the earth, they give themselves sacrificially for the good of others, they have a single eye for God’s glory, they seek to bring God’s reconciliation into human relationships, and they embrace whatever opposition, even harm, will come to them in these pursuits.

This composite response to the full and final reign of King Jesus informs how we respond to everything from being cut off on the interstate to the reality of 50 million abortions in less than 40 years. While our culture frames abortion as a political issue, our approach must transcend politics (since “in Christ there is neither Republican nor Democrat, conservative nor liberal”) as our ultimate motivation flows from our allegiance to King Jesus.

Such allegiance demands that we engage in the first place. Our experience of coming to Jesus empty handed and being given the full benefits of life under his rule propels us to show mercy toward others–especially the vulnerable unborn–and count their just treatment as more important than food and water. Yet Jesus’ Lordship demands that we carry these pursuits out in his way, not exerting our agenda by violence or with any hint of bitterness. Indeed, we bring into this cause a heart that beats only for the display of God’s glory and that weeps over our own sin. Thus we identify not only with the unborn person being threatened but with the mother contemplating this significant decision. We embrace the pain of her situation even as we call for the right for her child to live.

This Sunday I will be involved in a pro-life rally that seeks to capture these various dynamics in the face of four decades of legalized abortion. I will be speaking on the issue of respecting unborn life while respecting those who oppose our views on this issue. Another speaker will give her testimony of loving post-abortive women. Still another will talk about the fight being waged at the legislative level to protect unborn life. The rally, hosted by Arizona Right to Life, will be held not long after our service. See this flyer for more information.

Whatever issue or situation we face in our day, may we conduct ourselves a way appropriate to the eternal and gracious reign of our crucified and risen Lord.

Pastor Chris

I wanted to share Aaron’s words in this space for those who did not hear him on Sunday. I love this brother and am both sorrowful to see him go and eager to see what God has next for him.

Pastor Chris

===================

Of all the announcements I have given, this is the hardest.

Change is a part of life. Ecclesiastes says that there are times and seasons for everything. God has brought me into a season of change. At the end of this month, I will no longer be employed here at WABC.

Looking back I see that God has been woking in this direction for a while, and there are things that he has used to show me that it is now time for a change.

One would be the realization of my need for rest and greater healing in my life. God has shown me that it is wisest to pursue this while not trying to fulfill the role as Associate Pastor here at Whitton.

The second is a growing desire for change for its own sake. Since I have existed, for all but 4 brief years in college, I have attended this church. I became a member here over half my life ago. And even though I am not sure exactly what is next, I feel God telling me to pick up and move, that he has something in store that he will show me. That it is simply time.

It also should be mentioned that, like all leadership teams working closely together, there have been points of tension between myself and Chris and the elders at times. But that is par for the course, and nothing that we haven’t been transparent with each other about or come to resolution on. There are no bad relationships in my leaving.

I am, in fact, very thankful for the elders and for Chris who have been amazing though this process. They have given me space, time, and grace in coming to this difficult decision. Thank you for helping me do this. I feel God’s love and care for me though you.

I am currently job hunting. I will be around for the remainder of this month, but beginning in February I will start making another church my home church. But you will of course see me around from time to time.

As painful as departing is, I am actually very excited to be making this change and see what God has in store.

I love you.

And thank you.

Pastor Aaron

This was a euphoric new reality to embrace, especially since it followed a season of intense and prolonged struggle with particular sins. It was as if I had been enclosed in a dark, damp barn and the doors had flung upon to a wide, sunlit field where I could run and be free.

But there was more to be learned. As I read more of the joy of God’s presence, another truth emerged: the path to deeper experiences of God’s presence is the way of brokenness. “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite’” (Isaiah 57:15). “Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word’” (Isaiah 66:1–2).

These complementary truths also emerge in Romans 5, where Paul is discussing the benefits of being justified, or declared right with God, because of our trust in Jesus. He seems to climax in verse 2 by saying, “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” But the apostle continues with “Not only that,” implying that there is more to the story, namely, suffering. “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5).

How can Paul rejoice in sufferings? Because it sets in motion a refining process that ultimately deepens and enhances the believer’s experience of the glory of God. This is reinforced when Paul ends the section, “More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:11). The final delight is in God himself, in his presence, but on this side of Jesus’ return we embrace the suffering and brokenness God uses to bring us more into his presence.

Throughout this month we have many paths of brokenness open to us. In our personal times of prayer and fasting we are walking through the worship-confession-cleansing-mission cycle in the “My Eyes Have Seen the King” booklet. In Sunday School we will be studying “The Gospel-Centered Life,” which includes embracing the depths of our sinfulness before God. In our worship service we will walk through the beatitudes, in which Jesus pronounces blessings on the poor in spirit, the mourners, and the meek. All of these give us opportunity to pursue deeper brokenness, contrition, and humility before God. As we do so, may he draw us more into his joy-filled presence.

Pastor Chris

For this reason we continue our practice of setting January aside as Prayer and Fasting Month. The purpose of fasting is to create particular space for encountering God. The biblical precedent for fasting is abstinence from food, so it could be that you use one or more lunch breaks or dinner hours each week to seek God rather than eating. Or God may lead you to abstain one day a week or altogether from television, movies, social media, leisure reading, casual time with friends, or whatever typically takes time out of your day.

Whatever the particulars of your fasting, the aim is to make January a month about seeking God himself and being open to what he wants to do in and through each of us this year. The template we are using for this is Isaiah’s encounter in Isaiah 6, in which there is a flow in the prophet’s experience from worship (“I saw the Lord”) to confession (“woe is me; I am lost!”) to cleansing (“your sin is atoned for”) to mission (“Here am I! Send me.”). This movement is not unique to Isaiah’s experience but can be seen throughout the scriptures.

On Sunday you will receive a booklet that uses these categories as a guide for meditating on God’s word and encountering God through prayer. You may find it helpful to spend your entire lunch break in worship or you may need to move quickly to confession or rest in Christ’s death for your sins. The booklet is a guide, not a rigid mandate, so move as God’s Spirit takes you. The hope is that God would draw each of us deeper into an awareness of his glory and holiness, our own unholiness before him, the sacrifice of his Son Jesus to atone for our guilt, and the resulting call to share this gospel experience with others.

In the booklet there is blank space for you to write out prayers, record God’s work, draw, or whatever best captures your experience. In particular, we should anticipate the people God may call us to serve this year as we say to God, “Here am I! Send me.” He may highlight others in the church who need support and encouragement, unbelieving family, neighbors, and coworkers, or a particular cause for which he wants us to invest ourselves. We should anticipate that God will deploy us to share his gospel love as we make ourselves available to him.

May God meet us in extraordinary ways and set the tone for a year in which his glory is displayed, worshiped, and spread!

Pastor Chris

Perhaps the most compromised Christian virtue during this season is rest. We do not always think of rest in the same category as love, joy, and peace, but at one level rest is at the root of all these experiences. Following Israel’s exodus, rest was God’s command in the form of the Sabbath, a day in which they were to remember God’s rest from creation and the rest God gave them in rescuing them from Egypt and giving them a home in the Promised Land. This weekly pause from subduing the earth was to be the source of love, joy, and peace.

Likewise, in Christ we have an entirely new level of rest to be enjoyed. Much more than rescuing us from Egyptian slavery, God has rescued us from slavery to Satan and sin. Much more than giving us a land in the Middle East, God has promised us a recreated, New Heaven and New Earth. Much more than one day per week, God has promised us an eternity to rest in his work for us. God has accomplished all of this through his Son, Jesus, whose birth we celebrate during this absurdly restless season.

In talking about this rest, the author of Hebrews gives us a paradoxical command: “strive to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). This is a profound word, reinforcing that the most difficult thing we as humans can do is to stop trying and start trusting. Rest requires work. We only taste the fruit of Christ’s labor when we stop laboring to produce fruit on our own.

Applied to this season, the word for us is to enter into the rest that this baby born in Bethlehem came to bring us. As counter-intuitive as it is to pause and rest during this scurrying season, if we do not create space to rest in Christ’s work for us, we will not celebrate Christ at all. He has been born to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, so in light of his birth, life, death, and resurrection, let us rest in him and receive all the gifts he has purchased for us.

Pastor Chris

The first four chapters of Matthew’s gospel unravel one grand theme: Jesus is the king, the promised Messiah from David’s line that will rule over his people forever. This is not a mere theological puzzle for us to fit together and then sit back to admire. This is a history-altering reality that separates the world into two categories: those who live under this king and those who do not. Thus Jesus’ initial and ongoing message is “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

This call to repentance is fleshed out in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus teaches us what it looks like to live in the kingdom of heaven, that is, to have him as our king. It begins with acknowledging our own lack of spiritual capital, mourning over our sin, and coming to Jesus the king in humble repentance (Matthew 5:3-5). It involves living in such a depth of love for others that we do not even allow hate or lust toward them to remain in our hearts. It calls us to live with such a God-awareness that his reward is all the motivation we need to walk in just paths of generosity, prayer, and relinquishment. And Jesus’ call to this life is so authoritative that to embrace his gracious rule is to build our lives on a rock, but to ignore his teaching is to build our lives on unstable sand that will lead to our destruction.

Embracing Jesus as my king has reinvigorated my love for this season, because as I dig through the pile of lights and glitter, of shiny gizmos and new toys, my own heart is challenged with what I treasure. Do I worship the stuff I can get or the king who created the matter from which the stuff is made? Such is the mystery of the incarnation: this king entered our world as the baby of a peasant girl, and that baby grew up to become the king around which I order my life. So when I look at the plastic baby surrounded by lights and inflatable Santas in a desert landscaped front yard, I think, “this is the baby that rules my life.” And that is something to behold.

O come let us adore him,

Pastor Chris

While the political instability and access challenges do not always allow for aid, many avenues are wide open, and many organizations get food where it is needed. One such group is Stop Hunger Now. According to their website:

“Stop Hunger Now has packaged more than 34 million meals since the inception of the meal packaging program in Dec 2005. These meals have been used primarily to support school feeding programs in developing countries. Stop Hunger Now and hunger experts agree that hunger is solvable and is the common thread among the world’s most challenging issues. When hunger is targeted, specifically by supporting school feeding programs, you give leverage support to other causes including poverty, disease, education and the welfare of women and children.”

On Saturday November 19th we will join neighboring churches to pack the meals that Stop Hungry Now sends to the places where food is most needed, including Somali refugees in Kenya. However, I am not making you aware of this situation a month out simply for you to “save the date.” The meals we will send cost money, so our role will be both to pay for the meals and to pack them. The packing part simply requires that we show up. But unless you have extra cash sitting around, the paying part requires us to plan.

Hence the “oatmeal challenge.” This is an idea that Rachael found on a blog and our family has implemented for the past 6 months. Choose one night per week to have oatmeal for dinner, and set aside the money you saved on food. Let’s say you save $10 per meal over those 4 weeks. That may not sound like much, but that $40 buys 160 meals at 25 cents a piece. If only 30 individuals and families from our church took the challenge, that would provide almost 5,000 meals for hungry children worldwide. That is quite a provision from simply eating oatmeal for dinner.

So save the date–November 19th–for our packing day and plan on eating an oatmeal (or rice or beans or whatever) dinner for the sake of those without adequate food.

For the display of Christ’s mercy,

Pastor Chris

Why this focus? Why the break from preaching through books of the Bible? The short answer is, “Because it is October, which is Mission and Mercy Month.” As usual, there is a longer answer. Here it is.

For the last four weeks we have concentrated on being “fully engaged” in God’s mission to glorify God. In particular, we have looked at our church mission statement–“We exist to glorify God through reaching up in worship of God, reaching in to equip the saints, and reaching out with the gospel of Jesus Christ”–and explored how the up, in, and out are interconnected pursuits. In short, we saw from God’s word that our personal communion with God enhances our depth of community with one another, which in turn creates a more beautiful display of the gospel. This gives a powerful witness to the message about Christ that we proclaim to unbelievers, so they not only hear about grace, sacrifice, and reconciliation in Christ, but they see those gospel realities worked out in our relationships.

As invigorating as this integrated vision can be, many of us still feel at a loss for how to live it out. With which people should we pursue deeper community? What spiritually needy neighbors should we target with gospel love? How exactly does long, sometimes fruitless ministry glorify God? Is God calling me to be fully engaged in this life here or somewhere else?

Hopefully you can appreciate the tension we feel as elders in helping you address these questions. On the one hand, we do not want to keep our vision so vague that you remain frustrated in how to live it out. On the other hand, we do not want to prescribe some cookie-cutter Christianity into which all our members must fit.

So what is the answer? Focus on examples of what it might look like. Each year we choose local and international examples of how to fulfill Jesus’ mission to make disciples and how to show the mercy that ought to accompany our gospel ministry. The aim over the next four weeks is to provide templates for being fully engaged in God’s mission. For all we know, the focus on the famine in Somalia could result in a brother doing relief work in Pakistan, and the emphasis on gospel-centered healing from abuse could catalyze a sister’s work with the homeless. The point is not the place or particular work but an inspiring model of life fully engaged on God’s mission.

It is worth noting that we will not be simply talking about Somalia or Missional Communities. We will remain under God’s word, hearing the gospel truths we rest in and the mandates to spread this good news.  Furthermore, the banner over these months is “Fully Engaged, Fully Dependent.” Our focus is not just talk about being fully engaged but expressing our full dependence on God through times of corporate prayer on Wednesday October 12th and Wednesday October 19th (6:30 – 7:30). Please plan to join us during these times of communion with God and pleading for direction and empowerment.

As we enter into Mission and Mercy Month, may God grant us a burning passion to experience the fullness of his love for us in Christ and to expend our lives so that we push that love into the lives of fellow believers and unbelieving neighbors.

With you in Christ and on the mission,

Pastor Chris

Quite a few institutions close to our church perpetuate injustice, but one that was brought to my attention recently stands out. Just north of Indian School on 32nd Street, Camelback Family Planning (the sign says Jackrabbit Family Medicine) performs about 40 abortions per week. The concentration of injustice in the building is staggering. Many woman walking into that clinic feel trapped by financial, relational, and emotional stresses outside their control. Their stories likely involve injustice. Yet in their plight an even graver injustice takes place: a child in his or her most vulnerable, powerless stage of life is killed. To use Isaiah’s words, innocent blood is shed.

How do we respond to this injustice in our back yard? Jesus’ beatitudes in Matthew 5 set our course: we mourn; we are humbled; we hunger and thirst for justice; we show mercy; we seek peace. This Christ-like posture toward injustice can lead us to various actions. In past Mission and Mercy Months we have highlighted ways to make alternatives to abortion possible, like pursuing adoption or supporting Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Now, along with these, another opportunity is available: peaceful, prayerful protest.

Since Tuesday evening, local believers have been gathering outside Camelback Family Planning to pray for God to intervene in the various levels of injustice experienced in that building. This is part of a 40 day, nation-wide movement in which over 300 clinics are Jerichos where God’s people are praying for walls to tumble down.

I attended part of the prayer vigil on Tuesday night that kicked off the 40 days, wanting to ensure that this movement was not filled with the vitriol that has characterized some anti-abortion groups. The absolute opposite was true. Following a time of worship, a young lady shared her abortion story, how the hateful signs–“Murderer!” “Baby-Killer!” “Worthless!”–sent her into a three-year spiritual tailspin. Now a believer, she read the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery and implored us: put down your rocks and pick up compassion for these women. The coordinator of the event then showed the signs that would be provided for those praying outside the clinic: “We Love You. Choose Life.”

Whether or not God leads you to pray on site, I would ask you to join thousands of believers for the next 40 days in praying that God would make abortion an unthinkable option to women in crisis and to our national consciousness. Pray for the 40 women that go into the clinic each week, that God would make himself known to them and bring them to belong to him through Christ. Pray that God would rescue the babies whose lives are at stake at the hands of this doctor. Pray that God would make us robustly pro-life: caring for physical needs of all the vulnerable, whether unborn or born. Pray that God would raise up families in our church to adopt and expand a culture of adoption through us. And pray that God would work to glorify his power, compassion, forgiveness, and justice through his church as his people take action.

Praying with you,

Pastor Chris

P.S. If you are interested in praying at the clinic during these 40 days, please contact me [chris@whittonavenue.org]. If you have considered adoption and would like to learn more, consider attending a national Christian adoption conference that will be held in Gilbert on October 21-22 [www.togetherforadoption.org].

If “membership” can include these two diverse experiences, then any discussion of “church membership” must be handled carefully. Are we asking you to give us your phone number or to come home for Christmas each year? And why are we asking in the first place? Is the idea of membership simply a human construct or do we find it in the Bible?

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul develops the idea that every believer in Christ is a member of Christ’s body, like eyes, ears, legs, and fingers are various parts of one body. “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:12–13). This membership profoundly changes how we should live. God’s will is “that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1 Corinthians 12:25–26).

While at some level we can experience this “body” dynamic with all believers–for instance, I can read about persecuted Christians in China, empathize with them, and pray for them–Paul’s words are only meaningful if we apply them to specific Christian relationships. The experience of our common baptism into Christ’s body resulting in care for one another primarily takes place in a local context of regularly gathering believers. And “membership” in a local church addresses a simple question: with which believers will I commit to share life in Christ together, suffer together, rejoice together, grow in holiness together, and engage in God’s mission together?

I suppose a person could answer that question by continuing to show up at Sunday services and other church functions. But by having a membership structure, it gives that person the opportunity to say, “I want to experience life as part of the body of Christ with these people.” It helps us as leaders to know that we are responsible for your spiritual flourishing in a way that we are not responsible for the other thousands of Christians in central Phoenix. And it means that someone will come after you if you begin walking away from Christ.

If you trust in Christ’s death and resurrection to make you right with God, membership is already a reality for you. You are a member of Christ’s body, his flock (1 Peter 5:2), his family (1 Tim. 3:15, Eph. 1:5), and his new temple (Eph. 2:21, 2 Cor. 6:16). No process you can go through at Whitton Avenue will make you more or less a member of the eternal, universal church. At the same time, we believe that no believer will experience the full joy and benefits of being in the same body as Christians in general apart from being in intentional relationships with Christians in particular. We call that “church membership,” and pray that you will pursue it with us.

In Christ with you,

Pastor Chris

P.S. We have a membership class slated for Saturday, October 1^st from 9 AM – Noon where we will talk about this more extensively. If you cannot make that class, email me at chris@whittonavenue.org and we will find another time to meet.

It’s not because I’m an particularly picky organizer. There are, however, many facets to consider when reflecting on which songs we should sing. Preliminarily, a song won’t even make it in to our archive if it has poor doctrine, confusing lyrics, or if it lacks in musicality. From there, the process of song selection narrows down to two things: the content of the message on any given Sunday and the widespread direction of the church.

The former is much easier. If the message is about grace and forgiveness, “Jesus Paid It All,” or “Once and for All” are easily selectable. The latter is slightly more complicated, because it takes an understanding of where Jesus would have us move forward. It convicts me because it’s a challenge to move forward when we’ve found a comfortable grassy place.

That said, I believe it is absolute necessary that we are always moving forward, finding new ways to express old truth – not for our sake, but for the sake of knowing Jesus better. Our Savior is in the work of sanctification, which never leaves us where we are but moves us onward and upward, often at the cost of our comfort. At the end of the day though, I believe that knowing Jesus intimately is insurmountably better than my prolonged comfort.

This is the reason we’ve been doing many new songs lately. As I said this past Sunday -  my biggest prerogative is not that we are comfortable musically, but we are being sanctified through the truths of the worship songs. To that end, I don’t want anything getting in the way of us drawing near to Jesus, so I’ve provided links below to listen to some of the newest songs we’ve done. If you’d prefer, feel free to send me an email and I’ll make a CD for you.

This is a matter of following Jesus, therefore it is deliberate and important. Pray for the worship team – those who lead and those who play – that we never cease to create a sweet sound in honoring Him, and that we wouldn’t fail to diligently serve his people.

On His mission, for His glory

Jakob

New Songs

You Bled – Rend Collective Experiment
You Alone Can Rescue – Matt Redman
The Stand – Hillsong
Come and Listen – David Crowder Band
Stronger – Hillsong

So let’s collect money and send them food, right?

It’s not that easy. There has not been a stable government in Somalia since 1991. Various clans have fought for control, typically led by ruthless war lords. Since 2007 southern Somalia, including parts of the capital city of Mogadishu, has been under the control of al-Shabaab (Arabic for “The Youth”), a Muslim extremist group connected with Al Qaeda. In 2009 al-Shabaab forced almost all Western aid groups out of the country, claiming that the aid hurt the agricultural market and that the groups were spreading Western, Christian propaganda.

So let’s send our troops in and take out al-Shabaab, right?

We already tried that. In 1993 we sent 25,000 troops to facilitate the flow of food to the starving people of Somalia, which likely saved 200,000 lives. However, in the “Black Hawk Down” incident, 18 of our troops were killed by local militias, with one soldier dragged through the street in a triumphant parade. Our troops were pulled and the warring clans continued to vie for control.

The heart-rending stories and statistics go on and on. What I want to communicate is how complex injustice is, and thus how complex the pursuit of justice can be. In our study of Isaiah’s prophecy, we have heard a crystal clear mandate to house the homeless, feed the hungry, and set the oppressed free. But when you look at a situation like Somalia, with its toxic mixture of drought, lack of infrastructure, and exploitative rule, the way to obey such commands is not clear at all.

What can we do? Thankfully the news is not all bad, and we can get involved.

Get informed. Even though it is an unpleasant issue to study, our hearts will not break for the hurting if we do not know their plight. The BBC’s coverage is a good place to begin.

Pray. Plead with God to bring an end to the oppressive regimes and to pave the way for a stable government. Pray that God would sustain the 3.2 million Somalis facing starvation. Pray that the refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya would be able to absorb the 1,000+ Somalis flocking to them daily. Pray that new doors would be open for the gospel of Jesus Christ going to this largely Muslim people, and that God would bring many to eternal salvation amidst temporary suffering.

Give time and money. While aid has been hampered, things might be changing. Since Saturday reports have come in of al-Shabaab retreating from Mogadishu, allowing the potential of African Union control. Plus, some organizations have remaining pipelines through which food can be sent. One group, Feed My Starving Children, has opportunities not only to donate financially but to donate time packing meals in Tempe. See this website for more details.

May God give us an increasing awareness of the plight of the oppressed, starving, and Christ-less in our world, and may he use us to bring them immediate relief and eternal salvation.

Pastor Chris

With that in mind, perhaps you can appreciate my surprise when I found out that Whitton Avenue hails from a pacifist background, that many of my new friends are conscientious objectors, that those who served in the military did so as medics or cooks, and that family members back in Europe died because of their refusal to bear arms.

What may be shocking to some is that the foundation for this non-violent stance is the wrathful vengeance of God like we saw in Isaiah 63. We cringe when we hear God say of his enemies, “I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel” (Isaiah 63:3). Yet this coming event is what enables Paul to admonish Christians, “never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19).

Miroslav Volf discusses this in his book, Exclusion and Embrace. Volf is a Croatian whose family and community experienced the blunt end of injustice during the ethnic cleansing of the early ‘90s. He explains here what enables him to eschew vengeance:

“The practice of non-violence requires a belief in divine vengeance… [This] will be unpopular with many in the West….But imagine speaking to people (as I have) whose cities and villages have been first plundered, then burned, and leveled to the ground, whose daughters and sisters have been raped, whose fathers and brothers have had their throats slit…Your point to them–we should not retaliate? Why not? I say–the only means of prohibiting violence by us is to insist that violence is only legitimate when it comes from God…Violence thrives today, secretly nourished by the belief that God refuses to take the sword…It takes the quiet of a suburb for the birth of the thesis that human nonviolence is a result of a God who refuses to judge. In a scorched land–soaked in the blood of the innocent, the idea will invariably die, like other pleasant captivities of the liberal mind…if God were NOT angry at injustice and deception and did NOT make a final end of violence, that God would not be worthy of our worship.”

Today members of our church hold different views on this issue, and my own views are still being shaped. The larger point is that we must allow the reality of God’s wrath to affect how we approach retaliation, vengeance, and the use of violent force today. Amongst the thousand “what if’s” we can ponder, the predominant reality informing our sense of vengeance and freedom must be upward and eternal. No vengeance we can meet out will ever compare with the vengeance of God the Almighty. And no freedom we can defend will ever compare with the “freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21) that Christ’s followers will experience in the new creation. May this vengeance and this freedom tower over our lives infinitely more than the machinations of the kings of the earth in this passing age.

Pastor Chris

Should Jesus return today, I can tell you where he would find faith. He would find it amongst the 60 million house church Christians in China who have an adversary in the Communist government. Thursday’s Wall Street Journal carried a front-page story chronicling the relentless harassment Chinese believers face: meetings are broken up indefinitely, pastors are sentenced to labor camps, travelers are detained at airports, organizers are roughed up, the list goes on. Yet in the face of such persecution, underground seminaries flourish, missionaries are trained, discipleship multiplies, churches proliferate, and the gospel is moving forward in an unprecedented way.

Another place where Jesus would find faith is in a 6 foot-by-8 foot jail cell where Asia Bibi awaits execution for breaking Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. Her particular crime, according to this month’s Voice of the Martyrs, took place when Asia was being taunted by Muslim coworkers for her faith. She replied, “Our Christ sacrificed his life on the cross for our sins. What has your prophet done for you? Our Christ is alive, your prophet is dead. Our Christ is the true prophet of God, and yours is not true.” Now Asia awaits execution under Pakistani law, and even if the order is stayed–unlikely since the two high-profile government officials in favor of her release have been assassinated–she faces mob execution at the order of a prominent imam who offered a $6,000 reward for her death. Yet in the face of her adversary Asia holds fast, as do her 12 and 8 year-old daughters who resolve, “If they kill us for Christ, that is okay. We are ready.”

Christians globally give us confidence that Jesus’ question will be answered in the affirmative. Yes, he will find faith on earth as his elect cry to him day and night in the face of severe adversity. But will he find faith here? Will he find a relentless petitioner in my house, in our church, in this city? Are we crying to him day and night in the face of the adversary’s clash against his kingdom’s advance?

The challenge for us, of course, is that the police are not harassing us for gathering to worship God and no laws on our books can threaten execution for blaspheming Mohammed. How then can we remain passionate until Jesus returns? How do we keep the faith amidst ease, comfort, and affluence?

Luke implies an answer in the context of the chapter. From the persistent widow he moves to the pious, pretentious Pharisee (“God, look what I do!”) and the humble, penitent tax collector (“God be merciful to me, a sinner!”). Next he relates Jesus’ invitation for the children to come to him, since “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Luke 18:17). Then Jesus calls the rich ruler to sell his possessions and, when the ruler departs in sorrow, comments on “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” (Luke 18:24).

These accounts point to the type of person whose faith will endure: one who remains intensely aware of his sinfulness and unworthiness before God; one who holds a relentless, child-like faith in her merciful father, even in the face of persecution; one for whom Christ is greater riches than extreme material wealth. These merge into a single profile of a person whose faith will be visible from the moon when the Son of Man returns.

At the bottom of this brokenness over sin, this child-like faith, this treasuring Christ above all is a radical orientation around the cross of Christ. Only at the cross do we see the fierceness of our sin, the unquestionable love of God, and the true value of Christ over any other wealth. As we cling fast to our crucified and risen Lord we can have a humble confidence that yes, he will find faith here when he returns.

Holding fast with you,

Pastor Chris