What Does it Mean to Live a Christian Life?

This is an article written by Clay Ford while he was an elder at the First Baptist Church of Chula Vista in August of 1974. Clay is presently serving as Pastor of La Jolla Christian Fellowship (old La Jolla First Baptist Church). He brings up an important issue; what does it really mean to separate ourselves from "this crooked generation?" How much should we be involved in our culture? Put another way, How different should church culture be from our surrounding culture?


Back in the '70s, I thought I knew the answer. For me (and Clay -- along with 150 or so people at First Baptist Chula Vista), the answer was to live in community. We lived in communal households with around 10-20 others. We shared everything in common. We ate together. We prayed together. We attended church together. We had no TV. We usually had around $5 per week to spend anyway that we wanted to. We were different; some said we were weird. But, we loved God and just wanted to live in a way that would bring glory to Him. Our intentions were pure.


Am I suggesting that we all move into communal households? No, that was a different time. I do think that we need to grapple with the questions raised earlier about how much of our culture can and should we participate in. Just because a thing is moral, legal and socially acceptable doesn't necessarily mean that it brings glory to God. I am not going to answer these questions for you. I am going to be rethinking them for myself, and, as we begin 2010, I urge each of you to rethink them for yourselves.

God, the birth of Jesus and Santa Claus

Mark Dery wrote an article on the Las Vegas Weekly titled "The Vast Santanic Conspiracy; is St. Nick the tool of a plot to monstrous to mention?" On face book, this article generated quite a lengthy thread of comment. Part of the issue was whether conservative Christians equated Santa with Satan (Santa being an anagram of Satan). I don't intend to rehash that issue. You can read the article itself at http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2009/dec/24/vast-santanic-conspiracy/.


His article and the thread generated on Facebook got me to thinking about the place of Santa in our Christmas celebrations. As Christians the real purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the arrival of Jesus. We celebrate this as not just the birth of a baby, but the fact that "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son . . ." Therefore the real purpose of Christmas is to worship God for what He has done and to celebrate the birth of Jesus. As a part of this celebration, we exchange gifts with one another. We tell our children that their gifts are from Santa Claus, the mythical person who flies around the world in a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer (led by Rudolph the red nosed reindeer). I personally find the myth of Santa a pretty harmless. I enjoyed telling my children about him. We awaited the arrival of Santa with the presents that he would leave with the kids. We also told the children about Jesus. They knew that the purpose of the celebration was the birth of Jesus, not Santa. What is the problem with Santa. I don't think that the problem is Santa at all.


The problem for Christians is when we begin to confuse Santa and God. "You can't mean that! We would never confuse God with Santa," the good Christian cries. Well, of course, we aren't insane. But, many times we see God as a sort of cosmic Santa Clause. God doesn't make any ethical or moral demands on us; he just gives out good gifts to us if we have been "good little girls and boys." I think that even those of us who are believers sometimes even think of God almost myth like as we do Santa. We don't have to fear Santa; enjoy him. But, make sure that you begin to develop your understanding of who God is. Study the Scriptures. Study theological works. Pray and get to know Him. Merry Christmas! I hope that you enjoyed Santa this year. I also hope that your worship was of a loving God who sent His son into the World so that the world could be saved by Him.

He Has Brought Us Through

It seems like a good thing to look back over the previous year when we come to that last Sunday in the year. When the people of Israel were at a place of transition, the Jordan River, they also looked back over the wilderness experience. This Sunday I preached on Deuteronomy 8:1-10:

Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

The book of Deuteronomy is really a series of sermons that Moses gave to the Israelites as they were poised on the brink of entering the Promised Land. In this passage he tells them to remember the Lord and how he has brought them through the wilderness experience. He starts by telling them to follow the commands of the Lord. Why? He gives four basic reasons. First, so that they can live. Long life follows a life lived for the Lord in obedience to His commands. Second, so that they can increase. They were a fruitful people, but the population had remained static during the wilderness trek. When they entered the land they wanted to fill the land. Third, Moses tells them that they should follow God's commands so that they can enter the Promised Land. The land was promised to the people of Israel so that God's people would have a place to dwell. God wanted an obedient people. Fourth, obey God's commands so that you can possess the land. Earlier, in disobedience, the people had tried to possess the land and were defeated. Now they could enter in and possess the land if they would just obey the Lord.

Then Moses says that they should remember what God has done for them. The people were not just wandering around the Sinai peninsula aimlessly, God had been leading them. He led them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night. God also fed the people. The desert was unkind; there was little water and little food. God provided water from the rocks and manna from heaven. Since there were no Walmarts nearby, the people couldn't get clothes; they didn't need to for the clothes didn't wear out. Their feet didn't swell. When you are traveling for 40 years on foot, this is a real benefit. Finally, Moses reminded them that God had treated them as his children. He didn't treat them as a tyrant would. Even the punishments were aimed at disciplining His children.


Finally, Moses reminded the people that God was bringing them into a good land. It was a land with natural water. Whenever the people complained along the way, they would remember their days in Egypt. But Egypt didn't have natural water; it was a desert that had to be irrigated. The Promised Land would also have natural crops with no shortage of food. It also had natural resources; rocks of iron and easy to get copper. The only warning was that they need to remember these things after they entered the land. They must not get self-satisfied and think that they had all of these things through their own effort. As a church, we also looked back on what God has done for us. Personally, I know that even though I am far from perfect, I am also not the same person that I was 40 years ago. God has brought me a long way. As a church, God has added people. We have more on average than we had last year. We had a baptism -- of a young person. We have music in the service. God is doing something with us. Have we entered the Promised Land? Probably not, but we may be poised at the brink. Perhaps the Jordan River lays ahead. Now we must cross the River. Next week we will take a look at the Promised Land.

Christmas Sunday, the last Sunday in Advent

I really love Christmas. I love the sounds, the smells the lights and the general atmosphere. I know that there is a lot of sentimentality. Of course there is also crass commercialization. There is also a general lack of worship of Jesus, "the reason for the season." Yet to me Christ's love comes through. My spirits are lifted as we celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior. It helps that I have a wonderful family to celebrate with.


I also have a wonderful church family. Sunday was wonderful! We celebrated with our Hispanic brothers and sisters. The Hispanic church rents our sanctuary for their services, but God has made them more than renters and us more than landlords. God is binding us together. We started our celebration with a potluck breakfast. Plenty of food! More importantly great fellowship; young and old, Hispanic and Anglo. We had a great time.


As we started the service, two of our members shared our theme of "grace" as they lighted the advent candle. Leisha has Muscular Dystrophy and can't walk without a lot of aid, yet she stood and shared about God's grace in her life. Wow, what a moment. We sang in both Spanish and English; songs of worship of Jesus Christ. We ended with pastor Rudy and I both giving a short homily. I am thankful for God's grace in my life. Merry Christmas to all!

Christianity; The Unprotected Majority

I am glad that I am an American. I believe that the principles espoused in The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are great. I am glad that we have free speech. I am also glad that we put laws in effect whereby minorities are protected. I do believe however that much of these good principles are really circumvented by some of our well meaning attempts at political correctness; in our attempt to protect the minority, the majority becomes fair game for disrespect.

I like NCIS. For the uninitiated, this is a TV show about the Naval Investigative Service. Because I like this show, when the new show, NCIS Los Angeles started, I also watched it. I like it OK, but not as much as the original. This week's episode was all right but it did get me to thinking. As usual, someone was killing other people. The original suspect was a Muslim; profiling and prejudice. But, there was also a Christian in the suspect pool; he even read the Bible. Of course it turned out the Muslim was the good guy. The Christian was not only a murderer, but was a suicide bomber. Do Christians commit crimes -- even murder. Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Could a Christian become a suicide bomber? Here again, the answer is yes. Can Muslims be good guys? Of course! Are Muslims sometimes unjustly accused, suspected and persecuted? Once again, the answer is yes. Well, then what is my problem? My problem is that, since we don't want to offend the minority (a good thing) that it becomes quite all right to offend the majority. If the Muslim had been shown to be a suicide bomber -- there would have been many complaints. Religious Bigotry! But it's quite all right to disrespect Christianity and the Bible. This is not right.

Last Sunday we continued with the third Sunday in Advent. Our theme was love. George and Patti Saunders shared about God's love from John 3:16 and an excerpt from "The Problem of Pain" by C. S. Lewis. Then they lit the third candle.

I shared from John 1:14-18

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

How much did God love us? Think about it. In this passage John the Baptist is crying out about Jesus, his cousin, and stating that Jesus has surpassed him because he was before him. John knew that Jesus was six months younger than he was. What does he mean, "He was before me?" To answer this we must understand something of the trinity and the incarnation. Jesus was born in a manger in approximately 4 BC. He was a normal human baby who had to be nurtured and allowed to grow into adulthood. The difference is that the doctrine of the incarnation tells us that Jesus wasn't "just" human. Oh, he was 100% human, but he was also 100% God. How does God do this -- I don't know. But, this explains the "before me" word of John. Jesus (not the human born in a manger), but the second person of the trinity; the son of God, the Word, always was. John's gospel starts, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." The Word of God always was.

If this is true, look at the love he has for us. The Son gave up his heavenly position with the Father. He allowed himself to be born -- in very humble circumstances. He lived a lowly life and was finally executed on the barbaric cross. He did it because he loved us. Yes, his death was for us. It is in this act that we become reconciled to God. We enter into eternal life. Oh yes, eternal life is not just what happens after death. Eternal life starts now. Once we have come to know Jesus, our life is qualitatively different. We have been born again.

This is something to celebrate. Come Lord Jesus. Merry Christmas!

Advent at Bay View Baptist Church

I have been wanting to write a new post here for some time but have been busy with uploading Our Life Together (a newsletter from the First Baptist Church of Chula Vista -- during the '70s) and writing on my blog of the same name. Finally, I think that I am ready to work here also.

Advent is a great time at the church. Of course we are not a liturgical church; we don't celebrate everything in the church year. But Advent is wonderful. We look forward to a celebration of the arrival of Jesus Christ, born in a manger. We also look forward to his return as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Advent encompasses the four weeks prior to Christmas. This coming Sunday will be the third Sunday in Advent.

The first Sunday we has as our theme, Light; Jesus is the Light of the World. We lit our first candle and meditated on the first few verses of the Gospel of John which speaks of the light that was coming into a dark world. Our world was also brightened by celebrating a baptism. It has been a long time since we have had a baptism. This was a young woman named Katie. It was a special moment. Indeed, the light shined in our little church.

Last Sunday we reflected on the theme, Hope; Jesus is the Hope of the World. We lit the second candle and meditated on the next few verses in John. This passage has to do with the hope of becoming children of God; a great privilege. When we become children of God, we enter into an entirely new dimension of life.

The church is beautiful. We celebrated the Hanging of the Greens last Saturday. We have a tree, lots of greenery, poinsettias and nativity scenes. Sunday the 20th will be our Christmas Sunday. We will have a breakfast potluck. The Hispanic church will be joining us for breakfast and worship. It is great to have a time of worship with our brothers and sisters; singing and praying in both Spanish and English. Our celebration time will conclude with a Christmas Eve Service. We will be singing the old carols and sharing about the meaning of Christmas. This is a great time.