Thoughts from my Souled Out Group:

Sunday night we talked about sin.  Yeah… not the best topic in the world.  But the good part about talking about sin is that we get to talk about grace.  God saved us from sin.  We deserved Hell, He stepped in, and if we accept that free gift we are saved.  Simple.   Wonderful.  Incredible.

During our discussion a question came up that has had me thinking for a few days, so I thought I would share my thoughts with my small group and my other readers (if I have any left, my blog has been neglected and left to starve to death.  Sorry!)  Here is the question: Do we really believe that all sins equally deserve Hell?

My Fundamental theological gut grunts “Yes!”  My (overly) sensitive heart says “Can’t be.”

I try to operate on the principle that my heart, which is a liar (see Jeremiah 17), is not my spiritual authority.  Instead I try to live and believe according to what the Bible says, it is the boss, whether I like what it says or not.  So what does Scripture say about sin and its punishment?

Any Pastor worth his salt would immediately refer to Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  This verse boils down to a simple truth: sin = death.  “Death” is referring to the second death, namely, Hell.  So sin = Hell.  Clear?  I thought so, but…

What is meant by “sin” here?  Paul, the guy that wrote the letter, is in the middle of an argument about the ‘sinful nature’ of man.  He’s talking about the fact that men are born sinners, selfishly seeking their own gain instead of the ultimate purpose of creation: to glorify God.  So when he says that the punishment for sin is death he is NOT talking about stealing a cookie from the cookie jar or annihilating a race of people… He’s not saying that Little Suzie’s sin is just as bad as Mr. Hitler’s.  He’s saying that our sinful nature is a disease inside all of us, and it is terminal, and that Jesus is the one and only cure.

That being said, Little Suzie and Mr. Hitler have the same problemo… they have the same ‘sinful nature disease’.   And the end result of that disease is not pretty and not different: they will both go to Hell if they do not find the ‘Jesus cure’.  They are not going to Hell for cookie stealing and/or mass murder, however.  They are going to Hell because of a sinful nature; the individual sins are ‘symptoms’ of the disease.  So when Little Suzie steals the last cookie, her willful offense is not the deed worthy of Hell, it is not the disease, it is a symptom of the disease.  And, equally, Mr. Hitler’s disgusting plot is also a symptom, though a worse one, of the same disease.  Therefore the individual commissions of sins are not equal, but the inner nature that rebels against God is.  In other words, the symptoms are not the same, but the disease is identical.

Why does this matter?

1. It makes me sleep better at night knowing that my heart isn’t as far off the mark about justice as I thought it was.  I think Suzie deserves a time-out and Mr. Hitler deserves a prison cell on death row, shared with a large man named Chris who goes by Chrissy.  The Old Testament shows that God doesn’t treat all commissions of sin the same, either.

2. It makes me sleep worse at night, knowing that even though individual sins are not considered by God to be equal, individual sinners are only placed in two categories: Saved and Not Saved.  Those who are Saved did and do deserve Hell, but they will live by the sacrifice of Jesus.  Those of the Not Saved group will be permitted to carry their sinful lifestyle straight to the eternal death… Little Suzie and Mr. Hitler both, lest either one of them accepts the cure.  The majority of people think that if they are good enough, they will get into Heaven, but controlling the symptoms does not eradicate the disease itself… they are wrong, hence my deprivation of sleep.

3. When Christians like me realize that they truly deserve Hell, it changes their life.

-Mike

Next week we kick off our summer ministry!  Our fifth graders will move up to Junior High youth group, which will meet on Wednesdays from 6:00-8:00.  Our eighth graders will begin their "Golden Summer", meaning they can attend all Junior High and all Senior High events all summer long.  And our summer theme, "On Fire", will begin.  This year I wrote a daily devotional for our students.  Each day they will have a page to read about a Bible verse that fits with our theme and introduces our teaching for that week.  Here is the letter I wrote our students, it's from the first page of the book, I hope it will help you understand the thinking behind the theme:

Dear Student,

There is nothing more important in the world than your relationship with God.  God loves you, and He wants to do incredible things through your life; that means you were born with a purpose, you have a reason to be here!  In fact, God loves you so much that He is willing to give you a choice: you can follow Him if you want to, but He won’t make you.  If you follow Him you get to go to Heaven, and that is sweet, but that is not the only benefit of following Jesus.  If you put Jesus in the driver’s seat of your life, incredible things happen!  Your life will have meaning, you will have a reason to get up in the morning, you get to be a part of something that really matters, you get to make a difference in this world, you have a chance to do things that will matter for all of eternity!  There is no feeling in the world like the feeling of knowing that God is working through you.  When that happens a fire is lit within your heart, and your entire life is all about making that fire grow bigger and hotter and letting it spread to other people.  That is what our summer is all about: being On Fire for Jesus.  This book is part of that theme.  In this book you will read about some of the verses in the Bible that have the word “fire” in them.  My hope is that you will learn to love God better, to know God deeper, to follow God closer, and to shine for God brighter.  My hope is that by the end of this summer we will all learn to be “on fire” for Jesus!

I’m looking forward to a great summer with you!

-Pastor Mike

Well the much awaited Granny Smack Down is over and the “smack down” was not on the Grannies!  I was a little concerned going into this game that we might (would) lose, after all the Grannies play together twice a week and our staff has played basketball together once (last Tuesday’s practice) in the 3 years that I have been with Lighthouse.  However, our primary mission was not to beat the Grannies… our primary mission was to raise funds for our youth’s Challenge trip and to provide great (if not humiliating) entertainment for our audience.  That being said, the mission was accomplished.  We had a great turn out and raised a large amount of money to help fund the Challenge trip, and we enjoyed watching the antics of Pastor Craig (a wannabe Granny) and Loree (fight to the finish) Veith!  Thanks to everyone who came out to support us and to those of you who donated to the cause.  It really was a great event!

-Kristan

I just finished a three hour lunch with my Student Leadership Team.  It seems that every time we meet I walk away encouraged as a youth pastor.  God is really doing some things through our ministry.  2009 was a great year, but as I look to 2010 I am thrilled at the possibilities!  The Student Leadership Team isn’t perfect; we have a long way to go in our training and team development, but today six students took three hours out of their Christmas break to continue preparations for a major outreach Super Bowl party that they are planning.  They could have done anything today, they are on Christmas break, but they chose to use their time for ministry, God is good!

Last night the Senior High Youth Group had a great discussion on the death of Jesus (Matthew 27).  When Jesus died the world went black, the temple curtain was torn, graves were opened and righteous men who had died were resurrected and showed themselves to many witnesses in Jerusalem, the earth shook, the presence of God was felt.

Did you read that?!  The earth went dark and shook and dead men came alive?!?  What?!  This isn’t your average Sunday School Jesus death scene.  Where were the zombies when I went to VBS?  Did they just leave that part out?  And the earthquake?  What about that?  Why do we picture this scene of Scripture as a dramatic and wrongful but otherwise uneventful death?  That’s not what the Bible says!

I have been on a mission as of late to bring a fresh perspective to my students, to help them see the stories of Scripture as if for the first time.  I want my students to ask questions, to see beyond the surface of the story, to have a sense of wonder when they think about who Jesus is and what He is.  In short, I want my students to be in awe of God.

The Senior High ministry has started a Student Leadership Team.  The team is made up of six students who have committed themselves to two goals: introducing students to Jesus, and helping students who know Jesus to get to know Him better.  Our team’s first project was to create a group covenant, a team contract with a list of expectations that we will hold one another accountable to.  The students made the list, and it has things on it like reading the Bible six days a week, church attendance, and setting an example of godliness.