Qualifications for Pastors Vs. Presidents (Part 3)

In the wake of our most recent presidential election, there's been quite a few people that are fairly discouraged with the result.

Disappointment in the air 

Maybe I am too, but my main concern has little to do with national governments. Rather, I'm mostly concerned about the government of the church, and how I can be an exemplary leader within this context instead.

Preaching from a pick-up

I feel like one of the main things that I'm constantly running up against in life, is this notion that national governments are where the real action is at, and churches are like the cute little buildings where well-dressed guys who lean on pulpits talk about irrelevant stuff to their snoozy audiences...

I couldn't disagree more!

The Church of Christ is the hope on Earth (Matthew 16:17-19). In fact, I don't know why else God would keep us here unless we weren't... unless he didn't want us to share his gospel to every nation (Matthew 28:19-20); unless he didn't want us to take care of widows and orphans (James 1:27); and unless he didn't want us to turn this whole world upside down (Acts 17:6).

Fabio praying for a drunk man

...The Church is where guilty sinners can find forgiveness in Christ (Romans 8:1); where ashamed violators can find honor in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-10); and where fearful people affected by the evil forces of this world can find the power in Christ to overcome them (Ephesians 6:10-17).

Brothers in Christ

The Church is where grieving people should find comfort, the broken should find healing, the marginalized should find acceptance, and the addicted should find freedom. It's where people of all tribes, tongues, and nations should find true community (Revelation 7:9; Acts 2:46-47); and where every single Christian should know that he or she is indispensable and that whichever gift(s) the Holy Spirit has given him or her, they are to be used for the glory of God and the building up of His Church (1 Corinthians 12:1-30).

The Church is a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

It's where Jesus' followers should grow in their faith, hope, and love; but primarily in their love (1 Corinthians 13)... Where God's worshipers should worship in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24); and where the Holy Spirit should manifest himself in such a way that whenever an unbeliever or outsider enters into the gathering, that person should be convicted by all, called to account by all, the secrets of his or her heart should be disclosed, and so, falling on his or her face, start to worship God and declare that he is truly among the people of that assembly (1 Corinthians 14:24-25).

...I'll also tell you what the church is not. The church is not a physical building or a denomination, and it's certainly not a lucrative business or a social club. The church is simply and wonderfully the whole population in times present, past, and future; of those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and have decided to follow him irregardless of what may happen to them, or what they may have to leave behind in the process (Matthew 16:24)... It's a group of two or more believers gathered in Jesus' name (Matthew 18:20) who devote themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42); and who are powerful, united, generous, devout, glad, worshipful, esteemed, and propagating (v.43-47).

The first and second churches God let me start (in San Jose and Bogota respectively)

So wouldn't you rather be part of this type of movement, even over and above any other movement currently going on in America or anywhere else?

I certainly would.

The Church is where Christ is the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11), the Chief Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:7), and the Head (Ephesians 1:22); and it's where pastors are those who lead exemplary lives as they watch over the members of the congregation, not because of any money they may earn or out of obligation - but because they are eager to serve (1 Peter 5:2-3).

My exemplary commending elders and I

...And so about that... It was kind of funny because the other day I was playing Ultimate Frisbee and afterwards I started talking with my friends and they asked me what I did. I said I had started a couple churches, and so then a young lady asked me if I was like a pastor? (as though not too many pastors play ultimate)... My response was, "yeah, that's what I try to be," and even though I may not always live up to that calling perfectly, or I may even at times try to shy away from that title - I truly do want to be about this noble task of caring for those within the Church.

But at the same time, I want it to be clear that I don't want to be the only one doing it... I honestly believe that the very second people start putting me or anyone else on a pedestal as 'the' pastor of any given congregation, then by default they are dethroning Christ as the ultimate Head and Chief Shepherd thereof (Eph. 5:23, 1 Peter 5:4)... and so yeah, I may be a pastor, of course, but Jesus is the Pastor. I may be an overseer, yeah sure, but along with me I would hope that there be multiple qualified people overseeing and leading the various lives and ministries of those who have decided to follow Jesus, and thus, by no other rite or paper that they need to sign or anything - they have already become an official member of Christ's Church period. with no other conditions attached...

And so that's the point, right? As Christians we're ultimately disciples of Jesus even though there may be a few other people who God uses to teach us some really important things along the way...

Elkin, one of the first guys I got to disciple

So who are these people? Well, let me tell you that they're a lot different than someone like Donald Trump; and it's in 1 Timothy 3 that God tells us about what they should be like:

The leaders of Parkway Church for whom I would do just about anything

The passage reads, "Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil"(1 Timothy 3:2-7). 

...Man, in looking over those qualifications Donald Trump wouldn't even come close to being eligible for a leadership position within the Church... in fact Trump almost seems to be diametrically opposed to these qualifications on just about every account...  

You see? that's simply another reason why being involved in the Church of Christ is a lot more of a fun and fulfilling and positive experience than politics - because we have leaders with a lot higher standards than that of the president of the United States for instance, who should not lord it over your faith, but work together with you for your joy (2 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Peter 5:3). 

Amen. And I hope I can be one of those.

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Pictures Cited:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/america-thinking-day-election/
http://www.businessinsider.com/celebrities-who-support-trump-2016-10

Running Your Heart Out

My first date with my awesome girlfriend Alejandra was at a 16k mountain trail night run, where she waited for me in the dark and cold while I ran one of the craziest races of my life haha... Who takes a girl on a date like that anyway?

Well I do of course! and having her wait for me there at the finish line was a huge inspiration.

I ran as fast as I could, and whether that was primarily just because I wanted to get back to see her again, or whether I wanted to impress her by being one of the top finishers I don't know (it was probably a little of both) - but what I do know is that having a prize to look forward to helps a whole lot in running one's heart out.

For me, Alejandra was the prize.

...Today is the commencement of the 2016 Summer Olympics, and I'm pretty pumped to watch the games and see records broken, dreams materialized, and heroes recognized... I guess that deep inside every one of us is a longing to be good at something and have the discipline to work hard at it and therefore accomplish something remarkable... The question of "I wonder if I could do that?" is what makes the Olympics so inspiring I think... Because usually the answer is no, but still - there's always someone out there who'll have that same question and then proceed to spend everything they have in sacrificing all kinds of stuff to literally show the whole world that they can... That in the span of a few minutes, seconds, or milliseconds - boom! just like that, they are the fastest/strongest/most agile person ever in a particular sport... The Olympics are filled with stories of glory, which everyone knows only come after a lifetime of dedication and self-control.

...A few months ago I had the awesome privilege to meet a few of the best athletes from Ghana (perhaps the world?), who were training in Bogota for the 2016 Rio Olympics, and we got to invite them over to my parents house for lunch where we had an amazing time eating together and laughing and even singing and talking about Jesus as if we were a family... In fact, we are family because not only did they come over to our house to eat, but they also came to our Sunday evening church service where we broke bread together representing that just like the bread which is one - so also, all who take part in it and believe in Christ are one with him as well (1 Cor.10:17).

Just before this passage - in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul compares the Christian life to that of an athlete training for a really important competition (perhaps he was referring to the original Olympics that started in 776 B.C.)... He says he does not run aimlessly, or box as if he was beating the air, but rather disciplines his body and keeps it under control so that after preaching to others he himself would not be disqualified (v.26-27)...

And verse 25 is perhaps the most interesting one... Paul affirms that every athlete exercises self-control in all things and yet they do it to receive a perishable wreath. We on the other hand - those of us who have believed in Jesus Christ - we exercise control in our lives with the motivation that the prize we receive is actually imperishable.

Amen!

...Now, you might not believe me, but this last Sunday I watched the Bogota Half Marathon and at the end I got to talk to and take a couple pictures with the top place Kenyan woman victor Purity Rionoripio, and the second place Kenyan male champion Marius Kipserem...

And sure enough, Marius gave me his perishable (almost wreath, but actually bouquet of flowers), so that I could then give them to my lovely girlfriend Alejandra...

 Thanks Marius!

What Hillary Clinton's Possible Presidency Means for the Gospel (Part 2)

...And it's within this context of 1 Timothy 2 that Paul brings up another really controversial issue.

It’s controversial, yet totally relevant in light of the other most popular presidential candidate at this time – namely the first likely female president of the United States – the highly polemic Hillary Clinton.

Future President?

…See, it's in the midst of this same argument of how God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (v.4), that Paul then gives certain stipulations with regards to church order concerning both men and women (but primarily women). 

And as a matter of fact, what Paul says in verse 12 of 1 Timothy chapter 2 is, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”

…I bring up the observation that Paul explains this within the same passage where he talks about our proper response towards worldly governments, because it is my persuasion that both earnest prayer for all those who are in high positions of authority, as well as with church order – both these things have in view one common desired result, and that is: “that we may live peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way” (v.2).

Once again, the reason why we as Christians are not to create huge political uprisings with the hopes of ousting terrible rulers; is because the gospel of Jesus Christ is more important.

And why is that?

...Because Jesus rose again, and because earthly governments are temporal, but salvation is eternal.

…And so yeah, I mean, for sure we want to pray for our rulers and vote for the best possible candidates (or maybe even run for office ourselves) – but if we’re going to fight for something, let it be about the gospel – not about the Benghazi scandals or Hillary’s suspicious emails…

And it’s precisely by not revolting over potentially terrible rulers, that I believe we are in a better position to share the good news to the whole world… Because as far as I’m concerned, the media is loaded with all kinds of bad news about bad people; but I want to be about sharing the good news concerning the best person ever – the person of Jesus Christ who died for our sins but rose again on the third day.

You know what I mean?

…But let me get back to what I think Paul is talking about concerning the role of women within the church.

...Just like Paul keeps the liberty that we have in Christ over earthly governments in check by saying that we should still pray for our authorities – so also, I believe that he wanted to keep women’s liberties in check concerning their roles in the church by saying that they should not teach or exercise authority over men.

…Well why not? Isn’t it true that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female but we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28)?

Yeah, you bet it’s true – but to the world in Paul’s time it wasn’t. And that’s why I think that Paul didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it, but rather wanted to keep the church functioning under the same incorrect parameters as the world was, with the express purpose of not creating a bad image of disorderly conduct, but rather remaining relevant to the world around it so that it would be more effective in proclaiming the gospel.

Once again, the resurrection of Christ is more important than both politics and human rights – it’s revolutionary enough because of the outstanding fact that Jesus rose again from the dead.

Paul didn’t sense a tremendous need in defending women’s rights (history itself would take care of that); rather his main priority was the gospel, and preaching it in such a way that the world around him at the very time and place that he was doing so would understand it. Therefore, he even exhorted the churches to maintain a male dominated leadership structure with the main purpose (I believe), of adorning the doctrine of God our Savior (Titus 2:10) so that more people would understand it and believe it...

I mean don’t you think that in the Greco-Roman world in the first century A.D. a woman preacher would be looked down upon with disdain?

I think so, and so because of this Paul instituted various codes of conduct to thus keep the gospel of Christ attractive, even if that meant he must do so at the expense of both women and slaves. *

But what about now?

Well clearly right now women are tremendously more regarded as capable in leading other men as before, to such an extent that the very president of the US may likely be a woman... And so don’t you think that it’s also time we reconsider our stance towards woman leadership in the church as well?

…I know a lot of people who don’t (and some of you may be reading this right now), but I just want to say that even though I greatly applaud your reverence towards the Word of God (I revere it tremendously too) – I just think that you should dig a little deeper in considering certain passages in light of eternity…

At the end of the day I think that there’s a lot of people in America and elsewhere (though not everywhere**) that would be more willing to listen to (and hopefully believe) the gospel if they knew we as Christians endorsed women teaching it, and so shouldn’t that be more important to us even above and beyond our preferences concerning what a woman should or shouldn’t do?

I honestly don’t know if Hillary will or will not win the upcoming election, and truthfully I’m not too worried about it either (that really isn’t my or the church’s problem) ... What I am worried about is that the church of Christ may be losing its relevance to an ever-progressive world (when the gospel of Christ is actually the most relevant thing ever! I mean the very definition of the gospel is that God became relevant to mankind by being born in the likeness of man), and yet instead of adorning the gospel with love and equality, we’re often smothering it with animosity and disdain.       

* the example of how Paul taught Christians to have proper attitudes within slavery while still recognizing a different dimension in which the practice is un-Godlike, I consider as being one of the strongest arguments to prove my point. The logic goes like this: In Christ slavery makes no sense, therefore Christians who are free should accept Christians that are slaves as brothers (Philemon v.16). But to the world – Paul himself was even willing to make himself a slave to others so that by all possible means he might save some (1 Corinthians 9:19). In the same way, among Christians there should be no distinction between the privileges that men or women have over each other (unless it implies the effectiveness of the gospel), because in Christ we are equally his children (and I view the opportunity of teaching both men and women in the church setting as a God given privilege, especially since that’s what churches are willing to invest their money in) ... And so anyway – in the world however (or in the world in the time of Paul, better said) – people who didn’t have Christ didn’t understand that men and women are in fact equal before God, and so Paul wasn’t going to try to subvert the system – his priority was for the world to hear and understand the gospel first, and so he endorsed male leadership to the express exclusion of women… Now that the world sees women leadership as being legitimate however – it’s like the world is more closely aligned (in that sense) to the Kingdom principle of equality. Therefore, since having women display their equality in relation to the privileges we have before God by even teaching before the whole congregation, and since in North America and many other parts of the world doing so would actually help the gospel – it is my belief that this practice in many places should now be endorsed.          

** in such places I recommend we keep approving culturally relevant male leadership 

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Picture Cited:  Hillary Clinton

Praying for Pathetic Potential Presidents (Part 1)

So with the upcoming 2016 U.S. election, I've got a hunch that Mr. Donald Trump is pretty bad news bears.

Future President?

Nevertheless, despite the very real threat of seeing a racist and sexist bigot become our next president; there's a surprising passage in the Bible that actually has quite a lot to do with how we as Christians are to live our lives in light of a few realities that we would much rather ignore...

I mean, just think about it for a second: say Donald Trump actually does become president? ...for me, that would be like the epitome of a great excuse to want to forget about any notion of government altogether; and rebel against any mandate that such a terrible ruler may impose... "God is my only King!" "Jesus is my only authority!" "I'm not an American, I'm a Christian!" "My only citizenship is in Heaven!" might be some of my natural (and almost legitimate) reactions that I may have in lieu of putting up with such a ridiculous demagogue as Donald Trump.

Yet while my primary citizenship is in Heaven (true statement), and while Jesus does remain being my ultimate authority (true story); Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:1 that "First of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings must be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions." ...It's like despite all the revolutionary implications that come along with the gospel (among which we are now part of another kingdom that is not of this world (John 18:36)); Paul keeps us in check by saying that we should still pray for our politicians. And, well, even if these guys or girls are pretty terrible people - well, our primary goal in life shouldn't be to usurp the worldly governments in which they preside. Rather, I think that we need to pray for such leaders, with the wonderful purpose of being able to lead "peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way"(v.2)...

Why in the world would we want to do that? ...well, verse 4 tells us - and it's because God desires that "all people be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

See, that's the ultimate priority. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is revolutionary enough. We don't need to go nuts in starting political revolutions in hopes of creating better worldly governments - we need to focus on our highest calling, which is namely pointing all men and women everywhere to the only mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all (v.5-6a).

...As of now I would say we need to keep praying for Barack Obama for instance - for his own salvation and for wisdom - as he governs the United States in his last few months in office... Also, we need to get out there and vote for the best president who will enable us to lead peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way... And even if say, my favorite candidate doesn't win (or even if, say, my least favorite one does), I'm still going to pray for whoever that man or woman may be, with the indisputable intention that the gospel of Jesus Christ may go forth into all the world and save every single man and woman alive... including Donald Trump.

And that's my stance.

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Picture Cited: Donald Trump