garycombs.org

Countering our culture of consumerism

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Jesus, Luke 12:13-21 ESV).

"Compared with their grandparents, today's young adults have grown up with much more affluence, less happiness and much greater risk of depression and assorted social pathology… Our becoming much better off over the last four decades has not been accompanied by one iota of increase in subjective well-being… The accumulation of material goods is at an all-time high, but so is the number of people who feel an emptiness in their lives" (David G. Myers, The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty).

Some twenty years ago I stepped off the corporate ladder and answered the call to ministry. I quit my middle management job, attended seminary and planted a church. These decisions did not make financial sense, nor were they driven by a desire for worldly success. I had a sense of God's call accompanied by a kind of holy discontent with my life's purpose. I decided to focus on eternal rather than temporal goals. And that has made all the difference.

But not at first. When I was making the decision to follow God's call, I told Him, "Lord, I don't care if I lose everything, I just want to follow You." However, I didn't think He would take me up on it. I was hoping that He would see my willingness without my actually having to give up everything.

When the phone starting ringing with credit card collectors wanting their money, when we emptied our savings, went 14 months with no income, struggled putting groceries on the table and we got the letter that the bank was foreclosing on our house... I started doubting. I questioned God's call on my life. I had led not only myself, but my wife and our three young children on this journey. And now we were all suffering the consequences of my poor leadership.

At least, that's the way it felt at the time. But things began to change. The church that started in our living room with seven people had grown to seventy. We started receiving a salary. I phoned all our creditors and the bank and they miraculously worked with us to catch up. We not only didn't lose our house, but it served as our church meeting place for the first two years on Wednesdays. We converted our upstairs guestroom into the church office. I answered the home phone with "Hello, this is Wilson Community Church, Pastor Gary speaking" for the first four years until we could afford to rent an office. The youth met in our garage for the first eight years of the church.

In the past week I've been reflecting on all that God has done in my life, in the life of my family, and in the life of our church, since we decided to pursue God's call. Instead of being a liability to us, following God has been an amazing asset!

Just in the last week, I've seen my son, Stephen leading our church as its worship pastor. Calling people to stand and lift their hands to their Heavenly Father. What a bold and passionate heart of worship God has put in my eldest son!

This past Sunday evening, we laid hands on my son, Jonathan and ordained him into the Gospel ministry. He wore his "dress blues" and stood at attention and said, "I do," when we charged him to fulfill the call to preach the Gospel "in season and out." How committed to study and preach this middle boy of mine has become.

Tomorrow, my daughter Erin, having led a team in the past few days to prepare flyers and bags, will lead our church in collecting food for the hungry. Where did she get this servant's heart and desire for helping the helpless and encouraging the elderly? 

And my wife Robin, who has been not only my wife and the mother of our children, but in the past 20 years: the church's nursery director, children's teacher, set-up team member, meal ministry leader, women's ministry speaker, church janitor, secretary, worship team leader, keyboard player, vocalist, etc. She has gracefully and joyfully been my helpmate and a servant of God. Who am I to have such a wife as this?

Then there's our WCC family... what servants they are, what lovers of God and of His Word. They are so authentic and true. I wouldn't want to be anyone else's pastor. Why would God give me such blessing?

I guess it all boils down to one little decision I made twenty some years ago to go counter to the world's culture of pursuing success and materialism. One little decision to follow God instead.

I'm so glad I did.

Working out the virtue that God is working in

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 4:5, 12-13 ESV). 

The combination of our culture's embrace of relativism and postmodernism has made the pursuit of virtue a lost art. After all, why chase after a standard of living that doesn't exist (Since according to these worldviews, absolutes like right and wrong, don't exist)?

Even among secular observers, the vast majority think that our American culture is declining. Everyone sees that America is sliding towards moral decay.

Most troubling though is the loss of virtue among those who call themselves "Christian." More and more, there is little difference in the opinions and behaviors of those who claim to be Christ-followers and those who don't.  There is a huge disconnect between what people say they believe and how they live.

In David F. Wells book, Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision, he says:

“This is the first time that a civilization has existed that, to a significant extent, does not believe in objective right and wrong. We are traveling blind, stripped of our moral compass. And this is true, not only in society, but increasingly in the Church as well. How should we respond? First, the church will have to become courageous enough to say that much that is taken as normative in the postmodern world is actually sinful, and it will have to exercise new ingenuity in learning how to speak about sin to a generation for whom sin has become an impossibility… Second, the Church itself is going to have to become more authentic morally, for the greatness of the Gospel is now seen to have become quite trivial and inconsequential in its life."

How do we become more "authentic" morally? The apostle Paul taught the Philippians that they had to remember that they had the "mind of Christ." They were to have the worldview of Christ. Then, having that mind that transformed their thinking, they should "work out" what God was working in them. When we follow this teaching, God gives us both the "will" and the power to do His will.

When we work out in the gym, we are not making muscles. God gave us biceps when He created our bodies. What we are working out is the muscle that God has already given us. In like manner, it is not enough to just get salvation (to have faith muscles), we must work out our salvation, our faith, so that we become more and more like Jesus. This is what it means to be His disciples. We follow Him.

Making more laws and rules won't turn America around. Laws can't put back together the pieces of our broken culture. As the nursery rhyme says, "All the kings horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty back together again." More government isn't the answer.

The only way to change American culture is to change American hearts and minds. The way to win the war for the soul of America is to get back to being the salt and light that the church was called to be. As N. T. Wright writes in his book, After You Believe – Why Christian Character Matters, what we need is to start a revolution for virtue in the church:

“Virtue, to put it bluntly, is a revolutionary idea in today’s world— and today’s church. But the revolution is one we badly need. …What are we here for in the first place? … to become genuine human beings, reflecting the God in whose image we’re made… that is the central thing that is supposed to happen ‘after you believe.’ This transformation will mean that we do indeed ‘keep the rules’ – though not out of a sense of externally imposed ‘duty,’ but out of the character that has been formed within us… To make wise moral decisions, you need not just to ‘know the rules’ or ‘discover who you really are,’ but to develop genuine Christian virtue.”

Let's start working out the virtue that God is working in.

 

How true beauty reflects God's glory

"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised" (Proverbs 31:30 NIV84).

"Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. ...A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man" (1 Corinthians 11:3,7-8 NIV84).

I've been thinking a lot about beauty this week as I prepare to preach this coming Sunday about biblical femininity. It seems to me that beauty is a kind of proof for God. There's something about true beauty that cannot be explained with evolutionary theory. There's something of intrinsic value that beauty portrays to us that speaks of a deeper truth. I think beauty and God's glory are somehow connected.

Pastor John Piper, who never tires of speaking of God's glory, seems to agree. He defines God's glory like this:

"I believe the glory of God is the going public of his infinite worth...The public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God is what I mean by glory."

Beauty, like glory, is the manifestation of an inner character. True beauty is more than "skin deep." It is the showing forth of that which is beautiful within.

When we are born again through the receiving of God's Son, we are transformed and given His beautiful character. As this redeemed character shines out in our behavior, we again become like the image of God, bringing glory to Him in this world. 

The unique and beautiful design of a daughter of God is that she is the "glory of man" and together they are made in the image of God.

When we submit to God's design for our lives, we experience the beauty of God.

Winning the war for godly masculinity

"But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith" (1 Timothy 6:11-12 ESV).

God's design for masculinity is under attack in today's culture. The media, the education system, and the new radical feminism are combining with other cultural influences to declare a war against manhood.

In Christina Hoff Sommer's book, The War Against Boys, she says:

“American boys face genuine problems that cannot be addressed by constructing new versions of manhood. They do not need to be ‘rescued’ from their masculinity. On the other hand, too many of our sons are languishing academically and socially. The widening education gap threatens the futures of millions of American boys. They get most of the failing grades and are more likely to be alienated from school.” 

Sommers makes the case that a "misguided" feminism is actually doing harm to our young men.

Guy Garcia decribes the effect that this battle is having on American men. In his book, The Decline of Men, he writes:

“Why are so many ambitious young women unable to find boyfriends as successful and independent as they are? Why do so many men prefer the escapist digitized world of Spike TV, Jackass, and Grand Theft Auto to the reality of their own lives? Men are struggling to redefine what being a man means in today’s world. Their confusion has led to rampant male malaise, which has left many men feeling alienated and disconnected. Too many guys are slacking off and opting out of the manly obligations, producing an entire generation of men who are ditching their own potential and failing the moms, wives, and girlfriends who love them.”

American men are dropping out of school, not going to college, postponing marriage (or not committing to it at all), and finding a way to extend adolescence indefinitely, while playing video games, fantasy league football, and drinking beer. These are disturbing trends.

Perhaps most disturbing of all is how men are dropping out of church. More and more, church is a place for women and children, but men are missing in action.

David Murrow, writes in his book, Why Men Hate Going to Church,

"Women comprise more than 60 percent of the typical adult congregation. At least one-fifth of married women regularly worship without their husbands. There are quite a few single women but hardly any single men in our pews. Step into any church parking lot, and you’re likely to see an attractive young mother and her brightly scrubbed children scurrying to Sunday school. Mom may be wearing an impressive diamond ring on her left hand, but the man who gave it to her is nowhere to be seen... How did a faith founded by a Man and His twelve male disciples become so popular with women, but anathema to men? The church of the first century was a magnet to males. Jesus’ strong leadership, blunt honesty, and bold action mesmerized men. Today’s church does not mesmerize men; it repels them. When men need spiritual sustenance, they go to the wilderness, the garage, or the corner bar. Church is one of the last place men look for God.” 

We are not the first generation of men to have our manhood come under attack. The apostle Paul wrote encouraging words to his spiritual son, Timothy about being a man of God. In the language of a warrior, Paul charged Timothy how to be a man of God. He gave him three powerful marks of a man of God:

1. A man of God knows when to retreat. (Flee lust, pursuit of money, idolatry, depravity...)

2. A man of God knows when to advance. (Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith...)

3. A man of God knows when to fight. (Fight the good fight of the faith...)

Godly men and women respect God's Word and they respect God's design for masculinity and femininity. They recognize the war for our minds and hearts in the culture today. And they are determined to be what God called them to be.

Men, may we be like Jesus, the perfect model of manhood, of whom Pontius Pilate announced, "Behold the man!"

Be the man.

Happy 20th Birthday WCC!

"Now, brothers and sisters, we ask you to appreciate those who work hard among you, who lead you in the Lord and teach you" (1 Thessalonians 5:12 NCV).

Twenty years ago we held our first public worship service at Wilson Community Church on Sunday, January 26, 1992 at Forest Hills Middle School. I was thirty-three (you do the math). We had 66 people show up that day. I preached a message entitled, "How to Be Strong and Courageous" from Joshua chapter one.

This week we are thankful and joyful to see God's faithfulness through the years. There have been many professions of faith and baptisms. Troubled marriages have been reconciled, parents have learned to raise up their children in the Word, and families have grown closer to God and to one another. Addicts have been set free, the discouraged have found joy, and many sick have found healing.

Along the way we have joined loving couples together in holy matrimony. We've shared the joy of new parents as they lift up their newborn child to the Lord in dedication to Him. And we've stood by the graveside with many a grieving family member as we laid their loved one to rest. We've worshiped together. Shared testimonies and praise. We've gathered at the Lord's table and remembered His body and blood given for us. For these twenty years, we have lived in fellowship as the family of God.

This past Wednesday evening, Robin and I were invited to the "TNT" (Twenties and Thirties) Community Group. They surprised us with a special dinner and gifts, thanking us for our twenty years of faithful service and for planting WCC. After feeding us dinner (with a menu that honored our "lo-carb" diet), they went around the room and each of them told us what we meant to them. 

Tears streamed down Robin's smiling face. I felt as if my face might break from grinning and my heart explode with joy. It felt great to be so appreciated. These kids really blew us away.

"Kids?" You ask. 

Yes, because several of them referred to us as being like a father and a mother to them. And also, because when I asked them where they were on January 26, 1992, many of them shouted, "I wasn't even born yet!" While others said they were probably still in kindergarten or the nursery.

One of them commented that they had been attending the group for some time and they were finally glad to meet us, but they had not yet attended our church. They said that they were still getting used to all this God-talk and felt welcomed by the group and hoped to someday be ready to check-out our church services.

I was especially glad to hear her thoughts. I told her, "Guess what? You've already attended our church. We're having church right now. The church is not the steeple, it's the people, it's the family of God."

I think she is close to believing. I could see the Kingdom in her eyes.

Being with this group of twenty somethings was the perfect way to celebrate. Our church started out in my living room with seven people. It seemed appropriate that we celebrated our anniversary in a similar manner.

It occured to Robin and I as we drove home that we would never have met these wonderful young folks if we hadn't obeyed God's call twenty years ago to "be strong and courageous."

It also occurred to us that God is still building His family and that with young people like these, the next twenty years will give us even more to celebrate!

 

Choose life

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19 ESV).

This coming Sunday churches around the nation are remembering Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. In my research and preparation for preaching this Sunday, I came across a website that offers a lot of great insights into the plague of abortion that has ravaged our nation since 1973. Here is a link to a powerful video at www.abort73.com.

I also decided to register our church as one of the churches supporting the local release of the movie, "October Baby," this coming March. I previewed several of the clips from the movie and read the back story about the writer, producer, director and actors and found the movie to be a very powerful and persuasive story about the aftermath of abortion. I plan to encourage our local Carmike Theater to show it on opening weekend, March 23rd. Here's a link to the movie's website and a short trailer: www.octoberbabymovie.net.

 

Body for God

"The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body... Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:13-20 ESV).

I recently read a book by Dr. Ben Lerner titled, Body By God. It's a good read. It comes from the premise that our bodies were made by God; therefore, we should take care of our bodies according to "God's magnificent design." The book offers great advice on diet, exercise and even stress management. 

Lerner gets it right when he says that our bodies are made "by" God. The Bible agrees with this, but it goes one step further and says not only are our bodies made "by" God, they are also made "for" Him.

This is the case that the apostle Paul makes to the Christians living in the city of Corinth. The Christians there were greatly affected by the culture of their day. Corinth was known for its temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and fertility. It was said that the marble-pillared temple stood 1800 feet above sea level overlooking the sea harbor below and that 1000 temple prostitutes beckoned sailors from their ships up the marble steps to "worship."

Paul speaks into this Corinthian culture saturated with an Aphrodite worldview and he says, "Flee from sexuality immorality!"

Paul teaches us to run from sexual sin, not just because it's against God's intent, not just because it's bad for our bodies ("sins against his own body"), but mostly because our bodies are not our own! Our bodies are made "for" God. They are to be like a "temple" for the Holy Spirit to dwell. Our bodies are to bring glory to the living God.

God made sex. He made it so that humanity might fulfill His purpose. He made us male and female and then He ordained that these two different, yet complementary beings would together show forth the image of God. As Jesus said, "What God has joined together, let not man separate" (Matthew 19:6). Sex was God's idea and marriage was God's plan for its celebration of oneness ("the two shall become one flesh").

God made us for Himself. He cares about what we do with our bodies. That's the best reason for keeping ourselves pure, so that we may "offer our bodies as living sacrifices" (Romans 12:1) of worship to Him.

War of the worldviews

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:10-18 ESV).

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2 ESV).

In this election year there's a lot of debate and dissension in our country. How do we find unity when we seem so far apart in our thinking?

What's really at work here is deeper than politics and party platforms. There's a battle simmering in our culture about the nature of reality, about what is really true and right. There's a war of worldviews in America.

The dictionary defines worldview as:

world·view  (wûrldvyoo) n. 1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world. 2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.

The Bible says that this war is really not against "flesh and blood." In other words, it's not against other people. It's really against the evil one and the darkness of this world that deceives and darkens our thinking. This demonic and worldly deception is continually warring against our minds. Even Christians, who should have "transformed" minds and "renewed" ways of thinking are often caught up in the clutches of these worldly schemes.

The Barna Group took a national survey to see how a Christian or biblical worldview would affect their thinking on certain public issues. For the purposes of the survey, a biblical worldview was defined as follows:

• Believing that absolute moral truth exists;

• The Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches;

• Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic;

• A person cannot earn his or her way into heaven by trying to be good or do good works;

• Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and

• God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.

In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview. Overall, the research revealed that among those who identified themselves as born again Christians, only one out of five persons had a truly biblical worldview.  

Not surprisingly, the Barna research found that adults without a biblical worldview had vastly different views of immoral and unethical behavior than those with such a view. For instance, those without a biblical worldview were:

• Around 100 times more likely to support abortion.

• Around 80 times more likely to say exposure to pornography is morally acceptable.

• 31 times more likely to believe living together before marriage is morally acceptable.

• 15 times more likely to believe homosexuality is normal and acceptable.

• 18 times more likely to endorse drunkenness.

• 12 times more likely to accept profanity.

• 11 times more likely to say adultery is okay.

• 8 times more likely to gamble by purchasing lottery tickets.

George Barna commented on the results of this survey, saying, “The primary reason that people do not act like Jesus is because they do not think like Jesus. Behavior stems from what we think—our attitudes, beliefs, values and opinions."

As Christians, we should try to be good citizens and to be actively involved in the civic affairs of our country, but the real battle is the one for our hearts and minds. This battle is won one heart at a time. This war is waged by putting on the "whole armor of God," so that our worldview comes into alignment with God's as revealed in Scripture. Then, being salt and light, we can prayerfully and powerfully call others to the peace found only in the gospel.

Growing more like Jesus in 2012

"And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" (Luke 2:52 NIV84).

For many years I have made it a habit to spend the last week of the year in prayer, meditation and Scripture study. I call it my annual study break. It's also a time to evaluate how I am living life. I want to be intentional about how I live. It's so easy to let the urgent and the maintenance stuff of life fill up my days. I want to know that I have focused on the important.

I have developed a tool for setting annual goals and for self-evaluation that I call my "Luke 2:52 Goals." Reading a description of how Jesus grew in Luke 2:52 motivatied me to want to grow in those same ways. If Jesus grew, than I want to be like Jesus. I want to grow too.

Notice that Jesus grew in four areas. He grew in wisdom, stature, in favor with God and in favor with men. For the benefit of my goal sheet, I list these four growth areas as follows:

1. Mental. 
2. Physical.
3. Spiritual.
4. Social.

Under each category I list several items of which I believe God wants me to focus or where I want to grow for personal reasons. I try not to list too many things. I keep the total list small enough so that it fits on a single page. I usually post it in my church office and home study, so that I can see it every day. 

Under "Mental" I might list: 1) Read a book a month, 2) Learn to play the banjo, 3) Take a course in Latin, 4) Attend a leadership conference, 5) Write four articles for the Wilson Times... 

For "Physical" my list might be: 1) Lose 20 pounds to weigh 185, 2) Workout at Y three days a week, 3) Get a physical...

The "Spiritual" category might have items like: 1) Read the One Year Bible every day and post a comment about it on facebook, 2) Memorize the Sermon on the Mount, 3) Take a Sabbath day weekly to recharge and reflect, 4) Take two days quarterly and one week annually to reflect and study what God wants of me...

"Social" might include: 1) Take Robin out on a date weekly (Friday night), 2) Be active in a WCC Community Group, 3) Spend quality time with my family (Sunday lunches and Combs family vacation in September), 4) Reach out to and pray for my neighbors (I name them specifically)...

I know that it is God's job to cause me to grow more like Jesus. He is the One who will accomplish it. But I want to cooperate. I want to yield to the Spirit's pull. 

I want to grow more like Jesus. Don't you?

The gift within a gift within a gift

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 KJV).

"In him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4 KJV).

My wife is a very curious woman. She loves surprises, but she works like Sherlock Holmes trying to uncover the mystery before hand. This makes surprising her at birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmas a real challenge.

Did I mention that I love a good challenge?

Some years ago I used the nested box trick to keep her guessing. I had bought her a pair of amethyst earrings and had them wrapped at the jewelers in a tiny gold box. After sneaking the gift in the house, I rushed up the stairs and selected a series of ever-larger boxes that she had laid out in the guest room (She used this room to wrap packages for Christmas every year). 

I placed the tiny gold box inside a slightly larger box and wrapped it. Then, I placed that box into one larger and so on until I had a gift box the size of a microwave. To keep her from getting suspicious when she shook the box (She liked to sneak and shake the boxes under the tree to guess what was in them), I filled each box with newspaper and added a five pound weight from my barbell set for good measure.

"Good gracious! What in the world is in this box?" She asked after admitting her failed attempts at shaking and guessing.

"You haven't been sneaking and shaking boxes again?" I accused.

"Well, yes... I um... had to vacuum and I tried moving that big red box and it's really heavy. What in the world is in there?"

"Your Christmas present." I answered. 

"Well, I can't imagine what it is." She continued with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Exactly." I said with a confident shake of my head.

By the way, I'm not the first to come up with this whole gift within a gift idea at Christmas. In fact, the very first Christmas, God gave us such a gift.

When you read John 3:16 in the original Greek, you will notice a clause followed by two dependent clauses. I love studying God's Word, not only does every word have meaning, but even the grammatical structure of its sentences reveal truth.

A simple expression of the structure of this verse looks something like this:

•         For God so loved the world,
•                 that he gave his only begotten Son,
•                         that whosoever believeth in him
•                                 should not perish,
•                                 but have everlasting life.

Look closely at this diagram. Can you see the nested gift boxes from God?

The outer box that contains everything is God's LOVE. God's love is the motivating cause that produced the effect of the next, which is the gift of God's Son, who is the LORD. Inside the gift of the Lord Jesus is the gift of LIFE. This gift is available to "whosoever" believes in Jesus. 

God has given us a gift within a gift within a gift. But there's one more surprise inside God's gift of life... LIGHT! Whenever the life of Jesus is received, the Light of the World shines forth.

LOVE - LORD - LIFE - LIGHT - That's the nested gifts that God offers us this Christmas!

When Robin opened the gigantic box on Christmas Eve and dug through box after box until she discovered the shiny earrings in the tiny golden box, she was overjoyed. That was a memorable Christmas for both of us. I love surprising my wife and she loves being surprised.

I think God must love surprising us too.