Open Mike

Good News from Egypt

I have been in turns jubilant and despondent over the 'Arab Spring,' this year, particularly Egypt.  The Christian church is ancient there, and last spring I heard the most noted parachurch leader from Egypt speak (at Gordon Conwell Seminary's graduation ceremony).  Last week, Ramez Attalah, Director of the Bible Society of Egypt sent his Christian friends in the U.S. some Good News from Egypt:

“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."  (Matthew 2:13) 

Dear Friends,   For many centuries Egyptians have been proud that when God’s Son needed refuge He came to their land for shelter and security. Today, as the bright sunshine of the Arab Spring is being overshadowed by darkening clouds of the Arab Fall, many Christians and moderate Muslims are seeking to flee from Egypt for freedom.

ISLAMIST PARTIES’ GAINS  You will undoubtedly have heard that the Islamists have made significant gains in the recent first round of Parliamentary elections.  This was expected but has, nevertheless, discouraged many who made great efforts to vote and somehow hoped that the non-Islamist candidates and parties would have made greater gains.  Nonetheless, many believe that the next two rounds of elections will not be as favourable for the Islamists.  A host of smaller parties are joining forces to counteract the Islamist takeover.

Many wonder why the Islamist parties have gotten a majority of the votes.  There are several possible reasons:

• The recent Egyptian “Revolution” was against the oppression of President Mubarak’s regime, so it is logical that people would want to vote for those who were most oppressed by the former government.
• A more convincing argument is that the Islamists have campaigned on only one issue: restoring Egypt to God’s laws.  Since Egyptians are one of the most religious people in the world this platform has tremendous appeal with the masses that trust these leaders to provide them with a decent life and help them get to heaven. 

Before you claim that this is naïve, think of how keen Christians in our country are to vote for a Christian candidate! 

GOD AT WORK  Rather than focus on the many economic, social, political, cultural and religious problems which Egyptians are struggling with, I want to share with you some remarkable news of unprecedented breakthroughs for the Gospel.

  29 years ago my wife, Rebecca, began ministering with an unknown Coptic Priest who was serving the despised and neglected Garbage Collectors of Cairo.  On November 11^th the largest prayer meeting in the history of the Middle East took place at the Garbage Village’s Cave Church complex with more than 50,000 people from all denominations and all walks of life praying for Egypt. We are hearing dozens of stories of healings and spiritual transformation which took place among those who attended this 12 hour event or even among those who watched it on satellite TV.  With all the sanctified imagination she could muster, there is no way that when Rebecca first began ministering with Father Simon could she have imagined such an event taking place. You can see it on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgch-bXGHLI&feature=BFa&list=PLCF7073A8355407F6&lf=plpp_video

Ø During the fighting which took place in the vicinity of Liberation Square recently, the nearby hospital was damaged.  Kasr El Doubara (KDC) Evangelical Church which is also nearby established a “hospital” on its premises which was manned, among others, by Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood doctors and nurses!  This was picked up by the media, and when interviewed, these Islamists said how welcome and loved they felt serving in that Church hospital!        

Ø Last night I attended the opening service for a Church around the corner from my home.  This is the first time since the 1950s that a Protestant Church has opened in the suburb where I live!

Ø Last month the Bible Society bought a shop in the Giza district of Cairo (with 7 million inhabitants and 115 Churches) which we are renovating as a Bible bookshop.  It will be the first Christian bookshop in Giza. 

Ø Last week we finished rebuilding the roof of the new Bible Society national distribution center (warehouse) and are hoping it will be in operation by the summer.

Ø As you know, the objective of our “Rebuild Egypt” campaign was "To flood Egypt with God's Word."  We began with highlighting Biblical values which resonated with the aspirations of the Egyptian youth.  As the situation in Egypt has progressed and regressed, we have become increasingly more focused on equipping the church, seeking to encourage and assure people not to fear the future, but to trust in the Lord.  You can follow news of this campaign on www.rebuild-egypt.org

THE ANTIDOTE TO FEAR   In the opening service of the new church close to us, the pastor preached on the fact that “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).  He went on to explain that true believers should not fear.  The best antidote to fear, he said, is love.  We do not fear those we love.  So the solution is to love those we fear!  What a message for Christians in Egypt today!!

With warm greetings, Yours sincerely,

 Ramez Atallah, General Director, The Bible Society of Egypt, admin@bsoe.org

Frugality and Extravagance in the New Economy

I've seen the two extreme realities of the new post-great-recession economics this week in the kingdom of God.

1. Here was the first reality.  We recently approved the 2012 ministry and mission budget for Lake Forest.  It represents plans, strategies and provision for what I pray is a year of effective and creative disciple-making for Jesus Christ (most exciting, bringing back a sermon series with the word 'blues' in it).  Including tithing-plus-offering the first 12.5% right back out the door.  10% to local and international missions, and (new this year) 2.5% toward church planting and multiplication outside of Lake Forest-Huntersville and Davidson.  The rest of it goes to proclaim the good news of Jesus to ourselves and the Lake Norman area in all the ways we do life together as a church. 

But this budget involves some painful right-sizing of programmatic, administrative, and staffing levels.  We must do ministry and 'shine our light' in ways that are financially congruent with the realities of our culture and our congregation.  In our staff meeting Tuesday, I shared this quote from a Mecklenburg County Commissioner, that was on the front page of the newspaper two weeks ago: "I hear some of my fellow Commissioners asking 'is this the year we can return to normal in our budgets, taxation, and staffing levels.'  I'm telling you, this is the year we adjust to the new-normal economy that requires we do more with less."  I have heard this repeatedly from business owners and managers in our church, and to hear it from a local elected official really sunk in. 

As I passed this perpsective along to our staff, so we don't live and work out of touch with the realities and people around us, I tried to make clear - this doesn't mean we just work more hours and burn people out.  It means we constantly refocus jobs and ministries to focus on ever-more sharp priorities, and cut out the things of lesser importance.  In this way, do more with less by doing a few things well.  In church work, as well as in your business/education/government work, its important in this new economy to be vigilant on behalf of co-workers whom we love to apply this principle in order to keep a healthy home and spiritual life outside of work.  If you are in a situation that is under-staffed or under-resourced, compared to the financial boom days of a few short years ago, what can you stop doing right now, in order to concentrate a higher percentage of your efforts on your highest (or, for those in business, your most profitable) priority?

2. The second reality has to do with generosity. In the new economy, we must adjust to these realities while we ALSO refuse to live and work in a scarcity mentality.  Entitlement thinking and behavior has taken over if we carry around a perspective of 'what I used to have' or 'what I could have.'  Relative to all of human history to this point, we all have a ridiculous amount of resources for life and work and ministry even after the recession.  its just a bit scaled down relative to recent boom times.  SO its important to examine this from both attitude and action.  I think the attitude aspect is about focusing on mission, at least for us in the church.  What are we trying to ask God to accomplish through us?  How? Let's go do that.  Level of resources have never, ever, ever changed or dampened the urgency of the mission to love the world with the good news of Jesus Christ.

The action aspect is reflected in generosity.  That's the opposite of living in a scarcity mentality.  Financial generosity tells God we are thankful for what is given to us, and we will worship him with proportional giving, regardless of amount.  And WOW do I see people at Lake Forest Church asking God to give them a healthy attitude BY worshipping him with generous giving:

-A large, large check given to us last week "to help any families you know in true need this time of year."

-A huge five-figure check given to propel our LOVE 10 vision last week "grateful for the ministry of our church family in my life, excited about where we are headed."

-A virtual peloton of bicycles in our worship center right now given by so many of you for our Christmas Village Toy Store project to serve the financially challenged right in our towns (you know, that big huge pack of bikes on teeny tiny mountain roads during the tour de france, isn't that a peloton?).

-Week after week faithful, generous worship-through-giving by so so many people who love Jesus

I could go on,  But wow.  Those are people focused on worshipping Jesus and propelling the mission of Jesus with the money they have.  Those are people who, regardless of the limiting effects of the world economy on their work, income, horizons, are rejecting an entitlement or scarcity mentality and embracing the mission of Jesus right now, by worshipping Jesus fully with their generosity.  I'm one of those people, and I like how the Spirit of God keeps my attitude toward money (and work budgets) healthy as we give generously.

I pray you live thoughtfully and faithfully according to your financial reality next year, thankful to God in little and in much.  Matthew 6:33  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Cheap Grace, Legalism, Costly Grace, and the rise of Hitler

What is the nature of the grace of God, given to the world through Jesus Christ? A good friend gave me the best book I've read in a long, long time.  In "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy," Eric Mataxas details the life, ministry, and thought of German pastor Dietrick Bonhoeffer, including his participation in a failed plot to assasinate Hitler.  The author's intellectual and Christian background make this book informative on many levels (Mataxas writes for the New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, and Washington Post; he also gives cultural commentary on CNN and Fox News from time to time).

Today, I point you to comments in the foreward (written by Tim Keller, noted pastor in NYC):  'It is impossible to understand Bonhoeffer's 'Cost of Discipleship' book without becoming acquainted with the shocking capitulation of the German church to Hitler in the 1930's.  How could the 'church of Luther,' that great teacher of the gospel, have ever come to such a place?  The answer is that the true gospel, summed up by Bonhoeffer as costly grace, had been lost.

One the one hand, the church had become marked by formalism.  That meant going to church and hearing that God just loves and forgives everyone, so it doesn't really matter much how you live.  Bonhoeffer called this cheap grace.  On the other hand there was legalism, or salvation by law and good works.  Legalism meant that God loves you because you have pulled yourself together and are trying to live a good, disciplined life.

Both of these impulses made it possible for Hitler to come to power.  The formalists in Germany may have seen things that bothered them, but saw no need to sacrifice their safety to stand up to them.  Legalists responded by having pharisaical attitudes toward other nations and races  that approved of Hitler's policies.  But as one, Germany lost hold of the brilliant balance of the gospel that Luther so persistently expounded--"We are saved by faith alone, but not by faith which is alone."  That is, we are saved, not by anything we do, but by grace.  Yet if we have truly understood and believed the gospel, it will change what we do and how we live.

By the time of Hitler's ascension, much of the German church understood grace only as abstract acceptance--"God forgives, that's his job."  But we know that true grace comes to us by costly sacrifice.  And if God was willing to go to the cross and endure such pain and absorb such a cost in order to save us, then we must live sacrificially as we serve others.  Anyone who truly understands how God's grace comes to us will have a changed life.  That's the gospel, not salvation by law, or by cheap grace, but by costly grace.  Costly grace changes you from the inside out.  Neither law nor cheap grace can do that.

This lapse couldn't happen to us, today, surely, could it?  Certainly it could.  We still have a lot of legalism and moralism in our churches.  In reaction to that, many Christians want to talk only about God's love and acceptance.  They don't like talking about Jesus' death on the cross to satisfy the divine wrath and justice.  Some even call it 'divine child abuse.'  Yet if they are not careful, they run the risk of falling into the belief in 'cheap grace'--a non-costly love from a non-holy God who just loves and accepts us as we are.  That will never change anyone's life.  So it looks like we still need to listen to Bonhoeffer and others who go deep in discussing the nature of the gospel."

Citizenship on Veteran's Day

We have many veterans I admire at Lake Forest Church.  One of them is a daily leadership mentor to me.  Col. Mark Remick USM writes a 'thought of the day' on leadership, learning, faith, and words.  In true military fashion he is concise, on-point, and clear.  I echo him today in saying 'thank you veterans, well done.'  With permission, I share today's thought from him:

Happy Vet's Day!      1. Thought - Last week I was asked to go to the Department of Homeland Security in Charlotte and speak to 71 immigrants who will become citizens in the United States of America on November 10th 2010. I said , "Why me?" Well, that's another story.

So, yesterday, I was privileged to speak to 71 immigrants and their families and wives and friends. I admit once I committed to this,  I didn't know what to say to them. What do you tell folks in 5 to 10 minutes about being a citizen in America? What's it mean to be a citizen in America? I've always been one, and quite frankly, I haven't ever given it much thought.

 In the morning, before the swearing in ceremony, I went for a run without the ipod. The ipod's good, but not now, I gotta figure out what to say to these folks.  And I thought, and I thought and this is what came to me; You know, I didn't have a choice about being a citizen in the USA. I was born here. These folks made America their country. Their choice! They renounced their citizenship in their previous country. (Think on that alone!) They had to pay money, they had to study American history, they had to take tests, they were questioned many times, and it took them 3 to 5 years of education and training to get the opportunity to become a citizen of the United States of America.

And as I ran, I thought -- that's a choice I did not have to make. That was given to me by my parents and the opportunity of being born here.

 So, this is what I leave you with to think about. On your birthday, did you ever think about your citizenship? I never did, until now. I told these new citizens, I will think about my citizenship in America on my birthday from now on, and what it means to me. I told them I will tell my kids about their citizenship so that they can incorporate that thought on their birthday too. I want my kids to think about the gift of citizenship in this great land. Have you ever told your kids about that?

What an honor! There were 71 folks swearing in to citizenship in America from 35 different country's. I asked them, "Why do you want to become a citizen here?" Answers went from "Freedom to choose, to  America has civility and opportunity." It brought emotion and thankfulness to my heart. What a great day, and a Marine Corp birthday at that!

2. Question - We all hear daily about illegal immigration. What about legal immigration? What about people who choose to do it the correct way? Thank them please!!! I wondered what these new citizens think when they daily hear of the bashing we do within our country about our country? If you were non-American, would you want to become an American citizen?  

I wish you could have been there!

Vets - Well Done!            -Mark Remick

Back to Mike Moses - as we pursue our earthly citizenship with vigor and integrity, may we rejoice even more at our citizenship in the new heavens and new earth, granted to us by faith through the grace of Jesus Christ.

What I did NOT say yesterday (more 'unconventional Jesus')

In yesterday's sermon, I pointed to examples in the Gospels which show Jesus did not fit any conventional religious or political cateories of his day regarding his approach to the kingdom of God (the loose equivalent of 'conservative' or 'liberal' religious and political scripts in our day).  I discussed a little of what that might mean for us who aspire to follow him daily.  Here it is if you missed it http://www.lakeforest.org/sec/resources/sermons/ 

Whever a sermon touches on the culture wars and politics (as yesterday's did throughout), I find mysef clarifying what I did NOT say more than what I did say.  So here's my number one clarification - then an attachment for those who want to take it farther:

I did NOT say there is anything unspiritual, unchristian or wrong about being rabidly, purely conservative (or liberal) in your view of the best way for society to be run in the kingdoms of this world.  There isn't - in fact, I admire people who think deeply and systemmatically about political ways of making our nation and world better.  Nor do I think there is anything wrong or unspiritual, therefore, if you enjoy getting your news and commentary from media outlets who share that political bent.  In fact, it honors God to care deeply about the quality and direction of your society, and to apply your faith to how you think society can best be organized.  However, follow the example of Jesus even as you do so, and take care to not place such kingdom-of-this-world concerns above kingdom-of-God agenda in your daily actions, emotions, and your relational existence. 

 Here's what I think is a helpful diagnostic: If your chosen media outlet or political heroes set the daily agenda for your emotions, concerns, and interaction with others MORE SO than Jesus' agenda of loving people sacrificially in ways that look like the cross-bleeding for others-then you may be placing kingdom-of-this-world concerns ahead of those of God's kingdom, which is opposite of the unconventional ordinary habit of Jesus. (here is an extended quote regarding our life as citizens of both kingdoms at the same time Download Twokingdomsboydquote