CODE OF ETHICS?

             A news article reports that the National Association of Evangelicals has issued a code of ethical behavior for pastors. When I read this my first thought was “Duh…!  Isn’t the Bible pretty clear how a Christian should act, much more so a pastor.”  After all, Paul wrote to the young Timothy, “A bishop (pastor) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous…” (1 Timothy 3:2-3)

            News stories from time to time report on clergy who have defrauded their congregations financially, engaged in illicit sexual relationships, or have broken the trust of others in a multitude of ways. But I question if signing a code of conduct will really mean much to a person who is not willing to abide by the scriptural code of conduct.

            Evidently some pastors are like some other Christians who feel their special circumstances exempt them from one or more of the Bibles injunctions.  I have counseled with some who have used this argument with me. Under their circumstances, they did nothing wrong.

            Anyway, I applaud any effort to get pastors to behave.  In the article it was reported that the NAE is now working on a code of conduct for churches. Wow!  I’ll be interested in knowing what areas they address. I could give them a bushel full.

Grace and peace.  

OLYMPICS

            As of this past week the summer Olynpics are gone once again for four years.  I watched the highlights on the news reports, but not much of the actual competitions. But not only the games and competitions were covered. The stories of many of the athletes were highlighted. Some overcame great odds to become Olympians. Also highlighted was the extreme training some of the athletes endured to get into their best physical shape for the competition. I’ve never been an athlete, and never endured athletic level training.  But my brush with training was in physical education in high school.  So I know what it is like to exercise until you think you are going to drop. I know what it is to have muscles so sore that you can hardly move. Therefore, as I watched the potential Olympians going through their training, I had great sympathy for them along with great admiration for their willingness to undertake it.

            As I watched them, I was reminded of Paul’s words to the Corinthians. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”  (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

            Christians often think that the race is over, we already have the prize, i.e. new life in Christ.  But we must still present ourselves to our coach and judge. We need to “run in such a way as to get the prize.”  That prize will be the commendation of Christ, “well done good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)

Grace and peace.  

COMPUTERS

             I was dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age in the early l990’s when the church staff in Pensacola took away my typewriter and put a computer on my desk.  In order to work with the office staff and prepare my columns and other materials, I was forced to use MS DOS, the operating system for the computer.  A few years later the church went to Windows and I had to learn it.  Then the church logged on to the internet, and again I faced a learning curve.  When I moved my major office to my residence, I took my computer with me and subscribed to an internet service to enable me to still participate with the office staff.

            My children and grandchildren carry a computer in their pockets, their iPhones.  They browse the internet wherever they are, send and receive email, text messages and I don’t know what all else.  The advancement of computers and the internet over just two decades is truly amazing.

            I am still behind the curve.  But last weekend, during the sales tax free holiday, I invested in a lap top computer.  It is on the lower end of the cost and power spectrum, but is equal to or greater than the three year old computer on my desk. I’m still working on understanding everything about it, but I’m getting there.

            The computer age has been revolutionary for everyone, including preachers.  I can hardly prepare a sermon now without the internet. The internet has a plethora of Bible dictionaries, concordances, commentaries and other Bible helps, all available with a couple of clicks of the mouse.  Of course I could always go back to the old books again, but what a drag.  Also, with search engines you can find information you need on any subject, information which is more up to date than any printed encyclopedia.

            Considering what man has accomplished, there is no room to doubt all the many things that God has made or accomplished.  “Many, O Lord, are Your wonderful works which You have done.”  (Psalm 40:5)

Grace and peace. 

THE MONKEY TRIAL

             July 21, 1925, 87 years ago, the Scopes Trial, commonly referred to as the “Scopes Monkey Trial,” in Tennessee ended with John Scopes being convicted of teaching evolution in a public school against a Tennessee law forbidding it.  This debate has not gone away.  The advance of science continues to challenge those who believe in a “Young Earth” creation, that God created the earth in six twenty four hour days within the last 10,000 years.  The current edition of Christianity Today, marking the anniversary of the Scopes trial, contains an article about two contemporary scientists, one who advocates a young earth and the other who advocates an older earth which came into being through evolution.

            The bottom line is that both are committed Christians.  Both believe that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Both agree that someone who holds the opposite view of the length of creation is still a true believer.  Both agree that there are a lot of questions that still have no answer.  And both agree God is the reason the universe is here, and the reason you and I are here.  And, although they do not mention it in the article, I am certain that both agree that God will redeem this universe and you and I.

            In this debate I fall on the side of an old earth.  As one of my seminary professors said, “God didn’t make fossils to fool us.”  The earth has been around a long, long time.  On the other hand, I am not convinced of the evolution of species.  Although the DNA of chimps and humans is virtually the same, I am not convinced that one evolved from the other.     

            Of course, I am not a scientist and would not pretend to know all the answers (as some of my friends claim to know).  I am content to know and believe that “God created man in His own image” (Genesis 1:27) no matter how He did it. And He has created me anew into His image through Jesus Christ."Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."  

(2 Corinthians 15:7)

           

Grace and peace.  

BE CAUTIOUS IN THE HEAT

             During the last few weeks a heat wave gripped most of the country.  Great effort was made to help people, particularly the elderly, cope with the temperatures.  Cooling stations were opened, water was distributed and many organizations sponsored drives to provide widow air conditioning units or fans for those who needed them.  Yet, with all these efforts, almost one hundred persons are reported to have died from the heat.

            This situation can sneak up on someone.  The first heat related death where I knew the victim personally was a tennis playing mate in Pensacola.  He was a retired military man in his sixties.  Like many of the retired military in the area he owned a boat.  One day he was at the dock working on the boat, a day that was not unusually hot for the season but sunny and hot out in the sun.  He collapsed and was rushed to the hospital with a heat stroke.  He never regained consciousness and lived only a couple of days.  The lesson to me and others was to be aware of the danger of heat and take precautions for it.

            Having played tennis with him and talking of religious matters as a group on occasion, I was aware that he was not a church attendee and wondered about his relationship with God.  Attending his memorial service I perceived that his wife and family were not church oriented.  I regretted not taking time on the court to discuss with him his personal relationship with God.

            This lends another lesson.  Take opportunity to talk with others in every setting about their relationship with God. 

            Also be sure of your own salvation.  Death often comes suddenly and in a multitude of ways.  “Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)

             You and I need to be ready.         

           

Grace and peace.  

CAESAR AND GOD

            In my sermon on the Sunday before the Fourth of July, I referred to the government of the U.S. as secular. The word “secular” means “unrelated to religion.”  For many, however, the word secular has a sense of “anti-religiousness” or against religion; and a sense of “worldliness,” or sinfulness.  That was not at all what I sought to relate. I used it in its basic meaning, i.e. unrelated to religion.  Because of the negative connotations for some of the word “secular,” I will no longer refer to our government as secular.  Instead I will use the phrase “neutral toward religion.”

            In 1802 President Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to the Danbury Connecticut Baptist Association, sought to explain the impact of the First Amendment to the Constitution.  He wrote, “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church &State.”  The courts have followed that understanding through the years, and, as I noted in the sermon, because of that amendment no religious wars have been fought in this country’s history.  At the same time religious wars have been epidemic around the world, including Christians vs. Christians in Ireland.

            The First Amendment declares that the U.S. government shall be neutral towards religion, neither promoting it, i.e. “establishment,” nor restricting it, i.e. “free exercise.”

            In the sermon I stated that this country is Christian in that the majority of citizens are Christians. The Christian majority wielded great influence in shaping the country and its laws.  But the government itself is neutral toward religion.

            As Jesus said, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21)

Grace and peace.  Mel

DUST AND SPIRIT

            When my father-in-law died in 1989, he was buried in a plot in Elmwood cemetery which had been in the family for decades.  Liz and I decided we needed to plan ahead for our own resting places.  Therefore, a couple of decades ago we purchased a companion mausoleum crypt at Elmwood (i.e. a place for the two of us).  But our plans changed and we no longer need the mausoleum crypt, so we have offered it for sale at a bargain price.  But it seems there is not much traffic in the resale of cemetery plots or mausoleum crypts.

            Our plans changed because we both have decided on direct cremation.  This means we will be transported from the place of our death to a crematorium and there be reduced to ashes.  Our tradition, which we have honored with our parents and other relatives, is to be embalmed, dressed and made up, placed in casket, made available for viewing and then placed in a vault in a plot of ground.  After having worked with a funeral home and watching many families pay from seven thousand to twenty thousand dollars they could not afford to provide this traditional burial, I was convicted that we Christians need to change our tradition.  Speaking of the end of life, Ecclesiastes tells us, “Then the dust shall return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.  (Ecclesiastes 12:7)  Throughout the Bible we are told that we are made of the earth and our ashes will return to the earth.  Modern funeral practices seem to do everything possible to prevent this from happening, akin to the mummification of ancient Egypt. Cremation, to me, seems to be more in harmony with Biblical concepts, although it was condemned by ancient and some modern Christians.

            I do not, in any way, condemn anyone who wishes to follow traditions, and most of my family (i.e. siblings and in laws) will do so. But Liz and I have already planned our departure.  We opt to be cremated and for the family to have a memorial service at the church where we are participating at that time.  If, when the first one of us departs, we still own the crypt, we will use it as a depository for ashes.  Unless, by that point, either of us has opted for scattering the ashes (i.e. back to the earth)..

            An old saying is true; the only sure things in this world are death and taxes.  The only crucial thing in preplanning for death is to plan our location in the next life.  Jesus said; “I go to prepare a place for you.”  We will leave this old body behind, but our spirit will return to God who gave it. You too can have an eternal place in God’s presence if you welcome Jesus into your heart now. 

           

Grace and peace.