What do Ducky and Phil, from Duck Dynasty, have in common?

 

Question... What do Ducky and Phil, from Duck Dynasty, have in common?  

Answer...  They both speak to dead people.  

Let's me explain.  Fans of NCIS know that Ducky, the Forensic Scientist tasked with determining the cause of death in the latest victim, is known to speak to the bodies he is examining.  (It sounds creepy, but, somehow, it is quite endearing.)

Phil, from Duck Dynasty, represents a host of people who speak about lifestyle issues to people the Apostle Paul describes as spiritually dead. (in this case, as the fallout from the recent GQ I article shows, it is quite creepy and far from endearing.)

For the record, I never watched Duck Dynasty. I am not concerned about A&E’s decision to suspend Phil.  I do not write to affirm or distance myself from Phil’s crude comments about homosexuality and the “improved” status of minorities in America.  I am writing about talking to the dead.

Take a few minutes to read a portion of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, specifically chapter 2, verses 1-10.

Paul is writing to followers of Jesus living in the thriving city of Ephesus.  In Chapter 2, Paul reviews their spiritual journey.  He begins by saying, "as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins..." Even without context, it is easy to understand that the readers of Paul's letter were quite alive and well.  Paul reminded his readers that they were spiritually dead, prior to coming to faith in Jesus.  

This current debacle provides at least two lessons for followers of Jesus. 

1- You don't always have to take a side.  In situations like this, we instantly fall in line between party or position A or B. There is usually an aggressor and a victim.  In this case there is a corporate powerhouse and Phil, the cartoonish character of Duck Dynasty.  If we take sides in the debacle de jour, we put ourselves in a position to defend “our guy.”  Sometimes we should take three steps back and wait until the “circus” leaves town!

2- We are to call people to a personal faith in Jesus. We are not to call the spiritually “dead” to lifestyle choices.  Speaking to followers of Jesus in the city of Corinth, the Apostle Paul said, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?” 1Cor. 5:12

Ducky, the NCIS’s Forensic Scientist, would never exhort his cold, stiff, corpse to get up and dance.  Why, because it is impossible for a dead man to dance!

In the same way, Jesus, the Apostles and the Prophets never called a person to a lifestyle change.  They called people to a personal faith, a new birth, in which we are made spiritually alive. They called people to a personal faith in which the Holy Spirit of God indwells a person giving them a new heart, a new mind and new desires.

SO, let the followers of Jesus be wise.  Let us “preach” faith in Christ, alone.

My Problem with Time Magazine’s 2013 Person of the Year, Pope Francis

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The annual tease is over.  The short list for Time Magazine’s Person of the year told us more about marketing than it did about serious journalism.  A list that included Presidents Assad and Obama, Jeff Bezos, Miley Cyrus, Pope Francis, Ted Cruz, Katherine Sebelus and Edward Snowden was a recipe for free publicity and spirited discourse.  Personally, I enjoy the build up leading up to the announcement, but this year I have a problem with the choice of Pope Francis as the Person of the Year.

Using most metrics, Edward Snowden and Pope Francis have impacted their worlds in ways that will reverberate well beyond 2013.  Snowden’s leaking of classified NSA documents has shaken world powers almost as much as Pope Francis’s simple life and conciliatory comments have shaken the religious establishment in the Vatican and beyond. 

I am a "recovering Catholic"

Before I explain why I have a have a problem with the choice of Pope Francis as the Person of the Year, I have to reveal that I am a “Recovering Catholic,” serving as the Pastor of Grace Chapel, an independent, non-denominational church in suburban Philadelphia. I came to faith as a university student after reading the Gospels and Epistles.  [A topic for another day!]

For the record, my experience with the church down the street did not scar me in any sense of the word.  It has been over 40 plus since I served as an altar boy, but  I still remember the humble and devout nature of Fathers Getz, Grimes and Sherman. 

As I read the Prophets in the Old Testament, the Gospels and the writings of the Apostles, I learned that humility and devotion do not make a person right with God.  In Ephesians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul said, we are made right or reconciled with God, in a way which is completely undeserved, as we place our full trust, confidence and faith, NOT in our relative righteousness, but in the substitutionary death of Jesus.   Jesus paid our debt… He cured our disease... He built a bridge to the Father.  Pick a metaphor explaining a right relationship with God that does not include a church or denomination or our good deeds and we move beyond symbolism towards substance.

"My problem is with Evangelicals"

My problem is not with Time’s selection of Pope Francis as the Person of the Year.  The choice will generate record sales and much discussion!  My problem is with how we as Evangelical Christians will respond to the selection. 

In the days leading up to Time’s announcement, I listened to a sermon by a young Evangelical Pastor. Early in this Advent message, the Pastor said, “I am a great fan of this new Pope.” This is one of many illustrations of similar comments which have recently filled blogs, Facebook posts and tweets.  We must remember and be careful to communicate that the root of Christianity is not morality. The root of Christianity is faith in the substitutionary death of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

My problem, or rather concern, is that Evangelicals have not developed the ability to acknowledge Pope Francis’s symbolic words or actions and, at the same time, distance ourselves from Roman Catholic traditions and Canon Law which are contrary to the teachings of Jesus and the writings of the New Testament authors, Peter, Paul, James, John and Luke.

"Good people do not go to Heaven."

It is truly refreshing and very rare, to hear any leader call for a simple life and model compassion and empathy.  But we, as Evangelicals must realize that “good people” do not go to heaven.  When the Apostle Paul met Jesus, he may have been the most religious person around. But Paul came to understand and teach, that our relative goodness can never make us right in God’s eyes.  The Apostle said, we are saved by grace, through faith and not by works. (Eph 2:8-9)

In my mind, Pope Francis will be the Man of the Year when he says, “I do not live the way I do to earn God’s favor or to help pay for my sins.  I live the way I do in response to God’s grace and mercy, which saved my soul.” Pope Francis may be this generation’s most religious person, but he will not be right in God’s eyes until his faith and confidence is in Christ alone. 

Pope Francis is walking on a "tightrope."

In the article announcing the selection of Pope Francis as the Person of the Year, the author said, “… in less than a year, he has done something remarkable: he has not changed the words, but he’s changed the music. Tone and temperament matter…”

The article speaks about the tightrope the Pope is walking.  For every statement like “who am I to judge” he reminds listeners that he is a “child of the Church.”  To every diplomatic, non answer to questions about celibacy, birth control, the rights of gays and the divorced to receive the sacraments and the potential of women priests, his Jesuit, defender of the faith” background is flashed.

So, let us acknowledge the Person of the Year.  But let us pray for wisdom and boldness to use this story as an opportunity to share the good news with people who wrongly believe that entry to heaven is gained by living a life of devotion, simplicity and empathy.

Lance Armstrong and Followers of Jesus, drafting and drifting

My family and I lived in Ireland for eight years.  During our time in Ballincollig, Co. Cork, I became a fan of cycling.  At the time, two Irish guys, Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche were among the world’s best.  They were national heroes.

As an American living in Ireland I was able to enjoy the Irish success and, at the same time, celebrate the rise of three-time Tour DeFrance winner, Greg LeMond.  In time, LeMond’s fame was overshadowed by Lance Armstrong.

I loved the sport of cycling.  I admired the grueling physical nature of the sport. In time, I came to understand there was strategy used by the various teams.   I came to appreciate the importance of teamwork, role players with different areas of expertise.  Some of the guys excelled in the mountains.  Others were sprinters.  Some even were on the team to play defense, to protect the star, who excelled in the mountains and during the sprint.  With the retirement of Greg LeMond, Lance Armstrong became a household name around the world.  Unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons, Lance Armstrong is still a household name. 

I was recently thinking of the parallels between winning, the right way, as a cyclist and as a Follower of Jesus.

Winning cyclists understand the value of hard work, self-discipline and aerodynamics.  Huh... aerodynamics, YES!  In cycling,  [or car racing, and speed skating,] “Drafting” is a technique where, at least two, moving objects fall in line to reduce the overall effect of wind resistance or “drag.” Riding alone is a sure recipe for failure. 

The same is true for the follower of Jesus.  The resistance we face is the strong wind of conventional wisdom, peer pressure or anything which contradicts the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.

The Apostle Paul never speaks about “drafting,” in the cyclist sense of the word, but he continually calls us to live life in community. A dozen or so times in the New Testament, the “one anothers,” serve as the biblical equivalent to drafting. 

In both cycling and Walking with Jesus, “riding alone” always leads to drifting.  In Hebrews 2:1 the writer encourages us to “pay more careful attention… to what we have heard. “  He is speaking about the writings in the Old Testament, the Gospels and the Epistles.  The words literally mean, “hold in your mind.”

We “hold” the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles in our mind to the extent we know and apply the Scriptures to the details of our day to day life.

The verse [Hebrews 2:1] begins with a good idea and ends with a strong reminder that we will “drift away” if we neglect or ignore “what we have heard.”

The word drift describes a slow, almost invisible, process where we eventually abandon a person, position or perspective.

In Lance Armstrong we have a painful example of what “drifting” looks like in his professional life.  The landscape is littered with casualties of his drifting.

My prayer for us is that we face the resistance of the world, as we know it, by “drafting,” in a community of “one anothers.”   Victory in this race is a reasonable goal for every follow of Jesus.