I do not believe anyone ever really had a firm faith in anything they didn't test first.

 Testing is another way of doubting. I am convinced that doubt is a healthy step towards belief. Those who do not doubt are usually scared that what they SAY they believe is not REALLY true! So let's celebrate doubt as an important step to faith!

Let me give you a fast example. Let me address your statement, I don't really know where we come from and where we're going.  Nobody has come back to say, 'hello, I'm back to say.......there is........'   who knows what!   This is such an important point you raise, with eternal consequences. It is SO important, we can't afford to get the answer wrong, don't you agree? This is why I have examined Jesus' claim to be the One (God) who came to us FROM beyond  death to tell us precisely what is there. Jesus claimed he was the ONLY One who has been in eternity past and the ONLY One who can take us after this life is over, into eternity future. Jesus claims to be, as the old popular song goes, the "Bridge over troubled waters".

My wife, Sheryl, helped me understand the importance of doubt through a seminar she developed on the topic. Sheryl encourages doubt as a healthy step towards firm faith. She says that one of the ways to define doubt is the suspension between faith and unbelief.  For me as a Christian, faith is when I believe God's word is true and I trust God and I act upon what God has said in the Bible.  Unbelief is when I've hardened my heart to God and say I'm not going to do what I know God wants me to do.  I've closed my mind to God so that I don't receive God’s Word as truth.  But in-between faith and unbelief there is doubt.

Doubt either moves slowly towards unbelief and we harden our heart and close our mind to God.  Or doubt slowly moves toward faith and we put our trust in God and what God says.  There's nothing wrong with this doubt because it pushes us to understand what we really put our faith in.  There's another way of putting it.  Doubt is involved in helping us determine what is true and what is false.

Doubt pushes me to understand truth.  Doubt pushes me to place my faith in truth.  So doubt in a sense is being in suspension.  It's between truth and what is false. It's between faith and unbelief.

Here is my challenge to you. Let's keep on blogging. You ask me questions about whatever it is you want to know regarding Jesus and life-after-death. I will respond to each one. I promise NOT to give "churchy" answers or to try to "convert" you to my way of thinking. I just want to have an open dialogue with you and help you get some answers to the most important question in the world: Do we really matter?

I hope all of you reading this today you will accept my offer and let's keep the blog going! Share your perspectives, your ideas, your doubts and your faith.

Worship needs to be both relevant and grounded.

Relevancy keeps us looking forward.  It means that preaching must address last week’s headlines, while preparing the listener to live successfully next week. Musically, this means we embrace the latest musical styles. We always look for artists who are serving God by writing fresh lyrics to eternal truths.  

Being Grounded means we look back over the past 2000 years of Church history, embracing the best of our heritage. Preaching needs to take into account how the church historically has understood the Word of God. Teachers in both educational settings and in Worship need to understand and communicate the Bible within its historical, cultural and linguistic setting. Musically, this means we keep teaching the great hymns of the faith to our people. They may be set in a contemporary setting, but the words need to remind us we are resting on the faith and work of those who came before us.

Jesus said in John 4 when asked about worship that true worship involves people’s spirit and is founded in what is true (truth is defined as that which corresponds to reality, what really is). Therefore, not all worship is acceptable to God. For example, it’s possible to be wasting your time at church (like my agnostic and atheistic friends often claim to me, but for different reasons than they allege).  Worship that’s a waste of time and that Jesus finds bankrupt is mechanical worship, void of any real understanding of its meaning or significance. Worship that is not based on truthful propositions, not based in reality, God also rejects.  How do we know what is true? It has to be revealed by God. In the Bible we have revealed truths directing us into the worship embraced by God.

God wants us to worship in truth and with all our hearts. The heart-language of people will incorporate their musical tastes their artistic expressions and other culturally relevant ways of expressing truth. Heart-language worship always draws a people to praise God.  God adores heart-felt worship!

Should the Church be actively involved in politics? Is that part of “Rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Luke 20:25)?  Or should Christians, not Churches, be politically active?

In Jesus’ Inaugural Address, where we learn how he will rule when he becomes the world’s leader (Matthew 5-7) we are told that believers are SALT and LIGHT. Salt in Biblical times, was primarily a preservative. True, it added flavor. That was a bonus, not the primary function. Similarly, individual Christians are to act as the preservative of this world. When the world falls apart, politically or otherwise, we would be smart to recognize the real source of the problem – ineffective Christians. When a chunk of meat in Jesus’ day rotted (like the world today is rotting) it meant that the salt had lost its potency. Similarly, if the world becomes tasteless, don’t blame it on the world; the salt has gone bad.

Being light is a similar metaphor for Jesus. The world is naturally a dark place. If it remains dark, then the light has gone out. Remember the Church in Ephesus (Revelation 2)? Jesus commends their diligent hard work and perseverance. But he warns them that if they do not return to Him, their first love, he will come and remove their lamp (their menorah), extinguishing their light. In Jewish culture, the menorah always stands for the witness of the community of faith. This scripture warns, then, that we can be active and diligent workers for Christ but still not love Christ first and foremost in our lives. When this happens, God, Himself, comes to us and removes our witness (our light-menorah). The church may remain in business. But its witness has been extinguished.

This is what Jesus means when he says we are a light in a dark world. In John 1 we are told that when the light embraces the darkness, the darkness never wins. So, too, a Christian who live for Jesus and loves Jesus with all his heart has a witness and an impact on the world.

I believe there is a best way for Christians as a whole to impact political systems and to bring about God’s just rule here on earth as it is in Heaven. They need as individuals, to be salt and light. When Churches, as an entity, take political stands, they tend to become more like Caesar, not like God. I support savvy well informed Christians who are politically astute and actively engaged in bringing political change to our world.

Psalm 139
1    O LORD, you have examined my heart
       and know everything about me.
2    You know when I sit down or stand up.
       You know my every thought when far away.
3    You chart the path ahead of me
       and tell me where to stop and rest.
       Every moment you know where I am.
4    You know what I am going to say
       even before I say it, LORD.
5    You both precede and follow me.
       You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6    Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
       too great for me to know!

God knows everything. The Bible calls this Omniscience. This Scripture tells us that God knows everything about you and me. Does that fill you with comfort or dread? How many of us really want others to know the deep inner workings of our mind?

Suppose I set up a special DVD player here this morning. Imagine I have the power to project the last 7 days of your life onto both screens of the PowerPoint. Ah, but I project not only all the deeds and actions of your last week, I also project all the inner workings of your mind; all those highly secret thoughts, the things you said under your breath; the meanings you really would have liked to convey, but had the good sense or lacked the courage to express.   Any volunteers? Who will be the first to step right up here and let us REALLY know what you are thinking? No one would accept such a crazy offer. Why? Because deep down, we are afraid for anyone to know all we are really thinking. But our God is all-knowing. And that thought brought the Psalmist comfort. Look at verse 6:

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
       too great for me to know!

 Is he crazy? God knows even my deepest thoughts and that is somehow supposed to seem “wonderful” to me? To in some way bring me “comfort”? Insane! Ah, but you see, God is more than just all-knowing. God is also all-wise. It isn’t just knowing our thoughts that impresses the Psalmist. It’s the fact God understands them. Knowledge deals with information. Wisdom deals with the use of that knowledge.

I might dare share my secret thoughts with someone if I felt confident they might understand. If a person could see each thought in the context of what brought it about in the first place, then I might feel comfortable, even relieved by sharing my inner life. If only someone could see and understand all my thoughts, see how they all fit together; even my sinful ones, as wrong as they might be. Then at least they would understand why they are there and what brought them about. In fact if I were convinced such a person loved me unconditionally, regardless of my inner thoughts or motivations, then I might, I just might actually seek them out for advice and support. Of course there is only one such person in all the universe who has such knowledge and uses it so wisely. That person is God.

And that is why the Psalmist finds this knowledge a wonderful relief for him. In fact, he closes Psalm 139 with these familiar words:

23  Search me, O God, and know my heart;
       test me and know my thoughts.
24  Point out anything in me that offends you,
            and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Search me
Test me
Point out my offenses
Lead me

In other words, he is saying to God, examine the corners of my life. Reveal everything that I try to keep so hidden there.

Imagine this, friends: with God we can be totally real, never on our guard, totally transparent. Why? Well, first off, God is all-knowing; God already knows anything we might attempt to cover up. But secondly, and I believe more importantly, God is all wise; God understands. God truly grasps our deepest desires, hidden intentions, dreadful doubts, fears and frustrations with families, friends, and even ourselves.

But doesn’t our willful sin cause us to break fellowship with God? Absolutely! That is totally true. But as we talked about last week, sin causes us to turn our face away from God. God’s face is never turned away from ours, even when we sin. We have broken the relationship with God. God has not abandoned us. Rather, Jesus stands at the door of your life, even then, in the midst of your sin, and he knocks, hoping you will open the door, repent by turning 180 degrees around, face God once more and allow the relationship to be renewed.

Wouldn’t it be tragic if the one who could offer you exactly what you need most (and that One is God) (and what you need most is a listening ear from one who can both understand you as well as forgive you)…wouldn’t it be tragic if that One were unavailable to you due because God didn’t want to get dirty hands with sinners? Ah, but God SPECILAIZES in sinners! The Bible says that God loved us so much that it was when we were still sinners that Christ died for us. God knows you. God understands you. God is ready to help you sort out yourself. Why should you trust such a God? Because God knows and understands you better than you do yourself.

God is all-knowing and all-wise. The implications of this are huge. God will never take anything I say or do, the wrong way. God will never misunderstand me. There is nothing about me hidden now that will one day be revealed causing God to say, “Wow, if I had known THAT about you, I would have never had anything to do with you!” God already knows and God already understands. And God wants a relationship with us…anyway!!!

Several have asked me for my closing illustration from my closing message  in 2009. Here it is. Have a tissue available!

What kind of Church avoids entropy and keeps moving ahead? In his book The Kingdom of God Is a Party, Tony Campolo relates an experience he had late one night in Hawaii. I see in it a parable of the kind of life Church Union Church needs to embrace in 2010.

Up a side street I found a little place that was still open. I went in, took a seat on one of the stools at the counter, and waited to be served. This was one of those sleazy places that deserves the name, "greasy spoon." I did not even touch the menu. I was afraid that if I opened the thing something gruesome would crawl out. But it was the only place I could find.

The fat guy behind the counter came over and asked me, "What d'ya want?" I said I wanted a cup of coffee and a donut.

He poured a cup of coffee, wiped his grimy hand on his smudged apron, and then he grabbed a donut off the shelf behind him. I'm a realist. I know that in the back room of that restaurant, donuts are probably dropped on the floor and kicked around. But when everything is out front where I could see it, I really would have appreciated it if he had used a pair of tongs and placed the donut on some wax paper.

As I sat there munching on my donut and sipping my coffee at 3:30 in the morning, the door of the diner suddenly swung open and, to my discomfort, in marched eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes.

It was a small place, and they sat on either side of me. Their talk was loud and crude. I felt completely out of place and was just about to make my getaway when I overheard the woman beside me say, "Tomorrow's my birthday. I'm going to be 39."

Her "friend" responded in a nasty tone, "So what do you want from me? A birthday party? What do you want? Ya want me to get you a cake and sing 'Happy Birthday'?"

"Come on," said the woman sitting next to me. "Why do you have to be so mean? I was just telling you, that's all. Why do you have to put me down? I was just telling you it was my birthday. I don't want anything from you. I mean, why should you give me a birthday party? I've never had a birthday party in my whole life. Why should I have one now?"

When I heard that, I made a decision. I sat and waited until the women had left. Then I called over the fat guy behind the counter, and I asked him, "Do they come in here every night?"

"Yeah!" he answered.  "The one right next to me, does she come here every night?" "Yeah!" he said. "That's Agnes. Yeah, she comes in here every night. Why d'ya wanta know?"

"Because I heard her say that tomorrow is her birthday," I told him. "What do you say you and I do something about that? What do you think about us throwing a birthday party for her—right here—tomorrow night?"

A cute smile slowly crossed his chubby cheeks, and he answered with measured delight, "That's great! I like it! That's a great idea!"          Calling to his wife, who did the cooking in the back room, he shouted, "Hey! Come out here! This guy's got a great idea. Tomorrow's Agnes's birthday. This guy wants us to go in with him and throw a birthday party for her—right here—tomorrow night!"

His wife came out of the back room all bright and smiley. She said, "That's wonderful! You know Agnes is one of those people who is really nice and kind, and nobody does anything nice and kind for her."

"Look," I told them, "if it's okay with you, I'll get back here tomorrow morning about 2:30 and decorate the place. I'll even get a birthday cake!"

"No way," said Harry (that was his name). "The birthday cake's my thing. I'll make the cake."

At 2:30 the next morning, I was back at the diner. I had picked up some crepe-paper decorations at the store and had made a sign out of big pieces of cardboard that read, "Happy Birthday, Agnes!" I decorated the diner from one end to the other. I had that diner looking good.

The woman who did the cooking must have gotten the word out on the street, because by 3:15 every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place. It was wall-to-wall prostitutes…and me!

At 3:30 on the dot, the door of the diner swung open, and in came Agnes and her friend. I had everybody ready (after all, I was kind of the M.C. of the affair) and when they came in we all screamed, "Happy birthday!"

Never have I seen a person so flabbergasted…so stunned…so shaken. Her mouth fell open. Her legs seemed to buckle a bit. Her friend grabbed her arm to steady her. As she was led to sit on one of the stools along the counter, we all sang "Happy Birthday"' to her. As we came to the end of our singing with "happy birthday, dear Agnes, happy birthday to you," her eyes moistened. Then, when the birthday cake with all the candles on it was carried out, she lost it and just openly cried.

Harry gruffly mumbled, "Blow out the candles, Agnes! Come on! Blow out the candles! If you don't blow out the candles, I'm gonna hafta blow out the candles." And, after an endless few seconds, he did. Then he handed her a knife and told her, "Cut the cake, Agnes. Yo, Agnes, we all want some cake."

Agnes looked down at the cake. Then without taking her eyes off it, she slowly and softly said, "Look, Harry, is it all right with you if I…I mean is it okay if I kind of…what I want to ask you is…is it O.K. if I keep the cake a little while? I mean, is it all right if we don't eat it right away?"

Harry shrugged and answered, "Sure! It's O.K. If you want to keep the cake, keep the cake. Take it home, if you want to."

 "Can I?" she asked. Then, looking at me, she said, "I live just down the street a couple of doors. I want to take the cake home, okay? I'll be right back. Honest!"

She got off the stool, picked up the cake, and carrying it like it was the Holy Grail, walked slowly toward the door. As we all just stood there motionless, she left.

When the door closed, there was a stunned silence in the place. Not knowing what else to do, I broke the silence by saying, "What do you say we pray?"

Looking back on it now, it seems more than strange for a sociologist to be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning. But then it just felt like the right thing to do. I prayed for Agnes. I prayed for her salvation. I prayed that her life would be changed and that God would be good to her.

When I finished, Harry leaned over the counter and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said, "Hey! You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?" In one of those moments when just the right words came, I answered, "I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning."

Harry waited a moment and then almost sneered as he answered, "No you don't. There's no church like that. If there was, I'd join it. I'd join a church like that!"

Wouldn't we all? Wouldn't we all like to join a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning?

Well, that's the kind of church that Jesus came to create! That’s a church that never has to fear entropy. That’s a church that’s on the move.

Clean Feet: Going Beyond Forgiveness and Embracing Reconciliation

One of the greatest damages to the Good News of Jesus Christ is the lack of forgiving Christians. While there is no shortage of forgiven Christians, it’s rare to find recipients who quickly dispense the same kind of forgiveness they’ve received. So when Christians pray, “…and forgive us our sins to the same degree we forgive others”, do we really mean it?

Some Christians claim to have forgiven but in the end, want no relationship with the one who has supposedly been forgiven. How can we forgive when we do not “feel like it”? Next, how can we grow through our anger enough to help the forgiven one to be returned to “community”? I want to examine these two ideas.

The American Civil War is an excellent example of the destructiveness of an unforgiving spirit.On October 17, 1978 Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, was "forgiven" by the government of the United States. He had been dead since 1889. Before the Civil War he had been a congressman, a senator, and a cabinet member. After the war he was imprisoned for two years without trial. Then he was released from prison, but his citizenship was not restored until 1978, a little too late to do him any good.

*Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).

Jesus’ Teaching on Forgiveness and Restoration
John 13:1-17
1Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He now showed the disciples the full extent of his love. 2It was time for supper, and the Devil had already enticed Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.
6When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, why are you going to wash my feet?”
7Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now why I am doing it; someday you will.”
8“No,” Peter protested, “you will never wash my feet!”
Jesus replied, “But if I don’t wash you, you won’t belong to me.”
9Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”
10Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet,to be entirely clean. And you are clean, but that isn’t true of everyone here.” 11For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because it is true. 14And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16How true it is that a servant is not greater than the master. Nor are messengers more important than the one who sends them. 17You know these things—now do them! That is the path of blessing.

THE NEED TO FORGIVE AND RESTORE:TO CLEAN FEET!
Cosimo de Medici said, "We read that we ought to forgive our enemies, but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends." In practice it may be a lot easier to forgive our enemies than it is to forgive our friends. We don't expect much from our enemies. We expect a lot from our friends. When they disappoint us, or betray us, we find it very hard to forgive them.

*Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).

Jesus forgave both his enemies and maybe more amazingly, his friends!
In his book, "None of These Diseases," Dr. S.I. McMillen says, "Medical science recognizes that emotions such as fear, sorrow, envy, resentment and hatred are responsible for the majority of our sicknesses. Estimates vary from 60 to nearly 100 percent."
I read about one patient who was told by his doctor. "If you don't cut out your resentments, I may have to cut out a part of your intestinal tract."
The reality is what we fail to forgive keeps us bound to and by the past. Forgiveness sets the hurt person free.

WHAT IT TAKES TO CLEAN FEET
Lose Something: Memory Loss… Perceive their Potential
Gain Something: Modesty Gain … Passionately Serve
Do Something: Mission for Life… Proceed to Perform 

1.           Lose Something: Memory Loss 
(Jesus chose to let go of the coming betrayals by his disciples) Perceive their Potential

Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, was reminded one day of a vicious deed that someone had done to her years before.  But she acted as if she had never heard of the incident.  "Don't you remember it?"  her friend asked.  "No," came Barton's reply.  "I distinctly remember forgetting it." 
*Luis Palau, Experiencing God's Forgiveness.  Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 1.

2. Gain Something: Modesty Gain  (Jesus took on the role of servant. He went to them – vs. 1, 4-5) Passionately Serve

(Mother Teresa) “The church wants "renewal."  Renewal does not mean changing a habit and a few prayers.  Renewal is faithfulness to the spirit of the constitutions, a spirit which seeks holiness by means of a poor and humble life, the exercise of sincere and patient charity, spontaneous sacrifice and generosity of heart, and which finds its expression in purity and candor.” 
*Mother Teresa in Jesus, the Word to Be Spoken.  Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 14.

3.    Do Something: Mission for Life
(Vs 15 &17: Just DO it!) Proceed to Perform 

 When our son Elton was little old, he was out playing in the back yard and got a splinter in his hand. He came in and held up his hand. He was crying, and he said, "I got a splinter in my hand!" His mother said "Sit on the couch. Let's look at it." So she looked at it.
            No! Don’t touch it!
She wanted to say to him, "Elton, don't you trust me? What do you think I'm going to do, cut your hand off? I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help you, and if you don't let me help you, it's going to get worse not better. Trust me; I'm your mother. I love you. I care about you. I do this only to help you. Be still. Relax."
I think sometimes God in heaven must look down upon us, and we must be like a little child who says, "God, I'm hurt. God help me." God reaches in to help us, and the first thing we do is say, "God, don't touch me! Don't do that God!" God is saying, "But I've got to reach in there and deal with the hurt. It may hurt a little, but I've got to do it." We say, "No, God. Please, nothing like that!"

So here we are fighting with God. How many times in our lives do we find ourselves on the surgery table of the Almighty, where God is trying to work in our lives that miracle of making us like Christ, and when we realize what God's doing, we wake up and say, "God, I don't want you to do this. Let me out of here!"?
*Mike Huckabee, "Practice of Patience," Preaching Today, Tape No. 78.


Forgiveness is God’s surgical incision to remove hatred and bitterness from our lives.
But God understands our struggle to forgive. And God forgives us for our struggle!

In one Polish city there is a street named Beautiful. It is probably the ugliest street in town. Unpaved, it is filled with ruts and potholes, and to drive faster than five miles an hour would be unthinkable. Obviously the street didn't turn out the way planners had hoped. What about our lives? Did they start out to be beautiful and become ugly? Are we living with unfulfilled dreams and unrealized plans? Probably all of us are, but we serve an understanding and a forgiving God.
*Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).

I hope this helps us all to pray more truthfully the Lord's Prayer. I hope we become less likely to step on those who step on us. I hope we all become more like the One who washes dirty feet, forgiving and restoring our brothers and sisters back to their high calling in Christ Jesus.

My sister has been at home with Jesus now for ten years. But I draw from her wisdom. Here is one brief article she wrote, explaining how she handles disagreements.
Pastor Dave

My mother was a very wise woman.  I can remember her sage advice, “If there is something between you and someone else, it’s because there is something first between you and God.”  I often think of that when I have a disagreement with someone.  After the initial problem, I start to process certain questions: “What did I do to contribute to this?  Am I being self-centered?”  (a problem between me and God); “Am I demanding my rights?”  (I’m suppose to be dead in Christ.  A dead person has no rights.  I long ago turned over to God any so called rights I had.  Now He is suppose to worry about them, not me.  I must have taken some back, if my rights were violated!)

So how do I handle these problems with others?  Sometimes well; sometimes not so well.  When I’m doing it right, I ask myself the above questions.  Then, if I had no real contribution to the problem (rare!), I choose not to take the offense and tell the Lord this.  That means I choose not to think about the sharp words, the hurt I felt.  Instead, I ask the Lord to forgive the person, and in turn to help me FEEL forgiveness.

To the best of my ability, with the Holy Spirit’s strong help, I shut down the “right” to think about the things said unless there is some good that can come from it.  Depending on the circumstance, this can be a hard thing to do, but it is the only way I’ve found to keep from being overly wounded by people, and in turn, not to let people interfere in my joy in the Lord.  Asking the Lord to bless them also is helpful, and recognizing they may have had a “bad day” or problems I’m unaware of.  I ask the Lord to show me how He sees them and this situation.  In so doing, I can avoid much of the critical spirit that would keep me from staying close to Him.

Response:
 I love being married. That’s why I am going to be careful and thorough in responding to this question. My wife, you see, has a tattoo and is thinking about getting a second one! What precipitated this discussion about tattoos? One of my staff asked me a few weeks ago if I felt it was inappropriate for him to get one. Here is how I responded to him. And here is my answer to you. It involves both Biblical and cultural considerations.

First, Biblically is it wrong to get a tattoo? The Bible does, in fact, say some things about tattoos. In Leviticus 19:28 we find the only direct reference to tattooing in the entire Bible:

“Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD. 

Leviticus 19:2 builds the context for verse 28. In Leviticus 19:2 we are told to be holy (uniquely set apart) because God is holy (uniquely set apart). In other words, we are to be different from those around us. Please note that different does not equate with odd. There are too many Christians who seem to believe that the Great Commission of Jesus in Matthew 28 reads “Go into all the world and be weird!” Christians are called and empowered by God to be different, not strange. What is the “difference” referred to here? In the context of Leviticus 19, it’s a difference to Whom we belong. What defined the difference for Israel in the time of Moses (the author of Leviticus 19) included harvesting and business ethics, morality, justice issues and avoiding anything that identified as belonging to a pagan system of worship. This is what “marked” you as a God-follower, not a tattoo. Tattooing in Egypt as well as neighboring Arab nations, marked a person indelibly to the deity with whom they belonged. God is saying in Leviticus 19:28 that we belong to God (the One we can make no design to represent). Therefore, since you have no available tattoo with which to mark yourselves as belonging to the true God, never tattoo yourself with another fake deity’s design.

Okay, does this mean, therefore, we are to avoid all tattooing? Is that what God intends by verse 28? If that is what God means, then I have been living an unholy life for the past 40-some years by trimming my sideburns and beard. Note Leviticus 19:27 (the verse just before the tattooing verse):

Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.

Oops! Am I in trouble with God or what?!  How do we in the 21st century apply these verses correctly to our own life choices?  Here is how I understand them: These regulations involving tattooing and beard trimming are part of the way Judaism functioned as a religion. The Laws delineate what it means to be a follower of God for a Jewish person coming out of Egyptian paganism.

But how do they apply to me? How do I know which Laws I keep and which are past tense? As a non-Jewish man, I keep the Moral Law (the Ten Commandments). But I am not obligated to keep the Civil Law (rules regarding how Israel is to be governed). Nor am I required to keep the Ceremonial Law (rules describing how Judaism is to function as a religion). Trimming my beard and not tattooing my body involve ceremonial Laws of Judaism (unless I tattoo myself with a modern-day deity – something in my life that takes the place of God. THEN it falls under God’s Top Ten, the Moral Law: “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind”).

So I am free, Biblically speaking, to tattoo myself. But then enters the second consideration. Is it culturally appropriate to have a tattoo?

This cultural consideration becomes a matter of opinion. The Bible has some things to say about living within our culture without becoming totally identified with our culture. It takes wisdom to determine what is appropriate and what is not. I want to share some insights that a friend of mine, Britt (who happens to be my most tattooed friend) has shared recently with me. Britt wrote:

This is what I learned about tattoos:
1. People cover themselves with "beauty" to make up for the lack of beauty on the inside.
2. It is a form of self worship (but not for all people)
3. Some people are just truly artistic and love art all over.
4. When the OT talks about it, it is in context to honor the dead by hurting one's self in view of a false and pagan god."

In other words, Britt summarizes appropriate and inappropriate reasons to get a tattoo. To Britt’s list, I would add that in some cultures and some parts of Central America, many tattoos identify you as belonging to a gang, not to Jesus. These tats are wrong for the follower of God. For my wife, the symbol of the butterfly on her ankle represents a new life in Jesus Christ. For my fellow worker at Union Church, his tattoo comes directly from Scripture, referring to Jesus’ payment for our failures. For the followers of God who were sorry for their sins in Ezekiel 9:4-5, God marked (tattooed) them with a symbol identifying them as belonging to God. In the future, many will be marked (tattooed) with the Seal of God, showing they belong to Jesus Christ (Revelation 7:4). Each person has to decide. No one should condemn. God and God alone is the final Judge of the motives of each heart.

Response:
Happy New Year! I should be taking the day off today, enjoying time with family, watching parades and bowl games. But instead, I’m finishing this post for you, primarily so I won’t experience more feelings of guilt. So why do I feel guilty right now? Am I feeling guilty for ignoring my family? How should I deal with my guilty feelings? Should I do my job and respond to your question or should I put family first? Woe is me; I’m clothed in guilt!

How about you? How long did it take you to break your “New Year’s Resolutions” this time? Overeat over the holidays…yet again? Feeling a little guilty, are you???  …And well you should; you ARE guilty! We all are. We’re guilty of so many failings, who can possibly keep track? Oh, that’s right; God keeps track. Hmmmmm…. Let’s chat about our failures (I’d rather talk about yours than mine). Let’s talk about GUILT.

As President Obama enters his second year in office, he may want to take some advice from Pastor John Ortberg who shared the following story about trying to recover from failure:

A CEO has taken on a new job, and the outgoing CEO says to him, "Sometimes you'll make wrong choices. You will. You'll mess up. When that happens, I have prepared three envelopes for you. I left them in the top drawer of the desk. The first time it happens, open #1. The second time you mess up, open #2. The third time, open #3."

For the first few months, everything goes fine. Then the CEO makes his first mistake, goes to the drawer, opens up envelope #1, and the message reads, "Blame me." So he does: "This is the old CEO's fault. He made these mistakes. I inherited these problems." Everybody says, "Okay." It works out pretty well.

Things go fine for a while, and then he makes his second mistake. So, he goes to the drawer and opens up envelope #2. This time he reads, "Blame the board." And he does: "It's the board's fault. The board has been a mess. I inherited them. They're the problem." Everybody says, "Okay, that makes sense."

Things go fine for a while, and then he makes his third mistake. So, he goes to the drawer and opens up envelope #3. The message reads: "Prepare three envelopes."

Making wrong choices can lead us to guilt. Guilt can devastate and destroy us. It can paralyze our perception of who we are and what we were created to accomplish. Guilt is destructive. That is one reason I do not believe guilt is from God. Psalm 51:2-3 reads like this in the NLT:

2    Wash me clean from my guilt.
    Purify me from my sin.
3    For I recognize my rebellion;
    it haunt me day and night.

This Scripture describes the anatomy of human failure. In verse 2, it’s made up of GUILT, which needs washing. And it’s made up of SIN which needs purifying. This Psalm utilizes a device called Hebrew Poetry where two ideas are rhymed. Verse 3 details why we need to be washed and purified from the guilt we feel when we blow it: I’m preoccupied and troubled 24/7 by my rebellion against God (it haunts me day and night), a rebellion I can see a mile away (I recognize my rebellion).

Guilt and sin are often associated together in the Bible. But is guilt a “gift from God”, sent to make us turn from our sin? Or is guilt something more sinister, something potentially destructive causing us not to turn from failure to faith? As I said, I do not believe guilt is from God. Instead, guilt comes from sin. God never guilts us; sin does.

God uses all things, even our failings and the guilt feelings which failure spawns. How we react to guilt determines how well we recover from our failings and sin. It’s similar to a person who discovers they have cancer. If the disease’s revelation causes him quickly to seek a doctor’s treatment, he probably can recover. If, however, he delays, gets depressed or preoccupied with his illness, he will probably succumb to it’s devastating effects.

Sin is the cancer of humanity. It seeks to pervert that which God created good – us! Discovering cancer is the role guilt plays in humanity. If we act on our discovery, God can do something to cure the effects of sin. But the longer we wait, the less even God can do to counteract sin’s devastation.  This is the function of guilt. It should motivate us to seek God.  But guilt has a danger. If we focus on the guilt and not on the God who can deliver us from both our failure and the feelings of guilt it engenders, we get stuck in feelings of hopelessness; the same as what happens to the cancer patient who gets stuck in discovery but never moves to treatment and recovery.

Max Lucado illustrates the destructive force of getting stuck in the guilt of failure. Lucado tells about football great, Noble Dodd. His entire life was filled with textures of success. But one failure, one time, spoiled life from Doss’s perspective. One failure colored the rest of his life.

Noble Doss dropped the ball. One ball. One pass. One mistake. In 1941, he let one fall. And it's haunted him ever since. "I cost us a national championship," he says.

The University of Texas football team was ranked number one in the nation. Hoping for an undefeated season and a berth in the Rose Bowl, they played conference rival Baylor University. With a 7-0 lead in the third quarter, the Longhorn quarterback launched a deep pass to a wide-open Doss.

"The only thing I had between me and the goal," he recalls, "was twenty yards of grass."

The throw was on target. Longhorn fans rose to their feet. The sure-handed Doss spotted the ball and reached out, but it slipped through.

Baylor rallied and tied the score with seconds to play. Texas lost their top ranking and, consequently, their chance at the Rose Bowl.

"I think about that play every day," Doss admits.

Not that he lacks other memories. Happily married for more than six decades. A father. Grandfather. He served in the navy during World War II. He appeared on the cover of Life magazine with his Texas teammates. He intercepted seventeen passes during his collegiate career, a university record. He won two NFL titles with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Texas High School Hall of Fame and the Longhorn Hall of Honor include his name.

Most fans remember the plays Doss made and the passes he caught. Doss remembers the one he missed. Once, upon meeting a new Longhorn head coach, Doss told him about the bobbled ball. It had been fifty years since the game, but he wept as he spoke.

I think Max Lucado’s story about Noble Doss serves to illustrate the destructive potential of guilt, be it deserved guilt or false guilt. But for us, the important question is this: how should we deal with feelings of guilt? Here is what the Bible says in Psalm 32:5:

    Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
    and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
    I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.”
    And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.

How do we recover from our sin and the guilt feelings produced? We confess our sins to God (which means we say the same thing about them as God says). We stop pretending that our failures are “only human”. We stop acting as though our sins make no real difference in the eternal scheme of things. We stop acting as though we are perfect, without failures; we own up to our failures to others and keep short accounts with God. Why? Because when I tell God what God already is fully cognizant of, that I have once again failed and sinned, then God will forgive me and remove all my guilt (reread Psalm 32:5).

I hope you start a new practice of daily talking to God about your need for God’s forgiveness and restoration so that the New Year will be filled with great journeys and no dead ends.