Whatever Happened to Peace?

In the last installment of musings I wrote about the apparent disappearance of sin from our collective conscience not that sin has made itself scarce, but that we have reidentified it as something far more palatable and, therefore, much less offensive.

It has been interesting to listen to people respond to that blog because it was widely interpreted as "out of character" for me. I am generally not that confrontational because I believe grace attracts, edifies and ultimately ends in voluntary self-correction (see Zacchaeus). After all, it is God's amazing grace "that taught my heart to fear, and grace will lead me home."

However, I felt compelled to write that blog about the presence of sin because of the absence of peace. We are not a people at peace, yet we fail to make the inextricable connection between our peacelessness and our sinfulness. When we are at odds with our creator we are at odds with peace. So it is vital that we identify those things that sabotage our serenity.

Since enmity with God is our natural experience and unrest is our typical environment, we may not have a frame of reference that enables us to recognize peace. So we need be able to identify it, too. We need to recognize when we are harmonizing with God's purpose for our lives. Then when we experience life as God intended, we will have a more radical commitment to exterminating the things (sins) that compromise it.

So what is peace? The peace that God desires for us is what the Hebrew prophets called shalom. Dr. Cornelius Plantinga Jr. defines shalom like this in his book, Not the Way it is Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin:

"We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means a universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight – a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be."

I don't know about you, but my heart yearns for "universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight." And the beauty is that God yearns for me to have it and has made it available. There is a path that we can follow that will ultimately lead to peace.

So whatever happened to peace? It's right where it has always been! It's on a narrow path sitting in the middle of the road less traveled.

Jesus encouraged us to find peace by finding that narrow road. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)

When Jesus spoke of life he was referring to a life of peace. While the road to peace may be narrow, it is actually easily accessible through Jesus who also said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life and no man comes to the Father but by me."

Peace is what you want and through the way of with Christ, God has made it available to all who ask.

What Ever Happened to Sin?

"Whatever happened to sin?" I wish you could hear me ask that question in the quiet of my mind. If you could, then you would understand that I am asking it like sin was an old friend who lived down the hall from me in college, someone that I would expect to bump into on FaceBook. I ask about it like it's someone that I used to spend time with and, because our paths went in different directions, we've simply lost touch.

I ask that question not because I'm too good to sin, I'm not. Much to my chagrin, I am as fully capable of falling today as I ever have been.

For me the question is far more communal than personal. I'm asking you, too! Have you heard about sin? Where did it go? When I was growing up I heard all kinds of sermons on it. I heard as much about sin as I did grace and love. Because I recognized the presence of sin I longed for the presence of grace and love.

Thinking through this, I decided to look at the last five years of my preaching calendar. Of the 250+ sermons I preached, surely I could find some that included "sin" in their titles. Guess what: The search yielded a series of sermons titled, "What's Missing?" Can you believe that? I'll tell you what's missing ....

Sin is missing from our collective conversations. It is politically incorrect and and therefore taboo. If we talk about sin then we are too negative and too narrow. To point out sin is judgmental and arrogant and so we avoid it like the plague. The only problem is that sin is the problem, and it needs to be identified.

Sin is not really missing, it's just hidden in plain sight. Sin is ...

• killing babies and calling it choice
• blowing up abortion clinics and calling it justice
• racking up credit card debt and calling it priceless
• living together before marriage and calling it cheaper
• looking out for No. 1 and calling it the American dream
• having an affair and calling it deserved
• eating too much and calling it a celebration
• talking bad about people and calling it a prayer request
• avoiding home and calling it providing for the family
• neglecting worship and calling it time to ourselves

In his book, Not the Way it is Supposed to Be, Neal Plantinga writes, "Sin is the missing of a target, a wandering from the path, a straying from the fold. Sin is a hard heart and a stiff neck. Sin is blindness and deafness. It is both the overstepping of a line and the failure to reach it -- both transgression and shortcoming. Sin is a beast crouching at the door. In sin, people attack or evade or neglect their divine calling. Sin is never normal. Sin is a disruption of created harmony and then resistance to divine restoration of that harmony. Above all, sin disrupts and then resists the vital human relation to God."

Whether we talk about it or not, the evidence of sin is all around us. It is stealing, killing, and destroying life as it was divinely designed. Things are not the way they are supposed to be. The irony is that, instead of blaming men and their sin for the problems and suffering we experience, the world we live in blames the God we believe in. The end result is that because of sin, God and sin have become figments of the imagination.

Understand, I am in no way suggesting that we pick up our rocks of righteousness and begin stoning our neighbors. I don't think we need to return to the days of hell-fire and brimstone preaching. I'm certainly not asking for a revival of judgmental sin-speak that alienates the church from the culture we are called to reach.

What I am asking for is a reduction of sin in the church. Wouldn't it be cool if we had fewer sin addicts? Wouldn't God's kingdom come and his will be done more if we sinned less? Like they say in AA: to solve a problem you have to admit you have one. Can we admit we have a problem?

If we are going to talk about sin, calling it what it is, let's talk about it in-house. Let's get the church that enjoys the forgiveness of sin to begin living victoriously over sin. Then we will see that the compelling story of positive life-change inside the church will lead to transformation outside the church.

The Ingredients of a Life Well-lived

I missed writing last week because I made a trip to my hometown, Walhalla, South Carolina. While I have heard rumors of Internet access there, I have yet to confirm them so I took the week off. For the four of you that care, my apologies.

I made the trip because after 90 years of unwavering consistency my grandmother went home to be with the Lord. Her name was Mattie Eliza Wilson. She is survived by my grandfather Clayton and 55 others who knew her as mother, grandmother or great-grandmother. If ever there was a group of people who understand the concept of a true matriarch, these 55 people get it.

I've heard that no one is perfect so I guess it's true, but my grandmother made a run at it. She was a wonderfully dependable, perfectly predictable follower of Jesus. Her love language was selflessness. If there was a need she met it. If there was a void she filled it. If there was confusion she cleared it up. If you needed some advice she gave it, whether you asked for it or not.

I think if Jesus had spoken at her funeral he would have described her as great. She fit his description to a tee: "Whoever wants to be great among you, must be your servant." While I am certain that the pursuit of greatness never made it on her to-do list, it was her reality. She was a true servant who never allowed unfavorable circumstances or personal inconvenience to interfere with her pursuit of others' happiness.

At the end of the day my grandmother really cared about two things: living for Jesus and caring for others. By all accounts, these are the ingredients of a life well lived.

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