Lord, Lord

There once were two men who survived a plane crash over the ocean.  Far from land, their only hope of survival was to be rescued by a passing ship.  Thankfully, they had both been told by the pilot that such a ship was nearby.  So, with no other viable options, both men set out from the wreckage in hopes of reaching the ship. 

     The first man, recognizing that time was not on his side, quickly fastened a makeshift raft out of a piece of wreckage. Grabbing some supplies, he immediately began rowing in the direction that the pilot had indicated.  The trek was grueling and tiresome, but the man knew that the only way he would be rescued would be to follow the pilot’s directions toward the other ship. 

     The second man likewise made a makeshift raft.  But when the plane went down he had been in the middle of watching a fascinating movie.  So, his first priority after making his raft was to find his laptop (which had somehow stayed dry), and the beverage cart from the plane.  He then wrestled one of the first-class seats onto his rickety raft, and rewarded himself for all his hard work with a Sprite, some peanuts, and the remainder of his movie.  Every now and then, he would remember about the passing ship and would row haphazardly in its direction. 

     Needless to say, as the passing ship drew nearest to the wrecked plane, only one survivor was pulled from the water.  The other one was nowhere to be seen. 

     Unless you’re reading this in the middle of the ocean balancing on a rickety homemade raft, we might see this fictitious story as absurd.  After all, it seems rather silly for anyone to miss being rescued because they were more concerned about their own temporary pleasure and comfort than they were about their own survival. 

     And yet, there are many good people whose lives mirror the efforts of the second man. They know about salvation, and they even desire to be rescued, but they are not willing to make such survival a priority.  They are unwilling to set aside the comforts of their busy lives in order to gain salvation.

     Throughout the Bible, Jesus is described as being both “Savior” and “Lord” to His followers.  The concept of “savior” is simple enough – Jesus is someone who rescues us from something really, really bad.  Even casual church-goers recognize the value of such salvation.  And so, many throngs of people claim to believe in Jesus so that they can escape the really, really bad possibility of hell. 

     The problem is that most of these casual church-goers don’t really understand the second title of “Lord.”  They see it as just another title for Jesus.  It’s like His first name.  The term, however, implies much, much more.  Someone who is our “Lord” is our absolute master and ruler; someone who has total authority and control over us.  Anyone who truly wants to follow Jesus must acknowledge that He is more than just a Savior, He is the absolute Lord of their lives. 

     This idea, however, doesn’t sit well in our “me-centered” culture.  We like to picture ourselves as independent, self-made bootstrap-picker-uppers.  It goes against our “Made-in-America” persona to give up control of our lives – especially if that involves laying aside our Sprite and peanuts (or our movies!). 

     As a result, our churches are full of well-intentioned people who believe God enough about heaven and hell to desire the former and escape the latter.  They realize that life is fragile and fleeting, and so they desire assurance of salvation.  So they strive to add the “Savior” part of Jesus to their American-Dream-driven lives. They might even claim that Jesus is their Lord, but in reality, all control remains with them. 

      Jesus knew this type of half-hearted follower well.  In Matthew 7:21, he confronted them with these sobering words: “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  In these words Jesus reveals the heart of the issue: Obedience. 

      Unlike the man in the story, it impossible for us to work (or row) hard enough to earn salvation.  It is only by God’s grace that we can be saved (Ephesians 2:8).  But, in order to know Jesus as Savior, we must also accept Him as Lord of our lives.  This requires obedience.  This requires submission.  And this requires relinquishing control of our comforts, our pleasure, and even our dreams.

      But, even though this submission might be contrary to our nature and seem totally undesirable in light of our culture, those who know Jesus as Lord soon realize that He is an infinitely better master of our lives than we are.  In Him we find a love, joy, fulfillment, purpose, peace, and hope that we could never discover on our own.  In other words, our best life, both presently and eternally, occurs when we truly know Jesus as both Savior and Lord. 

Soli Deo Gloria

Tim Cotten

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Dad's in Control

    Recently, our household entered a new, hyper-inquisitive phase of existence.  Every 4.6 seconds or so, our four-year-old daughter asks some random question or another.  Often, these questions are simple: “Daddy, is it going to be hot today?”  Other questions require answers that far exceed the patience of the inquirer: “Daddy, why did God make it so hot today?” As I contemplated how to sum-up my viewpoint on the supernatural impact that God has on the global climate, she quickly moved on…

      “Daddy, why did God make rain?”  Now this one I could answer.  I replied, “One reason is that rain helps the plants and flowers grow.”  “Ooooohhh!” she replied.  Now, this was not new to her.  We’ve talked about it before.  But I’ve learned that many of her questions are not asked out of a desire to gain knowledge.  She knows why rain is important to plants. Instead, she asked the question in order to be reassured of what she already knows.  And she asked so that she could be reassured that I knew the answer. 

      A clear example of this occurred a couple of weeks ago.  While driving to the Darlington Co. Relay for Life, she asked, “Daddy, do you know where we are?”   “Yes, Micah, I know where we are,” I replied.  Fast forward 17 seconds… “Dad, now do you know where we are?”  “Yes, sweetie…” I said as I told her both our current location and our destination.  She repeated the question a few more times before she was satisfied. 

      Later, as I pondered over her questions, I realized that Micah is at an age where she wants to know everything about what’s going on around her, and she wants to be a part of every conversation, no matter the subject.  And yet she is still young enough to not be able to really understand adult conversations (or tall enough to see out of the backseat!).  Then a profound thought hit me:

When your viewpoint is always from the backseat, it’s good to know that the driver knows where he’s going. 

     For Micah, the quest for knowledge and understanding begins with trust.  One morning recently she told me, “Daddy, I think I’ll understand that when I’m 16.”  I smiled and tried to reassure her that it’s ok not to understand as long as you know someone who does.

     Like many lessons that my children are learning these days, the instruction does not cease when we leave childhood.  As adults, we have much greater capacity for knowledge and understanding, but there are still some very real and often very frustrating limits to our comprehension. Try as we might, we will never fully understand everything about the world around us.  Most of us, for instance, probably have no clue as to exactly how the air we breathe interacts with our blood to sustain our lives.  Likewise, while we all feel its effect, very few of us are likely able to fully explain how earth’s gravitational field keeps us from floating up into space.  More personally, we may never truly understand why bad things happen to good people (or vice versa).  Or why some people seem to be blessed more than others.  Or how is it that, no matter what checkout line we choose at Wal-Mart, the other lines will move faster?

     And should we try to understand God, our limitations are only magnified.  How is it, for instance, that Jesus can be both fully God and fully man?  Or, more to the point, how can one God be three distinct persons simultaneously?  And how is it that a perfect and fully righteous God could love such unlovely and detestable sinners like us?

     When faced with the limits of our own understanding, it is vital that we remember the lesson that Micah is learning now:

Trust the One who knows the answers.

Our God is omniscient (all-knowing).  He knows our limitations.  He is aware of our challenges. He recognizes our weakness.  But, He also knows the plans that He has for us, “plans to prosper [us] and not to harm [us], plans to give [us] a hope and a future…” (Jeremiah 29:11).  Our role is to always trust, not to always understand. 

      The problem is that this sort of absolute trust is really, really difficult for us.  It gnaws against our “pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps” mentality which is applauded and encouraged by our culture.  Every one of us loves control.  We like to control what we do, where we go, and how we do both.  To give up control is an offence to our selfish natures.  Yet we all recognize that proper control requires knowledge and understanding (which is why we don’t let four-year-olds drive cars!).  And if we’re honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we’re sorely lacking in both knowledge and understanding – and we also have to admit that, ultimately, we’re not really in control at all. 

      So, at the start of each new day, we’re faced with a choice:  Do we persist in our selfish ignorance by clamoring for control of our lives?  Or will we place our trust in the One who actually is in control (and who knows all there is to know)?  In other words, as long as we’re in this world, our knowledge and understanding will be limited.  We will always be stuck in the backseat, forced to either pretend to have control, or to trust the One who actually does.  My prayer is that we all might “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding; In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.”  (Proverbs 3:5-6) 

Soli Deo Gloria

Tim Cotten

Divided Faith

     Drive through nearly any section of our town of Hartsville, SC, and you will likely pass a church.  Our small city is home to more than 120 churches of nearly every conceivable size, shape and flavor.  But have you ever wondered why we have so many churches?  After all, don’t the majority of them believe basically the same thing?  And, more importantly, if Hartsville is so saturated with churches (and church-going people), why is there still crime?  Why is there still addiction, abuse, and despair? Why is our community not a better reflection of the hope that these churches represent?

     Unfortunately, the troubling diversity of our churches stems from a long history of division and dissention among Christians.  For nearly 500 years, Protestants have been separated from Catholics.  Yet the Protestants are far from united.  Baptists differ from Methodist, Presbyterians differ from Lutherans, and a new crop of non-denominational churches seek to be different from just about everyone. 

     What could cause such division?  Often, the root cause is embarrassingly trivial.  I know of some congregations who have literally split over the proposed color of their sanctuary’s new carpet.  Other groups have parted ways because of differences of preference regarding worship and music style.  Some have divided because of differences regarding church leadership and structure.   Sometimes, division is the result of theological differences. 

     So now we have a city (and nation) filled with differences of opinion regarding what it is to do church.  But, there is a deeper issue than this.  The unfortunate diversity reflected in our churches is simply a symptom of a more serious disease.  The real problem is that we often fail to focus on that which unites us – we fail to focus on Jesus Christ.

      As a result, we often place great emphasis on nonessential things and miss our primary calling.  We focus on attending church and on participating in various ministries.  And while this is indeed important, church membership is of little value in and of itself.  Think of it this way: someone who is sick should not be content to simply be in a hospital building.  Healing comes from the care given by the medical staff, not from merely entering the building. 

     To take this idea further, there is really nothing special about a church building at all.  In fact, to put it simply:

Church is not something you do,

or some place you go.

It is who you are.

If you claim to believe in Jesus, than you are the church.  “You are the Body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Cor. 12:27).  In fact, every reference to “church” in scripture refers to a group of people, not a building.  They were a group united by their faith in Christ

     Sadly, every church in our town, including mine, has some participants who view church as little more than a spiritualized country club.  They attend church out of habit, ritual, or out of a desire to be seen – as if their mere attendance in the building could merit some sort of righteousness.  These are the ones whose behavior on Sundays is vastly different than it was on Saturday night.  While every church-goer will bear some mark of hypocrisy at some point or another, these people flaunt their duplicity. And ultimately, they fail to be united in faith because, in reality, they do not possess such faith. 

     Why is our city not a better reflection of Christian values?  Because we have far too many church-goers who are not actually a part of the Body of Christ.  Some perhaps have trouble accepting the inexplicable truth that Jesus is both fully God and fully man.  Perhaps they selfishly think that their sins place them outside of God’s desire or power to save.  Perhaps they have become calloused and cold-hearted so that they no longer desire to know their Creator.  Perhaps they have simply convinced themselves that they don’t need God, and that their career, their money, or their stuff is sufficient.  Regardless of their reasoning, such masquerading “Christians” are a plague not only here in our town, but across the nation. 

      But, it doesn’t have to be that way.  If we, as individual residents of Hartsville, would repent of our sins, recognize and accept God’s grace given through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and commit to live for Him, then our city will indeed be changed.  We may not be blessed economically, but we will be blessed.  We may not share identical theology, but we will be united.  We may not worship the same way, but we will indeed worship the same God.  Peace and joy will erupt in every household.  Kindness will become standard, and love will be our native tongue.  Our problems will not disappear overnight, but as every church building begins to overflow with true members of the Body of Christ, we will be truly united in faith.  “My goal is that [we] may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that [we] may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that [we] may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ” (Ephesians 2:2).

Soli Deo Gloria

Tim Cotten