For Your Tomorrow, They Gave Their Today

Americans alive today have served across the globe for the causes of freedom, justice, and humane living. From the vast battlefields of Europe to the rice paddies in Southeast Asia to the deserts in the Middle East and so many more islands, cities, and forgetful places, blood from all generations still alive today remains in those distant lands. Our country sends these young soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen and their officers to fight on our behalf and to calm on the behalf of others.

Whether voluntarily or because of selective service, on the whole, the American military serves US interests with distinction, honor and compassion. Around this Veteran’s Day our appreciation must not be muzzled. We live in a flawed but free country, secured for us in the past by brave members of the US Armed Forces and maintained in the present by the same.

A Meal and a Handshake

This week, restaurants across the country welcome past and current military personnel to their tables for a free meal. It is a kind gesture I hope many will accept. We Christians cannot leave the recognition to anonymous entrepreneurs. We can do more than Facebook posts and Twitter tweets. Maybe begin with your family and write a letter or an email expressing your thanks for their service. Pick up the phone and call your uncle, grandfather, or cousin and tell him how grateful you are for the service he rendered. Look around the church family and tell a mom or dad whose kid is currently serving that you appreciate their sacrifice to let their kid enlist and commit to pray for his physical and spiritual wellbeing. Be a thankful and loving Christian around this Veteran’s Day.

Real Models for Christians

Some of the most fascinating reading you can do details the efforts of Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. Their stories of bravery, honor, and self-sacrifice convey the best of humanity in the darkest of situations. Further, these accounts display for us in high definition the disposition of Jesus’s disciples – we are soldiers. The Apostle Paul described his Christian friend as his “brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier” (Phil. 2.25). Paul wrote disciples “must endure hardship as a good soldier(s) of Jesus Christ” and that “no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Tim. 2:3-4).

The Christian life is a wartime reality, and we are called to “fight the good fight” (1 Tim. 1:18; 6:12). Like the veterans and active personnel sitting at tables and in booths across the fruited plain, to do so means sacrifice, commitment, discipline, love, and endurance. Isaac Watts captures this beautifully and challengingly in his hymn, Am I a Solder of the Cross?

Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause, or blush to speak His Name?

Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize, and sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign; increase my courage, Lord.
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy Word.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

Help, I Need Somebody

It’s rather shocking how uncompassionate Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar – Job’s friends – are toward Job in his time of suffering.

• Bildad tells Job, "Your kids died because they sinned against God, end of story (8:4)."

• Zophar tells Job, “What you’re experiencing is actually far less than your sin against God deserves (11:6); stop clinging to your sin (11:14)!”

As some have said, With friends like Job’s, who needs enemies!

As an aside, as Old Testament saints I fully expect to meet Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar in heaven in the same way I expect to meet Adam, Eve, Abraham, Sarah, Samuel, and the rest of the prophets. The unsympathetic expressions toward Job come from the mouths of redeemed men.

It’s not true to say that they don’t care at all about Job’s suffering. They cared enough to make the trip from their homes to come to his aid (2:11-13). But there’s something sorely lacking. In their counsel there is nothing that offers Job any hope. In fact, Job hears in their words nothing more than mocking of his situation (13:4).

Imagining Job sitting on the garbage pile, it seems obvious to us that Job needs the gentle care of his friends. But somehow his friends miss his need to have someone weep with him in his weeping.

I do not think it is an overstatement to say all people agree that a local church, followers of Jesus Christ, recipients of God’s grace, should be caring people. It is a misnomer in the minds of everyone to claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ but deny the expression of care for others modeled for us by our Lord in His ministry and His cross sacrifice. “You’re a Christian; you’re supposed to care for people” is how the thinking goes. It is why “Care” is one of our 4 C’s that we believe mark the lifestyle of Christian disciples. We believe our church should be the frontline for physical and spiritual care for all in our church. Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we don’t. We want to get better at providing care.

Here are a few signs someone needs Christian care.

Attendance at worship, small group meetings, student group, or church functions changes.

When individuals or families change the frequency with which they meet with others within the church, something is happening. We cannot assume all is well when other believers are not at the gatherings of the church. All too quickly one missed worship service becomes two, then five or six.

Withdrawal from family or friends.

Hurting people are afraid to be hurt again, so they remove themselves from the people they believe might hurt them again. These broken people need spiritual care.

Infrequent laughter or smiles.

Proverbs 15:13; 15:15; 17:22 and Isaiah 24:7 convey laughter and smiles come from happy souls. When these are missing from someone, the absence indicates a need for care.

Outbursts of anger, especially over matters that seem trite.

Bad drivers, a spilled glass of juice, the newspaper in the shrubs instead of on the porch, a game not recorded for later viewing, and chasing the dog who got out through an open door are not matters that should prompt an emotional outburst that damages relationships.

Communication contains critical or wearisome comments about a spouse, a child, a parent, a teacher, a supervisor, or a pastor.

The gospel makes our speech different. When our speech sounds eerily reminiscent of our unsaved lives, we declare our need for spiritual care.

Living in and/or talking about past negative experiences.

Because we live in a sin-filled world and are surrounded by sinners, we all are the victims of negative past experiences. When those experiences frame our worldview, dominate our thinking, and justify our behaviors, we need spiritual care.

My musing is getting too long. So here are the rest I considered without comment.

• Admission or discovery of a sinful habit or a serious moral failure.

• Death of a family member or friend, serious illness with a child, sibling, parent, spouse or self.

• Conflict with children or other close family members.

• Significant change in work responsibilities or a career change.

• Unusual weight gain or loss.

• Signs of fatigue or sleeplessness.

Whose responsibility is it to care for the people in the local church? In a way the responsibility belongs to everyone, but “When everybody is responsible to care, nobody is responsible.” It’s like what one of our ladies said to me. “My boss wonders why nobody shovels the entrance when it snows. I told my boss, ‘Nobody shovels because it’s everybody’s responsibility to shovel. If you want someone to shovel, give him the job.’”

It is why we have a mechanism like small groups to provide a way for people to receive and give spiritual care. You know you have a unique responsibility to the people in your small group to care for them, and you know that in your small group there is a group of people to whom you can turn for care. Other churches may use different mechanisms to identify care responsibilities. Whatever your mechanism, I hope you will embrace the responsibility to care. This is a critical function of the church.

Finally, if you are in need of spiritual care and no one knows, I’d like to help. Please contact me and let’s talk.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

Trick or Treat

Americans love their Halloween holiday, at least that’s what their spending conveys.

• Costumes: $31.05 person; $3.2 billion total

• Candy: $25.37 person; $2.6 billion total

• Decorations: $26.03 person; $2.7 billion total

• Greeting Cards: $3.82 person; $390 million total

I’m scratching my head on the greeting card one. That’s a thing? I did not know that. Man, did I miss out when my grandmother was alive.

I don’t have a strong opinion on the whole Halloween thing with a couple of exceptions beginning with, I’m not spending $86.27 on a costume, candy, decorations, and a greeting card to Michael, Lauren, and their baby.

Some Christians have strong opinions about celebrating Halloween in any fashion. That’s completely understandable. They argue Halloween is a pagan festival in which Christians should have no part. Other Christians see the day as part of American culture; any connections to evil or spiritual darkness are the exception and not the norm. To them wearing an amusing costume and passing out candy to neighborhood children is simple fun. Wherever you land, there is a point at which all Christians should agree.

“I don't begrudge dress-up, can't complain about meeting neighbors and candy, but there's something sick about death as a decorating theme.” R.C. Sproul, Jr.

Dead figures swinging from front yard trees, decapitated bodies across the lawn, and the Grim Reaper silhouettes are the accepted Halloween trimmings in nearly every neighborhood. Otherwise sane people dress as vampires, It the clown, or the Headless Horseman either to scare the unsuspecting or to make a joke. Parents paint their children’s faces to look like bloody messes or ecstatically parade them around as Michael Myers . And the zombie craze…

Can we Christians agree that decorating ourselves or our homes with elements of death denies the very core of our Christianity? Death is our greatest enemy. Over and again the Bible tells us what we know by experience, death is coming for all of us. Abel died. Adam died. Seth died. They all died. The Bible tells us “It is appointed for man to die once” and “Death passed upon all men.” Death is part of God’s judgment upon humanity for its open rebellion against Him since the Garden of Eden. Why would anyone want to dress their little boy as a deliverer of death or their little girl as one who has already died? There’s something wrong with that.

Jesus conquered death. The celebration for Christians must be the victory Jesus achieved over death. As Paul wrote, “O Death, where is your sting?” Because of Jesus’s death on the cross, death no longer reigns in the human experience. Where man brought death by his sin against God, Jesus brings life by His obedience to God (Romans 5:19). Christians always celebrate life. We mourn at every death and every expression of death.

If you so choose to welcome to your front door the children and families in your neighborhood, have the best treats you can give away. Be the smiling, happy, generous guy or nice lady all the kids talk about in school on Friday. Meet and talk with your neighbors who never seem to have the time other nights of the year when you are trying to build a bridge that leads to gospel conversations. Just do not applaud death or any of its agents.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

Boys Will Be Boys

Boys will be boys. Uh, no they won’t. Not if being a boy means you can’t win your gender’s cycling event.

Rachel McKinnon is a two-time Masters Track Cycling World Champion, capturing the 2019 title at the recent competition in Manchester, England, setting a women’s world record in a qualifying event. En route to the victor’s stand, McKinnon defeated every female opponent, an impressive accomplishment if McKinnon was a female like the other competitors. What makes the win significant is McKinnon is a biological man presenting as a woman.

A man beat a woman in an athletic event. In other news, snow is predicted for Minnesota from November to April.

Woke allies laud McKinnon’s bravery to compete on the world stage as a transgender athlete. According to McKinnon and woke devotees, if you do not support trans women dominating biological women in athletic events, you do so out of “irrational fear of trans women.” After the championships concluded, McKinnon tweeted “I have yet to meet a real champion who has a problem with trans women. Real champions want stronger competition. If you win because bigotry got your competition banned…you’re a loser.”

Boys will be boys. Uh, no they won’t. Not if you’re mom wants to ensure that you transition to a girl.

This week a Texas jury confirmed sole custody of a seven-year-old boy to the boy’s mother. Here’s the thing, mom has charged dad with child abuse because dad refuses to affirm his ex-wife’s decision to raise their son James as a girl. To mom and others, James is Luna. His teachers call him by that name. At school, he uses the girls’ restroom. Mom is determined that James transition from male to female, including medical procedures when he reaches puberty.

Jeffery Younger, the dad, has been ordered by the courts to refrain from any attempts to communicate with his son about religion or science related to gender and biology. If dad attempts to stop the transition, he can be found in contempt of court. As an added twist, James has a twin brother, Jude.

Boys will be boys. Uh, not they won’t. Wait, yes, they will if you can put a nine-year-old child on CNN to promote left ideology.

Last week, CNN displayed for the world and the benefit of presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren, a child. At a “Presidential Town Hall” the candidate and the child’s mother beamed with excitement when Jacob – a fourth-grade girl dressed sharply in a blue suit, white dress shirt, and patterned necktie – identified herself as “a 9-year-old transgender American.” This little girl, with the approval of a United States senator and, worse, the advocacy and support her mother, believes she is a boy trapped in a girl’s body.

Few Saw This Coming

At the turn of the millennium, did anyone anticipate the approval and promotion of what it means to be male or female to come to this? Sure, we’ve debated for decades, maybe centuries or longer, what are the roles of male and female in our world. But look where we are now. Only an ignoramus believes there are two and only two genders determined by biology not by identity.

This is not a minor issue. In my mind this is even more significant for the Christian than same-sex marriage or a host of other moral issues. To embrace gender based on identity is to reject the creator’s design of male or female in every human he brings into existence. I can think of no other rebellion against the creator greater than this.

Thinking about what it means to be male or female, as a Christian you cannot stick your head in the sand. My personal opinion is the political battle and probably the cultural battle are lost. I cannot see a path of reversal. Further, I cannot see a way this does not impact the local church and your family. This rebellion is not just out there. I guarantee it is or will be in your home too.

Our churches, our parents, and our pulpits must know what God has revealed to us in his word about what it means to be human. We must teach God’s Word without apology and with confidence that God will bless the faithful teaching of his Word. We must believe that what God says is right and true and good and that all other teachings are wrong and lies and bad. We must discern the lies of the wicked one and cling to God’s grace when the attacks come with greater intensity and more severe consequences.

The Bible has told us that we cannot be the friend of God and the friend of the world (James 4:4). They are not compatible. The world is telling us if you are on the side of the Bible when it comes to what it means to be human, we will not tolerate you. But God will not abandon us, and he will fight for us. Do not abandon him.

Brothers and sisters, the attacks against God are not going to stop until Jesus returns and puts a stop to them. Therefore, determine that you will “stand firm…with the belt of truth buckled around your waist” (Eph 6:14).

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

They’ve said most of their goodbyes. Later this week, they will load the truck and the townhouse will be empty. In a few days, our dear friends and co-laborers, Thad and Nikki Yessa along with their little girls will be on their way to St. Louis, Missouri, where they will join the staff of a Baptist church in the west suburbs.

They are leaving us – exactly as we hoped and prayed they would.

Every church should play its role in the development of future churches. Some congregations plant new churches while others contribute in different ways. It’s true that our church may not plant a new church, but our church shares in the development of the future church by training the next generation of pastors and ministry families.

The sixty-four-year history of First Calvary tells the stories of people serving in local churches all across the United States having received a significant part of their training with us. Over the last nineteen years, nine men and their families have been with us as assistant pastors, ministry staff, or interns. Five of those now serve as senior pastors and four as assistant pastors. It has been our privilege to share in the lives of these men, both receiving from them and contributing to them.

It is hard to say good bye. With each family we quickly develop relationships that make the separation hard, but the benefits received are worth the pain of the leaving.

Who will be the next intern we train or staff member we embrace? That is an open question, but I hope our church will continue to fund and promote this joyful opportunity.

While we stay as others move away, the time will come when we will leave too. The facts of the matter are all pastorates are interim and all memberships are temporary. None of us is going to be here forever. All of us will leave for different assignments in God’s kingdom or go to be with the Lord at our deaths. Therefore, we must make the most of our time where God has us now, and we must leave the work better than when we arrived. We want to be in the chain Paul described to Timothy.

And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2).

May God bless Thad and Nikki, and may God bless you as you serve Him in the place where He has you as long as He has you there.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing. - Mike VerWay