Thanks to readers for the responses to the first installment in this series of Let Us Garden. My hope is that these articles will challenge us to a mutual pursuit of the things of God.  You even indulged my corny play on words (let us vs. lettuce).  The best response was in an email from Tammy Bias, Thanks again for this food for thought. I wish I had thought of that.

God speaks to us in the book of Hebrews and repeatedly exhorts, “let us” with a particular focus of mutual pursuit.  So let’s add another head to the garden.  This time it is “let us strive” taken from Hebrews 4:11.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

–Hebrews 4:11

That rest is the destination of our journey – life eternal with God.  We are to strive to get there.  As we read through Hebrews, we are challenged to make sure that we are not merely close to God and the things of God.  We are told that some get so close that they can taste it, but don’t actually eat.  They eventually fall away.  It is a sad thing when those who have claimed Christ disown him.  Some disown Christ because of hardship.  Others because of intellectual struggle.  Either way it is disobedience.  We are called to obedience that recognizes God as our father.  He cares for us even when we might question his care.

How do we strive and avoid this kind of disobedience?  How do we know we have eaten and not merely tasted?  The answer is the Bible.  Hebrews 4:12 indicates the power of the Bible.  It discerns the thoughts and intentions of our heart.  So get into God’s word as you strive to enter his rest.

I apologize at the outset for the corny play on words.  More on that in a minute.  This morning I was doing a search for a passage of Scripture from Hebrews.  I discovered that when God spoke to us in the book of Hebrews, he repeats a phrase that exhorts us to serious reflection and action.  One of the ways to study the Bible is to note recurring themes or words in a particular section.  In Hebrews the phrase let us is used repeatedly.  Each time we should pay particular note to what follows.

As an aide to memory, I am employing the visual word play of let us and lettuce.  There is no connection of meaning between the two similar sounds.  So bear with me.  Think about having a lettuce garden in your back yard.  Each row will be filled with heads of lettuce.  Each head represents one of the let us statements from the book of Hebrews.  So here is the first one:

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

– Hebrews 4:1

This is a sobering call for us to have fear.  Not the kind of fear that paralyzes us, but the kind of fear that causes us to avoid taking God for granted.  Would you join God in that rest from a life racked by weariness and sin?  Would you find eternal refreshment in the presence of God?  We are promised this if we cling to Christ and his grace.  Yet it is not a cheap grace that we easily hold.  It is a grace paid for by the blood of our Savior that we emphatically embrace.

The imagery in the verse is that of journeying on a destination.  Joining God in his rest is the destination.  We cannot come up short.  Is your target merely the benefits of God or is it God himself?  Is your love for God only for what he gives you, or is it for who he is?  Is your faith based on your keeping religious habits or is it in Christ alone?

Sojourn Community Church is 10 years old.  The following video is a short recap of these first 10 years with a look forward to the future.  Sojourn has been instrumental in my life.  The video does show a view of the congregation when meeting in the early years.  At the 3:22 mark of the video you can see me sitting on the second row with my hands in front of my face.  Although I am somewhat disguised by my hands, you should be able to recognize me.  Most of those around are at least 20 years younger than I.

Sojourn Past from Sojourn Community Church on Vimeo.

Get your free copy of 2 great audiobooks.  The first is The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Bonhoeffer was a German pastor who opposed the Nazi’s and Adolf Hitler.  Following Christ cost him dearly.  This book is a classic in Christian literature.  I first read the book in college.  You will be challenged and enriched.

The second free audiobook is Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper.  Piper is the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and one of the most listened to preachers today.  It is always worth your time to read or listen to Piper.

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Here are 5 of my favorite quotes from Hear No Evil: My Story of Innocence, Music, and the Holy Ghost by Matthew Paul Turner. Read my review of the book here.

So many of us Christians are all about being vulnerable, especially when we’re on stage, dressed up in costume and wearing makeup (p 11).

The cool Christians, the ones who wore flip-flop, played acoustic guitars, and stole song ideas from U2 albums really seemed infatuated with John Calvin (p 125).

Timing seemed the main problem for Christians who came to Nashville to be faith-versions of pop stars.  By the time God started listening to a particular artist and decided he might like to have his name associated with a particular sound, it was about four years too late (p 150).

As four well-intentioned crazy people asked God to heal me of my stomach woes in the middle of T.G.I. Friday’s — which seemed a little like asking God to take away sex addiction while standing in a strip club — I tried to have faith (p. 165).

Everyone in the congregation was supposed to close their eyes during an altar call…It was difficult for me to close my eyes for long periods of time at that age.  Partly because I got bored looking at the back of my eyelids, but mostly because I like knowing which people in our church needed prayer and which ones didn’t.  Plus, when one of my friends walked forward to follow the Lord in believers’ baptism, I like looking for opportunities to wave at them (pp 15-16).

When I began the series, Artists on God and Christianity, last week with an article on Tori Amos, I did not expect that a high profile artist would provide me with ready made information so quickly.  Yet Elton John has done just that.  Parade Magazine published an interview with John in which John reveals, among other things, his view of Jesus.

John speaks about his battle with drugs, his love life and his involvement in raising money for AIDS research.  What is revealing is what he thinks about Jesus.

John was born Reginald Dwight and was the only child of strict church going parents.  He said that his parents hated each other, fought all of the time and divorced when he was 15.  He found refuge in music.  It is unclear what he learned about Jesus from his parents.  The interview does indicate that he has not rejected Jesus altogether.  He simply has recreated Jesus.

I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don’t know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East — you’re as good as dead.

Here is a breakdown of his comments:

1. Jesus was compassionate.
2. Jesus was super-intelligent.
3. Jesus understood human problems.
4. Jesus died on the cross.
5. Jesus is forgiving.
6. Jesus wants us to to be loving and forgiving.

So far, his statements are consistent with orthodox Christianity.  It is not an exhaustive view of Jesus, but each of the affirmations are taught in the Bible.  The problem is with John’s thought that Jesus was gay.  The Bible does not teach that.

On one hand it is an affront to orthodox Christians that John would identify Jesus as being gay.  Who we think Jesus was and is must be in line with what has been revealed in the Bible.

On the other hand John does what many people do with their view of Jesus.  They create Jesus in their own image.  He becomes a reflection of what we see in our mirror.  As humans we are created in the image of God.  Because of sin this image has become distorted.  Redemption includes God re-imaging us like him.  But when sin continues, the distortion continues and soon we think God is like us.

As a gay man, John sees Jesus in John’s image.  John is gay.  Therefore Jesus must be gay.  Is he wrong?  Yes.  But so are the rest of us who think of God as being in our image.  Paintings of Jesus can be an interesting study in this image reflection.  It is often thought that DaVinci used his own image to paint Jesus in The Last Supper.  His painting has been recreated through the years by artists of various ethnic backgrounds.  In some of these Jesus appears as a black man or as an Asian man.

In American Christianity, we often view Jesus as a white Republican or Democrat (depending on our own party affiliation).  He is viewed with other traits depending upon our own characteristics.

What is the answer?  For Elton John and for everybody else, we must see Jesus as he is revealed in the Bible.  Anything else is from our own flawed imagination.

**FREE GIVEAWAY – I AM GIVING AWAY 1 FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK.  TO ENTER SUBSCRIBE TO EMAIL UPDATES INTHE BOX ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE.  IF YOU ARE ALREADY SUBSCRIBED, LEAVE A COMMENT THAT YOU WANT TO BE ENTERED.  BONUS ENTRIES: LINK TO THIS ON YOUR BLOG (email me at fgantz12@yahoo.com when you add your link) AND YOU WILL RECEIVE AN ADDITIONAL ENTRY.  ENTRIES MUST BE SUBMITTED BY FEBRUARY 28, 2010.  WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON MARCH 1, 2010.

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Because of my move from Louisville to Chattanooga, this book arrived late in my mail box.  It was worth the wait. Hear No Evil: My Story of Innocence, Music, and the Holy Ghost is Matthew Paul Turner’s story of the role of music in his spiritual journey.  Some journey it is.  It begins in the culture of an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church and family.  Here hymns are the only acceptable expression of music.  The journey continues through college at the musically-gifted Belmont University in the heart of music-minded Nashville.  The route includes stops at coffeehouses with Christian music and writing about contemporary Christian music.

This record of the journey ends with the reader confident that wherever the journey takes him in the future, music and faith will be a huge part of the journey.  As a man on my own faith journey, music has played an important part in that journey.  If this describes you, then you will enjoy and be challenged by reading this book.  Turner is witty and tells stories in a way that makes you want to keep reading to see what is next.  I caught myself laughing out loud as I turned page after page.  While humorous, the story allowed me to think about my own struggles with the relationships between genuine faith, culture and various Christian sub-cultures.

Turner’s humorous anecdotes relate to various Christian sub-cultures.  This has long been a topic of interest for me.  Often Christians have become so immersed in their own subculture that interaction with culture in general is made difficult or at times farcical.  Turner reveals this by discussing the issues surrounding listening to such “controversial” artists as Sandi Patti and Amy Grant.  He also encounters the subcultures of Young Calvinism, Contemporary Christian Music, Christian schools and recovering Christians.

To get your copy of the book or learn more about it, go to Random House or click on the book image at the beginning of the article.

Disclaimer: This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Tori Amos is an extremely talented singer, songwriter and pianist.  In 2001 I attended one of her concerts in Nashville, TN.  What I saw and heard was amazing artistry.  This artist has written and sung about deep issues and subjects.  She has tackled such heavy subjects as rape and spousal violence in her music.

Amos is the product of a preacher’s home.  She has not shied from addressing spiritual issues.  On her website, she converses about a recent album/CD.  Her conversation reveals a woman with a healthy set of questions.

People are being forced to question what they believe in.  We’re being brought back to questions which make up our foundation: “Who am I?  What do I really believe in?”

She arrives at answers which may seem amiss to most Christians.  She also asks “what is sinful?”  She answers with a view centered on self rather than on God.

It’s not what the church says to me is sinful.  It’s me degrading myself, or somebody else wanting to degrade me and me allowing it to happen.

Her 2009 album is titled, Abnormally Attracted to Sin.  The title is taken from a line from Guys and Dolls.  She is on to something that Christians should hear.  She seems to miss the mark on her understanding of sin as being about self rather than about God.

She is critical of the church.  She cites the church for not demonstrating the compassion of Christ.  Instead the church ignores and pegs those with the most despair and questions.  To this criticism the church should listen.

Amos, however, proceeds further down a dangerous path.  The lyrics to her song, God, demonstrate this.

God sometimes you just don’t come through.
Do you need a woman to look after you?
God sometimes you just don’t come through.

Here Amos reveals a higher alignment to feminism than to God.  Perhaps she might find more of her answers with a higher view of God.  After all the compassion of Christ is the compassion of God.

I hope she continues to ask important questions.  I just hope she finds answers that are based on God revealing himself rather than influenced by a woman-centered worldview.  I also hope we all continue to ask important questions.

I thought I’d take a chance

My first words were no mystery

“Excuse me, would you like to dance?”

The rest, they say, is history

You became Mrs. Gantz

]]> http://www.pulpit2pew.com/1633/valentines-day-poem-suzie/feed/ 0 http://www.pulpit2pew.com/1628/a-new-granddaughter-is-on-the-way/ http://www.pulpit2pew.com/1628/a-new-granddaughter-is-on-the-way/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 13:29:37 +0000 Frank Gantz http://www.pulpit2pew.com/?p=1628

Carlton and Amanda Gantz are preparing for the arrival of their first child in June. Looks like the baby will be a girl. Carlton is my son. The baby will be my first granddaughter. I have so loved my 2 grandsons (Leah’s boys). A little girl will be nice. Sugar and spice and everything nice. That’s what little girls are made of.

Carlton called me to tell me the news of the gender. Later they broke the news to the rest of the family with this prop.