Christian by Contract

On Sunday we continued our series on Galatians by looking at Galatians 4:21-31. At first glance, this looks like a strange passage where Paul is speaking figuratively about an obscure passage from the book of Genesis. But it is very important. It is likely that the false teachers were telling the Galatians about Abraham and his two sons Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was the father of Gentile or non-Jewish nations and Isaac was the father of Israel and the Jews. It was on Isaac that the promises of God rested. If the Galatians wanted to receive God's promises, they would have to take on the Law, get circumcised and become children of the promise like Isaac. Paul turns this on its head by looking at this not in the terms of ethnicity but of sources of hope. God promised Abraham a child but nothing seemed to happen. They took things into their own hands when Sarah offered her slave girl Hagar for Abraham to sleep with. From this pregnancy came Ishmael. Later God came through in grace and Sarah gave birth to Isaac. For Paul, Hagar and Ishmael are symbols of trying to do things in our own power. On the other hand, Sarah and Isaac are symbols of relying on grace and receiving God's promises in faith. Being a child of Sarah is not about following the Jewish Law but about relying on grace rather than works. Where do we find our hope in God? Is it in our ability to be good enough for God or is it in God's grace?

The Case of the Compassionate Criminal

This is a bizarre story. A man robbed a store and the clerk became so upset that the robber prayed with her and gave her a hug. You can read the story here. It is nice to see that there is still some compassion among criminals.

Children of God and the Myth of the Competent Christian

For the last couple of weeks we have been continuing our series at church on Grace in Galatia. Two weeks ago we looked at Galatians 3:23-4:7 and what God really expects from us. One of the problems that Paul has raised is why did God give the Law in the first place if it is as bad as he seems to think? The fact is that Paul did not see the Law as evil. The Law played the role of the pedagogue to God's people in their early days. In ancient days, even an heir to a great estate, when a child, would be under the guardianship of a pedagogue (usually a slave) who would keep the child on the right path and provide discipline when needed. When the child came of age, they no longer were under the control of the pedagogue. According to Paul, we came of age at the coming of Jesus and we are now co-heirs with Christ and because of that maturity it is no longer appropriate to be under the Law. The wonder of this is that God considers us his children. We are not good employees, we are beloved children.

Last week we looked at what an ideal Christian looks like from Galatians 4:8-20. We think of a competent Christian as someone who is physically healthy and strong, emotionally balanced, intellectually brilliant, naturally talented and spiritually powerful. Someone like Paul. The fact is that picture of a competent Christian is only a myth. Even Paul did not fit that stereotype. We do find that Paul is a model for us follow and that standard is achievable.

1. Paul became like the people he was interested in before he ever asked them to be like him.

2. Paul was physically weak and ill. People responded to him because he let God's strength shine through his weakness.

3. Paul deeply cared about what happened to the Galatians' faith. He was passionate about his friends in the literal way of suffering when he saw bad things happening.

These three principles are a good model for people to live the Christian life. For the next couple of weeks, the audio for these sermons can be found at www.meafordbaptist.ca and www.stephenjbedard.com.

Kabul24

I just finished reading a true story called Kabul24. It is a story about some Shelter Now International (SNI) workers who are taken hostage in Afghanistan around the time of the 9/11 attack. Frankly, it is not the best written book in terms of style but the content and the sheer power of the story more than make up for it. The story is about 8 western workers and 16 of their Afghan workers who are taken hostage. The story is really about the 8 westerners and the book could have been called Kabul8 but the more inclusive number is indicative of the team attitude of all the workers. There are a number of things that are very interesting about the story. It is interesting to see the situation of Afghanistan from the inside. There are no stereotypes about all Afghanis being terrorists. Throughout there are examples of Afghanis who are devout Muslims repeatedly risking their lives to help the westerners. It was also interesting to see the 9/11 attacks from a non-media perspective within Afghanistan. Most of us were inundated with media coverage but the hostages learned about the situation bit by bit from independent sources. The most inspiring part of the book was the example of forgiveness that is presents. This is no artificial forgiveness but rather realistic Christians who struggle with anger about their situation and yet choose to forgive. It is truly an inspiring story and well worth reading. Keep an eye out for the documentary on the same story.

Autistic Hero

CNN has a great story but an autistic child who saves his teacher's life. You can watch the video here.

This is Me on the Internet

This is me.


This is me on the Internet. I have become a bit of an Internet addict. Not in terms of my time on the net but my presence on the Internet. The Internet or World Wide Web is named for the many intersections and connections between sites. That describes my own presence on the net. For my own sake, I have decided to actually describe my own presence on the net and how each site relates to each other. Please forgive my own self-reflection.

I have my own web page at www.stephenjbedard.com. This site is hub for all my other activity. On this site you will find a link to my Twitter profile (www.twitter.com/sjbedard) as well as some of my tweets. It has a link to my LibraryThing profile (www.librarything.com/profile/sjlb) and my LinkedIn profile. It also has a random selection of my books from LibraryThing. It has links to my blogs: www.stevebedard.blogspot.com, www.1peter315.wordpress.com, www.cassiciacum.wordpress.com and www.apologiaresources.blogspot.com. It also has links to books that I am reading from the apologia resources blog. It has links to my Apologia book store (www.astore.amazon.ca/apologia072-20) through the Amazon Associates program and my Lulu storefront of self-published books (www.stores.lulu.com/stevebedard). It also has links to my church web pages www.meafordbaptist.ca and www.woodfordbaptist.ca.

My Twitter account sends tweets to my web page, as well as Down by the Bay, Apologia, Cassiciacum and my Facebook account.

Down by the Bay (www.stevebedard.blogspot.com) is my personal blog and it appears as an RSS feed on Apologia. It also automatically appears on my Facebook account.

Apologia (www.1peter315.wordpress.com) is my apologetics blog and it has links to all my other blogs and appears as a RSS feed on Down by the Bay.

Cassiciacum (www.cassiciacum.wordpress.com) is my leadership blog and it appears as a RSS feed on Down by the Bay and Apologia.

Apologia Resources (www.apologiaresources.blogspot.com) is my book review which has links to Amazon through the Amazon Associates Program.

The web pages for First Baptist Church (www.meafordbaptist.ca) and Woodford Baptist Church (www.woodfordbaptist.ca) have information about these churches and a selection of my sermons as well as links back to my web page.

Simple enough? How do I find enough time to do this? Most of this takes place automatically. I do not feel pressure to blog unless I have something to say. My main priority is to keep the church web pages up to date. My tweets on Twitter (which are also my Facebook updates) are usually done on my Blackberry when I have a spare moment. I do all this because I enjoy it and because I believe that it is important to have a strong web presence. Having said that, I do not intend to add any more web pages or blogs any time soon.

Baptist Church Burns Christian Books and Bibles

Sometimes Christians embarrass me. I have no problem with disagreeing over a book or translation but this just does not make sense. I am glad that Christianity is bigger than this and that there is a place for us to use our minds.

nuChristian

A few months ago, I read an interesting book called unChristian written by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. It dealt with the perceptions that people outside the church felt toward the church and Christianity. It was a helpful book that both called for greater understanding of those outside the church and some tough soul-searching within the church in order to confront our problems. The authors concluded their book with a call for further conversation on these issues.

Emerging church pastor Russell Rathbun has taken up that challenge with his new book, appropriately titled nuChristian. Rathbun deals with all of the same issues as the earlier book, but from the perspective of his own experience both growing up in a traditional Baptist church, as well as his experience in the emerging church. Sometimes the emerging church is accused of being light on Scripture and yet this book's strength is the fact that it is solidly biblical. Rathbun reflects deeply on the Bible and the truth that is given us through revelation. NuChristian is much shorter than unChristian and yet it is still very helpful. The short length of the book makes it very readable but also creates some problems. The author makes a quick comment that he does not disagree with homosexuality and yet gives no explanation of how he got there. For this reviewer, that was a great distraction. One of the things that I really did appreciate was the last chapter. As a pastor of a traditional Baptist church, I sometimes struggled with the author's ideas (although I always valued and respected them). The last chapter is a conversation between the author and his father who is a Baptist pastor. His father expressed some of the issues that some traditional Christians might wrestle with as they read this book. I greatly respected the author for giving voice to those concerns rather than dismissing them. Rathbun asks all the right questions and whether you agree or disagree with them, the issues dealt with are vital to the church's effectiveness and relevance in today's society. I highly recommend this book.

Reading Blogs

Some time ago, I really got into reading people's blogs. I enjoyed reading a selection of blogs, both scholarly and pastoral, some even by friends. But over time, my reading of blogs diminished significantly. The reason was that I found it time consuming to go to each blog, wait for the graphics to load, only to discover that the blog had not been updated in weeks. I felt guilty because I was hoping for people to read my blogs but I was not reading blogs myself. Recently, I read a post from Michael Hyatt of Thomas Nelson Publishers. He stated that he read 200 blogs a day and it only took him 20 minutes! His key was an online resource called Google Reader (if this link does not work, just go to google.com and look for 'reader' in the pull down menu). Google Reader allows you to subscribe to blogs and shows you what blogs have been updated and by how many posts. There are no graphics to load but you can click to go to the actual blog if you wish. As you scroll down, it automatically marks that post as read. It is a great resource that I highly recommend. I am now enjoying reading blogs once more without the guilt of how long it takes each day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since this is the Canadian Thanksgiving, I thought I would take some time to share a few things that I am thankful for. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my parents, both of whom have passed away now, who raised me and loved me and provided for me in every way. I am thankful for my beautiful, intelligent, loving wife who is my partner in every way. I am thankful for my children. Logan and Abby are awesome. The autism is hard but they are special kids and they show us so much affection. They are a lot of fun. I fully intended that our family would stop with two children. I am thankful that God hijacked my plan. I am thankful that Justus, Emma and Faith are also our children. I do not look at them any differently than Logan and Abby. They bring us so much joy. I am thankful for my churches: First Baptist Church and Woodford Baptist Church. If we are honest, we would have to admit that there are some cranky churches out there (that is the problem with letting human beings in). But Woodford and First are some of the best churches out there. In six years I have never had a conflict with my deacons and my congregations have been extra-flexible with us and very sensitive to our family situation. Both are very friendly and loving congregations. I am thankful for our doctor. In a day when many families do not have a family doctor or at least have one that does not take their concerns seriously, we have a very compassionate and competent (two qualities that do not often come together in a doctor) who has been a blessing to our family with all its needs. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but I do want to end with one final thanksgiving. I am thankful to God. God has been very patient with me and all my stubbornness and slowness. God has taken me so far and continues to lead me on a journey. I am thankful for what Jesus did on the cross for me. I am thankful for God adopting me into his family . I am thankful that God called me into ministry. I am thankful that God continues to refine that calling revealing little parts each and every day. I am thankful that God is present with us and I am thankful for the strength he gives us to face every challenge. Thanks God for everything!

First Baptist Church Turns 125

I recently read in a book that the average lifespan for a church is sixty years. First Baptist Church in Meaford more than doubles that as we are now experiencing our 125^th anniversary. Our church, originally called Meaford Baptist Church, was organized on January 18, 1884. The first meeting was in the old town hall but the congregation of twenty-five members soon built a small white church at the corner of Collingwood and Cook Streets. The original pastor used to preach in Cape Rich, the Eleventh Line, Meaford and Thornbury - all on the same Sunday! In 1905, the church built and moved into our present beautiful red brick building on Trowbridge St.

Much has changed over the years, but what is important has remained the same. First Baptist Church has always had a strong preaching ministry and a passion for studying the Bible. We have also been dedicated to reaching out to those around us with acts of service. We are active in supporting our local community in various ways, including strong support for the food bank (we recently collected over one ton of food for the food bank). We reach out beyond our community through support of such ministries as Yonge Street Mission and Operation Christmas Child. Our vision remains as this: “First Baptist Church is a loving family that seeks God through worship, prayer and biblical teaching and embraces our community through acts of service and compassion.”

As part of our celebrations, we are having a special 125^th anniversary service on Sunday, November 1 at 11:00 am. Our guest speaker will be Dr. Stanley Porter, President of McMaster Divinity College and co-author of Unmasking the Pagan Christ. We will have special music by Dr. Porter’s wife, Wendy Porter. Everyone is invited to join us as we celebrate 125 years of ministry in this community. We look forward to many more years of active service in Meaford as we build on the past and reach for the future. For more information about our church, please go to our web-page www.meafordbaptist.ca.

Degree Completion Program

One of the things exciting about ministry is that there are always new opportunities. I have been praying about new opportunities for teaching and was excited when I was contacted by Dr. Daniel Wong from Tyndale College and Seminary. From our conversation, I will now be teaching a course on 1 Corinthians in the summer of 2010. This is through Tyndale's Degree Completion Program. Tyndale understands that there are people who would like to finish a degree but life has taken over. As a result, they have set up a program for people to complete a Bachelor of Religious Education in modular format. For those of you looking for theological education that fits with your busy lifestyle, you might be interested in the Degree Completion Program. You are certainly welcome to join me for the course on 1 Corinthians. For more information, go to this link.

Shroud of Turin

I have had a number of people ask me what I think about the Shroud of Turin, the supposed burial shroud of Jesus that has the imprint of his face. I must admit that I have always been a skeptic. Recently a scientist has been able to duplicate the Shroud, presumably proving it to be a fake. You can read about the story here.

An Enjoyable Time Teaching

Last Friday and Saturday I had a very enjoyable time. I am a part of a Lay Pastors Training Program. I am a firm believer in seminary education for pastors but there is also a need for training laypeople and lay pastors for small churches. That is what this program is for. I had the opportunity to teach them about Pastoral Leadership. I have been excited about leadership ever since I was in the Arrow Leadership Program and I was very happy to have a chance to teach some of what I had learned. It was a great class of eleven students who had insightful comments and were not afraid to interact with the material. I look forward to next month and the conclusion of our course. If you are ever in driving range of Listowel Ontario, you might want to consider this program that leads to credentials with the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec. You can find out more here.

Hypocrisy in the Church

Very often I find people not interested in church because of the prevalence of hypocrisy. Sometimes that is an unjust accusation made out of ignorance. All too often it is an accurate judgment. This is something that Christians must take seriously. Last Sunday we looked at a helpful example of hypocrisy from Galatians 2:11-21. Antioch was a mixed church of Gentiles (non-Jews) and Jews. When Peter came to Antioch, he freely associated with the Gentiles. We find in the book of Acts that God chose Peter to be the first to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. God demonstrated to Peter that the Gentiles were acceptable to God and only needed to put their faith in Christ. All was good in Antioch. Until messengers from Jerusalem came. We do not know what they said. Perhaps they warned Peter that his easy attitude toward the Gentiles was putting the Jewish outreach at risk. Perhaps they were afraid that he was putting Jewish-Christians at risk from Jewish zealots who might see them as Gentile lovers. What we do know is that Peter separated himself from the Gentiles. Paul saw this and was livid. Paul publicly called Peter on his hypocrisy. We can learn three things from this:

1) Good intentions are not enough. Peter probably thought he was doing the right thing. But he made his decision from a position of fear and that is never a good thing.

2) We need to walk straight. Paul comments that Peter did not act straight forward. The Greek is the same word that we get orthopedics from. Our orthopedics is the truth of the Gospel. It is the Gospel, which does not change, that should be our guide.

3) We must have the courage to confront. It was a gutsy move on Paul's part to confront Peter but it was necessary. We must be willing to confront, not in a spirit of condemnation but a gentle spirit of speaking the truth in love. When we confront, we must be willing to judge ourselves according to the same standards and remove the plank from our eye before removing the speck from someone else's eye.

We will never be perfect but we can make choices to take us in the direction of greater integrity.

For the next few weeks, this message in text and audio form can be found on www.meafordbaptist.ca.