Applying The Bible to Our Culture and World

These are the opinions of Jeff Phillips, pastor of an inner city Southern Baptist church in the heart of the bible belt. These views do not represent Woodfield Park Baptist Church, Ashley my wife, our 3 dogs or 3 cats.







Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Election 2016: Lady and the Trump

As the news came in tonight that Ted Cruz was officially suspending his campaign, clinching what was already basically clinched, that Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee for President, an old baseball quote ran through my mind. Multiple time, former Yankees manager Billy Martin was once asked about comments made about him by former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and former star outfielder Reggie Jackson. Martin, with his usual eloquence, on whether he believed the two said, "Well, one's a born liar, and the other is convicted." Welcome to our 2016 Presidential election!

On the surface, this will be a tremendously significant election. Hillary Clinton will be the first woman ever to be a major party nominee for President. Donald Trump will be the first true political outsider, a non-politician, to be a party nominee since Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the first ever business person. That's important on many levels. But let's face it, neither of those things mean squat when it comes to being President. To be honest, I'm not really sure what really matters when it comes to being a credible President, but I know this. Character, and particularly, honesty, has to be a part of the make-up of someone who serves in the office honorably and effectively.

Both candidates have been in the public eye for decades, and so very little is not known in regards to either of them. Both are controversial and polarizing, generating strong emotions both positive and negative. Both have been ruthless in climbing the ladder of their respective professions. Both have been highly successful. And both have a long history of as Patty Loveless once sang, "trouble with the truth."

I am unsure if there is such a thing anymore as an honest politician, at least on the national level. The mere task of the rings that need to be kissed and promises made to become an elected official can easily overcome honesty. Not to mention the cash that flows to influence opinion and win an election. Our political system is a broken mess, and we the people are the ones ultimately accountable, as we are the ones who have cast the ballots for continuous corruption. The bible tells us that "you reap what you sow," and so here we are, faced with an election choice between two of the most truth challenged candidates of all time. We've brought it on ourselves.

On the Democratic side, not one credible candidate to oppose Clinton even decided to run. Hillary was anointed by the Democratic machine to be the nominee after falling in line behind Barack Obama in 2008. And in spite of this, she is still losing primaries to an avowed Socialist in Bernie Sanders. Voters under the age of 35 loathe her in her own party. Exit polls in contests that Sanders eventually lost showed the Democratic electorate trusted Sanders by margins of 80-90% over her. Hardly an endorsement of her perceived honesty.

On the Republican side, Trump is the product of the total lack of trust in the Republican party as a whole. The voters feel betrayed, and have staged a revolt. They have been lied to one to many times by those they have cast their votes for, and have decided #neveragain! So they cast their votes, in what will be record numbers, for a man who literally says whatever pops in to his head. Trump could say one thing definitively, and then ten minutes later, say the exact opposite, and it doesn't matter. The message is now received, better the liar we don't know than the ones we do.

As we look towards November, I don't think there is any doubt that we will be witness to perhaps the must dishonest, underhanded, dirty, vicious campaign in most of our lifetimes. It will be one that fits our culture perfectly, six months of reality TV on the nightly news and Internet. It will probably be highly entertaining in a morbid way, but that's not exactly what we should be looking for when it comes to a Presidential election.

And so it begins, Election 2016, Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump. Our nation, on an economic, moral and spiritual slippery slope at stake. In my mind we have one hope, reflected in the writings of the Apostle Paul in "One" Corinthians. Paul states here that "God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." We are faced with a choice between two "foolish things," let us pray God has mercy upon us.

Monday, May 2, 2016

Reflecting on the Tabernacle-What a Building Project has Shown Me

At the church I pastor we have been in the midst of building challenges. During the flood of October, 2015, we had a structure that housed our fellowship hall, children's ministry area and nursery severely damaged by the record setting waters. Since then we have been wading through the process of what to do and how to do it. At the end of that process, we had clear choices before us, but none of them were easy. Buildings, church facilities, can be an emotional topic. People become attached to buildings. In many cases their names are on plaques, bricks, rows of pews; stained glass windows; their relatives were involved in construction; they grew up there. This is my first journey through a "building" issue as a pastor, and I've often struggled with it. It's been frustrating at times, especially in how the loss of facilities has affected our ministry and outreach. Their is tension involved when large sums of money will be involved in rectifying the problems. Their is uncertainty. During this process I've come to reflect upon the original house of God, the tabernacle, for perspective in viewing these issues.

For those unfamiliar with the tabernacle, this was the place, designed by God Himself, for His chosen people, Israel, to come to worship Him. Contrary to the modern view of buildings, which tends towards bigger; fancier; more comfortable; modern; the more extravagant the better, God didn't seem to care for these niceties when He considered where He desired to be worshipped. Instead of a grandiose house built to cater to those who attended, God told His people to worship Him in a tent!

Wherever the children of Israel wandered, they carried His tent with them. The priests were charged with it's care and for assembling and disassembling it. God gave very specific instructions for how His tent was to be designed, handled and treated. He took His tent seriously, and expected the Israelites to do so as well. But in the end, we cannot escape the reality that for Himself; God; Creator of the universe; Savior of the world; did not instruct Israel to build Him a grand "house." He didn't design it for their comfort. He declared His tent; functional; portable; efficient; simple; would suffice.

Why? God most certainly is deserving of glory! He alone is worthy! Later in the life of Israel God would relent to the desire of King David to build Him a grand house to be worshipped in. God approved of David's desire to do so. When David's son, King Solomon, finally finished the ornate, glorious temple, God blessed the event. But even with this new, glorious temple, Solomon knew God did not need it. In 1 Chronicles 6:18, in his prayer of dedication, Solomon says; "But will God indeed dwell with men on earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple that I have built."

In this age of huge church structures with every bell and whistle, why do I think we need to remember this?

You see, God met with His people in the tabernacle, and later continued to do so in the temple. He was never concerned with how ornate the structure, or how appealing it was to man. God's concern has always been for the heart of the people who gathered to worship Him. God would later abandon meeting with His people in that ornate temple due to the hardness of their hearts. The building became nothing more than a fancy, expensive, hunk of rock, as His glory departed it. He later judged Israel and the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. We saw this same thing happen again as a later temple was destroyed by Rome in 67 AD. It was never about the building for God!

Yet today, we seem fixated on having a bigger and better building. For many, this is the standard of whether God is present with His people. It is the thing many look at when considering where to attend church. In many cases it looks like an arms race to top the church up the street. Countless tens of millions of dollars are poured in to buildings. Beautiful, ornate, fancy structures we call the "house of God." Many seem to hold the opinion this is what God desires. What He will use for His glory.

Yet nowhere in scripture do we find this expressed by God. God has always valued people far more than brick and mortar. It is hearts for which He is jealous, not whether He has a nicer house than Allah, Buddha, the church up the street, or the Carolina Panthers. He declares you and I are the "temple of the Holy Spirit," not some address for our "church" on the mailbox. Without people loving Him without all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, their is no church, just a building.

Our witness to the world is not our real estate, but our love for one another. To many times we seem to have forgotten that.

As for us, we're nearing an end to our building issues, and my prayer is simple. I pray we have God honoring tent, and our heart is set upon people, just as His is. For no matter how spectacular the structure may be, it is His people living His way that make it His house.

Or should I say His tent.