Returning to a more biblical culture. That sounds like a wonderful idea doesn't it, at least at first. The more I read about what is happening in our country, the more I am convinced that is exactly what we are doing, returning to a more biblical culture. While many of the intellectually elite of our country are sincerely trying to lead our society into a post-enlightenment enlightened state, what they are truly accomplishing is leading us directly back into the ancient.

Just last night while unable to sleep I was watching parts of Dateline or Nightline, I have a hard time knowing the difference between these shows, but whichever one it was they were discussing the issue of gay marriage. One commentator while discussing gay marriage made the case that if these marriages were to be upheld as legal, then it will set a precedent that will no longer allow polygamy to be illegal. And that is when it clicked for me, a more biblical culture.

For the ancient Greek culture, which would of had a significant influence on the culture when Jesus lived because of Hellenism, sex was looked at very differently. I remember from one history course the common phrase for Greek men being that women were for procreation and young men were for sex. This theme was captured in the movie Gladiator, if you remember the evil emperor Commodus played by Joaquin Phoenix was gay. The book of Romans is clear addressing this behavior when in Romans 1:26-27 it says, "Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen." No this may seem clear enough to you but what really triggered the connect to the ancient was the issue of polygamy.

A second major inflluence on the culture in which Jesus lived would have been the Middle Eastern culture. So not only would the Hellenistic Greek thought shape how people acted but because of Israel's location a more Arab mindset would also have great influence. Even today it is not unusual for weathy men in the Middle East to have more than one wife. It is because of the Christian ethic that shaped the formation of this country that the act of polygamy was deemed illegal. Though many groups including the Mormans have fought this, polygamy has been held up as illegal.

These to issues present a case in point that we are returning back to the culture of the Bible. How do we know polygamy was a part of that culture? The Old Testament is rather tolerant of polygamy, many of the saints had more than one wife. In the New Testament we witness how the church deals with polygamist who become Christians. What is required of these new believers is not that they choose one wife and drop the rest, but that they should not hold office in the church while having more than one wife. 1 Tim. 3:2, "Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife..."

To see the changes happening right before me in our culture saddens me, yet in the midst of it I am able to find encouragement. The encouragement that I find is that Christians are not out-of-date backward thinking people, okay maybe we are, but what the Bible teaches us is not out-of-date or backward. The Bible does not call us to live in these ancient ways, it calls people to a greater and glorious way to live. That is that God's intention is for marriage between one man and one woman. This simple yet incredibly forward thinking idea is expressed in Matthew 19:1-12,

Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? 4 He answered, Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.7 They said to him, Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away? 8 He said to them, Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. 10 The disciples said to him, If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. 11 But he said to them, Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.

None of what we are facing today is catching God by surprise. I find it remarkable that the Bible so clearly speaks to the culture and what is happening in our culture today. Perhaps the return to a more Biblical culture may mean seeing a great number of people come to repentance and faith in Christ, but we should not be surprised if a more Biblical culture means that the servants of God must suffer like none of us in the modern West have ever imagined.

There is a growing theme I am hearing around All Nations and it is the desire to better learn how to apply to Gospel to life. With both community groups I lead the people who attend are desiring to know day in and day out what it is that God would have them do. This is a challenging thing for every Christian and to come up with one simple answer is impossible.

A good friend of mine used to say that the Bible is very clear on issues, black and white, yet when we begin to try to apply them to life we see gray. I have found this true of my own life, I wonder if you have? Wondering aloud, I think there may be an element of fear with Christians in the city. We have been beaten up pretty bad for awhile here, and now they fear that as they live what they believe they are going to do it wrong.

I come back to Gal. 5:1, "It is for freedom that Christ set us free...". One of the most striking things about what I believe is that I am not expected to be perfect. Without faith that is the only hope I have is to be perfect. Once my faith has been placed in Jesus Christ it is expected that I will screw up. I will fail in my life, I will not be a perfect father, or husband, or pastor. God forgives us, and wants us to continue to look to Him in faith.

There were times in Jesus' earthly ministry that He would heal a person and then tell them, "Go and sin no more." What a crazy statement! The person Jesus said this to had as much of a chance at doing this as a spider web would have at holding a boulder from rolling down a hill. Jesus knew they would go and fail. Yet when they failed they would remember the one who healed them. What a beautiful picture.

God has healed us from our sin, brought us into His family and then tells us, "Now, Be Holy as I am Holy." And day in and day out we fail, and all we are left with is remembering the one who healed us. The more we remember what he has done for us, the less we are controlled by our failures. The more we remember what he has none for us, the more willing we are to go out and risk. The more we remember what he has none for us, the more we begin to resemble Him in our actions.

Just yesterday I was working out in the lawn again. Now Aidyn is obsessed with worms. All day Sunday she talked about how on Monday we would play with the worms. Her eyes have been opened and she is able now to experience a life with worms. She looks out her window sees the garden, and says, "Dad, I see worms sleeping."

So yesterday when we were out in the dirt, I dug up a worm for her. She took it between her fingers and ran around the yard with it. She was so excited, she gave the worm the tour of the entire yard. She was running, jumping, and skipping the entire time with the worm between her fingers. And as you could imagine, this large worm dangling from her hand, eventually snapped in two. Aidyn was shocked. She immediately bent down to the ground and apologized to the worm for ripping him in half. She said, "Wormy, I am sorry I broke you."

I did tell her that when you break a worm they do not die, but she did not really seem to care. But after that event she went around just as excited with the next worm. Jumping, running, skipping giving the worm the tour of the back yard, yet this time she was more careful with how she held him. Her mistake did not discourage her.

We should not be discouraged by our failures or our sin in this life. God uses those things for His glory. This is very easy to say, being a young pastor I have only begun to live this. But this is our calling as believers, that we would live in the freedom of the Gospel. That we would struggle to make sense of living the Gospel in our world, but not out of fear. We would not be discouraged when we do it wrong and make mistakes but we would see those times as opportunities for those of us who know God to trust in His promises.

There is no place like where God places you.

Just a few years ago we were living in Florida, hanging chads, Supreme Court, and a President elected without a majority vote from Americans. Just a few months ago we witnessed first hand the circus that was the governor recall election. Gary Coleman, Larry Flint, and other that are even more embarrassing all presenting their platforms and campaigning in our neighborhoods.

Once again we are living in the view of the nations media. Sometimes it is like that huge eye that was seeking out the ring in Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Often we want to hide from it, but God places us there because we are in the midst of securing His mission. Today, just as in the past week, hundreds of same sex couples are lined up in downtown San Francisco to be married. The numbers of marriages that have been performed they are making to Moonies look like rookies with their wedding services.

What a challenge for Christians in the Bay Area. Sure there are plenty of churches here that don't believe anything and accept everyone or those church that believe the Bible but could care less about anyone outside of their church. The challenge is for those churches struggle to live by the word of God yet long to see their neighborhood and individuals in their neighborhood transformed by the God.

Already everyone in our church is being challenged how to engaged their coworkers who were married this past weekend or their friends. The answers are very difficult, because the Bible is clear but we must speak the truth in love. As Karin and I watched the news coverage of this issue on Sunday night, we prayed, and Matthew 10:16 came to my mind. Jesus sending our his disciples says, "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Talk about a difficult position to be in.

Please be in prayer. It is easy to think that God has abandoned this place, yet we, Christians, are here struggling to make even the Bay Area look more like the City of God. We are pleading to God on behalf of our culture that He would remain patient with our disobedience and change the hearts of people involved. One thing is for certain He has not abandoned this place, otherwise He would not have called us here. Jesus Christ will overcome, please pray for our work here.

Our Thursday Night Community Group is unique compared to any Community Group I have ever been involved with, much less one that I am involved with leading. We merely call it Thursday Nights. It is filled with people who are committed to prayer, who are interested in the mystical side of the Christian life. It is not unusual for this group to pray for an hour on Thursday night, or even meet on another night of the week just to worship and pray.
I get very refreshed and excited that this group exists at All Nations. When people pray things happen. Generally we spend time singing and worshipping God. This leads us to into prayer, for our city, for our church, and for the people in the group. I generally share with the group some Biblical thoughts about prayer.
Just last night we looked at praying in times of trouble and used Psalm 22 as our God. My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?...I am not a man, I am a worm. The Psalmist understood hard times. To spur our thinking I opened by reading a quote from the Oakland Tribune that states, "There's no sense of hope. How do you give someone back their sense of hope?" The article was the names and stories of the 114 people who were murdered in our city this past year. We are living in times where there are great troubles. Per capita Oakland's murder rate is off the charts while we may average less murders than other major cities. We need prayer, and to intercede for this place we call home.

A friend of mine who is on his way to being a great pastor once said to me as I talked about how I needed to learn to be a good pastor the other six days of the week other than Sunday responded, "I do to Mike, but the only day I think I am any good is my day off." Obviously his statement made an impression on me.
A new project I have taken on during my day off is taking care of our yard. This has already provided time to reflect in deep and great ways in regards to our church and our work here in Oakland as I wrote about previously. Yet this week something very special happened. You see while working on the garden and yard is very therapeutic for me, Aidyn does not share this love. After about twenty minutes of making "sand castles" out of dirt she is ready to go inside the house. This week after her twenty minutes I was able to talk her into coming into the garden to work with me. She seemed to enjoy working along side her dad, and then she let out a scream, "Snakes daddy, snakes." I jump around and began to look, realizing there were not snakes in the area I began to look closely where Aidyn was pointing. As I leaned down to the ground I saw two large earthworms. I explained to Aidyn that these were not snakes but worms and worms were fun.
At first I merely held them in my hand and Aidyn would barely touch them with her finger. The she would point and laugh and push them with her finger while they were on the ground. This turned into a lot of entertainment for her. Finally she allowed me to place them in her hands and she responded, "They tickle me daddy." The worms were such a hit that I had to go and get the camera to get Aidyn's first experience with worms in the garden documented.
This was the little girl who when she would fall at the park would be upset because her hands got dirty, now playing in the dirt with her father on his day off. Not only playing in the dirt but playing with worms.
We are able to come a long way with the slightest encouragements. Just explaining that they were not snake was enough to get Aidyn's attention. I am realizing that in Oakland there are tons of worms. At first look these people look like snakes to me. Then I moved by God to check them out. I then find out that they are not going to hurt me, and before long I realize they tickle. Sometimes God provides that little encouragement that keeps me involved having a great time.

This past Sunday All Nations served a meal to the homeless of Oakland through City Team Ministries. This is a ministry that we have an excellent relationship with here in the community, and one of the directors attends our church. On every first Sunday of the month a group from the church buys and prepares a meal and puts on a worship service.
There can be anywhere from fifty to one hundred and fifty people in need of a meal on a given night. This last Sunday, in honor of the Superbowl, we made chili for everyone. This was a very special Sunday because not only did we have the priviledge of serving the meal but we also were able to watch the game with the guys. Alyssa, the director of City Team said to me, "This is really great because I have had a number of guys thank me for having a special event for the game. Day in and day out I don't get many thank you's, so this is a time to remember."
Not only does City Team offer meals, chapel services, and shelter to the homeless, but they have a in-house recovery program for those who want to put their life back together. Many of the guys in the program help us in the kitchen, and that in itself is a huge blessing to our church.
During this last meal I was able to me Puri from West Africa. He came up to me and was very upset about people's misconceptions about Africa. While explaining this to me he let me know that he has a masters degree in Chemistry. Needless to say I asked him if he heard anything in the message that night. And he did, he was angry that we would say God offers forgiveness to all these people, in his words they all deserve to die. And I told him that is the point. We all deserve to die, but instead of requiring our death God has given us an alternative. That is to trust in the death of Jesus Christ as the only thing that can make us right with God. He told me that he wishes we would be teaching children of the love of God and not these lost people. And I said to him, that no one is out of God's reach. Those that we may see as hopeless may be more near to God than we know.
Regardless of where we come from or where we are there are those people who we think are outside of God's reach. As a minister I think that I am just wasting my time with them. Thank God He doesn't think of anyone that way. Our job is to tell people about the love of Christ, we cannot change their hearts, but we serve a God who is able to change hearts.

I have made a resolution to work on our yard. This past week I had to mow it twice because of all the rain that we get. After being in this house for six months and doing a minimal amount of yard maintenance it needs some love. On Saturday I was out mowing my law and thinking.
You see when we first moved into our house there was nothing in the front yard but dirt. It was so bad Aden and our next door neighbor's grandson. Christian, would play in the yard with a bucket and shovel. It was a mess. As soon as we moved in we began simply to water our dirt patch. We must of looked so stupid even though only one neighbor, Leif, would actually tease us about it.
But now that we are into February and the rains have been constant, we have a green lawn. As far as green goes we have one of the best looking lawns on our block, now remember that is not saying much for our block. You see if you look really close at our lawn you notice. The hand mower that I use. That's right 1950's hand mower, no electricity, no motor, just my pushing power. This hand mower is unable to cut the lawn evenly. It spend most of the time pushing the grass down, and because of it's length and all the rain we have it doesn't cut while laying down. So here is this uneven mess.
Even that is not what made me think the most. The second thing you will notice about our lawn is that there is a large number of weeds. Sure there is some grass, and because it is my lawn I probably am able to see what little grass there is better than anyone else. Yet throughout this lawn we have been loving on there are weeds throughout. You see the rains that came did allow our dirt patch to grow grass, but it also allowed weeds to grow up throughout it's midst. Again Leif is quick to remind me that I am mowing my weeds, not my lawn.
And I thought, this is what it is like to work in the church. Don't get me wrong, All Nations was not a dirt patch when we arrived. But to us it did feel that way. And we just started doing what we could, and it didn't really seem like things were happening. But you see then God gives the rain. And suddenly I am able to see the beauty of God's work. So I get into it and am the lawn mower. Trying to be the shepherd that God has called me to be, and I don't do very good. I am out dated, uneven, and really am absolutely inadequate for the job. Yet God has placed me here. Even as beautiful as God's work is, the reality that there are weeds throughout everyone's lives is very present. You don't even have to look as close as you have to with my lawn. People relapse, the hate their sin and then they run to their sin. The path people take to look more like Jesus is not merely a straight line but a windy wild spin that takes them in all directions. But there is green. You see God allows the rain. The dirt patch is not left to it's own.
While thinking about all of this I was reminded of a book that a great influence in my life encouraged me to read by Frederick Beuchner, The books of Bebb. And Bebb this wild evangelist, shared the gospel in this unorthodox way which is incredibly orthodox. If you are offended by the s--- word please do not read it:
(Bebb recalling a conversation with Roebuck to his friend Antonio). "'If I close my eyelid down on all the shit there is in the world, I've still got to face up to all the shit that there is in me, because the shit in us is part of what makes us brothers, you and me.' I used that word shit to him till it begun to sound like I invented it. "He caught me by surprise. I caught him by surprise. A preacher talking about things like--Antonio, shit is what preachers have been talking about since Moses except the word they're more like to use is sin. Only Roebuck didn't know that. It shut him up for a minute. Then he said, 'If the world's mostly shit, Bebb, where's God?' Just like that--where's God? As if I could say, 'Look there he is, Roebuck, He squeezed into one of those books you got on our shelves...I said,'I'll tell you about shit, Roebuck. Take it from an expert. There's two main things about it. One thing is it's stink and corruption and waste. The other thing is if you don't pile it up too thick in any one place, it makes the seeds grow.' I said, 'Roebuck, God's where there's seeds growing. God's where there's something no bigger than the head of a pin starting to inch up out of the stink and dark of shit towards the light of day.' I said, 'Roebuck, God so loved the world he sent his only begotten so down here into the shit with the rest of us so something green could happen, something small and green and hopeful."
Like our lawn, like our church, something green happening, something small and green and hopeful.