For a long time, I perceived the word Missional as one of those Evangelically Sexy words–lots of appeal with little substance.  In 2007, I spent time exploring all things Missional and was pleased to discover that despite its abuse by some, the term itself has had a long history of positive use that meshes well with my own philosophy of life in Christ.

I see missional…

1. A missional church is a collection of disciples acting in concert to fulfill the mission of the Father.
2. A missional church finds Her identity and vocation in being the Bride in waiting–sent by Jesus.
3. A missional church makes each individuals willing and ready to be Christ in their own situation and place.
4. A missional church knows She must be a cross-cultural (contextual) people and go out into Her community.
5. A missional church is engaged with the culture (in the world) without being absorbed by the culture (not of the world). She will become intentionally indigenous.
6. A missional church understands that God is already present in the surrounding culture. Therefore, Her goal is not to bring individuals into a sacred space, but introduces them to a sacred people.
7. A missional church is about being — being conformed to the image of God.
8. A missional church will seek to plant all types of missional communities.
9. A missional church is evangelistic and faithfully proclaims the gospel through word and deed. Words alone are not sufficient; how the gospel is embodied in our Family-life and service is equally important.
10. A missional church understands the power of the gospel and does not lose confidence in it.
11. A missional church will align Her activities around the mission of YHWH.
12. A missional church puts the good of their neighbor over Her own.
13. A missional church will demonstrate integrity, morality, good character, compassion, love and a resurrection life filled with hope so that She might lend credence to Her reasoned verbal witness.
14. A missional church practices hospitality by welcoming the stranger into the midst of community.
15. A missional church will see Herself as a Family on a mission together. There are no “Lone Ranger” Christians in a missional church.
16. A missional church will see Herself as a representative of Jesus and will do nothing to dishonor His name.
17. A missional church will be totally reliant on God in all She does. She will move beyond childlike faith to a life of supernatural living.
18. A missional church will be desperately dependent on prayer.
19. A missional church gathers for the purpose of worship, encouragement, supplemental teaching, training, to seek God’s presence and to be realigned with God’s missionary purpose.
20. A missional church is orthodox in Her view of the gospel and scripture, but culturally meaningful in Her methods and practice so that She can engage the world view of all who will listen.
21. A missional church will feed deeply on the scriptures throughout the week.
22. A missional church will be a community where all members are involved in learning “the way of Jesus.” Spiritual development is an expectation.
23. A missional church will help people discover and develop their Spirit-Giftings and will rely on gifted people for ministry instead of talented people.
24. A missional church is a healing community where people carry each other’s burdens and help restore gently.
25. A missional church requires that Her leaders be missiologists.

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I just got home from a wild bike riding adventure.

For months now, my oldest son Zachary has been wanting to take a bike ride on the Orting Trail with ’just” me. It is Winter, and I keep telling him it is “too cold” and when it gets warmer we can go. Zachary jokingly tells me I am a “weak” mommy because I don’t want to be in the cold. He says, “it doesn’t matter if you are a Californian!!!!” Too funny.

This past weekend I committed to spend some quality one-on-one time with each of my boys; and because Zachary had a half day at school, today was the day we committed to ride bikes together. When I picked him up from school, it was raining and he sadly asked me if we were still going on our bike ride. I had already decided that I was going no matter the weather. So, I told him, “yes we are going.” His face lit up and he was SO happy.

We get home, I nurse the baby, we put on lots of warm clothes and off we go.

Five minutes into our bike ride, it starts SNOWING!!! I am thinking to myself, “I can’t believe this. What on earth am I doing? Why in the world is it snowing in March?” I am freezing, I can’t feel my fingers, nose or ears.

I ask him, “are you sure you want to keep riding to the trail?” and with a huge smile, he says, “Yes mommy!!!!”

So I tell him, “you better remember this for the rest of your life!!!!” Then he says, (actually yelling it to me from behind) “YOU ARE THE BEST MOMMY IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!”

It was so unbelievably sweet and it kept me going.

We get to the trail, and it stops snowing. We are both soaked and freezing. We pass the cows and they are huddled up with each other trying to stay warm. It was so funny. Then we get to the river and Zachary finally says to me, “do you want to ride back home now?” I quickly answer, “Yeah, I think that would be great!!!”

Half way home Zachary decides he cannot ride any more and makes me call his dad to come and pick him up. By the time my husband arrives we are just a half mile from home, but there is no room for both our bikes. Joey tries to convince Zachary to finish the cold ride with his mommy, but he finally gives in to Zachary’s tears. I finish the freezing ride alone while my son rides home in the warm car.

When I get home, we enjoy some hot chocolate together and he says, “Thank you mommy for going on a bike ride with me today, I know it was very cold. I won’t ever call you a weak mommy again!”

All I could do was smile… I still am!!

Happy Mother’s Day sweetie. I Love you and you are definitely NOT a weak mommy!

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On February 13, 2012, Washington became the 7th State in the Union to legalize gay marriage, but the fighting is far from over.  Just this past week, North Carolina became the 30th State in the Union to pass a constitutional amendment that affirms the definition of “marriage” as a union between a man and a woman.

The Pew Forum for Research, has documented well the American angst over this issue in study entitled, “Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage”

Compelled to Speak Out

With all of these fast-moving and significant changes in the culture, I find myself compelled to write this article. I say compelled because my hesitancy to write about gay marriage comes from the fear that this single topic will be used to create a caricature of my faith. I am also keenly aware of the anger this discussions evokes in some people. Despite these concern, I find it necessary to speak out for the middle road that does not get much attention in the press.

The issue of gay marriage and Christian Faith is not going away and will continue to shape the public debate. Every church in America will at some point be forced to take a stand on this issue one way or the other.

After much internal struggle, here is where I stand.

First, My Faith is Not Hate

I believe that all life is precious to God, but to hear some people tell it, anyone who accepts the traditional teaching of the Scripture that marriage was designed by God as the union between one man and one woman is a “hateful bully.”  This column by Frank Rich entitled, “Smoke the Bigots Out of the Closet” is just one example of the hyperbole passes for intelligent discourse.

At a time when government restrictions and hatred against Christians is on a global rise, rhetoric that paints Christians as “evil” hate-mongers takes on a rather ominous tone because all oppression begins with the criminalization of speech and the dehumanization of those whom we see as “enemies.”

It is my hope that in the near future, reason will win out, and people on all sides will recognize that we can have religious, philosophical, political, and even scientific disagreement without resorting to name-calling.

Second, My Faith is Not Political

This, to me, is the most fundamental point to the issue of gay marriage—Christianity is decidedly apolitical in its nature. My Faith, as defined by Jesus, the Apostle Paul, and the New Testament, is not Political, but only concerned with taking the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus to those who do not have it. Jesus refused to establish himself as a political leader and his first Apostles followed his example.

Barack Obama is the most recent example of how Faith, when politicized, ceases to be Faith at all.  In his first Presidential election of 2008, Obama needed to gain mass appeal, so at the time his “faith” led him to reject gay marriage.  In 2010, Obama was still publicly opposed to gay marriage.  Now in 2012, the economy is in disarray and jobs are hard to find, so Obama’s ever-evolving-faith tells him to go for the money and throw his political power behind gay marriage. Clearly, the change we can all believe in is that when religion become a political tool—genuine Faith is subverted by lust for political power.

Third, My Faith is Not About Laws

Many people conflate the Old Testament, which tells the history of the Jews, with the politics of America. Simply put, The Old Testament theocracy and Torah (Law) were meant to bring Israel to the realization that no Law can make the heart of Mankind righteous. The Law of the Old Covenant between God and Israel illustrated that no legal system can make people holy. Each person needs to be remade, through Jesus Christ, into the Image of God; not remade into the image of government.

Faith in Jesus, recognizes that no matter how good a nation’s laws, they are not enough to change the heart of Her people. It is the great irony of American-Evangelicalism that so many people believe that passing a law to prohibit gay marriage will keep the country “pure.” But even God, with his perfect Law (Torah), could not purify Israel. This is why so much of the Evangelical fervor against homosexual marriage makes no sense. It is an attempt to live out a Legalistic faith instead of an Evangelistic one.

Where I Stand

1. I will vote my conscience

Christianity is not political, yet we are blessed by God to live in a democracy. Out of respect to the political powers in authority over us, I believe every Christian has an obligation to vote their conscience. However, there are two caveats to this point.

First, I do not find any foundation in the teachings of Jesus or in the teachings of the New Testament that allows me to compel others, by use of political power, to observe my convictions.

• It does not fit with my Faith to endorse or create any “Christian” Political Action Committees to support or oppose gay marriage.
• I do not think it is of any value to donate money to candidates who share my faith.
• I do not support advertisement campaigns to “raise public awareness,” engage the “culture war” or persuade people to vote for or against gay marriage.
• I do not put up Yard Signs that condemn others for their sin.

These methods satisfy a political agenda, not the Christian mission.

Second, if push comes to shove, I would relinquish my right to vote if that right caused anyone to think my faith in Jesus was political or legal. Voting my conscience is not my primary obligation. My first obligation is to be an Ambassador to Jesus, not an emissary of the political Right or Left in America.

2. I will live; NOT legislate, my faith

Christianity is not legalistic, so while I trust the biblical teaching that homosexuality is a sin, passing a law against homosexuality or against homosexual marriage is not my mission. My mission is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My only obligation is to share the Good News of Jesus and then I allow the Holy Spirit to convict others of both their sin and the path of righteousness. This is hard for legalistic-Evangelicals, because they would rather be in control and force others to follow their rules even if they do not share their heart. But the message of Christ, and Him Crucified, is that our Heavenly Father wants to restore our hearts and then lead us into right action—not the other way around.  If we, as Christians, shifted all our political energy into sharing the Gospel, we would have millions of new Christ-followers and gay marriage would not even be a political issue.

3. In TRUTH, I will LOVE my neighbor

Striking a balance between speaking truth and showing love has eluded many in the church.  Al Mohler writes:

Biblical Christians know that compassion requires telling the truth… To hide or deny the sinfulness of sin is to lie, and there is no compassion in such a deadly deception. True compassion demands speaking the truth in love–and there is the problem. Far too often, our courage is more evident than our compassion.

In far too many cases, the options seem reduced to these–liberal churches preaching love without truth, and conservative churches preaching truth without love.

It does not diminish my faith if gay marriage is legal or illegal in America. Gay marriage is not the beginning, end, or even the middle of my faith.  The marital status of another human being does not change my desire to both demonstrate love and to verbally share the Salvation News of Jesus Christ.

Gay or straight… Divorced, Single, Widowed, or Remarried… categories are irrelevant.  What matters most is that everyone needs to experience God’s sin-cleansing love.  The legality of this State sanctioned contract does not change my Gospel mission; it only shows how big my mission has grown.

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³⁵ I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them.’

Throughout Edward’s sermon , he was interrupted multiple times with people crying out, “what must I do to be saved?”  I encourage you to read the full text of his sermon, and then focus on the application of his message which follows.

The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ.—That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell’s wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of, there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.

You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his band, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.

Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a falling rock. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment; for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you; the creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God’s enemies. God’s creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end. And the world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign hand of him who has subjected it in hope. There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present, stays his rough wind; otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like the chaff of the summer threshing floor.

The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.

The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in the like circumstances with you, see that it was so with them; for destruction came suddenly upon most of them; when they expected nothing of it, and while they were saying, Peace and safety: now they see, that those things on which they depended for peace and safety, were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

O sinner, consider the fearful danger you are in! It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment. And consider here more particularly:

1. Whose wrath it is: it is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only the wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince, it would be comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere will. Proverbs 20:2—“The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: Whoso provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul.” The subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human art can invent, or human power can inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates in their greatest majesty and strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors, are but feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than nothing: both their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke 12:4, 5—“And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him, which after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. I say unto you, Fear him.”

2. It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God, as in Isaiah 59:18—“According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries.” Also in Isaiah 66:15—“For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.” And in many other places. So, Revelation 19:15, we read of “the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, “the wrath of God,” the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is “the fierceness and wrath of God.” The fury of God! the fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful must that be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them! But it is also “the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” As though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh! then, what will be the consequence! What will become of the poor worms that shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk who shall be the subject of this!

Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger, implies, that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind; he will have no regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear. Ezekiel 8:18—“Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.” Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery; you shall be continued in being to no other end; for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only “laugh and mock” (Proverbs 1:25, 26, etc.).

How awful are those words, Isa. 63:3, which are the words of the great God. “I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.” It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, vis. contempt, and hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or favor, that instead of that, he will only tread you under foot. And though he will know that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not regard that, but he will crush you under his feet without mercy; he will crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his garments, so as to stain all his raiment. He will not only hate you, but he will have you, in the utmost contempt: no place shall be thought fit for you, but under his feet to be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

The misery you are exposed to is that which God will inflict to that end, that he might show what that wrath of Jehovah is. God has had it on his heart to show to angels and men, both how excellent his love is, and also how terrible his wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings have a mind to show how terrible their wrath is, by the extreme punishments they would execute on those that would provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and haughty monarch of the Chaldean empire, was willing to show his wrath when enraged with Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego; and accordingly gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated seven times hotter than it was before; doubtless, it was raised to the utmost degree of fierceness that human art could raise it. But the great God is also willing to show his wrath, and magnify his awful majesty and mighty power in the extreme sufferings of his enemies. Romans 9:22—“What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endure with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?” And seeing this is his design, and what he has determined, even to show how terrible the unrestrained wrath, the fury and fierceness of Jehovah is, he will do it to effect. There will be something accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful with a witness. When the great and angry God has risen up and executed his awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it. Isaiah 33:12–14—“And the people shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire. Hear, you that are far off, what I have done; and you that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites,” etc.

Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted state, if you continue in it; the infinite might, and majesty, and terribleness of the omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you, in the ineffable strength of your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and when you shall be in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth and look on the awful spectacle, that they may see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is; and when they have seen it, they will fall down and adore that great power and majesty. Isaiah 66:23, 24—“And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.”

4. It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: For “who knows the power of God’s anger?”

How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would consider it, whether you be young or old! There is reason to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! But, alas! instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse in hell? And it would be a wonder, if some that are now present should not be in hell in a very short time, even before this year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here, in some seats of this meeting-house, in health, quiet and secure, should be there before to-morrow morning. Those of you that finally continue in a natural condition, that shall keep out of hell longest will be there in a little time! your damnation does not slumber; it will come swiftly, and, in all probability, very suddenly upon many of you. You have reason to wonder that you are not already in hell. It is doubtless the case of some whom you have seen and known, that never deserved hell more than you, and that heretofore appeared as likely to have been now alive as you. Their case is past all hope; they are crying in extreme misery and perfect despair; but here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God, and have an opportunity to obtain salvation. What would not those poor damned hopeless souls give for one day’s opportunity such as you now enjoy!

And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking from day to day to Christ?

Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day born again? and so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh, sirs, your case, in an especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great. Do you not see how generally persons of your years are passed over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensation of God’s mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God.—And you, young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious season which you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those persons who spent all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness. And you, children, who are unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?

And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children, now harken to the loud calls of God’s word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favors to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men’s hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls; and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land; and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles’ days; the election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God’s Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axe is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree which brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down and cast into the fire. Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation: Let every one fly out of Sodom: “Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.”

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The uniqueness of the Christian Faith, i.e. the belief in Jesus as a risen savior, is the foundation that has both propelled the Church to unmatched growth and compelled the West to unprecedented compassion around the Globe.  Yet the necessity of God as the ethical foundation for compassion has been forgotten.  There are movements of atheists, agnostics, and even christians to “do good” yet they no longer accept the direct link between their desire for compassion and need to worship God.

Be warned, as Western society rushes forward to embrace a secularized compassion… change will come.  Eventually, the political “gods” will shift their attention to more pressing matters and compassion itself will follow “God” into oblivion.

Consider then this story from the early church in Jerusalem as it exemplifies the eternal connection between the worship of God and the mandate to care for those in need.

Acts 6:1–7 (ESV

¹ Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. ² And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. ³ Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. ⁴ But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵ And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶ These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. ⁷ And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

This story is not an isolated incident.  It is but one example of how the compassion of the Christians changed the world forever.  The triumph of the early Christian faith over the pagan culture was due in large part to how they treated love of one-another as an expression of worship.

Rodney Stark from the University of Washington gives an excellent summary of the Christian’s unique place in history when it comes to self-sacrifice and doing good. In his article, “Epidemics, Networkds, And The Rise of Christianity.”

Here issues of doctrine must be addressed. For something distinctive did come into the world with the development of Christianity—the linking of a highly social ethical code with religion. There was nothing new in the idea that the supernatural makes behavioral demands upon humans—the gods have always wanted sacrifices and worship. Nor was there anything new in the notion that the supernatural will respond to offerings—that the gods can be induced to exchange services for sacrifices. What was new was the notion that more than self-interested exchange relations were possible between humans and the supernatural. The Christian teaching that God loves those who love Him was alien to pagan beliefs. MacMullen (1981:53) has noted that from the pagan perspective:

“What mattered was … the service that the deity could provide, since a god (as Aristotle had long taught) could feel no love in response to that offered.”

Equally alien to paganism was the notion that because God loves humanity, Christians cannot please God unless they love one another. Indeed, as God demonstrates his love through sacrifice, humans must demonstrate their love through sacrifice on behalf of one another. Moreover, such responsibilities were to be extended beyond the bonds of family and tribe, indeed to “all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:2). These were revolutionary ideas.

Pagan and Christian writers are unanimous that not only did Christian scripture stress love and charity as the central duties of faith, but that these were sustained in everyday behavior. Lucian wrote of the Christians: “Their original lawgiver taught them that they were all brethren, one of the other.”

ed L. Michael White, ed L. Michael White and Society of Biblical Literature, vol. 56, Semeia. Semeia 56, Semeia (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 1991), 168-69.

Compassion is not an end in itself.  Without a transcendent, triune, and loving God,  compassion will eventually run its course and a new social-ethic will prevail.  If you want to do good deeds, then remember; compassion needs a God!

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