culture

The Ugliness of An Entitled Culture

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“A satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.” Proverbs 27:7 (LSB)

Many years ago when I was a youth leader, our church did an event that was meant to help our students understand a little better what it meant to struggle with hunger, as many people throughout the world regularly experience. To do this, we asked our students to participate in a 40-hour fast, where they wouldn’t eat anything, and would only drink water or juice.

The fast began on a Friday morning, and once they were out of school, they came to the church for us to begin a series of activities that would help round out the experiment. We did a canned food drive that was done in a fun and competitive way, with teams going out into the community with a wheelbarrow asking for canned food items. The team with the most food was declared the winner, and the food was donated to a local food pantry.

Along with a time of Scripture reading, Bible study, and singing, we ended the night with all of our students sleeping outside in cardboard boxes on the church grounds, wearing the clothes they came in after school. This activity was meant to help them better understand what some homeless people experience.

In the morning, as we emerged from our cardboard cocoons in the wet dew of the morning, we continued with our programmed activities…without food. I don’t know about you, but all of my experiences as a teenager, and with all the teenagers I know, food is a pretty important part of their lives. And they eat a lot! But this experience brought to light a reality that most if not all of them had never thought about in their affluent upper middle class world–associating with those who have very little.

When we were ready to break the fast, the worried parents of these teens volunteered to provide a feast of pizza and other foods they knew the teens would love. We kindly thanked them for their generous offers but declined because we knew two things, the fast needed to be broken slowly and carefully (pizza isn’t a great first meal after not eating for almost two days), and the reality is that those who struggle with poverty don’t have the choice of gorging themselves on pizza when they haven’t eaten.

Our final activity for this event was to serve a dinner of a bowl of white rice with a scoop of pinto beans on top. Again, many teenagers are picky eaters, and any mom who tried to serve their kids a bowl of beans and rice would get laughed at. As a matter of fact, I remember that some parents warned me and my wife that their kids would never eat what we had prepared. But had their kid ever not eaten for 40 hours? They had become so hungry at the beginning of the fast that they argued over a student who had been sneaking breath mints–wasn’t that eating? they argued!

And to add one more lesson to the range of emotions they must have felt, we asked one more thing from these kids–when it came time to eat, they couldn’t serve themselves. They needed to restrain their flesh and think of others as more important than themselves. They needed to wait for someone else to serve them. Once everyone had a bowl, and we prayed, they were free to eat.

Proverbs says, “A satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.” (LSB). As stunned parents watched, their teenage sons and daughters served one another and sat to enjoy the best-tasting meal of their young lives. How good hot rice and beans were to their body and soul. They had been so satiated with the honeycomb of their wealthy lives that they couldn’t see the everyday blessings all around them. But when they were stripped away for a short time time, Oh how sweet the simple things in life had become. Satisfaction doesn’t come from the things we have, but from our heart attitude, and contentedness with what the Lord has given us.

In this entitled culture, so many people think that they are owed every comfort that this life has to offer. Personal rights are demanded, and the individual is placed on a greater level than the whole of society. This sort of entitlement will never satisfy the one who chases it. We might think that if we get everything we want and long for we will finally be happy. The reality is that happiness isn’t found in having your personal rights and demands fulfilled. A simple review of celebrity news will make that fact abundantly clear. True joy is found elsewhere–in a relationship with the One who has given us all things, including Himself. When we forget this simple fact, we will seek satisfaction everywhere else, and that elusive high will never last because we weren’t created to find happiness in ourselves. True happiness can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Sharpen That Axe!

/ Richard Bargas / 1 Comment

“If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.” Ecclesiastes 10:10 (LSB)

In a section where Solomon is writing about the necessity of wisdom in everyday life, the image of a man who must risk danger by man splitting logs (v. 9) is interrupted with sage counsel that could almost seem contradictory at first.

There is some risk involved in chopping wood with an axe. The axe might glance off to one side of the log, or it might miss the log altogether and return to strike the shin of the woodsman. The experienced logger might say that experience and correct form, with some safety precautions, would remove almost all dangers. But here is the counsel that seems to not make sense to the inexperienced log-splitter–sharpen your axe!

Now, if I am worried I might hurt myself because I don’t have a clue about what I am doing, I might think that sharpening this heavy instrument that can split a wood log (and my leg) would be foolish. But Solomon states that if you don’t sharpen your axe, your dull edge will require you to exert even more energy to accomplish less work. And as any cook will tell you, a dull knife (and a dull axe, for that matter) is more dangerous because all of the extra energy needed to make it accomplish the same work means you are more likely to wield that knife or axe more haphazardly.

But that still doesn’t answer the question as to why the wisest man on earth (outside of Jesus Christ) would waste time telling his readers to sharpen their axes. The answer is that he isn’t actually talking about the wood-splitting tool, but rather the use of wisdom to guide us in life: “…Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.” If we prepare our minds (the axe) for the work we have been given (splitting wood), we will be able to accomplish the work God has given us with more accuracy, speed, and ability. Sometimes we don’t take the time to sharpen our minds. We reason that we are too busy with the Lord’s work to do the heavy lifting required to think deeply about the Word, theology, and the world we live in. The church is filled with drive-thru Christians who want their Christianity to be fast, simple, and mediocre. They are okay leaving the deep thinking to someone else.

But life is funny in that it doesn’t present problems only to the people who think deeply about how theology applies to life. The average Christian will be faced with ethical dilemmas like whether they should turn off life support for a loved one, how they should think about infertility treatments, or what to do when a parent grows older and what their responsibility is as an adult child. Questions regarding how to interact with a homosexual coworker, an abusive brother-in-law, and a cheating neighbor who asks us to keep their secret to ourselves are all too real. When that “log” of a problem sits down to talk with you over coffee, what will you do? Will your axe be sharp enough? If you can’t handle the problem, it isn’t because the Bible doesn’t have an answer. Maybe it’s because you failed to sharpen that axe.

The Sweet Perfume of Godly Counsel

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.” Proverbs 27:9 (ESV)

When I was still dating the young woman who would become my wife, I somehow stumbled upon a breed of roses that were both beautiful and fragrant, called “Sterling.” They were deep lavender in color but had the strong perfume of rose that I had never smelled in most other roses that could be purchased from the florist.

I’m not a rose expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I know what a rose should smell like. Most roses today that you can purchase either don’t have any smell, or worst, have a musty smell that to me smells of mildew. Perhaps it is because of the process of breeding to get larger varieties that last longer, or maybe it is some other reason, but I had stumbled across a rose that was both beautiful to look at and had a perfume that was deep and rich.

These sterling roses instantly became my wife’s favorite for the reasons I have just mentioned. But over time this particular breed of rose became harder to find and even now are almost impossible to buy anywhere without a special order from a flower shop. I’m not sure why this is the case, but they are rare. The rarity and perfume of the sterling rose reminds me of Proverbs 27:9.

Indeed the perfume of flowers make most people’s heart glad. Thousands of romantics and lovers can attest to this fact. But this proverb takes that reality and applies it to the sweetness of a real, deep friendship.

Whereas the sterling rose finds its sweetness in its perfume, the source of a friend’s sweetness is found in his “earnest counsel.” Although the translations vary, the main meaning seams to be clear enough—a friend’s counsel is sweet like perfume and for the wise person who accepts it, it is not an offense, but a welcome joy.

Unfortunately, like my wife’s sterling roses, the acceptance of the fact that counsel from a friend is sweet, is becoming more and more rare. It only takes losing a friend, finding your counsel received poorly, a relationship ending in awkward silence, or even a response of heated anger to realize that it might be better to just keep our counsel to ourselves.

But this isn’t the way of Christ. As Shakespeare has written, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” so too godly, loving counsel that is repugnant or refused by a foolish friend is still sweet perfume that honors the Lord when spoken. But this Sort of friendship is like the roses that we have today—large, deep in color, beautiful to look at in a vase, but when you go to this rose and take a good, deep smell—the stench of mildew fills your nostrils!

We live in a world where the path of least resistance is the path well travelled. Why bother, when it seems that no good comes from risking the loss of a good relationship? But with the loss of these good, honest conversations comes the loss of the sweetness of earnest counsel and truly deep friendships. And it is this sweet speech that is not only needed by our friends, whether they want it or not, but it is the true beauty and sweet perfume that this world needs to see right now.

Friendships without honest and loving counsel are like roses that smell of mildew. They look good from afar, but they do not carry the perfume that should accompany their beauty. May the friendships of Christians both look and smell beautiful.

Popularity Doesn’t Equate with Truth

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“Moreover, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the word of Yahweh.” Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not yet a prophet of Yahweh here that we may inquire of him?”” (1 Kings 22:5–7 LSB)

As I was reading the passage above, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before in my previous readings in 1 Kings.

King Jehoshaphat requested that King Ahab first inquire about the will of God before agreeing to go to war with him. Ahab obliged by calling 400 so-called prophets who told him that the Lord approved of the war.

But Jehoshaphat was not fooled. Something didn’t sit right with the message these prophets gave. The text doesn’t tell us why, but Jehoshaphat didn’t accept these 400 prophets as speaking from the Lord. As a matter of fact, this is what caught my eye.

Again, it says in verse 7, “But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not yet a prophet of Yahweh here that we may inquire of him?”” It is almost as if the king told Ahab, “Yes, yes, I have heard the popular opinion of all these men, but…don’t you have any actual prophets of Yahweh, or only these fakers? I’d actually like to hear what Yahweh has to say.”

Ahab doesn’t seem to be confused because he knows that his sleight of hand trick hasn’t worked. He knows that he has been keeping the good stuff in the back and hasn’t brought out the real prophet of Yahweh. Ahab wasn’t looking for truth, only for a confirmation of his preconceived plans.

You know, some people claim to want the truth, but they want their truth, as the current foolishness of our day would say. But the truth is a stubborn thing. Something is either true or it is not. And the number of people you get to back a lie doesn’t increase its truthfulness. A lie is always a lie no matter how many false prophets can lip-sync in unison the siren song of the culture or popular opinion.

We need to ask ourselves this as well. Do I really want to know the truth, or am I wanting to fit in, to follow with the cool crowd (whoever the “cool kids” might currently be)?

Appeals to “science” or straw man arguments, or the number of books written or Instagram followers may sway those who want to affirm their own preconceived notions, but popularity and doctrine don’t equal truth. Whether it is the cultural doctrines of gender politics, abortion, or feminism, or the theological doctrines of eschatology, pneumatology, or ecclesiology. Memes don’t prove the truth. Mic drop blog posts and Facebook rants bring more heat than light.

What we need is to hear a true prophet of Yahweh speak. God has spoken, and He has done so perfectly in His Word. So, instead of gathering polemics and talking points from Fox News, CNN, Twitter, or YouTube, for those of us called out by Christ, let’s open our Bibles and listen to God speak.

Pastor, Why Do They Come to Your Church?

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

“As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.” (Matthew 11:7–9, ESV)

Christmas and Easter are the two holidays that cause a jump in attendance at churches all across the United States as people attend who don’t normally darken the door of the church. Many come to “feel close to God” during these precious Christian holy days.

But for those “churches” and “pastors” that are enamored with nickels and noses when people come into their buildings, Christmas and Easter are opportunities to “wow” their audiences with a spectacular show that will hopefully get them to stay and “experience” all that this type of church has to offer.

I don’t mean to disparage those churches that see the infrequent visitors as a mission field to whom they can minister to and share the wonder of the incarnation and resurrection with. We would be remiss as Christians not to take advantage of this opportunity. But there is a definite philosophy that loses the baby Jesus with the bathwater when productions, lighting, and stage histrionics take the place of the power of God vested in the gospel.

I point to Jesus’ words above from Matthew 11:7-9 as sobering truths for all of us. We need to ask ourselves, “Why do people come to our church?” In doing so, we reflect this time when Jesus asked the disciples why the crowds went out to see John the Baptist. Did they go out to see a reed shaken in the wind, or as we might say it today, a man taken by the latest fads and opinions of men? No, the people didn’t go out to see that.

As a matter of fact, Jesus asks if they went out into the wilderness to see a man dressed in soft clothing. But John was famously known to wear a rough-cut animal skin with a strip of leather for a belt around his waist. He ate what he could scavenge out there in the wilderness–locusts and wild honey. John wasn’t a skinny-jeans wearing, cappuccino-sipping, bearded hipster having “dialogues” with the people. He must have looked like a wild-eyed madman compared to the refined religious leaders of the times. Instead John looked like an Old Testament prophet of God, most notably, like the prophet Elijah. His sandals weren’t Birkinstocks, and his beard wasn’t oiled with shea butter and lavender. They knew if they wanted to see a man in soft clothes that they wouldn’t go out to the wilderness.

So why did they go out to see John? Because they wanted to hear from God. And to do that, they needed a prophet. Not a fancy boy who spends his days taking selfies in a mirror to gain more followers. Not a politically correct parrot who takes the temperature of the world to adjust his message to fit the popular opinions of men. They needed a faithful messenger who would speak the truth–unvarnished and true.

So, the next time you are considering what you can do to polish up your look, your sermon, or your church’s “stage,” remember John. People came out to hear a word from God. And if they want to hear something else, there are plenty of false churches and false teachers that will accommodate them.

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1–5, ESV)