Sacred Mundane: The Blog

Every October this question comes up:

How are Christians to relate to our culture with regards to Halloween? Are we to shun Halloween, celebrate it, dress up as Bible characters? Hand out gospel tracts to the kids that knock on our door? Turn off our lights and hide in the dark? Further, what do we do with all the OT feasts and celebrations. For example, our Jewish (non-Christian) neighbors are preparing to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles while my Christian friends are buying Halloween costumes. What’s up with that? What are we to do? What is the Christian’s relation to holidays and holy days? Here are a few biblical principles to consider, to help as you navigate this issue for yourself. (Click here for audio of this message.)

1. We are free.

Colossians 2:16-17 says, “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”

It’s clear that Christ fulfilled the law, and that all the OT festivals, feasts, and sabbaths are a shadow of Christ. They all speak of Christ. So we are not to let others pass judgment on us for not observing them, because they are just shadows, and the real thing is here now. The wrong isn’t necessarily in celebrating something, the wrong is giving in to the the fear of man and not the fear of God.

2. We are to do all things “in honor of the Lord.”

Romans 14:4-6 says, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.”

Again, we read that the command is to “not judge one another!” We often get so concerned in what Christians should or should not do, when the real thing we should be concerned about is not judging! But who are we to judge, if you will? Ourselves. Be “fully convinced in your own mind.” That is, figure out your convictions and stick by them. And what you decide to do, do it “in honor of the Lord.” If you can honestly say that the choice that you make is “ in honor of the Lord,” awesome! Praise God. You stand and fall before Him and no one else.

3. We are to do all things “for the sake of the gospel.”

1 Cor. 9:19-23 explains that Paul became like the Jews to win the Jews to Christ, he became like the Gentiles to win the Gentiles to Christ. Everything he did he did “for the sake of the gospel.” Paul’s guiding principle, with regard to culture, was, Is this the best route to win people to Christ and spread the gospel of grace? The question then, for us to be discerning culturally, is “Am I doing this for the sake of the gospel?”

For our family, our personal conviction is that we don’t celebrate Halloween. Honestly, I hate Halloween. I can truly see no redemptive value in it. Plus, I spent several years discipling a girl who came out of a background of the occult and horrendous witchcraft practices. Knowing, from her, what the “real” Halloween is all about has made me detest the holiday. Plus, since Christ conquered sin and death, we do not celebrate sin or celebrate death.

However, note THIS: It is possible to engage in Halloween festivities for the sake of the gospel and in honoring God. It’s fun to watch my kids engage and wrestle with this as well. When they see our friends with Jack-O-Lanterns or costumes or what not, they will say, “They’re just celebrating Fall, they’re not celebrating death.” I smile and say something like, “Yes–celebrating Fall is great! Let’s thank God for this wonderful season and celebrate His beautiful creation!” Again, It is possible to engage in Halloween festivities for the sake of the gospel and in honoring God.

Also note: It is also possible to celebrate Easter (or Christmas) in a way that doesn’t honor God or further the gospel at all. It is possible to celebrate Passover and the feast of tabernacles, as a family, in a way that celebrates Christ and honors God and furthers the gospel. It is also possible to observe those same things in a spirit of legalism or the fear of man. It is possible to observe certain holidays in a spirit of thinking we’re somehow spiritual superior because we observe them. And it’s possible to NOT observe certain holidays in a spirit of thinking that we’re somehow spiritually superior because we don’t observe them.

The key, as always: the heart.

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{Response: How does your family celebrate or not celebrate in honor of God and for the sake of the gospel? I would love to hear your thoughts and perspective. Thanks, friends, for reading.}

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Cor. 6:11

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Sunday night we sat under the birch tree for one last outdoor gathering of church.  We were discussing–as a church family–where we wanted to give money globally. We were discussing wells and water, micro-loans and mosquito-nets. We all had blankets around our shoulders, excited that because we’d stayed outside one more week we had saved $235 (the weekly cost of a rental space) that we were then able to send overseas to those in need.  Jeff was sharing that his dream is to give 50% of all our church income to meet urgent needs around the world.

As I sat there, I thought: Am I dreaming? Do I really get to belong to a group of dear, humble saints who get giddy over mosquito-nets and micro-loans? Who are really willing to give their lives away? Afterwards, I walked into my house, only to find my kitchen FULL of people doing dishes. Laughing, talking, up to their elbows in suds. Really? Do I really get to be part of this family, where everyone pitches in and cleans the kitchen when we’re done?

When everyone had left I watched as Debra–our housemate and fifth family member–tidied up before heading downstairs to bed. Living in community with her has already proven such an overwhelming gift of grace and love. Who knew? I, who used to say I never wanted anyone to live with us. Who knew God could change our hearts–by His grace–so much?

I looked around at my funny house. I remember the first time I saw it I thought it was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen. I remember the process, of letting go and selling our “dream” home. I remember weeping over The Hole in Our Gospel and adding a couple more dear little sponsored children to our family.

Oh, of course we still have so far to go. This is not an “I’ve arrived” post. *smile* But Jeff often reminds me that occasionally glancing back over our shoulder long enough to marvel at the grace of God is really a good thing. He has done so much. He has changed us so much. I am a different girl than I was just two years ago. 

You are different too, right?

What has He done? Speak it! Share it! Tell the world the testimony of what God has done for you.

God has set me free from being anxious over money. He’s made me not care about keeping up with the Jones’s or achieving some white-picket-fence American-dream life. He has given me courage where I used to be bound by the fear of man. He’s given me joy with my kids where I used to feel stress. He’s breaking me down–over and over and over–and emptying me out. I can feel it. It doesn’t always feel good, but I can feel it and I know it’s Him.

A simple, brief reflection like this gives me courage to know that He will continue His good work. He is not done with you yet! Often I look and see how far I have to go. How selfish I still am. How anxious I often become. How frustrated I still sometimes get.

But He has done mighty things in my life and I rejoice in them and believe that He is not done with me yet! 

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Phil. 1:6

Can I get an Amen!??

Friend, He is not done with you yet. Where have you been? How has He changed you? Where has He set you free?

Glance back today, just for a moment, and rejoice in all the good He has done. 

And be glad … He isn’t finished yet.

Just thanking Him today. Thanks for reading.

We talked last week about Moses’ leadership, and if we really want people to see God move, we have to lead with transparency and courage, embracing ambiguity and learning to live by faith. In short, Moses had to answer a lot of questions with a simple and humble, “I don’t know.”

But in the midst of all the “I don’t know” responses, there were a number of things he did  know. There were some thing God spelled out for him loud and clear:

Moses knew the kind of people God wanted the Israelites to be. 

God didn’t spell out the map, the gameplan, the agenda, the schedule. Again, no coordinates or timetable are indicated at all. But God spent a whole lot of time communicating to Moses how He wanted His children to be a people set apart, glorifying Him with everything they did. He spelled out how He wanted them to live, to live as a shining example of God’s provision. He made it clear they were to live on manna, trust Him for their daily needs, absolutely refuse to mingle their beliefs with the idolatrous nations around them.

Though they had no idea where they were going or how long it would take, they knew plain well what God expected of them along the way. 

In other words, we as leaders (of 3 small children or 3 million adults) cannot spell out exactly what the journey will be like or how long it will take or exactly what the destination will be. But we can lead people to live as Christ-centered, God-glorifying sojourners, glorifying God in every step we take along the way.

(I didn’t say it’d be easy.)

God made clear to Moses how He wanted His children to be distinct. They were to stand out, to be different, to be marked by a radical departure from the ways of the world. This included both behavioral standards and dietary laws. We are no longer “under” these dietary laws and behavioral standards that were specific to that time and culture, but God is continuing to lead His children to live different, to stand out (and not because we’re obnoxious!), to be marked by a radical departure from the ways of the world. So you, as a leader, are responsible for leading your 3 children or 3 million people in how God wants you to live out His mission in this world. All of us have the same mission: To love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. And we’re to love our neighbors as ourselves.  That’s my mission. That’s your mission.

How will you do that? 

That’s what we need to know.

The most common question Jeff and I are asked these days is this: “What makes this new church-plant any different from all the other churches all over the place?”  This is usually asked by people who are fed up with church or frustrated, or who have been hurt or who are searching (aren’t we all?). Most recently someone asked me to answer that question in 4 sentences.  Here is what I said:

1. We exist to spread the gospel, making disciples, furthering God’s Kingdom, rather than spreading our church name, making followers of us, furthering our own empire. 

2. We equip people to go live for God where they already are, in their workplaces, communities, families, and current spheres of influence, rather than programming frequent events and asking people to come to us and support our activities.

3. We let resources flow through our church, keeping our operating expenses as ridiculously low as possible so that funds can be used to bless and serve a world in need of hope, rather than on creating a comfortable environment for ourselves.

4. We encourage multi-generational family-modelled ministry, where all ages and life-stages are learning and serving together, rather than dividing people into homogeneous and unnatural groups. 

Now here’s the thing–while God’s word clearly spells out how He wants us to live, exactly what that will look like is going to vary with each person, church, family, situation.

But we must think long and pray even longer to ask God Who He wants us to be. 

We won’t know the exact length of the journey, or even where we’re going, but we can know who God wants us to become along the way.

He wants us to become more and more like His Son. 

Would you spend some time today thinking and praying about who God wants you to be along the way? What are your distinctives? How will you seek to glorify Him in your family, church, workplace, sphere of influence? Think, pray, and jot down ideas.  Yours will be different from mine, but we can each glorify God along the journey. Have a blessed Monday; Thanks so much for reading.