PEOPLE OF THE CROSS

My yearly reading of the Bible has me in Deuteronomy this week. I found these verses from chapter 14 leading me to meditate on the cross of Christ. Verses 1 and 2 read, "You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."
Moses makes a decisive statement here that the nation of Israel is a people chosen of the Lord out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. God calls them sons of the Lord, his treasured possession. But with the privilege of being chosen by the Lord comes a heavy responsibility. They are to be a people holy to the Lord.
Israel's holiness to the Lord is to be reflected in their responses to the circumstances of everyday life. In these verses Israel is taught how they are to mourn for a dead person. Israel is not to mourn for the dead by cutting themselves or trimming their hair as the surrounding nations do, because these practices are associated with false beliefs and false worship. In themselves these practices may look innocent but they represent that which is contrary to the holiness and character of God and must not be practiced by God's people because the people of God are to be holy as their God is holy.

These verses in Deuteronomy remind me of three little known and not well applied verses in Galatians 6. Verses 13 to 15 deserve more meditation and understanding on our part, that they may lead us to personal applications. "For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation."
The nation of Israel could boast of their circumcision and their privilege as the chosen people of God. But they failed to practice obedient holy living, and except for a faithful remnant, were lost. Under the New Covenant, God's call is not national but individual, not outward by circumcision but inward through a new creation. Paul's focus is on the work of the cross of Christ in his life. Not a law to obey, not an outward boast of national privilege, but union with the death of Christ on the cross. This is what Paul counts as important to him and this is what Paul sees the cross doing. The cross separates. As Israel was to separate themselves from the surrounding nations in terms of daily practice as representatives of the Lord, so God has caused that separation in believers through the cross of Christ, and we are to practice that separation by recognizing the work of God on the cross and living it out.

 First Paul says the world has been crucified to me. A dead man on a cross has no interaction with the world around him. This does not mean that we are to all go to monasteries and live in isolation from the world, although we are good at this kind of hiding from the world. It is not isolation from the world but rather insulation that is required. Insulation where our goals, ideas, fashions, lifestyles, values, are taken from the Word of God and a Christian worldview not from the world's false ideas, philosophies and worldviews. We are very worldly even though we may deny such a reality. We need prayerful insight to not be legalistic in our practices or to adopt a lifestyle based on a past Christian golden age. Worldliness is a heart issue. The heart of a new creation of God knows the work of the cross which pours out into lifestyle, language and culture, not trying to fit in with the world, not seeking to avoid the world, but reflecting the beauty of Christ in the world as lights on a dark night.
Then Paul says that he is crucified to the world by the cross. The world sees a dead man. That man has no part in their affairs, their goals, their visions, their fashions, their lifestyles, their values. He is not invited to the party, he is persecuted and cursed, he is marginalized and disowned. Paul knows who he is and Who he belongs to and this response from the world does not bother him as long as people are coming to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord and growing in grace.

So we need to rethink the doctrinal truth of our union with the death of Christ on the cross and its counter-culture implications. As Romans 12.2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." We are a new creation in Christ and must live as God's people with a new mind and a new worldview. We are not to take our lead from the world or look for acceptance from the world. We are people of the cross. That is what God has caused us to be in Christ. Let us live like it.

A FIT????

Since my retirement from Rosedale Baptist Church in 2013 my desire has been to serve the third world church in whatever way I can. My preference would be to teach and equip Pastors through Bible and Theological studies but I have nevertheless made a trip to Chad to teach English to Muslims and a trip to Guyana to distribute Jesus DVD's.

I have recently been accepted as a teacher with Training Leaders International (TLI) . Here is a description of what TLI does: "Training Leaders International mentors and sends pastors, seminary professors and graduate students to bring theological education around the world through short-term trips, long-term sending and school planting." Please have a look at this website, <http://trainingleadersinternational.org/>

As I pray my way through Operation World a reoccurring theme for many countries is the need for trained Pastors and church leaders. Not only do millions upon millions of Pastors have no formal training and no capacity to get formal training but they also have very little in the way of resources. I am grateful to the Gospel Coalition for its Theological Famine Relief Program that provides resources for church leaders in needy countries and areas. TLI provides teaching and course materials so that the training these Pastors receive can be given to others. The TLI program has 24 courses. You can view the curriculum online under "In the Field".

I have committed to a team trip to the Philippines from May 19th to 29th to teach Hermeneutics.

HERMENEUTICS

Rules and Guidelines for Interpreting the Bible

TrainingLeadersInternational.

Here is a formal description of our trip: "TLI is conducting a non-formal, pastor training program designed to build and strengthen the church in this 7,107-island Southeast Asian nation. The pastors in the program come from various areas around the island. Most of the pastors are responsible for several churches. You are invited to join us in strengthening and encouraging these pastors in this traditionally Catholic country experiencing a growing Muslim influence."

For me this will be a time of learning how to teach cross-culturally. So far I am impressed with Training Leaders International (TLI) and hope this will be the beginning of a long and beneficial fit that will benefit many Pastors. I plan to keep you informed through blog updates if I have access to internet.

I will be working through Reach Beyond Canada <http://reachbeyond.ca/> who has an Agency Agreement with TLI.

If you would like to support this trip you can donate through:
1) Rosedale Baptist Church, 11 Rosedale Place, Welland, ON, L3B 1J2. Please specify that your donation is for the Short-Term Mission Fund for Ron Latulippe.
2) Reach Beyond Canada, Unit 3- 44 Saltsman Dr, Cambridge, ON, N3H 4R7 or online by clicking DONATE button, and then from the drop down menu - "Donate to a missionary and indicate name below in message", then enter my name in the "Message for Reach Beyond" box below, then fill out remaining information.
3) US citizens can donate directly to TLI at PO Box 310 / Wheaton, IL 60187 and specify that your donation is for Ron Latulippe for the May Philippines trip or this link <http://trainingleadersinternational.org/trips/139/philippines-may-2016#fl.260.teams.assocTrips> click "support this person" and follow instructions.

Let me know if you have any questions.

THE HEART OF ROAD RAGE

Road rage can be ugly and sometimes even deadly. What is your road rage level these days? Has that level changed since last year?

Let's look at some causes of road rage. Anger is certainly a cause of road rage but we need to go further back to the cause of that anger. Is it a long-burning bitterness, a deep-seated unforgiveness, a guilty secret which cannot be shared, retaliation toward overpowering authority? Any one of these things or a number of others can cause anger which comes out in an encounter with another driver. The fundamental problem is that these issues have not been recognized and properly dealt with through admission, repentance, confession and forgiveness. You can make a road rager take anger management classes but the deep seated answer to his anger is a change of heart through an encounter with God through Jesus Christ. The new birth means a new heart to deal with road rage.

Perhaps the cause of road rage is impatience, the absolute necessity of making that next appointment, of reaching that destined goal even though you have not allowed yourself enough time for unplanned encounters. Those unplanned encounters with those "stupid" drivers is cutting into your all important schedule. Well let's look a little deeper into this impatience. Impatience does not leave room for the sovereign rule of God in unplanned circumstances, or for the greater goal that supersedes the planned destination, or for the rest and peace of God in traffic jams and accident snarls. Those who have a new heart in Jesus Christ need not panic or get angry in uncontrollable and unforeseen circumstances. A rise in anxiety is a cause to call upon God for His peace and patience which passes all understanding.

Let's look at one more. Road rage is caused by a sense of privilege and entitlement. We have so much in this country and that can make us feel entitled to those things instantly, always and at all times. Anyone who gets in the way is stepping on our privileges and needs to get out of the way. I have a right to an open highway, an open way through the traffic, no one's destination is more important than mine. Again I must go back beyond the cultural conditioning that has caused this sense of privileged entitlement to the selfish condition of the individual heart. That is the fundamental problem.

The anger, the impatience, the sense of entitlement that rises in our hearts in a traffic jam or in any other circumstances is not somebody else's fault, it is God's call to us to conformity to Christ in a deeper way through repentance, confession, forgiveness and new grace to become what we are in Christ. For the unbeliever these things are a call to come to Christ for a new heart, but for us God calls us in many ways each day to a deeper fellowship and fuller conformity to Jesus.

You are not likely a full blown road rage candidate but be alert to those calls to sanctification in your everyday life. There are plenty. God's plan is to make you like Jesus in every way. What an exciting privilege and challenge.

ROOT CAUSES

Why is the Canadian government (and other governments for that matter) increasing in debt? Leaving aside fiscal mismanagement, costly short-sited decisions, corruption, excessive salaries and interest on existing debt, the problem is that the government’s focus is on symptoms and consequences and not on root causes. Our problems are systemic and generational but our government is only dealing with immediate and present symptoms and the consequences of our problems. They do not ask why things are like this or what brought us to this crisis. They do not examine inflated expectations, a growing demand for personal rights and other underlying factors. They do not look back at the dominos of causes which have led us to the present circumstances. They just keep attacking a growing mountain of symptoms with more borrowed money.

The reasons for this approach are multi-fold. First of all the government seems to be blind to the systemic and generational causes of our present problems. Second if the government does see these systemic and generational causes they are afraid to point them out and remedy them knowing what an uproar and backlash that would cause. In short they are afraid and unwilling to do what is needed. Those would not be politically correct decisions. Finally, any remedy dealing with systemic and generational causes would require a radical worldview change. I think that apart from a wholesale revival in our land we have gone beyond the possibility of dealing with systemic and generational problems. Secularism, materialism and human rights now dominate our thinking, and our culture is sufficiently blinded by false worldviews that it will no longer deal with the problems which are the result of our throwing off the ways of God for the sophisticated and advanced ways of man. Greed, my rights, having my problems solved by the government, comfort, security, a free share of the wealth, all work against any true and lasting solutions.

Politicians are not ready to provide those kind of answers and face the consequences. Their solution is to keep pouring cash toward those symptoms and consequences, knowing that in the end costs will increase and no true and lasting remedies will be achieved. Unfortunately these increased costs are always transferred to the citizens in the form of ever increasing taxes on products, services and income at all levels of government.

Enter Donald Trump. Why is he so popular? I believe one of the reasons is his willingness to openly address what he believes to be some of the systemic and generational causes of the problems in the United States. He is the focus for people who are fed up with being laden with government debt to meet symptoms that do not deal with causes. I am not saying I agree with Trump’s policies nor to I believe he is addressing the most fundamental problems but he is not leading a populous movement for no reason.  There is at least the appearance of dealing with causes. Implementing answers that deal with systemic and generational causes will not be as easy as Trump implies and he has only addressed economic and security needs and not root causes.

 National change will only result from a revival. Politicians cannot change hearts, only policies. As believers we can see individuals changed through the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that is what is most important at this time. We are to continue to give to Caesar what Caesar demands even if we do not like it but we must give to God what God demands with praise and joy. Governments are bankrupt with regard to lasting solutions. Our culture no longer has a conscience while it focuses on pleasure and finding happiness on its own terms. But in Jesus Christ eternal life is still offered and will be received by those whom God has called out of this evil world and into the kingdom of His Son.