Welcome!

For 5 years I was the pastor of Trinity International Church in Strasbourg, France. I created this blog with those people in mind. In mid-November 2018 I will become the Senior Pastor of Word of Life Church in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. The focus of this blog will therefore shift, but I pray that people from the blogosphere will continue to find it helpful wherever they might be found.
The churches' websites includes recorded sermons for those who are interested. Click the links below to access them.

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

The Abortion Decision: A Post for my Facebook Friends

The recent Supreme Court decision regarding abortion has generated a tremendous amount of news coverage and opinion pieces. It is apparent that there are strong emotions and seemingly irreconcilable differences that will take some time to sort through. I thought it would be good to write a post for my Facebook friends, since they have a wide variety of opinions.

For my pro-choice friends: please remember that for most of us who are pro-life, the issue is important because we believe that human life begins at conception. As a result, when we consider the abortion issue we are concerned not only for the mother, but also for the unborn child. That child needs to be protected. There are two people who walk into the abortion clinic. Only one walks out.  The voiceless one dies. 

For my friends in other countries: please be aware that our Supreme Court decision did not ban abortion. It simply said that the right to an abortion was not guaranteed in our national constitution. This puts the abortion question down to the individual states. Some states are limiting access to abortion or outlawing it completely, while other states are allowing abortion and now even promoting their status as “abortion” states. The state I live in (Minnesota) is one of those “abortion” states. Abortion providers here are anticipating a booming business as some of the surrounding states are restricting access to abortion. This anticipated increase in abortion in Minnesota reverses a long term decrease in the number of abortions here. Over the last forty years, the number of abortions in Minnesota has dropped by over half. 

For my pro-life friends: making abortion illegal is not a magical way to make abortion go away, any more than making drugs illegal stops drug abuse. Making abortion illegal will dissuade some women from getting an abortion, just as some will avoid taking illegal drugs simply because they are not legally available. The reality, however, is that if a state makes abortion illegal, there will still be women who will have abortions either by traveling to another state or seeking abortion services on the black market. The danger involved in black market abortions was one of the arguments for legalizing abortion back in 1973. We cannot simply pretend that making it illegal solves the problem. Doing so demonstrates a remarkable lack of compassion for those women whose pregnancy has created a crisis in their lives. 

Most of us would agree that reducing the need for women to seek an abortion is a worthwhile goal. There are some practical things that we can do together to help reduce the demand for abortions.

So, what are some of the ideas that we should consider?

  • The availability of birth control. Make birth control affordable for everyone. This could be done through mandating coverage for it in health plans, just as we do other preventative services. 
  • Sex Education. The basic biological facts of sexual reproduction need to continue to be taught in our schools. It should include education about the various birth control measures, including abstinence. I have included only “basic biological facts” because there are a host of ethical issues involved which I think that our schools should stay away from. Those should be left to parents and religious institutions. 
  • Universal healthcare. The costs of medical care for pregnancy and for the mother and child should not be a concern. Women should know that they will receive quality care at no cost. 
  • Increased maternity and paternity leave. As a culture, and as a legal norm, we should increase the ability of parents to spend time with their new child. Germany has a model that is worth considering. (You can read about maternity leave here. You can read about parental leave here). While such a system might not be fully workable in the United States, the ideas are worthy of consideration and a uniquely “American” system could be developed. 
  • Support for mothers in difficult circumstances. Whether it is women we know personally, or through organizations committed to helping new mothers, we ought to be willing to offer support and assistance to women and children in need.
  • Increased prosecution of “dead-beat dads”. Some women become pregnant and the father does not want to be involved in raising the child. The financial support of the child needs to be required and legally enforced.
  • Increased education and prosecution of domestic abuse. Some women are pressured into abortions because they are in an abusive relationship. We should increase funding for education and resources to help these women, and prosecute the abusers. 

In the current environment, we often view those who have opposing views as enemies. The question of whether abortion should be legal is divisive: some see it as an issue of women’s rights while others see it as the protecting of a vulnerable human life. Since most on both sides would like to see the number of abortions decreased, we can cooperate with each other toward that goal. So let's not let the heat of the moment destroy the progress that we all want to see.

Saturday, June 25, 2022

A Historic Day in America

 June 24, 2022 marks a historic day: the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Their decision returned the regulation of abortion services to the states. 

For most of my adult life, evangelical churches have dreamt of the overturning of the 1973 decision that created a “right” to abortion. It became a litmus test for politicians, and many evangelical Christians were “one issue” voters. The idea was that if we can elect enough people, the laws could be changed on the state level to regulate and limit abortions. The biggest prize would be to elect enough pro-life Presidents to change the complexion of the Supreme Court so that the Roe v. Wade decision would be overturned. On June 24th that became a reality. 

Immediately following the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, abortion rates skyrocketed. It is my hope that with the current decision we will see a marked drop-off in the number of abortions. 

At the same time, there is much work to be done. The battle to protect life is not over. 

There are many who are upset with the Court’s decision. Recent surveys indicate that 62% of Americans do not believe that life begins at conception. Given this understanding, they view this decision as the removal of a woman’s right over her own body. Most of the press coverage of the Court’s decision is reinforcing this perspective. We can expect the legal battles to continue. We can expect most coverage to be of women upset because they could not have an abortion or needed to travel to do so. They won’t talk about the number of lives saved or show pictures of the newborns who otherwise would have been aborted. 

The fight to protect the unborn is similar to the abolition movement. Slaveholders did not generally believe that their slaves were fully human. Slaves had no voice and were regarded as mere property. Slaveowners argued that they had the right to do with their property what they saw fit. Abolitionists saw the situation clearly: Humans are human regardless of the color of their skin and therefore slavery is immoral. Those calling for the “right to abortion” are like the slaveholders in claiming that they have the right to do what they want with their property. The language of the abortionist reflects this type of thinking when they use the term “fetus” or “product of conception” to describe the unborn baby. They conveniently forget that they are dealing with the life of another human being. A life that begins at conception.

We need to patiently explain the fact that science teaches that human life begins at fertilization and that the Bible clearly says that the unborn is a person (Psalm 139:13-14). The decision of the Supreme Court protects the rights of the unborn person. This is a good thing and we need to help people see it from that perspective. 

We who are pro-life must recognize that our job is not over. We must continue to educate and help people understand that human life begins at conception. Most people’s perspectives do not change quickly and there are powerful voices trying to convince people that life doesn’t begin at conception. It will take time, effort, and patience to change their perspective, but the truth is on our side. Here in Minnesota, nothing has changed. Abortion is still legal. In fact, the abortionists in this state are expecting an increase in business as women from other states come to terminate their pregnancies here. 

As we work at educating people we need to be mindful that there have been over 60 million abortions in the United States since Roe v. Wade. Statistically, 25% of women under the age of 45 have had an abortion. Some of these women are strong supports of abortion rights because it affirms the decision that they made. Laws against abortion imply that what they did was wrong (it was). We need to help them find the forgiveness and peace that is only available through a relationship with Jesus.

Not only that, but many abortions are sought by women who are in a difficult place in life. They are seeking a way out of the pressures that they are facing. As believers in Jesus, it is important that we help these women, not only through their pregnancy, but also in the establishment of a healthy family. There are women around you who need help. We need to continue to help ministries like New Life Family Services. We need to do what we can individually, as churches, and as a citizens to create an environment where abortion is not seen as an attractive alternative for women who are at a moment of crisis.


So let’s praise God for this decision, roll up our sleeves, and get to work!


Saturday, December 4, 2021

Just the Facts, Ma'am

 24/7 news is driven by profit. They need to you keep watching and develop content with the purpose of getting you “hooked” on their programming so they can sell advertising. This is their primary objective and they do it really well. By making you feel like you are part of the team against “the bad guys” they suck you in and make you feel the need to keep watching so you will be informed about what evil thing those guys are trying to do. In this environment, truth and facts are secondary to the actual plot…a plot whose sole purpose is to get you emotionally hooked into watching. 

This is done in a myriad of ways, but one of them is by claiming to be the best source of “real news” while subtly or overtly demeaning the other sources of news. Why tune somewhere else if you are already getting the best? 

They play to people’s fears. In order to survive, we all need to be aware of danger. As a result, we are hardwired to pay attention to things that might negatively affect us. This is why the news is almost always about tragic, upsetting, or anger-provoking topics. There is an old saying in news: “If it bleeds, it leads.”

They always have a face to go with the story. Make the wrongdoer look bad in the photo while the victim looks sweet and innocent. This plays to people’s sympathies and draws them into the story. 

They always know their audience so that the story can be spun in the appropriate way to keep them engaged. 

Let’s consider an example: imagine there is legislation being considered about increasing the number of wolves that could be trapped or hunted each year. A “just the facts story” would indicate what wolf populations trends had been and what the DNR thought the changes would mean for the future of the wolf population.

But let’s say that your primary audience is ranchers, then the pictures that accompany the story would be of cattle killed by wolves, perhaps a snarling wolf, and an “expert” stating that the proposed hunting laws would reduce the number of wolves to a reasonable number. A rancher would talk about how financially “devastating” it is to have wolves killing all the calves. The environmentalists would be painted as being rich out-of-touch urbanites with a romantic idea of wolves who have the ear of the politicians who oppose common sense changes in hunting laws.

If your audience was environmentalists, your program would show pictures of dead wolves, preferably ones mangled in a neglected trap. An “expert” would talk about the importance of wolves to the ecosystem while the silhouette of a howling wolf played in the background. The “devastating” effect that increased hunting would have on the wolf recovery would be discussed. The ranchers would be painted as greedy trespassers on land that rightfully belongs to the wolves who are only doing what wolves naturally do.  

See the difference? Note that these stories don’t really need or even want a discussion containing detailed scientific analysis of wolf population and cattle predation, or what type of impact the laws would likely have statistically. 

Heros, villains, tragic pictures, and fearful potential outcomes are all you need to keep people watching. The actual facts are relevant only if they build fear or self-righteous indignation (= engagement) in your target audience.

That’s the “news” today. 

Coming back to the United States was weird. It took only a matter of a few moments to determine which news source people were watching. It seemed like there were alternate universes existing in the same country. It was disturbing because people were convinced they were right and everyone else was either evil or duped by the bad guys. They instantly dismissed anything coming from other news sources.

I determined that I would do my best not to get sucked into the delusionary environments of cable news. I would try to find sources of information that were dedicated to merely reporting the facts, without a lot of analysis or spin. 

In other words, I wanted my news to be boring.

Ad Fontes Media has come up with an analysis of the news that I find helpful. They use pretty sound methodology for rating news sources based on factual reporting and analysis. On the following chart, you will see common news sources ranked. If you are surprised, please read their methodology carefully. It is really well-thought out and objective.

The higher a source scores on the chart, the more its content contains purely facts. 

As you drop down the chart, the more analysis and opinion is contained in the news source’s reporting. 

Near the bottom of the chart the contant is almost all opinion with relatively low reliability of any “facts” cited. 

If all you want is facts, pick the sites near the top of the chart. 


Notice that as you move down the chart the more left and right swinging the news sources become. What is happening? Remember, the lower down the chart you go, the more analysis and opinion is contained in the source’s content. In other words, the lower down you go on the chart, the more the source is interested in hooking you into a storyline that has a particular perspective or way of looking at the world. That’s why the reliability of the reporting declines as the partisan content increases.

In other words, “Occupy Democrats” is very left leaning, and its reporting of the factual news is considered to be “selective, incomplete, unfair persuasion, or propaganda”. It is a news source for over 8 million people!

But the same is true on the other side of the political spectrum. Tucker Carlson is a popular Fox News personality watched by over four million people, yet his own employer’s lawyers argued that people should not consider him to be a source of truth!


So the question becomes “are you watching the news to become aware of facts, or have you been sucked into what amounts to a soap opera designed to keep you hyped up and tuned in?


Stick to boring. AP and Reuters online will tell you what is happening with little analysis or opinion mixed in. There are others on the top of the chart you can use as well. You’ll be informed but not propagandized (by the right or the left) who want to tell you what is “really happening” and move quickly away from reporting the facts of the day into weaving a web to keep you watching and spoiling for a fight. 


Wednesday, October 28, 2020

I'm Going to Tell You How to Vote.

There is an election coming up. 
I am going to tell you how to vote. 
It’s something that I’ve done almost every election that I have been a pastor. 
I always get in trouble, but here it goes.

We are surrounded by voices and images trying to influence us to vote a certain way. It is estimated that over $10,000,000,000 will be spent this election by parties and political committees to influence your vote. That doesn’t include the pundits, social commentators, online experts, or news agencies spinning things so that you will vote the way they want you to vote. 

Often one candidate is cast as an evil or bumbling person who will destroy the country (or maybe just your life) while the other candidate will lead us to the promised land flowing with milk and honey. It’s all designed to motivate you to vote in a certain direction.
 
Once again, this election is portrayed as the one that will determine the final destiny of  America. Every election cycle has been like that, only it seems palpably real this time. Maybe that’s the effect of the record amount of money being spent. Or perhaps it’s the effect of social media. Or maybe it’s just 2020. After all, it’s been that kind of year.

So how should you vote? Easy.

Get a copy of the platforms of the various parties. A platform is their list of what they hope to accomplish. Don’t rely on “voter’s guides”. They are often produced by partisan groups. Go straight to the party platforms. The Democratic platform is found here. The Republican platform is found here. Do a simple Google search to find other minor parties and their platforms.

Candidates almost always follow the party line. By voting for a candidate you are saying that you want them to drive the country in that direction. Read the platforms with an open Bible. That is, read the platforms and compare them with your best understanding of what the Bible says. It will take some time, but it is worth the effort. You may find some issues black and white. Others will be shades of gray. Sometimes one party may support some issues you think are biblical while also supporting other unbiblical ideas. What issues are the most important biblically? Which party best reflects your understanding of what the Bible teaches?

Then consider the candidates themselves. Are they qualified to serve in the role they are campaigning for? Do they have the qualities to be a good leader in taking the country in the direction of their party’s goals? Decide how that factors into your decision. 

Notice what I left out: Political advertising. Rush Limbaugh. Rachel Maddow. Tucker Carlson. Wolf Blitzer. Dan Rather. Stephen Colbert. Ben Shapiro. Ann Coulter. Bill Maher. Glenn Beck. Jon Stewart. Sports stars. Actors. Your union. AARP. CNN. Fox News. YouTube videos. Podcasts. TV and Radio preachers. Your pastor. Your crazy Uncle Louie. Did I miss someone? Add them to this list. 

You get the picture. It’s you, the party platforms, the Bible, and God. 

Realize that there will be no perfect party or candidate…at least not until Jesus returns. Until he does, pray for wisdom as you prayerfully weigh the issues in the light of the Bible and then vote.

We will soon have the results. Whether your candidate wins or loses, life will go on. We will still be called to love the Lord and love others. We will be about the task of making disciples of all nations. We will pray for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-6). We will serve one another in love. We will do the work the Lord has set before us until he comes to take us home. 

Come quickly, Lord. 

Saturday, November 3, 2018

So What's the Difference?

I've been back in the United States for almost a couple of weeks now. The initial pain of leaving and the disorientation of arriving in a new place is slowly fading. One of the most common questions I am asked is what the difference is between France and the United States. It is a surprisingly difficult question to answer because the list is long and ranges from the profound to the silly.

  • There is much more water in American toilets than in French toilets. Why?
  • The people in the US love to chat. This includes clerks in stores who treat you like long-lost friends...which is both nice and kinda strange when you think about it.
  • I never saw what Americans call "French bread" in France. The same goes for "French dressing."
  • Despite the fact that America is a nation of immigrants, French society (as experienced in Strasbourg) seems more integrated.
  • Bottomless cups of coffee are one of the greatest blessings of living in America.
  • Americans eat really fast. Supper is at 6:00. Goûter is all day long.
  • France knows how to do cheese. America knows how to do meat.
  • In America, gas is currently about $2.50 a gallon. That's $0.66 (0.58€) per litre. In France, it is about 1.52€ per litre. For the mathematically challenged, that means it's about 3x more expensive in France.
  • Americans drive everywhere. The French walk or take public transportation.
  • In France, I passed 2 incredible bakeries as I walked to the supermarket.
  • In France, people gave me strange looks when I said I was a pastor. In America, they want to know what time the services are because they might come to church. 
  • American food is too salty.
  • American pizza is better.
  • In France, the old buildings are older than the country of the United States by several centuries.
  • In France, for some strange reason they call soccer football. Of course, the rest of the world does, too. 
  • The odds of getting Americans to adopt the metric system are better than the odds of getting them to call soccer football.
  • The Super Bowl was watched by 160 million people mostly in the United States. The World Cup was watched by over a billion people around the world. In other words, football is much more popular than football.
  • I spent the day surrounded by hundreds of other people at a high school sporting event. I did not hear a single word spoken in a language other than English. Any given day in Strasbourg I would hear French, German, Alsatian, English, and Arabic along with a mix of others!
  • Americans smile more.
  • The French are careful to greet each person individually when entering a room.  
  • There is always plenty of parking in the US.
  • Free public education stops at 12th grade in the US. Why?
  • In a French restaurant, a glass of wine usually costs less than a bottle of water.
  • When invited to dinner, Americans usually show up "on time." The French typically show up at least 15 minutes late.
  • Americans are much louder.
  • The French greet each other with a kiss on each cheek. Americans shake hands.
  • In France, the milk is on the shelf in the supermarket. In the US, the milk is in the refrigerators.
  • In France, the eggs are brown and sometimes have feathers. In the US, they are white and appear to have been power-washed.
  • Internet and cellphone plans are much cheaper in France. So is medical care.
  • Laptops are cheaper in the US. 
  • The US is air-conditioned. France is not. 
  • Taxes are included in the prices in France. They are added at the checkout in the US. 
  • Roundabouts are everywhere in France. GPS: "Go straight through 11 roundabouts..."
  • French people think fruit is a dessert. Americans think it is a salad.
  • In France, my Peugeot 206 was tiny which was good because parking spots were small. In the US I drive a mini-van which is fine because the parking spots are huge.
  • When driving in the US, I watch out for deer. In France, I watch out for bicycles.
The list goes on and on. My five years in France have changed me. My wife read this list and said she thought it "tilted toward the French." I suppose that is because I am still in transition and missing things that enjoyed in France while America is familiar. I am glad to be an American, but I now know that France is also a wonderful place to live.
The reality is that when I am in France I miss the US and when I am in the US I miss France.
I guess that means I am a pilgrim on a journey to another place that will really feel like home.

Friday, October 12, 2018

My Last TICOS Post...And The Last Verse of the Bible

 "May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen".

This is the last verse of the Bible, and it is a fitting text for my final post as pastor of Trinity International Church of Strasbourg. As the ending words of Scripture, the Holy Spirit magnifies the importance of grace. It is an essential reminder for us as a church family. 

Salvation by grace through faith.
The gospel is at the core of our message as a church. We are guilty sinners and worthy of the wrath of God. But God, in his mercy, graciously sent his Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. Those who repent and believe in him are forgiven and receive eternal life. This salvation is completely undeserved. We deserve wrath and are given forgiveness. It is gift. This is grace. Most people struggle with this concept. Either they think that they must do something to receive grace (go to church, give money to the poor, etc.) or they think that they have done something evil (like adultery, stealing, murder, etc.) that disqualifies them from receiving grace. The grace of God found in the gospel must remain central to what we believe and to our ministry as a church. In fact, if it doesn't, TICOS will cease to be a true church. 

Ongoing walk with God by grace (and the challenges of international life).
One of the ways I have grown in my relationship with God while here at TICOS has been understanding how deeply embedded the idea of the blessings of God being tied to my performance is in my soul. There are things that make me feel worthy of his love that were stripped away in the transition to life here. The result was a fresh discovery of grace.
One of these things was a sense of competence. In the United States I considered myself to be fairly adept in a number of areas, but moving to France meant that those areas were stripped away. Mailing a letter, buying groceries, and understanding street signs all became challenges. While they have become easy with time, the experience of uselessness chipped away at my sense of value. It exposed the fact that I thought I was valuable because of what I could do rather than considering myself valuable because I am loved by God.
Not only that, but the stresses of expat life reveal cracks in our character. Impatience, anger, criticalness and other sins are exposed. This ugliness can make us feel unworthy of God's love. We can think that there is no way God can still love us after we lose our temper (again).  Of course, we are unworthy of God's love, but he loves us anyway. That is the point of grace. And by understanding grace we can start to deal with the the sinful patterns that God has graciously brought to our attention by bringing us to a new place.
This is why the grace of God is so important to the TICOS family. It brings us into the presence of God Almighty.

Grace with others.
It isn't just in our relationship with God that we need to understand grace. We need it in relationship with other people. In order to love others as Christ loved us, we need to extend grace and mercy to other people. We need to live gracious lives. It is not an option but a basic part of following Jesus and is one of the building blocks of church unity. Because churches are made up of redeemed sinners of various degrees of maturity, we will need to extend undeserved and unearned love toward others. We will need to forgive, bear with, and embrace others.

Grace in the International Church - Cultures/Experiences/Short-termers.
An international church like TICOS is a great place to earn a graduate degree in extending grace.  With such a wide variety of cultures and languages coming together, the opportunities for misunderstanding and hurt feelings are around every corner. If we withhold love and acceptance every time someone does something that offends or annoys us, TICOS will become a cold and hard place. With grace, it becomes alive with the presence of God.

Our cultures give us certain expectations about how people "should" behave. We will differ in how free we are to express our opinion, how much we should question leaders, how early (or late) we should come to a worship service or dinner and how long we should stay, etc. For example, bringing a gift when going to someone's home for dinner is a cultural expectation in France. Failure to bring a gift can be seen as being a little rude. A foreigner may learn this and adopt the habit, but even then make mistakes that could easily offend. Like the time we brought a big bouquet of mums as a gift. (In France, mums are only used to decorate graves!) Thankfully, our hostess extended grace rather than being upset.

Our cultures also teach us to interpret things people do and say. "He wouldn't have said 'x' if he really didn't think 'y'" is an equation that is culturally learned. For example, in American culture a mild "put down" of someone is usually a sign of friendship. We wouldn't joke that way with someone we didn't like. In other cultures, it can be considered highly offensive. After all, why would you put down your friend?

On top of cultural differences is the fact that we must deal with multiple languages in TICOS. When we listen to others it is easy to assume we understand what someone means. But if they are not speaking their native language, there is the possibility that they did not actually say exactly what they meant. If we are listening to a native language speaker, we may not have the capacity to interpret what they said. These difficulties were initially designed by God to bring division between people. Overcoming them requires grace.

Grace is also needed because the international church is made up of some people who are "short-termers." They may only be in town for a few months or a year or two. If they choose to get involved, they will need to learn how we do things. This requires grace while they learn because it takes time to figure things out. Then again, some may choose not to get involved in serving. They may not want to commit to something because they are only here for a short time. What an opportunity for those who are "long-termers" to extend grace and love to them while they are here, even if they are not helping in practical ways!

Fortunately, during the five years I have been here in Strasbourg, I have seen the people of TICOS extend grace over and over again. Their love and mercy seems to know no bounds. Their willingness to listen and to understand people from different backgrounds overwhelms me sometimes.

Perhaps that is why I think the perfect final sentence in my final blog article echoes the last verse of the Bible:

May the grace of Lord Jesus be with all the saints 
(and especially my friends at TICOS). 
Amen.

Friday, October 5, 2018

What Makes TICOS "Work"

My time as pastor at TICOS is rapidly coming to an end. It has been an incredible five years of growth, challenges, and fun. We have had people from over 60 nations into our home. I’ve learned about other languages, cultures, and customs. I’ve worshipped with ambassadors and homeless people, company executives and refugees. What a ride! How is it that a church like TICOS can exist and even thrive with such an enormous variety of people?

You know I am going to say “Jesus”, but I want to help us think about why this is. After all, we live in a city that is home to several multinational organisations. Is TICOS just like them, or is something different at work? What makes TICOS different than other multinational groups? After all, they all deal with issues of language and culture. I think that TICOS is very different. Let me explain.

Our Condition

Deep inside the human condition is a desire to justify ourselves. We want to prove ourselves to be right. This tendency to justify ourselves extends to our relationships with other people. We say we want what is "right" but almost invariably what is "right" is also to our benefit.

We seek to get the things we desire and find reasons that we should get our way instead of someone else getting theirs. Often we appeal to “rules” which we think entitle us to getting what we want. For example, the athlete argues that they should be put in the game because they are faster than another player and will help the team win. Or the worker who argues that they work harder or have more experience so they deserve to be promoted. Or the child who argues that their sister got to choose which TV show to watch last time and it is now their turn to pick. They are appealing to rules to insist that what they want is right or just. They are trying to prove that they entitled to have their way.

These things seem benign, and they may even seem logical, but lurking in them is the intense desire to get what we want and it often spirals in ways that bring deep division.

For example, we may argue that because our country is wealthier our ways should be adopted. Or if we are from a poor country, we will argue that the wealthy have somehow become rich because they have not been fair and it is time to correct the injustice so we get more. The person with power believes "might makes right" while the powerless person says, "power corrupts." Those with an advanced degree will argue that they are more qualified than the person who only has experience. The person with experience will insist that their “on-the-job” learning is much more valuable than sitting in a classroom isolated from the real world. And on and on it goes. They are justifying themselves to get what they want and what they feel they deserve.


Reality check: We don’t really want what we deserve

We spend enormous energy trying to deserve what we want. The message of the Bible is that what we actually deserve is hell. We are rebels against a holy God who is infinitely worthy of both worship and obedience. What we deserve is infinite punishment. All of our self-justifying tendencies are stopped dead in their tracks by the truth of Scripture. All of us are guilty. None deserve mercy. Before God and his perfect justice we stand mute. We have no excuse. There is no justifying our behaviour. We are all guilty.

Becoming a Christian begins with the realisation that we are guilty and do not deserve whatever it is we want. We don’t deserve to get our way with God or with others. Our salvation is completely a gift of God’s grace. Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins and those who repent and believe in him are forgiven. His righteousness becomes ours. It is a gift of grace and mercy. Salvation ceases to be a gift of grace if we think it is something we really deserve.

Because salvation is a gift of God’s grace and mercy, boasting of our own righteousness (which is really justifying ourselves) is eliminated. Everything that might have counted to our advantage we now consider as garbage (Philippians 3:2-10). Notice in that passage Paul specifically mentions his nationality. He considers it worthless. He did not cease to be a Jew. In fact, he expressed a special heart for his countrymen (Romans 9:1-5), but his Jewishness gave him no special rights or authority  before God or other people. Neither did his education, his religious zeal, or anything else.

The Gospel and our Relationships 

The fact that we deserve nothing but condemnation and that our salvation is a gift of God’s grace to be received by faith is a game-changer in our relationships. It breaks our pride and our sense of entitlement. It causes us to hold loosely to those things that we once sought value and meaning in. It causes us to be “poor in spirit.” And this is the first characteristic of those who belong to the the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:3) and from this characteristic the rest of the Sermon on the Mount follows. 

The result of the gospel working deeply is a person who no longer seeks to justify themselves. They are no longer seeking to get their way. This gospel-centeredness is the key to how TICOS works and it's also the thing that makes us different than an "ordinary" multinational organisation.  We are a people who have been shown incredible mercy who now want to simply love God and love others. We come from a variety of nationalities, but we don’t seek to have our nation’s way of doing things dominate over others because it isn’t our nationality that gives us a sense of value. We come from a variety of careers, but the worldly prestige of our career doesn’t mean that we have any special status in the church because we realise that we don’t deserve anything. 

Having been humbled by the gospel, we seek to learn from others, realising that they may have learned something we don’t know. We seek to honor others in meaningful ways. We seek to bring true peace into our relationships. We seek to encourage one another to pursue Jesus whole-heartedly. We learn from others what being a devoted follower of Jesus might mean for us. We continually turn to the Scriptures to understand what the culture of the kingdom of God is so that we can work to create that culture in our church and in our lives.

The gospel is what makes TICOS work. And it will continue to make TICOS a special place long after I am gone. If I have learned anything at all at TICOS, it is the power of Jesus to unite sinful people from around the world into a community that seeks to love him and love one another together.