Speaking of the dangers of love in The Four Loves (New York, Harcourt, 1960), C.S. Lewis writes:
There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.
But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.
The following words were found inscribed on the walls of an asylum after the patient who occupied the room had died and been carried to his grave. The poem was later adapted by Fredrick M. Lehman in 1917 and became the third stanza of the now famous hymn, The Love of God.
Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade, To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.
Ever struggle with the really big questions? Evil. Suffering. Sovereignty. Hell. These are some tough issues, and Francis Chan helps us to remember something we should never forget.
When it comes to music and style in worship, Russell Moore argues that “we need more, and better, worship wars,” but in a Christian sort of way. Here’s an excerpt:
What if the war looked like this in your congregation? What if the young singles complained that the drums are too loud, that they’re distracting the senior adults? What if the elderly people complained that the church wasn’t paying attention to the new movements in songwriting or musical style?
When we seek the well-being of others in worship, it’s not just that we cringe through music we hate. As an act of love, this often causes us to appreciate, empathize, and even start to resonate with worship through musical forms we previously never considered.
This would signal a counting of others as more significant than ourselves (Phil 2:3), which comes from the Spirit of the humiliated, exalted King Jesus (Phil 2:5-11). It would mean an outdoing of one another, in order to serve and show honor to the other parts of the Body of Christ. And, however it turned out musically, it would rock.
Hollywood has been invaded, and humbled, by the United States Navy. Act of Valor has accomplished what the entertainment industry alone never could: create a blockbuster, heart-pumping, breathtaking, tear-jerker film of this genre with a wholesome message and unmatched authenticity, all without the help of big-named professional actors.
The Bandito Brothers were invited by the military to make a movie featuring the elite Special Operations Forces (SOF) known as the Navy SEALs. They were given unprecedented access. All of the uniformed characters on screen are portrayed by active-duty operators. Even the families are not actors, but are the actual wives and children of the soldiers you see on screen. Filming took almost two years to complete due to deployment cycles. While considering casting as they researched the film and spent time observing the elite commandos, the producers realized that no one could capture the realism or portray the expertise and heart of a SEAL better than a SEAL.
Over ninety percent of the combat sequences were shot using live fire–a never-before feat attempted for any movie. All of the gear is authentic operational equipment. The producers were even given brief access to a nuclear Trident sub. A tiny film crew was embedded with the SEAL team and given coordinates on a grid where they met up with the vessel in a covert location. The sub surfaced for a four-hour window to shoot the scene, then disappeared beneath the water to continue on its mission.
You have never experienced authentic action like this in a movie. There were moments where gasps could be heard in the seats around you. The violence is realistic, but not gratuitous or overly graphic. Those who are very sensitive to scenes of violence may be disturbed by some of the images, but this is no Pulp Fiction. The language is sometimes salty as well (remember, realism was the goal), including a few F-bombs, but again, this is no Die Hard. I heard more F-bombs by teenagers at the theater before the movie than I did in the film, but it is worth considering if you are sensitive to such things. I am glad to say there is no degrading treatment of women (there is a scene where a female CIA operative is captured and tortured) and no sexuality other than a bikini-clad waitress serving a cocktail to a narcoterrorist. The R-rating is for strong violence and language.
What you may not expect from this movie is its message. If your idea of a SEAL is an Arnold Schwarzenegger character, you are in for a big surprise. These men are seen for what they are: warriors with wives, commandos with kids, heroes with homes, men with a mission, and brothers in arms. The message of this movie is not the combat capabilities of SEALs, it’s their Code. Their Code is their ethos. It is what drives them and what defines them. (See the SEAL Code at http://lifeofvalor.com/the-seal-code.)
In one scene, the operators are gathered with their team and families on a beach the night before a deployment. The Chief gathers the operators around a fire as their wives and children play in the background. He reminds the men how critical it is to do the duty of husband and father first, and to be sure things are right at home before they go on mission, not leaving matters undone or taking unfinished business onto the battlefield. In essence, it is a come-to-Jesus session. What many people don’t understand about the SEAL is that his heart is for home, and as one of the operators puts it, “Trust me, you’re always trying to get home.” In that sense, this is a great family movie.
Throughout the movie, the faithfulness, sacrifice and love of brotherhood is the metanarrative. In an age desperate for an understanding of masculine love, with plenty of cowards masquerading as men who know little of loyalty to family or brotherhood, this is a refreshing and penetrating message. I had the privilege of taking a friend, a twenty-year Navy veteran, to watch the screening with me. It was his birthday, and I was honored to sit beside a man of honor and faithfulness and watch this film together. But most of us have known men who’ve dressed in uniform, but whose life betrays the honor, faithfulness and courage it represents. It is not the uniform, but the heart, that makes the SEAL. And it is the heart that makes the man.
Many men will watch Act of Valor and be exhilarated by the action, and remain oblivious to the message. Like X-Box warriors whose lives are filled with jabber but vacant of valor, the language of courage, faithfulness and brotherly love will be lost on them to the pyrotechnics on the screen. SEALs live (and die) by their Code. Leading and being led. Respect for one another and authority. Integrity, responsibility for actions, and “Loyalty beyond reproach.” Honor on the battlefield and off. Devotion to team and teammate. A love that lays down its life for a friend. And, of course, a heart for home. These things will mock warrior-wannabes as they experience valor the only way they know how–vicariously, sitting in front of a flat screen or watching other men do what they simply refuse: live a life of faithfulness and honor.
Some men will see this movie with their buddies, grab some beers afterward while glorying in what they just watched on screen, and then go about wasting their lives. But a few will witness what is already wired in their hearts to do–answer the call to be the leader and lover he was created to be. That Christ died so they could be. A few will become that honorable man. A few will be that faithful brother. But only a few.
________________ Clint Wagnon is a Christ-follower, husband, father, pastor, church planter, professor and author of “Love Takes Guts.” He lives in Orlando with his wife and four children. Follow Clint on Twitter at @clintwagnon and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonwagnon.
Ecclesiology (doctrine of the church) is important — Jesus died for his Tribe, and he has promised to build it, use it and come back for it. The question of whether or not local church membership is biblical, or even helpful, is especially relevant given the cultural backdrop of modern-day believers. Our friends over at 9 Marks (a ministry we love and commend to you) spend a lot of time focusing on what healthy New Testament churches look like, and what biblical ecclesiology is. The following is an excerpt from a recent article by Matt Chandler hosted at 9 Marks on the issue church membership:
When you begin to look at these texts it becomes clear that God’s plan for his church is that we would belong to a local covenant community of faith. This is for our own protection and maturation, and for the good of others.
If you view church as some sort of ecclesiological buffet, then you severely limit the likelihood of your growing into maturity. … But when church is just a place you attend without ever joining, like an ecclesiological buffet, you just might consider whether you’re always leaving whenever your heart begins to be exposed by the Spirit, and the real work is beginning to happen.
There’s been a lot of talk about hell lately. When cable news channels like CNN and MSNBC join the conversation, you know it’s a hot topic. Thanks to a few “emergent” pastors who are putting a new face on an old topic, the conversation seems to be heating up.
So what about hell? Is it a metaphor for the suffering we create for ourselves on earth? Is it a temporary period of intense pruning? A long period of judgment that will eventually end in everyone being allowed entrance into heaven? Or is it a place of conscious torment that lasts forever?
What did Jesus really say? What did Jesus really mean?
Here’s my 2-part response called “Hereafter: What the Bible says about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived.”
Need a comprehensive, biblical teaching on intervention, peacemaking and discipline? The following is from my teaching at CrossWay on August 29, 2010. Hope it helps.
So how do we deal with the Peacebreakers? By being either a peacefaker or peacemaker.
Peacebreaker – self-explanatory
Peacefaker – one who enables sin to continue by not “rocking the boat.” (often in denial)
Peacemaker – one who intervenes to bring shalom. (Don’t confuse with a pacifist.)
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” – Matt 5:9
3-tiered response of the Peacmaker. (Rises in severity)
1. Overlook
2. Intervention
3. Disassociation
What about Judging?
Didn’t Jesus say, “Judge not?” Yes.
Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
but in the same sermon, on the same page, in the same chapter, almost in the same breath, Jesus also said:
Matthew 7:15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
The word has a range of meanings, just like our word “love.”
“judge” (krino) (3 meanings in the NT)
to decide, discern, determine, conclude, regard
to condemn, pass final verdict
to sue, stand trial, go to law
There is a judging that is punitive, and self-righteousness and condemning without offering the hope of repentance and restoration.
There is a judging that is protective, and discerning and loving that leads to intervention and, if needed, discipline.
For example, “Molesting children is wrong. Child molesters should not be allowed to work around children, but they should be incarcerated.”
That is a discerning, judicial and wise statement.
*One last thing… let’s never forget that the Jesus who showed mercy to humble sinners and ate with tax collectors is the same Jesus who called self-righteous religious hypocrites a bunch of snakes, and drove greedy con-men thieves from the temple with a whip.
Now back to the responses of a peacemaker.
I. Overlook
Some sins (offenses) need instant grace and forgiveness.
Prov 19:11 A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.
These are minor, personal offenses. They are out of character. No big deal. I don’t need to nitpick, just forgive. (BUT, if it bothers you enough to make you want to tell someone else, you must talk to them about it first.)
II. Intervention
Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
This is where love takes guts. This is where the peacefakers are found out.
1 Cor 13:6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Eph 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
The lease loving thing you can do is prop someone up in there sin, and aid them in there irresponsibility.
For example, Prov 13:24 says that he that refuses to discipline a son hates him, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
[1 Tim 5:19-21 states that elders are to be rebuked publicly.]
III. Disassociation (after intervention)
* this only applies to professing believers
A. False Teachers
2 John 1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him.
In Rev 2:20-23, Jesus said to the church at Thyatira, “20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”
2 Pet 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign LORD who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
B. Divisive
Stirs controversies, slanders, gossip.
Titus 3:10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. 11 You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
C. Unrepentant blatant sin
Sexual immorality, greedy (covetous), idolater, slanderer (reviler), drunkard, swindler.
1 Cor 5:9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people– 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
(Divine double standard.)
D. Idle Men (deadbeats)
2 Thess 3:6 In the name of the LORD Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. …14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
E. Someone sins against another directly, and refuses to repent or reconcile.
Matthew 18.15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. 18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.
* These all require intervention, but only one requires disassociation: unrepentance.
IV. Restoration
What do we do when someone blows it and repents? Simple. Forgive, restore them to fellowship (but not necessarily leadership), and bear one another’s burdens.
Need an amazing resource on biblical marriage and family? Justin Taylor over at the Gospel Coalition (I am a member) has a great write-up on God, Marriage and Family written by Andreas Köstenberger. Check it out. You’ll be glad you did.
Below is Mark Driscoll’s endorsement to Mars Hill.
Hollywood has been invaded, and humbled, by the United States Navy. Act of Valor has accomplished what the entertainment industry alone never could: create a blockbuster, heart-pumping, breathtaking, tear-jerker film of this genre with a wholesome message and unmatched authenticity, all without the help of big-named professional actors.
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