The transgender phenomenon: Targeting Target

Target's newly announced policy on use of its restrooms and fitting rooms has quickly become the hot-button issue among evangelical Christians. The retail giant's invitation to transgender people to use the room corresponding to their gender identity instead of their sex at birth has prompted a debate on how followers of Jesus should respond.

The American Family Association, as it is wont to do, called for a boycott. By April 29, more than one million people had signed on. Other evangelicals questioned such a tactic, writing blog posts to explain why they believe God's people should take a different approach.

My wife and I are no strangers to boycotts. We have wielded the boycott sword many times since the mid-1980s. For various reasons, we've boycotted Disney, Holiday Inn, all the major oil/gas companies except Exxon, all the national chain drug stores, two convenience store chains and one brand of ketchup. For years, we boycotted products made in China. The latter was a real challenge in the early and mid-1990s when we would try to find stuffed animals for our daughter.

We no longer default to the boycott position when a business announces policies that conflict with biblical standards of morality. We haven't ruled out the possibility of boycotting, but we have decided in recent years it is not typically the best way for us to be ambassadors for Christ in our community.

We shop at the Super Target near our home probably more than any other store. I visited that store one night last week to purchase a couple of items and to get the manager's name for an email or letter I intended to write. Instead, I visited with one of the executive team members. I didn't vilify her employer or threaten a boycott. During the conversation, I asked her if they expected the policy to result in a line of people waiting to use the family restroom, which can be locked. I also inquired about whether they planned to have a security guard posted outside the restrooms. This young lady did not act defensively but responded politely to my questions.

Linda and I haven't decided definitively what our response to Target will be in the long run. For now, I hope to continue the conversation with this Target team member and see what steps the store takes regarding this policy issued from headquarters.

My conclusion -- and recommendation to my evangelical brothers and sisters -- at this point is: We should allow room for Christian liberty on this one. Whatever a fellow believer/church member decides about the call to boycott Target, it is not an essential on which we should divide. And we should not cast recriminations at those who choose differently than us.

(To be continued)

* -- Photo attribution

What I learned when my mother died

It was three months ago yesterday that our mother's body was lowered into the earth at a cemetery in Little Rock, Ark. The woman my brother and I called Mom for about six decades had entered the presence of Jesus three days earlier after more than 96 years of this life. The last 12 days of her earthly pilgrimage were spent in a hospital as her health declined and she awaited the call of her Savior. We -- my brother and sister-in-law, my wife and I, joined at times by our daughters -- shared those days and nights with Mom in her hospital room.

I'm finally taking time now to record some observations from those final days of her life and the days that followed. They are:

1. Life is fleeting. Even with a life of 96 years, Mom's earthly existence was "a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (James 4:14). While we were in Arkansas, I looked at some photos of Mom my brother had found that I had never seen. She was a beautiful girl in her 20s in goofy poses with her girlfriends while she lived and worked in Washington, D.C., during World War II. In a breath, seven decades passed, and she was a shell of her once vibrant self, helplessly captive to her mortality.

2. Guidance is vital. Mom had an advanced medical directive to help guide us in case she was unable to express her desires for end-of-life care. Even then, it was not easy. We spent time praying, pondering, and discussing. God blessed my brother and me with wise counsel from his close friend, a physician who had gone through a similar experience with his mother, and a friend of mine who is a leading, evangelical medical ethicist. We believe God's guidance was affirmed in the days that followed our decision-making on Mom's treatment.

3. Hymn singing is helpful. Decades of singing old hymns bore fruit in that hospital room. We -- and sometimes I alone -- sang "Amazing Grace" and "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and others. I enjoy many modern songs, but the old ones we sang with the saints in worship for decades -- memorable in their lyrics and tunes -- were the ones we could remember at the bedside of a woman who loved them. I don't know if she could understand what we were singing, but we could. And that was important.

4. Going home is possible. The memorial service for Mom in Little Rock proved a surprising blessing -- for me at least. We gathered with Mom's longtime friends and fellow church members but also friends whom we had shared life with in that church family decades earlier. Some had taught and mentored us. Many had loved us. Some we had not seen in decades -- and likely will not see again in this life. Our gathering to honor Mom and to worship God turned into a gracious gift I did not expect: It turns out you can go home after all.

All of these are reminders of God's grace. Even in death, and sometimes especially in death, there is His grace.

The fourth Sunday of Advent: Celebration

(This is the fourth in a repeat of a four-part series from 2013 that seeks to help Christians observe Advent, that season celebrating the coming of our Savior and leading to Christmas. This series is designed for use on each Sunday of Advent, but it can be used at any point up to and including Christmas Day. I apologize for posting this one late.)

The incarnation -- God becoming man -- finds an appropriate response in celebration.

This is the response of two groups who hear the glad announcement on the night of the God-man's birth.

When an angel of the Lord announces to the shepherds a Savior has been born in Bethlehem, an army of angels gathers with him to praise God and declare in Luke 2:14:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.

The human beings who witness this joyful pronouncement do not hesitate. They find this baby who is God in the flesh wrapped in cloths in a lowly feed trough in Bethlehem and share with Mary and Joseph what the angel of the Lord has told them. In his last comment on the shepherds, Luke reports in Luke 2:20:

The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

A multitude of angels and a band of shepherds do what we all should do at this news: Celebrate.

God has become man. Let us celebrate. The Creator has become a child. Let us celebrate. The Son of the Most High has become a male infant. Let us celebrate. The Almighty God has become a needy baby. Let us celebrate. God is with us. Let us celebrate. God has come to show us what He is like. Let us celebrate. God has come to serve us. Let us celebrate. God has come to save us. Let us celebrate.

And in celebrating, may we follow the example of the angels and shepherds. How did they celebrate? By glorifying God, Luke says.

As we near Christmas, may we celebrate and glorify God for the most important development in human history that leads to the central event in redemptive history: God became man, a man who came to "save His people from their sins," as the angel tells Joseph in Matt. 1:21.

Because He is God in the flesh, the Savior, and the Risen and Ascended Lord, we await another advent. As we celebrate His first coming, may we encourage one another to look forward to His second coming -- an advent which will begin a celebration for His people that will last forever.

The third Sunday of Advent: Incarnation

(This is the third in a repeat of a four-part series from 2013 that seeks to help Christians observe Advent, that season celebrating the coming of our Savior and leading to Christmas. This series is designed for use on each Sunday of Advent, but it can be used at any point up to and including Christmas Day. I apologize for posting this one three days late.)

The greatest development in human history is simple in its presentation.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7)

With that no-frills description, the Bible reports the incarnation. God comes in human form.

Hidden within the simplicity of the description is unfathomable truth. This baby is fully God and fully man. The Creator of the universe becomes the child lying in a feed trough for animals. This seems impossible. Yet, it is true.

J.I. Packer depicts the wonder of it this way in Knowing God:

[T]he Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the incarnation.

This is what Christmas is about. God the Son humbles Himself to become a man. Yet, this embryo who becomes a newborn who becomes a boy who becomes a man maintains the deity He possesses as God.

The New Testament points to this reality:

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:5-8)

The incarnation -- God the Son willingly humbling Himself to become a man -- is for the purpose of a humiliation that makes Christmas all important. God the Son suffers and dies in the place of sinners that they might know His Father. He lives righteously as a substitute for us, then dies sacrificially as a substitute for us. It is a work He only could perform through His incarnation.

And as we anticipate Christmas and its truth of God putting on human flesh, we also look forward to His second coming -- when we will see Him in the glorified body which He now possesses.

The second Sunday of Advent: Declaration

(This is the second in a repeat of a four-part series from 2013 that seeks to help Christians observe Advent, that season celebrating the coming of our Savior and leading to Christmas. This series is designed for use on each Sunday of Advent, but it can be used at any point up to and including Christmas Day.)

God not only makes promises and provides foreshadowings in many ways to build expectation for the coming of the Savior. He also declares His Son's incarnation when it is time for the expectation to become reality. He makes declarations to two human beings who are waiting expectantly for the Messiah but who have no expectation of how dramatically His coming will affect their lives.

To a young Jewish maiden who is betrothed but not officially married, He sends an angel, who declares:

Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end. (Luke 1:30b-33)

To a Jewish man who is burdened by the pregnancy of his betrothed one, He sends in a dream an angel, who declares:

Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. (Matt. 1:20b-21)

Centuries of expectation are at an end. The hopes of the people in the promises of God are fulfilled. They are met in a divine embryo. The Savior of the world miraculously resides in a virgin's womb.

A poor Jewish couple awaits not only the delivery of a first-born son but the appearance of the only One who can deliver them. The world, largely unsuspecting, awaits the greatest moment in human history -- God will appear as a man. The baby now hidden will soon emerge the way others do, but He will come forth as "the Son of the Most High" to "save His people from their sins."

Joseph, Mary and the world await His first coming. We await His second coming.

Advent is a time for remembering the declarations of God regarding the coming of the Savior in His humble state long ago. It also is a time of remembering the declarations of God regarding the coming of the Savior in His glorious state over a kingdom that "will have no end."

The first Sunday of Advent: Expectation

(This is the first in a repeat of a four-part series from 2013 that seeks to help Christians observe Advent, that season celebrating the coming of our Savior and leading to Christmas Day. This series is designed for use on each Sunday of Advent, which begins today, but it can be used at any point up to and including Dec. 25.)

Human history is marked by the expectation of the coming of the Savior. This is made explicit in the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Even when the first man and woman disobey God and make sin a common reality for humanity, God provides hopeful expectation. In mankind’s darkest hour, He proclaims a gospel promise. It is known as the “proto-evangelium,” which means “the first gospel.”

The Creator declares to Satan disguised as a serpent:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel. (Gen. 3:15)

A descendant of Adam and Eve would crush the tempter whose voice they had heeded instead of their Creator’s. That descendant, of course, is the baby born in Bethlehem who defeats the evil one through His life, death and resurrection.

The prophecies of Isaiah also point to the coming of the Savior.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. (Is. 7:14)

For a child will be born to us; a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. (Is. 9:6-7)

Yet, not just these prophecies and others build expectation of the coming of the Savior. The Old Testament in its entirety is pregnant with this expectation. The miraculous events of both rescue and judgment – such as Noah’s ark in the flood and the deliverance of Israel through the parting of the Red Sea – point to the Great Rescuer from sin. The worship by God’s Old Covenant people -- the tabernacle, the temple, the Ark of the Covenant, the priests, the sacrifices – point to the Ultimate Priest and Sacrifice through whom we worship God. The heroes – such as Joseph, Moses and David – point to the True Hero of all.

Advent is a time for remembering the promises of God regarding the coming of the Savior. And it is a time of expectation – not only for Christmas Day but for another coming. We await with expectation the Second Coming of our Savior, a coming in which His rule over all will be revealed.

Corporate worship prep 101

(This is the first in a series of posts I hope will encourage Covenant Community Church -- and others who may follow this blog -- toward a deeper understanding of and commitment to corporate worship.)

To worship faithfully with other Christians who are part of the same church family is a battle -- a battle we seem to fight with our culture and ourselves.

Some of us are old enough to remember when our society carved out time from business, sports and other enterprises in deference to Christians who gather to worship. That time is long gone. The church is not dependent on the culture for its help. The church must be the church. Sometimes that means doing things that are counter-cultural.

Increasingly, worshiping publicly with a church family is counter-cultural. By merely leaving our homes Sunday after Sunday to worship a crucified and risen Galilean, we are giving witness to the value of Jesus the Messiah in our lives.

Yet, we struggle with ourselves, it seems, to value that corporate gathering and to esteem our fellow Christ-followers the way the New Testament demonstrates we should.

Much of this battle within the believing community appears to be in how we regard Sunday's corporate worship in comparison, or contrast, to other activities that cry out for our commitment. Here are a few questions to ask yourselves that I hope will stimulate Covenant Community Church and others in considering how to think about the gathering of God's people on the Lord's Day:

-- Do I and the other members of my household consider Sunday's worship as a church the most important gathering we will participate in during the week?

-- Do I recognize God awaits and desires my presence to worship Him as part of His redeemed community?

-- Do I realize Jesus has rescued me so that I might be one of the "true worshipers" (John 4:21-24), including in the weekly gathering of the church He has founded and is building?

-- Do I regard my brothers and sisters in the church as more important than myself, recognizing my presence is a first and indispensable step in the New Testament charge to encourage and "stimulate one another to love and good deeds" (Heb. 10:24)?

-- Do I cordon off the time my church meets for worship to prevent other activities from intruding?

-- Do I schedule my Saturdays so that I will be rested for full participation in worshiping God with His people?

I realize there are exceptions to every general rule. This is not an attempt to establish rules for our church. Grace still rules in our fellowship.

Christianity is much more than corporate worship. But it is not less than faithful corporate worship.

* -- Photo attribution