Author: Jon Gauger

I see it all the time on the web. Usually off to the right hand side of the page is a list of stories labeled something like “Trending Now or “Most viewed.” It's usually a story about somebody in Hollywood I'm supposed to be interested in…but am not.

Now here’s my question: Why can't heaven “go viral”?  Why can't it be an internet craze?  That's right, heaven. In a Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings world so intrigued with wonder…why does heaven get so little press?

The easy answer is, “Well, we live in a post-Christian culture.

But I'm not buying that.

I say the reason the world has little interest in heaven is because Christians have very little interest in heaven. But what would account for our disinterest in the city whose streets are paved with gold?

Let me throw out a few answers.

One.  We have too much gold here to long for heaven.  Too much stuff. Too many conveniences.  Too many options for fun-fun-fun….that heaven seems a tad bit boring, quite frankly.

Reason number two.  We don't sing about it.  It's an established fact that whatever passions dominate a culture dominate their music.  In America, that means sex, beauty, fame and money.  As for Christian music, there's very little about heaven—one more proof it doesn't dominate our thinking. 

There's a third reason why heaven is not a buzz word in our culture.  That's because we don't really preach about it. When was the last time you heard a sermon series on the wonder of heaven?

So if Christians aren't pondering heaven….and their spiritual leaders aren't pondering heaven…and very little of the Christian movement's music ponders heaven, it's no wonder that the culture at large gives any thought to heaven.

But the whole thing strikes me as odd.   Those who claim they are going there…often have very little interest in heaven.   Those who have the most to gain….are largely complacent.

It's time to rethink heaven.  Or maybe just….THINK heaven.

I am sitting on a train pondering.  Pondering a presentation I’ve just seen from an Israeli archaeologist with the City of David—a site currently under excavation in Ancient Jerusalem. 

Over the course of 30 minutes, we were shown remarkably preserved artifacts discovered recently.  Among the colorful slide images, we saw a clay tablet referring to the House of David more than a hundred years after his death.   We saw steps from the Pool of Siloam …seals referring to kings and conflicts mentioned in Jeremiah 34-38.

As a follower of Jesus and a lover of His Word, this visual evidence of Israel’s history was engaging and affirming.  Yet a closing story from the speaker jerked me back to reality.  He mentioned that he teaches courses on Israeli archaeology and history at the university level. The courses are open to people off all faiths in Israel.  Curiously, among his students have been a few Muslims.  He shared that despite months of field study, hands-on exploration…reams of indisputable facts, it’s not unusual for a Muslim student to simply wave it all off—refusing to acknowledge Israel’s right to the Land. The facts are there.  History is there…but none of it seems to matter. 

All of this is disturbing enough, but then I ask, what am I personally doing to affirm the nation of Israel?  Does the existence of this tiny nation really matter to me?  If so, what evidence is there to back my claim?  In Genesis 12:3 God clearly says, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Maybe like me, you have bemoaned the eroding support of America for Israel.  But what have we done about it?  Have we spoken up?  Where are the Christian voices speaking out in defense of Israel?  God’s promise in Genesis 12:3 is one we cannot escape:  “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

As technology has rocketed us into the future, it has simultaneously, if not unintentionally spiraled us into a much lower orbit in our comprehension of basic human interaction.  The fact that we CAN   communicate with a code-like instant message…means that we now feel compelled to —as a baseline standard.  The fact that it’s easier to use abbreviations, abrupt expressions and short phrases means we do—to the point that an emerging generation understands this to be normative.  What was once the exception has become the rule.

Complete sentences…basic grammar structure…and the most fundamental of language issues have been overtaken by blurts and tweets.  So increasing numbers of us stand in the need of remedial writing instruction.

You say, “Big deal.  All that matters is that people connect with each other.  Who cares about the language?”   Maybe that's true.  And maybe it isn't.

Either way, poor grammar is not the only language we've dumbed down.  There's the language of human posture…of politeness and respect.

With our smart phones constantly beeping, we are constantly checking…constantly interrupting existing  conversations.   And believe me when I say I struggle with this just like you do.   Yet every single glance away from another human face says, “I will happily jettison the connection you and I now share for whoever wants to make my phone light up.”  In other words, “Anything and anyone is more important than you and whatever you and I are now talking about.”  Of course, we would never actually verbalize those thoughts, but what else do our actions convey?

So I ask, shouldn't followers of Jesus be set apart?  Shouldn't the knowledge that the friend we are sitting across from is made in the image of God mean we treat our phones—and our friends–differently than the rest of the world?  I say it should. A text is not a person.  Facebook is not a face. 

To the extent we “get that” you and I will be able to counter the ironic reality of emotional disconnect in a technologically connected world.  The face in front of you ought always to trump the phone beside you.    

With Christmas safely in the rearview mirror, an unsettling thought has….settled upon me.

Please don't write me off as a Christmas-hater…a sort of evangelical Ebenezer Scrooge. But as I look back upon our celebration of Christ's birth, I'm concerned.

Let me express it in a sentence. As a Christian culture, it seems to me we have made so much out of having a Merry Christmas, we've forgotten that merriment was surely not the only thing on God's mind as that first Christmas story unfolded.

The same passage in Isaiah 9 that brings us a picture of Jesus as the "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God and Everlasting Father" speaks of a burden, an oppressor. Verse five speaks of battles, blood and burning.

What I'm saying is, there's a place–or there ought to be–for the sober side of the season. There's no point to the crèche…apart from the cross. We must not disconnect the fact that Messiah was laid in a manger ONLY so that He might someday lay down his life.

And maybe I'm wrong, but it feels to me like this gets only cursory treatment in modern celebrations.

Of course we should sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Of course we should celebrate Joy to the World. But we must also leave room for the grim reality that sin was why Jesus came.

I think of Colossians 1:13… For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

Battles and blood and hostages…share an equal–if not larger–part in the story. They're…really not fun to sing about. And how do you decorate a church with images of hostages?

Yet….to be faithful to the real story of Christmas, we cannot ignore the dark side. The sin.

All I'm saying is, maybe it's time to check our balance. Merriment at Christmas is well and good and proper. But not if we leave little or no room for pondering the darkness.

Quick question for you.   What Christmas Carol is placed as the concluding song on more albums than any other? 

Answer: Silent Night.

Okay, I don’t have statistical proof.  But I have looked at dozens and dozens of Christmas recordings.  With few exceptions, they end with Silent Night.

But it’s the second phrase of that beloved Carol I want to look at today.  Silent Night…HOLY night. 

The word, holy, of course means set apart.   That’s what you and I are supposed to be as followers of Christ: set apart.  But ARE we?  George Barna statistics would suggest otherwise.  We divorce like the world…look at porn sites like the world.

Today as I rode in on the very crowded train, I was working on memorizing I John chapter 2.  It’s tight quarters on a rush hour train bound for Chicago.  So as I slightly turned my head, I could not avoid the screen of the smartphone next to me.  Some guy had an inappropriate photo of a girl he was staring at.

Now at that very moment, I was faced with a choice.  Do I cave in to my natural urges—my sinful passions?  Or do I call to mind the fact that I’ve been set apart—made holy…and forcefully look away, resolved not to look back?

By the grace of God, I looked away.  Now I’d be lying if I told you I never stumbled in situations like that. But those practical fleshly arenas are the very places where our commitment to Christ is either verified or falsified.   And the choices come a thousand times a day.

Will I respond to that perceived insult…or will I return a blessing?

Will I feed my insatiable ego…or will I look on “the things of others”?

You and I cannot bask in the power of Jesus, the protection of Jesus, and not live life set apart for Jesus.

Silent night.

Holy night.

EVERY night.

That’s my prayer.

Recently, I stumbled on to the writings of the Puritans.  One of my first  books: Richard Baxter's work titled, “The Causes and Danger of Slighting Christ and His Gospel.” 

Born in 1615, Baxter  was a a church leader, theologian and prolific writer.    For 25 years, he endured persecution and imprisonment for his stand on the gospel.  

I figure a guy who endured all that he did for Christ deserves my attention when he cautions that you and I who claim to know Christ just might be guilty of slighting Him—and His gospel.

Here's one example of what Richard Baxter means when he says we slight Christ.  It reads a bit like King James English—but you'll get the gist. Baxter writes….

It is a making light of Christ and Salvation when Men will profess their willingness to have Christ upon His own terms, and to forsake all for him.  But they nevertheless cleave to the world, and to their sinful courses…  This is the sin of making light of Christ and salvation. 

Ouch.  Baxter does not waste words. He goes on to say…

Men have houses and lands to look after, wife and children, and body and outward estate, and therefore they forget that they have  a God, a Redeemer, a Soul to mind.   These worldly things are near at hand, and therefore work naturally and forcibly .  But the other are thought to be a great way off, and therefore, too distant to work on their affections.

To read Baxter is to be convicted.  But you and I ought not to stop there.  How do we move closer to the biblical ideal of being in the world but not of it?  Baxter tells us…

Set a higher value on the Word of God….You cannot esteem Christ without esteeming His word.  Will you daily read it?  Will you resolve to obey it whatever it may cost you?

Those are questions each of us must answer for ourselves.  And let there be no mistake—someday we will have to give an answer.

They want you to feel relaxed.

They want you to feel like you're in a friend's living room.

But you're not.  

You are in a surgical waiting room.  You and fifty others, doing everything to avoid thinking about the surgery your loved one is undergoing.

On a sofa-like chair, one woman knits what appears to be a soft baby blanket.  An older gentleman is playing Sudoku, while his wife is engaged in a computer laptop version of Solitaire.

Off to the side, a woman sips coffee, staring pensively into the cavernous room.  Another lady scribbles crayons in a kids' coloring book.  (She does a nice job staying inside the lines). Still another snoozes.

In the back corner around a table sit three women–the high tech trio.  Between them are two laptops and an i Pad.  But they appear to be processing more dialogue than data.

All these people share one thing in common: they are waiting. Everyone of them holds a pager—and a slender strand of hope.

Any other day, this might be an inordinate wait time for a favorite restaurant.  But the only thing being served today is life-changing news: “We were able to get the tumor entirely”….or….”We're sorry, but the cancer has spread.”  The veneer of chatty good naturedness in the room is as thin as a sandwich bag.

Me?  I'm one of the fifty—waiting.  But I have something many of these people lack—a ring of prayerful brothers and sisters, from several area churches who have been with me all day long.  From morning until evening they stay…because their love for Christ extends their love to me and my wife—now in surgery.

Seeing the body of Christ in action—loving and serving quietly for no glory but the glory of God–is a humbling, heartwarming thing.  The faithful presence of this loving platoon—who come from an army of praying soldiers–makes sharing the surgeon's good news really great news.

Funny thing how knowing Jesus even changes the view from a waiting room.

Hi, my name is Jon and I have a new strategy for world evangelization–let me explain.

I believe we could reach a sizeable percentage of the world for Christ…if Christians started acting like Christ around service people.

What do I mean by “service people.”?

It's the guy that fixes your car. It's the lady with the accent that gives you your coffee at Dunkin' Donuts.  Service people.  I'm thinking about the waitress at your favorite restaurant hang-out.  The busboy that fills your water glass repeatedly—because you're so thirsty.

Give it a moment's thought, and you'll think of a bunch of these people.

Notice that I called them, “people.” 

Because all too, often, we don't think of them that way.  We treat them like mere servants.  After all, we're paying good money for that meal, so the waitress had BETTER get it right…..right?   Wrong. 

My brother once worked as a waiter for a successful Italian restaurant chain.  He told me that some of the worst tippers in the world…are born again Christians.

The leader of a major Christian organization once told me that he cringes at the knowledge that evangelical folks attending his national conference have the reputation for being the most demanding and least gracious of all the groups that show up at the hotel. And the list goes on and on—with my poor behavior…and yours.

But what if… instead of a reputation for being demanding or being cheapskates…we Christians were known by our love (um….the thing Jesus said we were SUPPOSED to be known by). 

What if we looked the busboy in the eye—and genuinely thanked him for filing our water glass? If Christians were known by the service industry for our “Please” and “thank you very much”  instead of our griping, it would open up a whole new platform for sharing Christ.

Think of it: The wrong food order comes to your table and instead of whining, you say, “Hey, no problem.  I'm in no danger of starving…”  Wow! 

But you know who are starving?  The service people around us.  They are starving for human affirmation….starving for the kindness that comes from being with Jesus.

Let's  you and I give them a taste of the Jesus life.

We can be sure they'll be hungry for more of Him.

When it comes to our kids, no name is apparently too special.  A recent article in the “The Week” confirms parents are no longer content naming their kids from a list of—quote–familiar names.  James, Kathy and Robert are out.   Aiden, Emma, and Gunner are in.  Christopher is more likely to go by “Topher.”   And even familiar names must now be spelled uniquely.

Those who track names as a profession tell us that an emerging trend is to give your child a LAST name for his or her first name.  Hence the rise of names like Wilson and Taylor.  There is also a spike in names that are gender neutral:  Jordan. Addison, Dakota…

In 1912, when the most popular names in America were John and Mary, parents of 80 percent of American babies chose from among the 200 most common names. Today less than half of girls and about 60 percent of boys are accorded a top-200 name.

So what's behind the push for all these new names?  Mostly, the experts tell us, a desire for our children to be unique.  Special.  

I find it interesting that as we move further away from a Christian consensus, we reach further and further for significance—specialness–even in the way we name our kids.

You might argue, “How can you prove that?”  Actually, I can't prove it.  And the truth is, probably a lot of the new names are simply the expression of a fresh breath of naming creativity. 

Yet I am still haunted by the reality that on the one hand, we have a Creative God saying, “In me, you are complete.  In me, you are special.”  On the other hand, we have a culture that says, “We reject God.  We'll find our sense of specialness wherever we can.”  I can't help but wonder if at least part of the craze for new names stems from an ancient hunger: the hunger of wondering if God really knows us individually.  And if He does…does He care?  

Pondering all the new names, I'm Jon—spelled without the “H.” And those are my thoughts.

I’m thinking of someone I love.  Someone on one of the branches of our family tree.  Because this person sort of intimidates me, I am friendly in person, yet don’t go out of my way to fully engage in conversation or in other social settings.  We are polite, genial, and…not as comfortable with each other as I might wish.

I suspect this might be a reliable snapshot—or at least, analogy—of how many of us feel about the Holy Spirit.  We know the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Godhead.  But we’re sort of intimidated by Him.  We’re polite, but definitely not comfortable with the Holy Spirit’s invisible, supernatural qualities.  And so, rarely do we fully embrace or engage the Holy Spirit.  As I said, we’re just not as comfortable with each other as we wish.

Maybe, like me, you grew up in a conservative evangelical church that –wary of excesses in some circles—all but ignored the Holy Spirit.  Don’t get me wrong.  We’re entirely comfortable with the Holy Spirit convicting the world of sin, judgment and the world to come.  We’d just rather He not do what He does with too much supernatural flair.    Frankly, anything that hints at the miraculous that’s outside the covers of our Bibles—we figure is fodder for snopes.com.  We don’t trust it. 

But the truth is, the Holy Spirit will not be boxed in by our beliefs of narrowness.  And to largely dismiss the supernatural workings of the third member of the Trinity is to rob ourselves of a proper sense of the otherness of God. 

Our discomfort notwithstanding, the Holy Spirit sometimes does do miraculous things.  It’s time we embraced the Holy Spirit—and His supernatural workings.  Not for the sake of “the show” or the wonders themselves…but for the sake of acknowledging the otherness of God.