The Final Outcome

Posted on by Brian Burdett

“Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:32-33

No, Jesus wasn’t talking about COVID-19! Nonetheless what He said certainly applies as we remain largely scattered in our homes. In this world tribulation is normal, expected, and guaranteed, because this is a fallen world.

Today we’re reminded of just how fallen it is and just how common tribulation is throughout history. On Memorial Day, as we honor those who’ve fallen in the wars of the past two and a half centuries, we’re reminded of war’s terrible cost and brutal frequency. In this world, we have tribulation – some generations see more, some less, but all experience various forms of tribulation.

However, we have hope in Jesus Christ. One day, war will be no more. One day, disease and death will be no more. Why? Because Jesus defeated the temptations of the world and crushed the evil powers of the world on the cross. By His death and resurrection, He assured us of the final outcome of history: His victorious return, the utter defeat of all evil, the renewal of the earth, and joyous eternity for His followers in that renewed earth.

Reflect in Memory

Posted on by Brian Burdett

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13

Today begins Memorial Day weekend and it looks to be a gorgeous one in Northern Virginia. In recent years, Memorial Day has largely become synonymous with the “start of summer”, a three-day festival of pools, picnics, and parties to kick off the frivolity and fun of the summer months.

Things are different in 2020. This year is easily the strangest Memorial Day weekend in recent decades: pools are closed, parties are largely cancelled, and even picnics are small and anxious things. While we may lament their absence, this strange season provides an opportunity to refocus on the true meaning of Memorial Day.

In the United States, Memorial Day is when we’re called to remember and honor all those who’ve given their lives in defense of this nation (more than 1 million men and women since the Revolutionary War). For Christians we understand that freedom comes at a terrible cost: our freedom from slavery to sin and death was bought with the shed blood of our crucified Savior Jesus Christ. Likewise for those who enjoy the freedoms and blessings of life in the United States – these freedoms also came at a terrible cost. Throughout American history, men and women have laid down their lives for their friends, family members, neighbors, nation, and countless future generations.

May this unusually quiet Memorial Day weekend be an opportunity to reflect and give thanks to God for those who have given, “the last full measure of devotion.”

Not Optional

Posted on by Brian Burdett

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35

Note what this is: a commandment from Jesus. Not a suggestion. Not encouragement. Not advice. Not instruction. Not an idea. A commandment. Same as the Ten Commandments.

What must we do? Love each other JUST as Jesus has loved us. At the moment He said this, Jesus had just finished washing His disciples’ feet. Soon Jesus would die for them and us. Those are the parameters revealing how we are to love each other. We’re to freely and willingly and extravagantly love our brothers and sisters in Christ not just in the abstract, but by action. We’re not just to love with kind words and positive thoughts but with humiliating and painful acts of service and sacrifice.

In general, Christians in North America are pretty poor at this. We like each other and help each other, but too often our pride, preferences, opinions, and need for power take priority in the day to day. It can’t be this way. It’s rebellion against King Jesus. We can certainly disagree about things, but any time we fight and feud over matters of taste and preference, or let personal slights, past mistakes, and petty insults divide us from other Christians, we’re disobeying Christ.

We must willingly and readily set down preferences, pride, and position to love each other all day, every day. This isn’t optional for Christians, it’s a commandment from our Lord. This is supposed to be the thing that catches the world’s attention and lets them know we’re different because we follow Jesus. We must be famous for our love, unity, and mutual sacrifice and submission to one another. May it be so!

Altered Gatherings – Reflections on the New Normal, Part 1

Posted on by Brian Burdett

Experts vary on how long it takes to form a new habit. I’ve heard 21 days. I’ve heard an average of 66 days. Regardless, it’s already been longer than that since Northern Virginia (where I live and pastor) locked down in mid-March. At this point we don’t even know when our region will enter “Phase 1” of reopening. Why does this matter? Because every one of us has had time to form new habits and rhythms of life which won’t change easily as the world begins to re-open.

Some of these new habits are likely good and healthy, because let’s face it, life in Northern Virginia was deeply unhealthy. Hopefully we’ve developed new habits of devotion to God, new habits of engagement with our families and neighbors, and new habits of rest and exercise. I pray these habits will persist long after COVID-19 is a terrible memory. Unfortunately, other new habits are likely unhealthy (binging on Netflix, binging on snacks, addictions formed or worsened, etc.) These will be extremely difficult to shake once restrictions begin to ease.

Whenever we begin to come out of our cocoons (or when other people do for those who’ve been out the entire time), it won’t be “all at once”. We’re rapidly learning the language of phases from our state and national leaders. Restaurants will reopen partially (and many will never reopen). Theaters will reopen partially (and most won’t reopen). Teleworkers will “go back to the office” slowly (and many won’t go back all that often). I also suspect that once things begin to ease, that we’ll see alternating cycles of loosening and tightening restrictions over the course of the next 12-24 months.

The point of all this is that we’ll never exactly “get back to normal.” We won’t be going back to life in February, 2020 ever. We’ll instead emerge into a “new normal.” Some view this phrase as being terribly overused and exaggerated. I respect that view. There’s merit to that viewpoint if you define the “new normal” as a singular, unchanging experience shared by everyone for an extended period of time. That’s never the case.

“Normal” is constantly changing and always has been. We’re always journeying into a “new normal,” it’s just that usually change is so slow we don’t notice it happening. If we were to look back objectively, “normal” in 2019 was significantly different from “normal” in 2009. However, for the past decade, we simply didn’t notice the incremental changes as they occurred. 2020 is different. It’s a year of rapid and radical change. We’re noticing these!!! For the foreseeable future, we will experiencing a constantly shifting “normal”. That’s what I mean by the “new normal”.

The church must be perpetually seeking to understand and adjust to the changing “normal” of our culture in order to meaningfully proclaim the unchanging good news of Jesus Christ and effectively demonstrate the unchanging love of Christ to a changing world through our actions. In 2020 we must adjust faster and more radically than usual (not that the North American church has particularly excelled at this in recent years). Whether we like this idea or hate it doesn’t really matter. It must be done for the church to have significant Kingdom impact on the world. If a church doesn’t lean into this reality, prayerfully studying and ministering to her “new normal” she will become increasingly irrelevant and eventually Christ will remove her lampstand. That’s a tragedy that doesn’t need to happen.

Because I have total confidence in our Triune God who remains powerfully at work in this world, it’s my belief that every church can shine brighter through this stressful and uncertain season. In fact, every church should. There are many wonderful stories of that happening already and I’m confident there are many more waiting to be written. But what must we do to prepare for this “new normal”. As we stand in the midst of the fog of the current war with coronavirus, what will the “new normal” begin to look like and how must the church adapt as the world gradually reopens?

Nobody can predict the future perfectly. Certainly I can’t. However, as I have sifted through the evidence and experiences available so far, I see six changes as being very likely. Am I 100% certain about these? No. Unfortunately, certainty is a luxury we don’t have right now. We’re in a season that requires us to act with far less certainty than we’d prefer. There’s risk in this, but also great Kingdom opportunity. I firmly believe that for every church, the risks of inaction far outweigh the risks of prayerful action to respond to these anticipated changes. We must act boldly to position the church to respond to these changes. Because things aren’t certain, we must also constantly assess as we pivot to respond to these. I will unpack these six changes over the course of (at least) six blog posts, starting here…

Change #1: In-Person Gatherings Will Be Precious, Smaller, and Different

Without a doubt, after the longest period of isolation most of us have ever experienced, there is a deep hunger to be with other people. There is a great desire to see people face-to-face. This is particularly acute for our seniors who may not have jumped into every possible technological alternative to in-person gathering. When churches resume gathering for worship again, there will be some folks very eager to be there. There will be joyous reunions and energetic worship and fellowship as restrictions ease. Many will appreciate and treasure in-person gatherings more deeply than ever before. In-person gatherings will be precious!

At the same time, there is, and will remain, very real fear about getting close to people. For months we’ve been conditioned to fear others, to fear spending too much time together, to fear getting too close. It’s going to take time for most people to feel safe hugging people outside their family. It’s going to take time for many to overcome their appropriate fear of large gatherings. Indeed, leaders will need to intentionally create smaller gatherings because there will be on-again, off-again restrictions on how many people can get together either socially or for worship. People simply aren’t going to return to church buildings in a flood, rather it will be a trickle as confidence slowly grows or loneliness comes to outweigh fear. In-person gatherings will be smaller!

“Social distancing” rules will remain in place for quite some time. Hygiene protocols and awareness of them will be off-the-charts for quite some time. Masks (whether voluntary or mandatory) will be a part of most gatherings for quite some time. Habits of touching, shaking hands, and hugging may be changed for years to come. Traditions of passing things in church (offering plates, communion elements, even bulletins) will likely fall by the wayside permanently. Outdoor gatherings will likely prove to be dramatically safer than indoor gatherings to the extent weather permits. Creativity will be at a premium in designing gatherings that satisfy these concerns. In-person gatherings will be different.

As a church, we must think about the types of gatherings we offer and the types we encourage. We must think and dream creatively about how to most effectively create and utilize these precious, smaller, different gatherings for God’s glory. What we must not do is sit around lamenting the situation and wishing we could go back to what we had last year. That’s gone. We mourn and we move forward!

How do we meet in the “new normal” to best “be the church” – worshiping God, making disciples, and doing so in a way that simultaneously loves God, loves our neighbors in the community, and loves one another? That’s the challenge for every church leader in responding to Change #1.

The Battle Lasts a Lifetime

Posted on by Brian Burdett

“And Samuel said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.’” – 1 Samuel 12:20

Failure is going to happen from time-to-time in our battle for holiness. Once we put our faith in Jesus Christ, He calls and empowers us to change and become increasingly like Him. That’s a lifelong journey with many ups and downs. It doesn’t generally look like instant victory over every sin that plagues or tempts us. Indeed, along that journey to holiness we’ll likely discover new sins that tempt us. There will be times in which we experience great spiritual success. Then there will be times we once again sin and fall short of the glory of God.

The battle for sanctification – consistently living up to the holiness which God already credits to us in Christ – lasts a lifetime. We should experience upward progress throughout our lives, but there will be plenty of setbacks along the way. After those setbacks the enemy will try to discourage us, to convince us that we’re unworthy, that we’ll never get past our besetting sin, that we’re failures, that God can’t possibly still love us after yet another betrayal of His love.

Those are lies! While we must never be satisfied with our spiritual weaknesses and failures, we must be satisfied in God’s grace and mercy. This satisfaction enables us to keep battling, confident in God’s redeeming love. We must ask forgiveness for our sins and rest in God’s abundant forgiveness. The apostle John expresses our situation perfectly in 1 John 2:1, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” These words come shortly after John wrote, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” There is ALWAYS forgiveness available when we ask, even we ask through tears of frustration and failure for the millionth time.

So when you sin, don’t give up – either on pursuing God or on pursuing holiness. Confess your failure to God and receive His forgiveness afresh. Let that failure deepen your love and whole-hearted worship of the Lord.