Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally!

Mike Hosey, An Elder

One of the first algebraic concepts I learned in school was called the Order of Operations. If you don’t know this concept, then you cannot do simple algebra. I was taught a simple memory device so that I would never forget the order of operations, and I still use that device to this day, some 40 years later. That device was “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.” Today, students simply refer to it as PEMDAS. It stands for Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. If you try to solve any mathematical equation without going through that order you will get the answer completely wrong. If you try to subtract before you add, or you try to multiply before dealing with the exponent values, or before solving the stuff inside the parenthesis, then you will end up with a mangle jangle mess of an answer. Your building won’t stand up. Your Investment projections will fail. And you won’t understand the statistical garbage with which a bad insurance salesman, or a fraudulent expert tries to persuade you.

You will find the order of operations in many forms and in many places in life. For instance, try getting a good job as a surgeon before getting a medical degree. If you do, it won’t be long before you’re talking to someone with a law degree. Sometimes, people engage in intimate behaviors with the opposite sex before a marriage commitment. Far too often, this disregard for the order of operations leads to a mangle jangle mess of a life with someone that they must learn to love instead of lust after. Or consider expecting a child to follow your written chore list before he or she has learned to read. It simply won’t work.

The most important element in all of the orders of operation is to put God first. When you put God first, the rest of your life falls into place. It saves you heartache, it gives you purpose, and it keeps you in right standing with the one who provides all good things. This concept is found throughout the bible. It’s implied in places like Deuteronomy 6:5 where we’re told to love God with everything, or in places like Romans 12:2, where Paul tells us to be transformed by putting the will of God as a prime measuring stick for life. Jesus puts it more directly in Matthew 6:25-33 when he instructs us to seek the Kingdom of God first, and God will make sure that our lesser needs are met. So take an inventory of your world, and see if you have been correctly applying the order of operations in all the equations that make up your life.

The Importance of Evangelism

Mike Hosey, An Elder

Evangelism has a bad rap. In secular culture, it means a T.V. preacher stealing people’s money to grow a very unholy kingdom under the guise of holiness. To some in the political arena, it means conservative Republicans who want to beat their morality into a secular culture by force of law. To some in Church World, it means getting out of your comfort zone and having people think of you as weird because of you’re going to try to sell them some Jesus -- or some Jaayzusss. But it is none of those things.

Okay, okay, okay . . . you might have to get out of your comfort zone a bit, but it isn’t selling Jesus.

An evangelist is simply a bringer of good tidings. That’s it. He or she is someone who delivers the good news. In regards to Christianity, the good news is that Jesus saves people from a whole host of uglies. Uglies like sin, hell, and worldly chains. He rescues marriages, and careers, and families.

Evangelism doesn’t mean persuading someone to believe that stuff. It doesn’t mean convincing someone that they're wrong. It doesn’t mean showing them that you’re right. Those certainly can be part of the evangelism process, but they’re not necessary for it. All that is necessary is to share the good news. The best way to share that good news is to tell others what God has done for you. After that, the Holy Spirit does the rest. 

And the rest that he does is an incredible amount. Benefits to evangelism are significant, numerous, and huge. It deepens our faith by putting us close to the action so that we can see the supernatural power of God as he rescues people from despair. It sharpens our knowledge so that if someone asks us a question we have a good answer. It causes us to work in familial concert with our fellow Christians so that we can encourage one another in the work that God has given us. And it does so much more than I can write in this short blog. But one of the biggest benefits is how it impacts your church, or your local faith community. Listen to what Paul tells the church at Colossae (Colossians 1:5-6). He reminds them of how the good news changed their lives, made them into a church, and is now producing fruit wherever it is heard! The gospel, or the good news, grows churches! If you want your church to grow, then be sure to evangelize. If you want the kingdom of God to spread in this dark world, then evangelize. And all that means is telling people about what God has done for you!

Why I Don't Think John 3:16 is the Most Important Verse in the Bible

Mike Hosey, An Elder

If you ask any evangelical Christian what the most important verse in the bible is, you are likely to be met with an enthusiastic reply of, “John 3:16.” -- For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son . . . This verse is so important to Christians that almost every person in Church World has memorized it. Famous football players paint it on their faces. Conservative, dedicated, bible thumping preachers put it in their tracts. Seminaries devote classes to it. Sunday School teachers make sure that the little ones in their charge not only learn it, but that they understand it. We are reminded of its gravity in bloody reenactments of the crucifixion.

It is, indeed, a very important verse. But I don’t think it is the most important verse. I have long taught that the most important verse is Hebrews 11:6. It teaches that without faith it is impossible to please God. It goes on to explain why. A person must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him. A person who doesn’t believe such things won’t draw near to him. This is a simple truth, really. If you don’t trust that your company is going to keep paying you, then you won’t go to work. If the treasure hunter doesn’t believe there’s a chest at the bottom of the ocean, he won’t go on hunting. If a pastor no longer believes in his calling, he will no longer shepherd.

Some believers have glimpsed the importance of this verse, but have applied it improperly. They tend to focus on the rewards portion of the verse, and then apply that to earthly benefits. If you have faith, they argue, then you will be blessed with money, or health, or a spouse, or some worldly pleasure. Of course, it is true that God provides those things on earth. But he isn’t primarily interested in those things for your life. In fact, his greatest followers often suffered without earthly pleasures. Our greatest example was a suffering servant (Isaiah 53, 1 Peter 2:21-25). Notice that Hebrews 11:6 is nested squarely in the middle of a passage about how some of the bible’s greatest heroes obeyed God because of what they believed, and not about how they were rewarded. In fact, Hebrews 11:13 points out that all of them died without receiving what was promised. Their reward was in heaven, and that reward is far, far greater than any prize they could enjoy on earth.

Read Hebrews 11:6 again. It is impossible to please God without faith. The verse is about pleasing God - not receiving rewards. If you don’t believe that God exists, then you won’t believe it when he tells you that you need a savior. You won’t believe his love for you, and John 3:16 will be meaningless. You certainly won't love him back. Most importantly, if you don’t believe and trust God, then you won’t obey him when he tells you to do something in the service of his will.