127 Hours and Our Real Problem

127 Hours is a film based on the true story of Aron Ralston and his New York Times bestselling book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Atria Books, 2004).

Disclaimer: I’ll try to explain the film without giving too much away, but consider this your “Spoiler Alert.”

While exploring a remote area near Canyonlands National Park in Utah, Aron Ralston (played by Academy Nominated James Franco) gets stuck in a crevasse with his right arm pinned against the wall by a boulder. The film explores the thoughts, emotions and challenges facing Ralston while he is stuck in the cave for 127 hours.  The film – and Franco in particular – do a good job of exploring both the realization of the problem and the process of solving that problem.
The original lure of the film is watching how this man will survive. I had assumed that the climax of the film would be when Ralston finally gets free from the boulder that trapped him. However, the filmmakers surprised me with where they placed the climax. The story takes an unexpected turn when it identifies the actual “problem” facing our hero.

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Why is marriage important?

Why is marriage important? Googling this question resulted in 87,600,000 sites. YIKES! Could there really be that many reasons?

So you don’t have to stay up all night reading this blog, I’m going to focus on the main reason marriage is important (at least what I think the main reason is, but you can tell me later if you agree).

I believe God designed marriage to develop our understanding for and participation in Jesus’ relationship with his bride, the church. Think through this short historical overview with me.

1. First, the Genesis creation account establishes marriage as God’s idea and plan for humanity (Genesis 1-2).
2. Then, God commends marriage throughout the Old Testament period, and even uses marriage as a metaphor for how he sees his relationship with the nation of Israel (Isaiah 54:5; 62:5; Hosea 2:19).

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Just Children?

I find it curious that when there is some sort of catastrophe and a child is involved the newscast reads:  4 injured, including a child.  Why is that?  What is the reason behind the fact that when a child is involved an added comment is merited?  Do we intrinsically feel that a child’s life is of special value, perhaps even of more significance than the adults present in the accident?  Are we saddened to think that a vulnerable, innocent life had been affected by the carelessness of an adult? (Surely the child was not at fault.)  Do we as a society actually suffer by the potential lost when a child is hurt or killed at the hand of another?

Why do I find this curious?  It’s because of the way we, at other times, express our feelings towards children.  We all have heard the phrase:  “just a child” in our casual conversations.  “Yes, there will be six for dinner, but one is just a child.”  Oh, well, we can be late for the game … he’s just a child, he won’t care.”  “Don’t worry, I can meet with you – I was just supposed to take my kid to lunch.”  How about … “We won’t go to the church service this week because it’s just the children.”  And then there are the horrible, degrading bumper stickers that I will not quote … but please remove them from your car!

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Evangelism

What is evangelism?

Quite simply, to evangelize is to verbally communicate or proclaim or preach the Gospel message.

We preach the Gospel but allow the Holy Spirit to do the “work” (that is – to soften the heart, convict sin, lead to repentance, and assure salvation).

Evangelism isn’t a sales job. Evangelism is obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit so that He can work.

Should everyone proclaim the Gospel?

Absolutely! Check out Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-6; and Acts 1:8 for some examples of commands to preach the Gospel.

Did you read them?

Good.

Now, let’s explore the topic of evangelism a little bit further.

Here at Northview, we try to equip, empower and encourage all who call Northview their home church to live in response to the Gospel, so that people around them are impacted with the good news of what Jesus Christ has done for them. We try to get people to guide their passions, use their gifts and relate with others in such a way that God is glorified and the Gospel is proclaimed – because everyone has a role to play in preaching the Gospel.

I hold strongly to the belief that all Holy Spirit filled disciples of Christ ought to make disciples – this discipleship process begins by proclaiming the gospel of what Christ has done for us, so that people may believe. How will someone become a disciple unless they believe? How will they believe unless they have heard the Gospel preached? And how will they hear unless someone verbally communicates it to them (see Romans 10:14)?

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Three Reasons You Should Go to Church.

I don’t know if you have noticed this or not, but it’s really popular among (mostly younger) Christians today to disparage the local church. Going to church on the weekend is what people who love institutions do. Most of the people there are hypocrites. All they want is your money. You can get way more out of a nice walk in the woods and some private time with God. Spending time with friends at a coffee shop and talking about Jesus is way more beneficial than gathering with a bunch of people who are just trying to impress one another with their clothing or doctrinal statements anyway (for more reasons, have a look at this link http://christianity.about.com/u/ua/churchandcommunity/gotochurch.htm).

In light of all these objections, you would expect a preacher like me to come out defending church attendance, wouldn’t you? The more cynical among us would likely point out that my job is at stake here, so I have a lot to lose if people start listening to Pastor Pillow at Bedside Baptist instead of making the trek to hang out with hypocrites like me. Not wanting to let the cynics down, might I suggest three reasons that going to church is more important than you think?

1. Christianity is a faith that happens in community.

OK. I’ll say this as straight as I can - The New Testament writers just don’t have a category for churchless Christians. To have God as your Father is to have the church as your brothers and sisters. This is a line from Joseph Hellerman’s s outstanding book, When the Church was a Family…

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