Tim Harlow

Dan Cathy, WJDD (What Jesus DID Do)

Dan Cathy is the President of Chick-Fil-A and has been the brunt of a great deal of criticism in the Gay Marriage debate, because of a statement he made affirming biblical marriage values.  He became the poster boy, used by the Gay lobby, to represent all things evil about Christianity.  It was extremely unfortunate for both sides in my opinion, because it further polarized two groups of people that ought to be sitting at football games together instead of hurling insults.

Which is why this article from Shane Windmeyer (see Dan and Me for the full story) is so fascinating.  Because Shane is the director of Campus Pride which is the LGBT group that called for the boycott of Chick-Fil-A in the first place.

And this is the picture of Shane and Dan at a football game!

Shane said, “It was among the most unexpected moments of my life.”

Check this out…

“Like most LGBT people, I was provoked by Dan's public opposition to marriage equality and his company's problematic giving history. I had the background and history on him, so I thought, and had my own preconceived notions about who he was. I knew this character. No way did he know me. That was my view. But it was flawed.

On Aug. 10, 2012, in the heat of the controversy, I got a surprise call from Dan Cathy. He had gotten my cell phone number from a mutual business contact serving campus groups. I took the call with great caution. He was going to tear me apart, right? Give me a piece of his mind? Turn his lawyers on me?

The first call lasted over an hour, and the private conversation led to more calls the next week and the week after. Dan Cathy knew how to text, and he would reach out to me as new questions came to his mind. This was not going to be a typical turn of events.

His questions and a series of deeper conversations ultimately led to a number of in-person meetings with Dan and representatives from Chick-fil-A. He had never before had such dialogue with any member of the LGBT community. It was awkward at times but always genuine and kind.

It is not often that people with deeply held and completely opposing viewpoints actually risk sitting down and listening to one another. We see this failure to listen and learn in our government, in our communities and in our own families. Dan Cathy and I would, together, try to do better than each of us had experienced before.

Never once did Dan or anyone from Chick-fil-A ask for Campus Pride to stop protesting Chick-fil-A. On the contrary, Dan listened intently to our concerns and the real-life accounts from youth about the negative impact that Chick-fil-A was having on campus climate and safety at colleges across the country. He was concerned…Dan sought first to understand, not to be understood. He confessed that he had been naïve to the issues at hand and the unintended impact of his company's actions.

Throughout the conversations Dan expressed a sincere interest in my life, wanting to get to know me on a personal level. He wanted to know about where I grew up, my faith, my family, even my husband, Tommy. In return, I learned about his wife and kids and gained an appreciation for his devout belief in Jesus Christ and his commitment to being "a follower of Christ" more than a "Christian." Dan expressed regret and genuine sadness when he heard of people being treated unkindly in the name of Chick-fil-a -- but he offered no apologies for his genuine beliefs about marriage.”

So, Mr. Cathy went on to invite Shane to be his guest at the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve and asked him to sit with his family at the event his chicken empire was sponsoring.  Thankfully Shane said yes and they had a fantastic time getting to share in each other’s lives.

Ladies and Gentlemen: I give you a model of Jesus.  This is it.  I’m not saying that you should eat chicken or not eat chicken.  I don’t know Dan Cathy; I wish he went to my church.  I’m certain that he and I would agree about a lot and probably disagree about a little. 

But this is what Christians should be doing!  Jesus Christ was always the approachable, loving, non-combative, relationship builder with those who were living lives outside the boundaries that God intended.  They always felt comfortable with Jesus.

Contrast that with this moronic pastor who left no tip for a waitress and then blamed it on God.

What Would Jesus Do?  He would punch this guy in the head and then go buy some Chick-Fil-A. 

Well I’d want him to…

Hats off to Dan Cathy.  Please forgive Pastor Moron. Go be Jesus.

Tim

All Men are Created Equal - Including Those Not Yet Born

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day in America. It's now been 50 years since his famous 'I have a dream speech.'  This is probably the most famous speech in recorded history. He is on my short list of people I can't wait to meet in Heaven. I so admire what he did to move racial equality forward. 

But it struck me yesterday, as I was hearing news reports about King and the speech, that there is a subtle irony in the fact that the day after MLK day (today) is the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision making abortion on demand legal in the U.S.

If you put it all together it doesn’t make sense. Dr. King said, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." 

That is, unless you’re not quite born yet.

In my sermon on Jeremiah last weekend, I had the opportunity to point out one of many scriptures that tell us that God considers a person a person in the womb.

God tells Jeremiah…

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5

This and other Bible verses clearly indicate human life begins at conception, and we are formed in the image of God with a unique purpose.

In the past 40 years, over 55 million babies have been lost to abortion in America.  They were deemed “not equal.”

I don’t stand in judgment if you are reading this today and have made this choice already.  I’m sure my list of sins beats your list any day. You probably realize now it was, as Jeremiah described, a futile drink of bitter water.  Praise God the only thirst-quenching Water of Life, Jesus Christ, crucified our sin and gives us new life. 

But for those of you, who will someday find yourself with an unwanted pregnancy, please don’t buy the lie that it’s just a "blob of tissue," or a "choice."  He or she is a baby.

We want to help you. Someone wants your baby!  We work very closely with Pregnancy Aid South Suburbs (PASS), a pregnancy resource center that will help you, too.  Please choose life. 

The further irony of Dr. King’s speech is that it was delivered, as King states “in the symbolic shadow” of Abraham Lincoln who 100 years earlier had signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves.  Dr. King’s point was that even though it had been 100 years, they still weren’t really free. I guess my point is that after 150 years, we still aren’t all really free.

I ask you to join in praying with me today – for freedom for the unborn.  And I’ll borrow from Martin Luther King to do it.

“Let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi -- from every mountainside.

Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring -- when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, (born and unborn) -- will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" 

Tim

Denial is not just a river in Egypt

In 1 John 1:8 - It says, 'If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.'

It doesn't matter if we're lying to ourselves or just lying to the world to cover up our use of performance-enhancing drugs.It's never going to work out well.

Lance Armstrong did a lot of good to raise funds and awareness for a horrible disease. He was an inspiration to millions. And yet here we are today with another fallen hero. Well, we knew he was fallen years ago, but he’s finally admitting it.

Honestly, I don’t think any of us would have a hard time forgiving him for taking the drugs on his way to coming back from cancer. It may have even been medically prescribed in the beginning. And when Tour De France officials tried to figure out who they could give the titles to after Armstrong was stripped, they quickly realized that probably everyone was doing it – so they gave them to no one. All have sinned…

But he didn’t stop doping. Not after the comeback, or the second win, or the seventh. Why is that?  That’s the problem with denial, and the problem with getting away with sin. It just makes it easier to keep going – until you wake up one day, like Lance, and your life is over.

Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:14-15

If you don’t confess it, or get caught, it’s never going to go away. 

Every time someone admits their sin, God reinstates them and let’s them start over. Even the worst rule breakers in the Old Testament (See Manasseh). He was so bad God allowed the temple to be destroyed while he was King. Yet God still forgave him. (2 Chronicles 33)

So stop swimming in Denial!  Whether you are deceiving yourself or the public – the truth is not in you. And you can’t get forgiven or get better until you get some truth!

It doesn’t matter if your sin is exactly like everyone else’s sin – it is destroying you. 

Admit it.  Own it.  Confess it.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9

Tell God. Tell those around you. Admit to the public if you have to. It’s never going to get better, it can only get worse. Healing can’t begin until you get out of the river and dry off.

Tim

Do You Have a Soul Idol?

I had several people ask me for a copy of the seven questions from Kyle Idleman that I used to help us identify whether we had idols in our lives from last weekend’s service. 

Our problem is that we see all the issues of idolatry in the Bible, and the over 1000 verses about how wrong it is, and as modern Christians we think that out of all of the Ten Commandments, this is the one we know we haven’t broken.

But Martin Luther said you when you break any of the other commandments, it’s really only after you’ve broken 1 and 2.  You can’t lie or kill or steal or any of them, until after you’ve taken God off the throne and put something else on there.

So it’s worth re-examining. Kyle Idleman has a new book coming out called “God’s at War.”  He reinterprets questions posed by an English Puritan preacher from the 1600s named David Clarkson to help us take another look.

1.  What are you most disappointed with right now?  It could be that you are disappointed because you have put too much hope in something besides God.  If God were really on the throne, would it be this big of a deal?

Clarkson says, “For hope is an act of worship—and worship is due only to God. It is His prerogative to be the hope of His people.” (Jeremiah 17:13; Romans 15:13)

2.  What do you sacrifice your time and money for? This one is pretty simple. The Bible says, “Where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is.” Matthew 6:21

If you really want to know who or what you worship, look at how you spend your money and your time. It reveals the gods within our hearts.

3.  What do you worry about? What scares you? What do you think, “If I lost this or if I lost that or “them,” life wouldn’t be worth living?”

 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." Proverbs 3:5

Anything else is idolatry.

4.  Where do you go when you get hurt?  It should be to God but sometimes he seems far away.  So do you turn to a substitute? 

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after—that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." Psalm 27:4

5.  What makes you mad?  

6.  What brings you the most joy?

When you mind yourselves, mind your estates and worldly interests, mind your profits or pleasures more than God—you set these up as idols in the place of God.  Clarkson

God gives every good gift – but it’s easy to worship the gift instead of the giver.

7.  Whose applause do you long for?  Is it the audience of One in heaven?  Or is it the audience of those here on earth?

Now, when we make other things our chief aim or main design, we set them up in the stead of God and make them idols. When our chief design is to be rich, or great, or safe, or famous, or powerful—when our great aim is our own ease, or pleasure, or credit, or profit and advantage—when we aim at, or intend anything more, or anything as much, as the glorifying and enjoying of God—this is soul idolatry.  Clarkson

"Therefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry!" 1 Corinthians 10:14

Tim