Under The Authority Of God

In elementary school my father was the police officer who visited the local schools and gave demonstrations to the kids about what a police officer does. He explained gun safety, he taught about the purpose of having a trained police K-9, etc. He would also have a Q&A session with the kids. Most of the questions asked by my classmates were about fighting crime. They asked questions like, "How many bad guys did you catch today?" and "Who are the bad guys?" also "Is it scary being a police officer?" My father loved coming to the schools and I was so proud about having a father who was a police officer. But not only that, he was a real life superhero to me.

I was always the shy and quiet kid who loved playing with his Batman toys, my favorite superhero, by himself. But after word got out on the playground that the police officer was my father I instantly became the most popular kid in school. For a boy who was obsessed with Batman --and pretty much any superhero at the time-- this was huge for me! I started to feel like I had to follow my dads lead and become a crime fighter at my school. Like Spiderman, I said to myself, "With great power comes great responsibility." I knew I had to use my sudden popularity for good to triumph over evil.

The position of my father suddenly gave me the authority to stand up for injustice and for the voiceless in the schoolyard. I would stop bullying and stand up for the quiet kid, because I was once that quiet kid. I would stop kids from taking an extra carton of milk in the lunch line and made sure every game that was played was played fairly. And those kids actually listened to me. They listened because they knew of the authority I had due to the position of my father!

I think you all know where I am going with this, as Christians we have the authority of an almighty, heavenly Father to stand up to injustice. Proverbs 31:8-9 "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy." When God created us he breathed life into our lungs. We are to open our mouths and use that very air that God has given us to speak against evil and injustice.

There are so many injustices in the world today. Pray about what God is calling you to stand up against. God could be calling you to stop bullying, to rise up against abortion, to stop domestic violence, to stand up for battered women, or to be a voice to 27 million voiceless slaves in the world right now. I don't believe Jesus was telling us to be passive when he told us to turn the other cheek (here, Jesus was talking about individuals who are seeking revenge or to punish an other individual. This can be discussed on another blog posting) but he gives us Romans 12:21 "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." We can stand firm under the authority of God to be real life superheros for God's glory by standing up for the voiceless. For Paul wrote Romans 8:31&37, "If God is for us, who can be against us? . . . we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

My Sabbatical by Jonny Herrera

I am getting married! God has shown me undeserving grace in pairing me with Kimberly West! This is why I am taking a sabbatical from ministry duties at LoveCity Church. So that Kimberly and I are able to build a foundation. I am excited! I am excited because of Ephesians 5:31-33 "'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

Paul gives an awesome illustration to couples about what marriage is suppose to be like: Christ and the Church. But that isn't even his full point about marriage that Paul is trying to make. the point is that the relationship between Christ and the Church is eternal and that marriage is not. Our marriage is suppose to be a reflection and pointing upwards to Christ and his gospel. We are to be a parable of the gospel and with us being a parable we have roles to fulfill.

The role of the wife is to portray the church: a church that loves and serves the world and finds the glory that is in Christ. And the mans role is to portray Christ: the mans is to show Christ to the world, a savior that loves and will sacrifice all that he has for the church (Bart Box). I think John Piper puts it best,  "And therefore the highest meaning and the most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and his church on display. That is why marriage exists. If you are married, that is why you are married."

This is why I am excited to take this sabbatical. Because I don't want to make little of the meaning of my upcoming marriage with Kim. I don't want my worldly emotional or romantic love to be the core of my relationship with Kim. By doing that i am saying that my lustful drive for Kim is greater than my love for God. My marriage will be a reflection of the gospel. A reflection of Gods holiness and grace. This will be the foundation to our marriage: a reflection of the greatest love story of all-time: Jesus.