Trees are judged by their fruit. The first tree bears the fruit of a Christianity which taught its adherents for decades to become all things to all people, even to the point of absurdity: in this case, dressing as a cartoon character for comic relief and preaching from a children’s movie. The second tree bears the fruit of a Christianity which teaches its adherents to count the cost of discipleship, to joyfully embrace the hard truths of the faith, and to pursue godly masculinity to protect the weak and to slay the dragons in the land.

Two men went viral last week within Christian and conservative social media circles.
The first man was Andy Wood, the lead pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. His virality came after he appeared last Sunday morning alongside his wife and fellow pastrix, Stacie Wood, the former dressed as Woody and the latter dressed as Bo Peep from the Toy Story franchise. Stacie patted her husband on the shoulder and thanked him for “being a very good sport about this,” proving who carried the lasso in the relationship as Andy gazed sheepishly at his audience.
Like many other megachurches across the nation, Saddleback Church is in the midst of a “Summer At the Movies” sermon series, in which the congregation’s pastors exegete blockbuster Hollywood films instead of the authoritative and sufficient Scriptures. Andy Wood fed his flock on Sunday, for example, with the eternal wisdom found in Toy Story 4.
“In terms that make sense only to Forky, Woody helps Forky finally understand his purpose as Bonnie’s toy,” he explained. “No matter how we might feel or see ourselves, God sees us as his invaluable treasure set apart for his amazing purposes.”
The second man was Marcus Schroeder, a member of Mercy Seat Christian Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin. His virality was due to his arrest last Saturday at a public drag queen performance targeted at children, where the young man chose to read the Bible with noise amplification and immediately felt the full force of the law. Video of police officers yanking a microphone out of his hands and marching him away in handcuffs, even as homosexual men twerked for small children only a few dozen yards away, garnered millions of views.
Marcus said in an interview with me at The Republic Sentinel that his arrest was more than worthwhile and would only serve to provoke him and his friends, many of whom likewise faced arrest and detainment, toward further boldness for the gospel.
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God has given us work to do, so we should take pleasure in that work because it is a gift from God.  The abilities and resources that allow us to work come from God just as much as the produce of our work.  Therefore, we should approach the pleasure our work produces with humility and thanksgiving.  We should be even more thankful for God’s blessings through our work when we realize that the ability to enjoy them is itself a gift of God (Ecclesiastes 5:19).

Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.
-King Solomon, Proverbs 21:17, ESV
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
-Jesus Christ, Luke 12:32-34, ESV
It is no mystery that people love pleasure and will go to great lengths to obtain it.  This has always been true, but it is especially evident in our context.  For the past few generations, America has sought pleasure unrestrained.  The insatiable appetite for sexual pleasure has led to a breakdown of the family that has resulted in the slaughter of enough innocent children in the womb to make Hitler blush; the desecration of the institution God created to most vividly reflect Him (marriage) through no-fault divorce, cohabitation, and homosexual “marriage”; and among other things the men’s mental health crisis discussed last time.  But that is not the only pleasure we seek, as we are equally zealous to pursue the pleasure that comes from greatness and fame, luxury and comfort, and a sense of superiority.  This is the goal of the vast majority of what we see on social media.   It is the unending quest for pleasure that not only drives men’s sexual exploits but also leads them to build wonders of the world.  Sadly, the church has been so polluted by the world that this quest for pleasure is often seen in pew and pulpit alike.  As we saw recently, seeking pleasure in greatness and in sexual gratification led to the downfall of Mark Driscoll and Ravi Zacharias respectively.  This means it is vital for Christians to determine the proper place for pleasure and then confine it within those boundaries.  Once we see where the road of unrestrained pleasure leads, we should be properly motivated to restrain and channel it for our ultimate good.
An Inspired Experiment
Where does the road of unrestrained pleasure lead?  It would be tempting to think that our societal obsession with pleasure is novel, but “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9b).  The man that penned those words traveled down the road of unrestrained pleasure to see where it led.  That man was Solomon.  His wisdom guided him to embark on that journey for the purpose of teaching others about it:
I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.”…I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.
-Ecclesiastes 2:1a, 3, ESV
He goes on to describe the various ways he tried to find pleasure, starting with building projects: “I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.  I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees” (Ecclesiastes 2:5).  The most well-known of these building projects was Solomon’s Temple, but Scripture also describes two of his houses.  His palace in Jerusalem was larger than the Temple and took almost twice as long to build (1 Kings 7:1-8).  Its ivory throne was so grand that its existence was doubted by scholars until evidence of it was found recently.  This palace and its contents were so grand that when the Queen of Sheba saw them during her famous visit, they literally took her breath away (1 Kings 10:4-5, 2 Chronicles 9:3-4).  Both the Temple and this palace could be considered wonders of the world.  Scripture also describes Solomon building a palace in Gezer when he married Pharoah’s daughter (2 Chronicles 8:11).  He goes on to describe creating vineyards and parks as a commercial venture and for his enjoyment.  The reference to planting various fruit trees is reminiscent of Eden, suggesting that perhaps through these gardens and parks he was seeking to imitate the pleasure found in the world before sin.  He then talks of grand infrastructure projects: “I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees” (Ecclesiastes 2:6).  He acquired great wealth through business ventures and gained power unparalleled in Israel’s history, expanding Israel’s territory and receiving great honor from all the surrounding nations (Ecclesiastes 2:7-8a).  He also sought pleasure through entertainment and—of course—through nearly limitless sex (Ecclesiastes 2:8b).  You name it, he tried it: “And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil“ (Ecclesiastes 2:10).
But what did he really gain from all that pleasure?  Nothing: “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).   This led to despair: “I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”.” (Ecclesiastes 2:2).  How could such unlimited pleasure lead him to despair?  First, he knew that pleasure couldn’t last.  When he died, his pleasure would necessarily end: “For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:16-17).  Second, he knew that the lasting legacy of all of his great works was very much contingent on how well those after him maintained them:
I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
-Ecclesiastes 2:18-21, ESV
Solomon’s successor was a fool.  Rehoboam foolishly and arrogantly tried to ride the coattails of his father’s success in order to secure his own pleasure and legacy without working for it as Solomon had (1 Kings 12, 2 Chronicles 10).  The result was a rebellion that divided Israel into two kingdoms.  Eventually, all of the wealth Solomon had gathered would be plundered and all of his great works destroyed.  But he also noticed something worse than this: “Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business” (Ecclesiastes 4:7-8).
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Written by A.W. Workman |
Friday, February 17, 2023
A soft tongue can break even hardest bone – or the hardest heart. I am reminded of Jesus’ gentle words to the Samaritan woman in John 4:17-18, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” These gentle words of the Messiah proved extremely powerful – they brought about not only this woman’s repentance, but the awakening of her village also through her.

“You are in my house. You are in my house.”
The words were spoken in a soft voice. The speaker, a silver-haired older man with deep blue eyes, sat just as calm and hospitable as ever in his armchair as he spoke them. But the effect of these words was like a bomb – some kind of vacuum grenade that sucked all the noise out of the room and shut the mouths of a room-full of arguing twenty-somethings.
Well, not all the mouths were shut. Barham’s* mouth was hanging open, cut off in angry mid-sentence. The change coming over him was quite remarkable. His red face was returning to his natural Central Asian olive tone, the deep creases in his forehead were relaxing, and a softness seemed to return to his eyes and even his entire posture.
Somehow, our older host had known just the right words to say to defuse our explosive situation. The words he uttered cut to Barham’s heart, tapping deeply into Central Asian values of honoring the elderly and being a gracious guest. I sat back and exhaled slowly. Our host, pastor Dave*, had once again proven the power of a wise and soft tongue.
Barham, a new believer and a refugee, had moved in with his girlfriend, an American who was also professing to be a new believer. As their friend and community group leader, I had called them to repent and stop living together. When this counsel was rebuffed, we had brought a couple other believers into the situation. This only led to more angry opposition. Finally, we informed them we would be bringing their situation to the whole community group as a step on the way to informing the entire church. Not known to shy away from a fight, Barham and his girlfriend had decided to come to the meeting where we would inform the group in order to defend themselves and to tell us off for our self-righteousness.
In this season our community group was a motley crew of young Bible college students, newlyweds, internationals, and new believers. We were all very young and things were often very messy. We jokingly nicknamed our group Corinth because of the way the Spirit was working powerfully to save and sanctify even as sin messes spilled out on the regular, setting things on fire. This group was where I first cut my teeth in leadership in our sending church, and I was often overwhelmed and very much in over my head.
Wisely, each of the community groups was overseen by one of the elders of the church, who also served as a mentor to the group leader. These pastors would sometimes attend the groups themselves, often rotating between the several they oversaw. Dave was our appointed elder, but every week he was also at our group meetings (perhaps it was clear that we really needed this), though he seldom spoke during the meeting itself. He seemed content to let me do most of the leading, while he and his wife brought a welcome measure of age and gentle wisdom to our very young group.
The day that Barham and his girlfriend showed up to challenge us over step 2.5 of the Matthew 18 discipline process, we were meeting at Dave’s house. This proved to be providential, setting up Dave to remind Barham of this crucial point after the conversation had gotten out of hand. Earlier, I had done my best to handle the awkwardness of Barham and his girlfriend showing up and had also tried hard to be clear, kind, and firm as we responded to their accusations.
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