The Facebook Files
America is currently absorbed with discussions over media, and social media in particular, as the bombshell series of articles dubbed “The Facebook Files” have brought a simmering problem to a boil. Understandable displeasure is currently being voiced in school board meetings, through church sermons, in corporate boardrooms, and on the floor of the US Senate. The Wall Street Journal recently devoted an entire “Review” to the problems of social media, including headlines like: Slow It Down and Make It Smaller; No More Blind Trust in Big Tech; Government Control of Speech? No Thanks; and Too Much Power In Too Few Hands.

Whatever happens with social media – whether expansion, regulation, or disintegration – Christians should remember to use whatever tools the Lord has placed before us. Without facilitating sin, we are called to use whatever is at hand to share the good news of Christ and help each other grow up in Him. This is true for all earthly tools including publishing, music, and even social media.

For example, this week I received a great letter from a man in India who pastors ten churches. His work sounds somewhat akin to the circuit-riding preachers who played such a large role in the 19^th c. American Southwest. In his letter, our brother specifically noted the way God uses a social media platform in their growth:

“We hold Bible Town on Sunday nights. We invite people from the ten churches in our area, and many gather to study with Frisco Bible Church through Facebook. Today, our hearts were all strengthened. Thank you!”

Friends, let us not grow weary in doing good and using everything we find for the sake of the gospel.

God bless,
Wayne

Confusion from a confused age
Commenting on hilarious, if tragic, linguistic gymnastics in President Biden’s spending bill – which, to avoid the word “women,” numerous times refers to “pregnant, lactating, and postpartum individuals” – Jennifer Marshall Patterson notes:

Transgender ideology plays on superficial gender stereotypes. Gender transitioning involves assuming the appearance and demeanor of the opposite sex. That reduces what it means to be a woman [or man] to surface-level features. At the same time, transgender theory would erase social recognition of the most profound biological distinction of women: the capacity to conceive and bear children. – Jennifer Marshall Patterson, “Speaking the Truth About Women” in World Opinion

In an age where the most powerful person on the planet can’t use the term “woman,” it’s no surprise that I receive letters like this one from a Middle School boy:

Pastor Wayne, I am seeing a lot of young teens start claiming they are bisexual, is this a sin or not, is it a bad thing or not? I believe that we should love all men and women and we should give our honest opinions. Can’t I think a man is handsome, but not want to marry the man? Is that against any Bible rules? In my opinion, my buddy is handsome and deserves the right girl for him, but some guys say that even thinking that is sin. I am confused and needing some elderly guidance.

I replied:

I know your church youth leaders will have great insights on this and encourage you to talk with them as well. Here’s my 2 cents:

• Your thinking is in good shape. Historically, noting handsomeness was not a problem. Thomas Jefferson wrote of George Washington, “He has a fine figure, and strong calves fill his stockings.” No one thought TJ was in any way homo-erotic (his sins ran decidedly the other direction), but knew he was appreciating manliness.
• The current hysteria is tragic for two reasons: 1) it leads many young people to stop thinking of sin as sin and 2) it causes genuine same-sex appreciation to look perverted when it is not. Abigail Shrier has a good book on this from the female perspective, and I recommend it.

T.S. Eliot wrote that when meanings are being warped it is very important to defiantly speak truth. Keep appreciating handsome dudes like yourself. And keep calling homosexual behavior what it is – sin.

God bless,
Wayne

Joy of growing with children
These two notes arrived in the past 24 hours and reminded me to again praise God for His word that blesses even the very young. We get many precious notes from adults around the world, but there is something dear about helping kids grow up strong in our own backyard. For all who support this work in prayer and giving, thank you for your partnership in the Lord so that we might make a difference with the child-like.

[From Flint Tx] Most Tuesdays as we drive to the kids’ co-op they beg to see if you’re on the radio. We usually catch about 10 minutes of one of your sermons. Today you were talking about the difference between childishness and child-like behavior! You had them laughing so hard!! Thought you’d get a kick out of picturing my elementary-age kids having a knee slapping time in the car on the way to school 😆

[From Plano Tx] Husband told me that [almost 4 year-old] asked to watch church this morning and he went through 3 of Wayne’s sermons before losing interest 😅

God bless,
Wayne

Wonder
On our podcast and broadcast, we have begun a series on the power of wonder! Originally a theological term for God, the idea of wonder has become badly reduced. In this study we train ourselves to recapture the power of awe. Living in the wonder of God really does make all the difference, and our team is praying you and I increasingly live in wonder.

To assist with that, we have included below my preparation notes for the series.

God bless,
Wayne

Theme of the study: Reverence and awe are required for a life well lived. In fact, scripture unequivocally declares that reverence for the wonderfulness of God is necessary to fulfill our earthly mission. Therefore, God graciously invites us to join Him in a life of wonder.

Statements of the theme: Hebrews 12²⁸ Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire. ^CSB

Thankfulness for God’s grace and mercy empowers us with reverence and awe. The responses pointed out in Hebrews 12:28 – reverence and awe – are prerequisites for serving God acceptably. The words are telling, as each is rare in NT usage. εὐλαβείας eulabeias [reverence] is a favorite of Aristotle’s. It is often translated “circumspect,” “cautious,” or “conscientious.” The idea is that one acts differently because one is wowed by majesty. δέους deous [awe] is originally a term for fetters, used most often of prisoners of war. It appears to have become synonymous for that frozen feeling one has when viewing something magnificent or shocking. – WB

Standing still, in awe, wonder and appreciation, I am humbled by the wonder of the wind of His lovely Spirit who has moved upon my spirit and will all these years. What noble hope He gives to us who walk with Him! – W. Phillip Keller, Wonder o’ the Wind, 243.

Breakdown of the theme:

• The command to wonder moves us beyond self & the temporal.
• The wonder of God moves us into right relation with God & builds that relationship.
• The wonder of the world & word guides to deeper understanding.
• The wonder of the church & its calling elicits a whole new way of living.

Premise: People greatly struggle to enjoy the power of wonder. In our modern pretense of maturity, being full of wonder seems naïve or even foolish. We pretend to understand things that we do not. We refuse to research and learn with childlike joy, settling for media headlines instead. Worst of all, we separate the God of wonders from His creation, dividing truth into a false dichotomy of objective and spiritual. This renders us incapable of enjoying the wonder in created objects and unappreciative of the objective nature of spiritual realities. In summary, without wonder we cannot walk by the Spirit; we are reduced to reliance upon our flesh.

The solution is for us to re-engage with the fullness of awe that first brought us to a relationship with God through Jesus. By nurturing our sense of wonder, we get back on the path of growth God prepares for us. Such is the idea in Paul’s excoriation of the Galatian Christians in Galatians 3: ³ Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh? ⁴ Did you experience so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing? ⁵ So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard —⁶ just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness? [Gen 15] ^CSB

Statement of the premise: Luke 18¹⁷ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” ^CSB

Don’t you realize how many questions children ask? Jesus is calling us to wonder. – Francis Schaeffer in a discussion at L’Abri, 1986

Son, I have never gotten over the wonder that God loves me – an idiotic wretch like me. I pray you never get over it either. – Dr. Sumner Wemp to Wayne Braudrick

Objective: That we learn and practice the power of awe.

Statement of the objective: – Habakkuk 1
⁵ “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.” ^ESV

Malachi 2 ⁵ “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him [Levi]; it called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. ⁶ True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity and turned many from iniquity.” ^CSB

Kepler spoke gratefully of the minor mismatch in Mars’ orbit as a “gift from God” because it spurred his greatest scientific breakthrough. The chief aim of science, he said, is “to discover the rational order and harmony which has been imposed on it by God.” – Morris Kline, Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty, 34 [quoted in Pearcey, 126]

ἀγάπη Agape
Translated “love” in English, agape is a very significant Greek word, especially for understanding the Bible. Agape is purposeful, other-centered, unconditional, self-sacrificial love. It helps to compare agape with the other 3 koine Greek terms for love:

• Eros = passionate love; sensual desire.
• Storge = natural, familial affection.
• Philia = loyal, brotherly friendship love.
• Agape = purposeful, other-centered, unconditional, self-sacrificial love.

As C.S. Lewis observed in his book The Four Loves, the other 3 types of love are affected by circumstances. Scared people who live in a terrifying world can’t just conjure up eros. Sometimes your philadelphia pals are the ones who stab you in the back. Even storge gets strained when life is hard, and families can fall apart.

But agape is different. It is an unconditional choice. It is purposeful. It doesn’t worry about self because it’s other-centered and self-sacrificial. Agape is unconditional, so the environmental situation doesn’t matter.

Māori
A member of our church recently sent me a great note on agape:

A friend of mine, Jonathan Dove, pastors a church in Auckland, New Zealand. In their services they often use Māori words during their music and sermons. Recently, you talked about agape love, which clicked a memory of a Māori phrase that I think describes agape love perfectly. In Māori it is Kia aroha noa (key-ah ah-row-ah no-ah) which translates “love without limits.”

Let there be no limits to our love. Amen.

God bless,
Wayne

The photo above was taken by 1^st Lieutenant Edwin Anderson, who grew up in the church where I serve. It was published in Task & Purpose as the header for Captain Charlie Anderson’s (no relation) story about the evacuation of Kabul, “How a Few Good ‘Bastards’ [their unit nickname since WWII] from the Army National Guard Helped Secure Kabul Airport.” I recommend the entire long article, and especially found this paragraph blessing my soul:

It was a humbling two weeks. Humbling because all that had been worked for, all the blood that had been shed, seemed in vain. That’s what news articles and social media pundits were saying back home. But as G.K. Chesterton once wrote, hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless, or else it is no virtue at all. Somehow, we all experienced hope, that thing with feathers that perches in the soul, that sings without the words, and never stops at all.

I hear a great deal of hopelessness these days. The feeling is understandable, yet tragically flawed. Even in a fallen world full of evil and heartbreak, there is hope. Do what those National Guardsmen did at Hamid Kharzai airport – put your trust in the Lord and let your heart be courageous.

God bless,
Wayne