Paradox?

Why would we name a church Paradox? Well, in case you didn’t know, a paradox is a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement that is actually true. I see them everywhere in the Bible and they are not contradictions that i have to defend, they are conundrums that I have to face. Most of these paradoxes bristle against our selfish desires and they all seek to give God the glory. Let me give you some examples and you can decide for yourself if these paradoxes are worth devoting our lives to. In fact, even the desire to look at these paradoxes is somewhat of a paradox. We ourselves are paradoxes as we live in this world even while our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20)

If you want to live… then you must lose your life!

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)

If you want to be strong… then boast about your weaknesses!

“Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me… for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2nd Corinthians 12:9-10)

If you want to be rich… then become poor in spirit.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)

If you want to be first… then be last (a servant of all).

And sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.” Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. (Mark 9:35; 10:44)

If you want to be exalted… then humble yourself.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time (1st Peter 5:6)

If you want to be great… then be the least (like a servant or a child)

“Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is LEAST among all of you, this is the one who is GREAT.” (Luke 9:48) “But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant.” (Mark 10:43) “Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:4)

If you want to be fruitful… then you must die.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24).

A few more…

• We become rich through Christ’s poverty (2 Corinthians 8:9)
• We see the unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18)
• We conquer by yielding (Romans 6:16-18)
• We find rest by taking His yoke (Matthew 11:28-30)
• We reign by serving (Mark 10:42-44)
• We are made great by becoming little (Luke 9:48)
• We become wise by being fools for Christ’s sake (1 Corinthians 1:20-21)
• We find victory by glorying in our infirmities (2 Corinthians 12:5)

However the ultimate paradox is…

To live is Christ, to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)

Before we became followers of Christ, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but after salvation, we are alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5) and dead to sin (Romans 6:11). Now Christ is our life (Colossians 3:4) and death has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55). Death is actually now gain because death means more of Christ, and he’s better than anything this life has to offer.

We also see this paradox in our daily growth in Christ-likeness. In Philippians 2:12-13 Paul charges us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” Then he explains how that is even possible, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” We are constantly leaning on his strength to carry us along in our weakness and working, not to prove ourselves worthy, but to she how infinitely worthy he is. So we revel in the paradoxes of the Christian faith because in them we find life!

The Hammer of Reform

There is a holiday every year that sends reformed hipsters into fits of delight. It is an excuse to pull out the German beer, potato salad, and sausage. It is no happy accident that what has become known as Reformation Day shares a day with All Hallows Eve, better known as Halloween. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a German monk and teacher in Wittenburg, Germany, famously nailed his 95 Theses for debate to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg.

This wasn’t done on a whim. Luther had been preaching against the increasing corruption of the Church since he visited Rome in 1511. There he saw the lavish spending of Pope Leo X, the absurdity of relic worship, and the selling of pardons of sin or indulgences. There is a famous line attributed to one of these indulgence peddlers, Johann Tetzel, who was active in Germany around Luther’s congregation, “As soon as the coin in the coffer does ring, the soul from purgatory does spring.”

Is it just me or does this statue of Martin Luther bear a striking resemblance to Jack Black?

Luther was concerned for the spiritual wellness of the sheep that had been entrusted to his care. He wrote the 95 Theses as an outline of some of the issues that he saw. He posted them on the church door on October 31st because the next day is a high church holiday, All Saints Day, and many would be present. He wished to have open debate about these issues, and even spoke with regard to the papacy, blaming these missteps on ignorance. Number 50 of the 95 Theses says, “Christians are to be taught that if the Pope knew the exactions of the indulgence preachers, he would rather that the Basilica of St. Peter were burned to ashes than built up with the skin, flesh, and bones of his sheep.”

It should be made clear that Luther never intended to start a new division of Christianity. His heart was for the faithful unity of the church under the head of Christ. However, he realized that his first and most important allegiance must be to God not a pope, and that God’s word is the only infallible source of revelation about God. Also, Luther was not alone in his condemnation of these practices, but he was one of the first to take a stand against the most powerful man in all of Christendom and to speak truth to power.

While in hiding, Luther turned his attention to the translation of the Bible into the common tongue. The most widely used Bible during those days was the Latin Vulgate translated by Jerome in the late 4th century. The problem was that there were only a handful of people in each town that speak or read (much less understand) Latin. Luther believed that this was one of the root causes that enabled the Catholic church to wield so much power. He dedicated himself to translating the New Testament from Latin into German and completed the task in under 3 months!

Notice you don’t see “Here I am. I can do no other.” It’s possible they are genuine, but for almost a half century now, most scholars have believed they were probably not spoken by Luther.

Reform was in the air and sadly they were outbreaks of violence in the name of reform and to quench it. This saddened Luther and he did all that he could to promote peaceful reform amongst his followers until his death in 1546. Luther and his supporters were not the only ones to break away from the Catholic Church. In 1534, King Henry VIII declared his independence from the Pope and created the Church of England, naming himself as its spiritual and political leader. This was obviously for a much less theological reason as the church would not endorse the annulment of his marriage. Side note: The story of Sir Thomas More and his dedication to his faith in the face of King Henry VIII is the subject of one of my absolute favorite movies, A Man For All Seasons.

In Switzerland Ulrich Zwingli (Around 1522) and John Calvin (Around 1533), launched their own religious reform movements. In the Netherlands during the late 1520s, Menno Simons was a Catholic Priest that began preaching against the teachings and practices of the church. As a result, by the end of the 16th century, as much as one third of western Europe was no longer Catholic. The sad fact of the reformation was that all of these reformers lacked the strength to stand with other reformers despite some disagreement. The result was the fracturing of the church. Even the Catholic church had its own internal reformation cleaning up some of their more erroneous teachings and practices.

I struggle with this separation because I have the desire to see the body of Christ unified, but in another sense I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached farther and wider by this explosion of movements, teachings, and churches than it probably would have been if everyone was in agreement. For that I am thankful, and I hope that all who fall on the mercy of God for salvation found only in Jesus by grace through faith will unite in completing the work of the great commission to take this good news to the ends of the Earth. That is not only in closed countries in Africa or the Middle East but even just across the street to your neighbor.

So as those kids come around and ring your doorbell this week looking for some treats, use that as an opportunity to get to know your neighbors and hopefully start having some gospel conversations. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or on any of our social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

The Journey Begins

A house church in the little town of Williston, Florida? That’s right, we believe that God is calling us to start another church in a town that already seems full of them. What led us to this point?

I’m Logan Mauldin, the guy that usually does most of the talking during the Bible Study part of things. I graduated from the Baptist College of Florida with my Bachelors in Theology and have served in various ways in several churches over the last 15 years. I’ve been a youth leader, an associate pastor, a music minister, a small group leader and more. During the financial crisis, I left full-time vocational ministry behind and went into the professional world. However, I have always had the desire to teach the Bible and to lead others to find true and lasting joy in the good news of Jesus Christ.

That is how we come to Paradox Church. We see all of the Christian life as a beautiful paradox. We believe that the one who wishes to gain his life must lose it, that God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and that the all-powerful God of the universe came close to us by being born as a baby. Not only was he born, but this Son of God lived a sinless life and God sent him to die on the cross, not for any crimes that he has done, but for you. At the cross, Jesus made possible an remarkable exchange in which he takes away all our sin and we receive his perfection.

This exchange is the greatest treasure in the universe. It opens up a relationship with our creator and enables us to truly love others. The real paradox is that this treasure is nothing that we can purchase or earn. We can’t do anything to deserve it. It is freely given by God as a gift.

You might have grown up in church or maybe you only mention God in swear words. Without Christ, we all stand before the Holy God completely bankrupt. You may call yourself an atheist or maybe you say you’re a Christian but you don’t even remember what that’s supposed to look like. God’s grace is available to you.

Come if you have been burned or scarred by a church before, Jesus is ready to heal those wounds. Come if you have never felt like you belonged, there is a place for anyone who will come at the foot of the cross. Come if you are tired of working to gain God’s favor, you can’t do it. But the amazing news is that Jesus already did it for you. Come and find satisfaction for your soul in Jesus.