Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Ministry is a humbling experience when you keep your eyes open, and it can be a prideful one when you are blinded. Some days I can feel like I'm all alone and I'm the only one that feels or sees something, and other days I realize that I have done nothing on my own and am only standing where I am because of so many others who walked faithfully before me.

The other night my wife and I were out doing Lovebags, which essentially is a ministry that builds relationships with the homeless through providing for basic needs and sharing Christ in the process. I got out of my car to park it downtown, and as I walked to the parking meter (about 50 ft away), a homeless gentleman I had never seen before came up to me asking for money for food.

As always, I declined to give him cash, but I did offer to give him some food. Chrissy was back in the car getting everything together, and we walked back towards her. The man, who was stumbling drunk, had enough of his wits about him to say to us, "You guys are from that Calvary church, aren't you?"

At that very moment, I realized something. The faithfulness of others had been there long before we had! I hadn't said anything more to him than the fact that we had food in our car to give him. No talk about Jesus, jobs, or anything else. But those who walked before us and had been faithful in representing Jesus to him? The testimony of their faithfulness and the seeds they planted were in this man, bearing witness to Jesus and the church that was ministering in His name.

Chrissy and I weren't the first to share hope and love to this man. We were standing on the shoulders of others.

In the same way, you and I aren't the first to struggle and wrestle with how to live our lives for God. We aren't the first to be tempted to be selfish, the first to go through an economic depression, or the first to walk through a trial. Others have gone before, and some have carried the torch well.

Scripture reminds us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses as we run this race. I truly believe some of those witnesses are watching because they still have seeds that they planted and are hoping that we will continue to water them with our obedience to Christ. As they watch, I hope we are found faithful to obey and follow all of Christ's commands.

We are not alone. We are standing on the shoulders of giants.

30,000 Kids a Day, times 2 = ?

Christians for a long time have defined themselves by what they do not do. For many evangelicals this means that they have come out of a church background that reminds them that they aren’t to drink, smoke, gamble, sleep around, etc. But more often than not, the church has been so busy telling them what they shouldn’t be doing that they haven’t also emphasized those things that they should be acting out.

It comes down to the biblical teaching on sin. There traditionally have been considered two types of sin by theologians throughout church history-sins of commission (acts that go against God’s character) and sins of omission (not acting in a situation where God’s Word would have us act).

For many believers, it’s easy to make sure that we aren’t doing (committing) those things that are sinful. But it makes people uncomfortable to talk to them about the parts of the gospel that they aren’t doing (omitting). No one wants to hear about the things that they aren’t doing well-we all want to hear about the stuff that we have already mastered.

When a church has traditionally been strong on points of righteousness and truth, they have been emphasizing the biblical commandments against commission of sin. Most think of fundamentals and evangelicals in this category, who choose to enter the public and political arena to debate morality in areas of abortion and homosexuality. Like William Wilberforce, who chose to use his life fighting to outlaw slavery, these believers are doing battle to stop the commission of sin in our country.

When a church has traditionally been strong on points of justice and mercy, they have been emphasizing the biblical ideals of acting in a positive way as Christ would in a situation-not omitting the act of love, mercy or justice (yes, this should also include confrontation of sin). Most think of liberals and progressives in this category, main-line churches and denominations that try to do good deeds in the name of Jesus. Like Mother Teresa, who chose to give her life in loving the poor and oppressed in Calcutta, these believers are passionate about the acts that believers should be living out.

This is the testing ground for churches as we move deeper into the 21st century. The question isn’t if your church is cool enough, trendy enough, or if it has great music and media. The question has now become, can you balance the two? Can you be just as concerned about the poor and oppressed as you are about the unborn and the gays? Can you be just as concerned about living a holy life as you are about the AIDS victims in Africa? Because in the end, it isn’t an either/or issue. It’s a both/and issue.

30,000 kids are dying each day from starvation-a completely preventable problem. And 30,000 kids are being aborted on average every day worldwide-a completely preventable problem. And because we are believers who value life-both of these statistics should hurt our heart because of the sanctity of life. Unfortunately, most churches have chosen only one of these problems to care about while ignoring the other. I hope that you will see the injustice in both-the results of the sins of commission and omission.

The Information Age

If we would take a moment to look around, we would see that we are in the middle of a period in history where information is being gathered, traded, and esteemed above almost everything else. We consume information at an incredible pace, almost at the point where our comprehension is at an all-time low.

Newspapers, radio, television, Google, Myspace, internet news sites. All places that are dealers of the new drug called ‘information.’ And my fear is that the church has also joined their ranks.

We laud the person who has memorized the longest chapter in the Bible, and ignore the one who is daily carrying their cross and following their Savior. We award those who can recite the 66 books of the Bible in order yet forget the ones who have embraced humility and crucified their pride.

An information overload in the church? It’s the newest sermon series or the newest book from our favorite author. And may I say, it’s the new blog post. These things aren’t bad at all. It’s simply more information about the same message. It would be easy (and hypocritical) to claim that we don’t need more books, blogs or sermons. But the truth is, we need more people to follow the Scriptures that have been taught and revealed for centuries. G.K. Chesterson was right when he wrote “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”

I’m concerned that we have simply substituted knowing about something or someone with actual relationship. You can take someone who knows all your favorite things, what you think, what you like, and where you hang out. Inside of a great relationship where there are conversations and time spent together we call that person a best friend. But if that knowledge is gained outside of a relationship we call that person a stalker.

And I’m afraid that many of us are turning into God-stalkers. Doing, serving, attending, learning and knowing. These aren’t bad, but without a relationship they are meaningless. Relationships are two way streets that involve both people getting to know each other and that includes shared memories and inside jokes.

This is the crossroads we discover in Luke 13. Jesus is teaching about the narrow way and He teaches us that when the Master closes the door so that no one else may enter, those who are knocking are claiming that they have eaten in His presence and listened to His teachings. And His answer is one of the more sober phrases in the Gospels-

“I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity. (Luke 13:27)”

Did you notice that the question isn’t how well we know Him? His gauge is how well He knows us, which can only be measured by time spent together. And in the information age, time is a precious commodity because we spend most of our time consuming information. And we follow a Savior that in His omniscience knows all the information that ever has existed, yet values a relationship with us above all else.

Will we do the same and value our relationship with Him above all else? Can He say that He knows us?