Vision-Part One

1. eyesight: the ability to see
2. mental picture: an image or concept in the imagination

When I was in high school, I had to spend a lot of time running. Whether it was on the soccer field or in conditioning drills for basketball, it seemed like I was always running. My dad was a state champion track athlete in high school, and he told me something that I’ll always remember-keep your head up and your eyes forward when you run. Seems simple, doesn’t it? When you keep your head up and your eyes forward, you see your destination. You can picture the end, and you can make adjustments as you chase the goal.

My nephew learned to run with his head down when he was young, and when I saw him run, I realized the wisdom of my dad’s advice. My nephew thought that he could just put his head down and plow through anything-hoping that as long as he kept running he would eventually get to his destination (usually first base). After a couple of collisions and missing the base a time or two, he started to learn to run with his head up and his eyes on the prize.

Often we can do worship ministry without vision, sort of like my nephew running hard. The problem is that when we do that, a lot of energy is expended but we don’t hit our goal. Consider these questions:

What is your vision right now?
Has God given you that vision, or are you copying someone else’s vision?
Do you have smaller steps in place to run towards that final vision?
What are your 1 year, 3 year and 5 year goals for yourself and your ministry?
Have you talked to your pastor about your vision?

My hope is that God has or will birth in your heart a vision for your community-a picture that is so vivid in your imagination that you can’t help but chase after God’s plan for you!

Waiting and Watching

Blogging.....wow. It's been hard to do this year-not for a lack of ideas or material, but because everything on my heart centralizes around what's been happening in my life these past few months.

Whether it's been saying goodbye to my grandpa or getting ready to meet my son Jadon and becoming a daddy, everything seems to go back to those two things. These are the defining moments and events in my life.

Lately, I've been wondering a lot about Jadon and what he'll look like. He has no idea what's in store, and I can't even begin to describe what life will be like for him. How do you tell a baby in the womb what it's like to fall in love, how his first kiss will feel, or even the excitement of winning a basketball game or graduating from high school?

I don't think I can tell him in terms he'll understand. I think he'll just have to experience it for himself. And as much as I can try to describe these events to him, and prepare him for those moments, he still won't understand until he walks that path and discovers them on his own.

This week I was getting his room ready-painting, hanging stuff on the walls, arranging the furniture. And it made me think a lot of my grandpa, who's in heaven right now. It may sound odd that a nursery made me think about heaven, but here's where my mind went...

Jesus promised us that He was going to go prepare a place for us. In the same way that I'm preparing Jadon's nursery, He's getting our room ready, so that one day we can be where He is. And like a baby in the womb doesn't understand what's waiting for them after they are born, we have no idea what God has in store for us in heaven. There really aren't even words in our vocabulary to describe what my grandpa is experiencing and doing right now! It's something we know we'll have discover and experience to understand.

All I know is that I can't wait to be with my son, and that I already love him like crazy, even if he doesn't know that I love him yet. And I know that God's love for His kids is infinitely greater than what I'm experiencing in my heart these 9 months. This journey is going to teach me so much about my Heavenly Father-I can't wait!

Turning green, are we?

So often we see the effect and spend most of our time combating the symptom rather than the cause.  If we have pain, we say we need asprin.  If we are broke, we think we simply need to make more money.  If we are overweight, we need a pill to be invented to block the fat on the food we eat.

What if instead of fixing the byproduct, we instead addressed the root of the symptom?  What should actually happen when we have pain?  We need to fix the broken ankle that's causing it instead of covering it up with asprin temporarily.  If we are broke, we need to stop spending money on video games, cell phone bills and coffee shops instead of simply getting more work.  If we are overweight, most of us should begin to eat differently or exercise more often instead of hoping for a pill to fix the symptom.

You see, no matter what you do in response to the problem, if the action or attitude that caused the symptom never changes, the symptom will always return.

Today?

Bailouts, money, stuff.  These are the topics of politicians in Washington, anchors on the 6 pm news, employees at water coolers, and moms at soccer games.

Our problems are mostly symptoms.  We have been living in sin for far too long and because of that sin, our present lifestyles are impossible to maintain.

This sin is not isolated to a movement or religion.  For believers in the way of Christ, it's a problem of the emergent church and the mainline denominations, the megachurch and the little chapel down the road.  It's time we were honest with ourselves and each other and confronted this sin that hounds us at every turn.

Sin? You're saying that this can't be the result of sin, right?

I would submit that it is.  There is a sin that has put us in the economic crisis we find ourselves in today. This is the sin that makes us always want that next thing, that nicer outfit, the newer car.  It's the sin that made us buy the house we really couldn't afford, and the car that we shouldn't be driving.  It's the one that makes us justify the $400 cell phone with the $100+ bill every month.

And until we address the sin issue, we will continue to build an economy that only works if we keep consuming stuff.  One that only works if we constantly want new clothes, new computers, new......

You get the point.

And now what happens when we all get nervous and cut back on our spending?  Well, people that manufacture the stuff we buy now don't have anyone to consume it.  People lose their jobs-unable to pay their bills, they foreclose on the homes.  And instead of having savings for the rough times, we find ourselves with closets full of stuff.  With storage units, garages and attics full of stuff.  It's hard to get rid of your old stuff. Mostly because everyone likes new stuff.  It has that smell, you know.

And when it comes to having a bunch of stuff, this time around, everyone got in on the game-Christians and non-Christians alike.

We all wanted to buy more stuff. Not just iPhones and new clothes. Some tried to make a quick buck on a preconstruction investment property that now they can't unload.   Some took out equity lines on their home to pay off credit cards that had balances from buying stuff.  Others?  You can probably list a few examples that I haven't mentioned.

This sin has a simple name.  Greed.  And what happens when the church struggles with greed?  What happens when believers think it's ok to do what the good ol' King James Version calls coveting?  What happens when we forget to be salt and light to a bland and dark world?

This.

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.

The Gospel

If I asked you to give me your description of the Gospel, what would you say it is?

Post your answer in a comment, and let's discuss!

Pro-life

Strangely enough, the two most divisive issues, religion and politics, have been colliding recently in our churches and in our newspapers. Here are a few thoughts regarding one of the issues that Christian voters have rallied around in recent years-the term "pro-life."

What does it mean to be for life? Where does it begin, and where does it end? Where is that principle of morality rooted, and how does it shape not only our worldview, philosophy and politics, but also our actions?

Many limit the issue of pro-life to abortion rights or the removal of those rights. As a Christian, it’s simple to look at scripture and see the commandment of not killing-and applying that to an unborn baby. What’s not simple, however, is to take a more comprehensive attitude towards being pro-life: from the womb to the tomb.

Being pro-life affects not only the beginning of life and abortion, but also end of life issues like euthanasia. But what about the many decades of life from birth until the grave? We shouldn’t only be concerned about issues of life when it comes to the beginning and end, but also during the proverbial “dash” in between those two dates.

During the dash, our concern for life should encompass how we see poverty, not only at home but also internationally. It should shape our view of medical care, not only in America, but throughout the world. It should affect our concern for those still enslaved-some by the sex trade, and some by economic policy and unfair trade laws.

For if we say that we are pro-life, we are then bound to carry that principle out to the nth degree. The truth is that we are called to obey more than just one of the 613 commandments found in the Old Testament. Life encompasses more than the taking of it. Life is about what you do and say as you live it. And this is the challenge we are facing as those who bear the name of Christ. For the greatest commandments were to love God with all we have and all we are, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Our philosophy must not be limited to our views on abortion and the sanctity of marriage. Yes, those must be included, for the breakdown of the family leads to the breakdown of society. But we must not be deceived into thinking that a vote for a candidate equals a political change. Nor should we think that if we elect “our” candidate into office, any office, that then we are absolved of personal responsibility to affect change.

No politician can truly love the mother of an unwanted child during her pregnacy. No politician will sit and care for the poor and diseased. No politician will visit those in the hospital or nursing homes to pray with and listen to those who are dying. But Christ will. And He does-but he also expects us to do the same. He expects us not only vote on His Word, but live it out in action during the 2 or 4 or 6 years between elections.

I believe there is a reason that Jesus didn’t call for change in Rome. He expected change to start with us. He didn’t run to the seat of the government and call for legislation to shift morality, he called for us to follow Him. No amount of law from government can return a nation to God-it must begin in our hearts with humility, not with speeches and committees in the halls of power.

Regardless of your vote this year, remember that these principles you are willing to argue and fight over should not only dictate your vote in the booth, but your life throughout the next year or two. Don’t find yourself in the position of arguing for a philosophy that you aren’t willing to live out.

If you want to see the end of abortion, please volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center. If you want to see restoration of broken homes, become a foster parent or a marriage counselor at your church. If you want to battle the pains of poverty, help feed or clothe someone. If you want to see better healthcare happen, volunteer at a local free clinic.

Simply put, let’s become doers of the word, and not voters only. For James says if we only listen but don’t do, we are lying to ourselves. If we stand for truth, let us live it out in love, and let the world see what Jesus looks like in action.

Politics and Impressions

I normally stay away from politics on my blog, but I watched most of the opening of the Democratic National Convention, as well as the forum at Saddleback a couple weeks ago. From what I've studied and read about the candidates, here are my impressions.

1. Politics are more about painting the candidates (and their wives/husbands and children) in a certain light than it is about substance.

The reason I say that is because so often the politicians are polling people so they know what to think. I understand that they are to represent their constituents, but we all hope to nominate someone with backbone and a strong character that we can trust. Most of the time it seems that when they do speak their own mind, then they have to clarify, follow-up, or salvage something from the inevitable media backlash (see McCain's comment on how many homes he owns, or Michelle Obama's comment on her finally being proud of her country).

And sometimes it just seems like it's a big production designed to evoke a response. At times tonight I felt so awkward watching the DNC, not because I don't like them, but because it was such a forced show. Almost everything seemed to be staged-it was like watching a play put on by middle schoolers where they were trying to say their lines, but it wasn't believable. *Sigh*

2. People on both sides of the partisan split are hypocrites.

The Moral Majority/Religious Right spent countless thousands of dollars making sure everyone knew of Bill Clinton's womanizing. But you don't hear hardly a peep from them when it comes to John McCain cheating on his first wife with his present-wife. One month after their divorce, he married Cindy.

And the Democrats for years have stayed away from religion, preferring not to mix faith and politics. Now they are recruiting every young and popular evangelical to take part in their party-and for what purpose? From Shane Claiborne to Cameron Strang, Donald Miller and more, what used to be labeled by the media as extremism (standing up for your religious faith and beliefs) in the Republican party is now acceptable in the Democratic party. As for me, I'm glad that there are Christians in the Democratic party in prominent positions-I just wish they were invited for reasons other than political purposes (they need more votes).

3. I think most people who don't look into the backgrounds of each candidate will end up voting for the person that they would like to be their friend.

I truly believe the general public will tend to pull for the one who they would like to have coffee or play a round of golf with. For them, the election will be based on how winsome the candidate's personality is, instead of the substance of their character. This is just a sad truth of the world we live in. People will spend more time on their email, Myspace, Facebook or Youtube entertaining themselves instead of using this massive wealth of information available to better themselves and their country. Or maybe posting blogs like me....

In all honesty, every government is less than ideal. This is another reason why we long for change, and we long for a leader we can place hope in. Ours is a system where we have to choose between flawed sinful candidates to lead all of us sinful citizens. This is why we all secretly long for another kingdom on this earth. A kingdom where our leader will be trustworthy, loving, just, fair, and true. (Note: this won't happen at the Republican Convention either). It's the Kingdom of God, and all creation groans in anticipation, eagerly awaiting the day it arrives. And the leader will be our King, Jesus Christ.

Safety Drill

There’s something in our culture that has been ingrained in every American, and it’s the belief that we have a God-given right to security and safety. This is the right that leads us to fight wars on terror and imprison people that want to hurt us.

This is a mentality of a nation, but not of Christ and His teachings. Somehow the two have become mixed in a way that makes Christians think that safety and security is a core fundamental of our faith. What is it in us that declares that Jesus wants us to be safe? Why do we try to mix safety with the gospel?

Something is missing when we claim to believe in a man who was crucified for His teachings but we don’t want to feel unsafe. Something is missing when we claim to believe to be one of His disciples, but we don’t want to live the same life or die the same death that they did. Something is missing when Jesus declared the lack of safety and lack of comforts of His gospel, but yet we still try to have both.

We think of safety when we think of placing our trust in situations and goods that we feel we can believe in. Air bags, front doors, alarm systems, guns……all ways to make us feel safe. Safety is marketed to us in car insurance commercials as they prey upon our fears of car accidents. Safety is marketed to us in alarm commercials as they take advantage of our fears of having someone break into our homes.

Ultimately, no matter how many possessions we have, no matter how much wealth, no matter how much safety we feel, we must acknowledge that as believers in Christ we can only rely on God to protect us. And if He chooses for us the path of suffering, we must trust in Him.

It worries me when believers embrace material goods and comforts and claim that Jesus is ok with it. It worries me when believers brush off clear teachings in scripture because it’s not safe to follow them in today’s world, which suggests that God didn’t know that it wouldn’t be safe to follow His teachings in the 21st century.

How can we follow a Savior who loved so recklessly and lived so differently that He was killed for it, and think that safety is our right as Christians? How can we justify not living our Savior’s teachings in scripture because they are unsafe? Jesus told us that people would know that we were His disciples by our obedience to His teachings, not by our safety. When safety and security are more important than obedience, we have missed the heart of our God.

But no one is talking about this cultural ideal that has mixed with our faith. And Christians spend their time being limited and bound by their fears and their desire for safety that they believe is a God-given right. All the while, they attend church, study the Bible and follow a Savior who declares how unsafe it is to follow God.

Job, Moses, Noah, Jeremiah, Paul, Peter, James, John…..pick a name. Pick a prophet. Pick a saint. Ask them how safe it is.

Rob Bell- “The Gods Aren’t Angry Tour”

Last night I attended the Orlando stop of Rob Bell’s latest speaking tour. I have enjoyed his first 2 books, and I regularly listen to his podcast, so I was anticipating hearing him speak in person for the first time. I was, however, determined to listen carefully and do my best to discern what he was saying and compare that message to what I know scripture to teach.

I do that for a couple reasons. First, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to someone speak about God and agreed with 100% of everything the speaker or preacher said, so I enjoy listening in a way that makes me think. And Rob Bell does make me think about my faith, so I was looking forward to that. Secondly, enough people that I trust and respect have expressed caution about some of the doctrinal beliefs that Rob puts forth, so I wanted to think and hear for myself and see what God revealed to me. I’ll share what he spoke about, and then I’ll end each section with my problems (biblically) with what he said. My thoughts are in bold.

He spoke from a stage that wasn’t decorated or lit, save for the large pseudo-stone altar in the center. This was the lone prop, and it was probably 7 or 8 feet long per side, and around 3 feet tall with stairs leading up both sides. This prop was obviously going to be central to what was spoken about.

He began with a story about a cavewoman who discovers the life cycle of a plant in relation to the ‘ball of fire’ (sun) and the water that falls from the sky. And then the ball of light at night (moon) and it’s correlation to her female cycle in length. He was basically speaking of the ‘forces’ that seem to be so high above us and how early humans interpreted those forces. He continued the story with a caveman and his hunting adventures, and the idea that the success of the hunt was somehow linked to a spirit.

The logic he presented was that man somehow, through primeval feelings of guilt, shame, worry, and stress, began on their own this belief system of the forces being representations of gods that were either pleased or angry, depending on the success of man. This logic progressed through the forces being labeled as gods, who then needed offerings of the crops or the livestock to be appeased, and then places for the sacrifices for those gods began becoming centralized (altars and high places), leading to the ritual of regular sacrifices to keep the gods from getting angry.

Depending on the god or goddess you were trying to keep happy, you could be offering anything from crops to herds, or even cutting yourself or sacrificing your children. The problem with this whole system, he stated, was that it was never ending. You never knew where you stood with the gods-they were aloof and not interactive with humans.

It’s at this point that he brings in the first biblical text of Genesis 12, where God (Yahweh) speaks to Abraham, who was in the midst of the Sumerian culture of all these gods and goddesses. He claimed that this was a turning point in human history, and his claim was based on his ‘fact’ that for the first time a god spoke in an intimate way with a human and wanted to have a relationship with them.

I found myself having 2 main problems with the premises he was putting forth in this part of the talk. First was his premise that man discovered religion and created it on his own, and somehow came up with these ideas of sacrifices and offerings on his own, instead of it being something that was originally set up by God, revealed by Him.

My second problem was that he absolutely ignores God’s involvement in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. He claims that Genesis 12 was the first time that God has an intimate relationship with a human and actually steps into the space and time that man inhabits. This seems to fly directly in the face of a God who creates the world purposefully and places man in the midst of this creation (Gen. 1-3). This also ignores God’s intimate relationship with man any earlier than Abraham, such as Adam, Cain, Enoch, and Noah. Instead of suggesting that these religions were perversions of what God originally intended, he concludes that religion was started by man, and after the system got messed up, then God steps in. I suppose that he has forgotten the blood sacrifice that God makes on Adam and Eve’s behalf (Gen. 3:21), or the offerings (grain and blood) that Cain and Abel made to God (Gen. 4:4-5). I suppose he also has forgotten about God having intimate relationship with men before Abraham. He spoke with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:8-22), Cain and Abel (4:6-15), and had a close relationship with Enoch (Gen. 5:24), and Noah (Gen. 6:9-13). But, back to the story……

Bell states that in Genesis 12, God calls Abraham out of the Sumerian culture (out of his father’s household) and to a new land. Then in Gen. 14, God uses the stars as an analogy of how numerous Abraham’s descendants will be. He states that this is divine sarcasm, since stars in ancient cultures usually represented the gods, and this God uses them as a comparison to children.

Then he continues to Gen. 22, where Abraham is asked by God to offer his only son, which Bell declared to be absolutely normal for someone who grew up in a culture where the gods were so demanding that often they would ask you to sacrifice what is most important to you, which often was a child. He did fail to mention what he had just used to make a point 5 minutes earlier, which was the fact that this God had called Abraham out of that culture and asked him to leave it all behind.

Of course, Bell continued on and spoke of the drama of Abraham offering Isaac, and then just at the last minute, God stops his hand and provides a ram for the offering. One thing that I did enjoy was that Bell did draw more attention to God at this point in the story than most do. As he stated, most people praise Abraham and his faith and devotion to offer even his only son, but what was really incredible was that the deity (God) provided a sacrifice Himself. I love when we do everything we can to bring more attention to God instead of man, so I’m glad he took this angle.

But at this point, he said a phrase, which I found troubling as well. At the end of this drama, which God allows to carry out to the last minute before He steps in, he said that this God had an attitude that no deity had ever seemed to have before. Instead of the deity always wanting the humans to bless them, for the first time a deity wanted to bless humans.

I do understand that God was interested in a relationship with Abraham, and that through a covenant (of a blood sacrifice-Gen. 15, which God demanded) and another covenant (of circumcision and blood-Gen. 17), God was interested in blessing Abraham. But it wasn’t only the deity wanting to bless man. It was a two way street-this was the covenant-humans did have to keep their part to keep the deity happy (see Gen. 17:9 ff). But God had been interested in blessing men before this, which seemed to be why He showed grace and mercy on Noah and his family, saving them from destruction (Gen. 6-7).

At this point, Rob begins the journey through the Hebrew Scriptures and their altars and sacrifices. He spoke of the 5 types of sacrifices in Leviticus, and then ties that into the sacrificial system in the Temple.

This system became corrupted, and the Sadducees (who he stated were temple workers, priests and Levites, who got to keep a portion of the sacrifices, thereby making them wealthy) created a military-industrial complex where their wealth was linked to the sacrificial system continuing as it always had. And it was into this scenario that Jesus was born.

Jesus came into the Temple and declared, with all this as the backdrop, that there is one greater than the Temple. He also declared that if you destroyed this temple, in three days it would be raised up again. This, of course, threatened the entire system and the wealth of the Sadducees, so they killed him.

And because Jesus had spoken of this new way of life, this new way of having a relationship with God, one that according to Bell was peaceful and actually was contrary to the violence and bloodshed that the previous system was based upon, Jesus had to be a pacifist throughout the end of his life. This was why He never fought back, and which is why Jesus told Peter to put away His sword, because according to Bell, if at any time Jesus resorted to fighting back or violence, then how was His way different from the old violent way?

I would like to interrupt to remind the reader of Jesus speaking out and fighting back in a very open way of the corruption of the Temple. He was angry and pushed over tables, but of course never sinned in that anger. I don’t know if Bell would say that this was non-violent since there was no blood in the destruction of personal property, but I would love to ask him that question.

This is the point in the talk where Bell finally stood on the altar prop on stage (the only time during the night that he stood on top of it-all other times he only walked around it or up the stairs). He declared the moment that Jesus died on the cross as the “culmination of the ages” and it was at this point that God stopped all the bloodshed. All the animals that were being sacrificed in the religious systems, all the rituals, those were all done.

He began stating the primeval feelings that humans had battled since the ancient times, these feelings of guilt and shame, worry and stress. Today these same problems have new names. He shared a story about a girl who cut herself because she said her dad hated here, and that was how she dealt with the pain. He shared a story about a young man who tried to commit suicide by throwing a toaster into a hot tub after he slashed his wrists-all this despair was because of gambling debts. He also told a story about the Masi tribe in Africa, and how their community had expelled someone for doing something wrong, and that person had to live on the fringes of the village because the Masi didn’t have anything in their culture that would allow that person to be redeemed, to make peace with the tribe.

At this point, Rob jumped to Hebrews and began sharing how Jesus’ death was the final sacrifice. That God provided a sacrifice once again (an allusion to Gen. 22) to make peace. He began speaking of the blood that had been shed by all these animal sacrifices as unnecessary-that these weren’t for God, but for men, to appease their conscience. He used Psalm 50:7-15, Micah 6:6-8 to show us that even in the Old Testament, the blood was for us more than it was for God.

I would like to interrupt just to state that humans didn’t come up with the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, God had set it up (as Bell had said in Leviticus). And although there are places in the Old Testament (such as Micah 6 and Psalm 50) where God tells us that He doesn’t need a bunch of dead animals, we are leaving out the part where God set up this system Himself as a covenant. The sacrifices were a sign that man was interested in keeping his part of the covenant and blessing God. It’s not only about the deity blessing the humans, as Bell had previously stated. He unfortunately didn’t speak of Heb. 9:18-22, where the blood was necessary to keep the covenant and that sins aren’t forgiven without the shedding of blood.

But what he said, although incomplete, is true. Heb. 10:11 reminds us that these animal sacrifices can’t take away sins. They were only to keep the covenant with God, and those blood sacrifices were to be a shadow of the perfect sacrifice to come (Heb. 10:1).

Then he began his own personal definition of repentance. Although I couldn’t copy it down verbatim, it was along this principle: repentance is realizing the truth of the once for all perfect sacrifice of Jesus, and realigning your life to reveal that truth. And then he spoke of these rituals we now do, of which he suggested church attendance also was. And he surmised that the main point of the ritual should be to remind you of the reconciliation that happened at the culmination of the ages, which is a fancy way of saying that when believers gather, it should be to celebrate and remember the peace that Christ made on our behalf through the cross.

He began the closing with the need for us to reappropriate the imagery of the altar and the sacrifices. He suggested that no longer do we offer blood sacrifices, but now we do good works for others, living out this truth for the world to see. This is the evidence of Jesus’ new way of life in us. And as he closed, he gave several examples of what that looks like. The music began to swell in volume, he repeated some key lines of the stories of good works and the forgiveness of Jesus, and the night was over.

My overriding thought of the night was that Rob didn’t talk about a couple of the key plot points of the human story. He didn’t talk about the sinfulness of man, and therefore the wrath of God. He did talk about the death of Christ, but not in the way that we know is spoken of in the New Testament. The truth is, God was angry. God is a God of justice, and justice demands payment for wrongdoing. God, as He did in Genesis 22, provides the sacrifice in His only Son, and pours out His wrath upon Jesus. This is what Romans speaks of when it talks about Christ being the propitiation for our sins. Rob loves to say the phrase “Love Wins,” but fails to speak of the great love of Christ for us. I John 4:7-11 tells us that Love did win, and that His love was so great because He died for our sins. Rob only mentioned the word ‘sin’ once the whole night, and it was in a story he was repeating that Brennan Manning put in a book. However, Bell repeatedly stated that the problems that humans struggle with were primeval feelings of guilt, shame, worry and stress. Unfortunately he did not correctly point out that these feelings are the effects of a root cause-our own sinfulness. He stated that sacrifices were our own way of trying to make those feelings go away, which is like the doctor numbing the pain without stopping the blood gushing from an amputated arm.

Did Bell preach Jesus, and His death as the only way to heaven? Absolutely. Did he correctly state the reason Jesus died was because of our sinfulness and because God’s wrath had to be satisfied? I would say probably not. Heb. 9:15 reminds us that Christ died to set (us) free from the penalty of sins (we) had committed. And later in verse 26, Hebrews states that He came once for all time, to remove the power of sin forever by his sacrificial death for us.

For now I will hope the best in Rob, and I will try to give him the benefit of the doubt in much of this. I know that in 90 minutes, no one can truly be completely thorough in biblical doctrine, so I will hope the best in my brother, and believe that he didn’t have enough time to delve into the problem of sin. No matter what, the cross was preached, and Christ crucified as the way to reconciliation with God. And I have no choice but to echo Paul’s words in Phillipians 1:15-18, that as long as the message about Christ is being preached, I will rejoice!

Pirates for Jesus (aka Treasure Hunting)

Remember the verse that Jesus spoke in the New Testament- “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also?”

I guess what breaks my heart is that the church has construed this verse to mean that you should tithe and give the church your money. And the truth is, we should bring the tithe into the house of the Lord-but this verse doesn’t tell us that. In Luke, it may suggest something much different. It talks about seeking the kingdom of God and selling our possessions and giving them to the poor. So let me ask you this. What if we looked at Jesus’ actions to shed light on His teachings? Jesus was a homeless man without a job during his ministry. If he didn’t have any money, then what was his treasure?

The modern preacher uses the illustration, “Show me your checkbook, and I’ll be able to see your priorities in life.” i.e. where your treasure is. But this is all with the basic premise of a materialistic society that thinks treasure is monetary wealth. In Mozambique, in the dumps outside of the city where children go through trash to find food and shelter, with no jobs or money, where is their treasure? Since they have no money, is that teaching of Christ not applicable to them? They don't have a monthly budget or a checkbook, so if you believe that preacher’s illustration, it wouldn't even apply to the poor. But let me ask you again in another way….

What does God consider His treasures? And what would happen if we treasured what God treasures and lived our life in a way that our priorities reflected that?

Here's what I'm suggesting: I believe that God’s treasure is His people, and since the beginning of Time, God’s heart has been with His people. His entire plan was to redeem and reconcile with His treasure. Where His treasure was, there His heart was also.

People were the crowning jewel of the creation. The world was not yet complete until God placed man and woman in it. God created man to have a relationship with….man is the only piece of His creation with a free will and an eternal spirit. The loss of that relationship through sin is why God sent His own Son to die. Would God send Christ to die for something that didn’t really matter, or someone He didn’t treasure? Probably not.

For God to plan to take the form of a man and live a life in order to die for His people….this act of God declares that people are His treasure. Men and women are incredibly valuable in His eyes. Nothing else matters to God….He even gave man the power of dominion over the rest of creation!

What if the church today treated people as their treasure? What would be the byproduct? I have a few ideas…..I don’t think that for churches, buildings and programs would be a top priority. I don’t think fundraising for those same buildings and programs would be the focus. I don’t think the church could truly allow the “least of these” to remain poor and hurting in their city. It doesn’t seem that it could happen if God’s treasure was also ours.

And if God’s treasure was also ours, would we wait inside our Sunday School classes, or on our church property hoping the lost and hurting would come to us and ask for help? Or would we follow the example of Christ who left heaven to go to the hurting….. even when Christ was here, we see His example of going out-feeding the poor and healing the sick WHILE He was still preaching and teaching and discipling. (See previous blog on “Magnets or Viruses”)

I’m afraid that we have compartmentalized and departmentalized church to the point that we think we are only supposed to follow one aspect of Christ and that someone else is supposed to pick up the rest of the slack. We think if we do the preaching, others should do the discipling, others should be worshiping God, or others should be feeding the poor. I’m not sure where it came from, but this idea of only having to do one thing for God, or just live for one scripture doesn’t seem to be biblical.

All of our lives are to be sacrificed for God for the purpose of redeeming His treasure. If we laid up for ourselves treasures in heaven, and we truly believed that treasures weren’t good works, but lives touched for the kingdom (see Isaiah 58), I believe it would revolutionize the way we do what we do in the body of Christ. Don’t you?

Magnets or Viruses?

DISCLAIMER: As you know, I've been wrestling with some parts of my faith lately. So if you get offended by something I write, at least I warned you....

What kind of Christianity infected the Roman world 2000 years ago? What kind of Christianity produced martyrs? What kind of Christianity was it that spread like wildfire?

I start with those questions because recently I've realized that the kind of Christianity I've been around for 25+ years hasn't changed a city, much less overtaken an empire. I'm not throwing stones, I'm just trying to figure out how I can be more like the Christians that were seen as radical in their faith and love.

I think I've found something that may point to a problem....As I observe today's church, we seem to think that we are called to be magnets, attracting sinners to us. I heard a pastor a week ago state that if we would just open the doors to the church, people will come to hear the "Word" preached. Another situation: A friend of mine's church isn't growing, but is spending millions on a bigger building-thinking that lots of people will start coming to their church to see a bigger building. Others believe if their music would change styles, or if their dress code were a bit different, then more people would come. The root problem isn't the gimmick or trick, it's the idea that if we do something different and wait, then we will magically attract more people who don't have God, but now are suddenly attracted to Him.

This is a mindset that has infected the western Church in a deadly way. Not with words, but through our actions we show that we believe the world should come to us. And we don't really think that we should be out in the world as salt and light (unless our jobs force us to interact with the unbelievers).

If you disagree with my previous statement, then I may offend you with the next one. We now have modern day Christians pulling their kids out of public schools and putting them in Christian schools. And then we pull Christian teachers out of the public schools to teach them. Why are we so shocked when the public school system goes downhill and is full of problems and violence? The ones who were called to be salt and light in the world have abandoned them to learn behind walls together with those who think just like them. Instead of 20-30 kids in a public school, learning to be salt and light, we take them all out and stick them in a room with other salty lights. Neither salt nor light does anything to preserve or reveal when it's around other salt and light. I'm not vilifying Christian education, I'm just using it as an example of us forgetting the commandment to be IN the world. Not away from the world with a bunch of others who are just like us, but IN it and not of it. INfecting it.

The reason I'm frustrated by some of these things is because I'm finding these things in me. I expect just to attend church weekly, read my bible, pray, and probably vote Republican…..and most of my church will think that I am a model Christian. But I'm discovering that this kind of Christianity isn't what Jesus preached or practiced….and this kind of faith certainly wouldn't change the world.

The faith I read about is dangerous and infecting. Jesus uses words like "go out" and "send forth". IT seems to be more like a virus than a magnet. The world isn't necessarily attracted to our version of Christianity in the west. We aren't really magnetizing very many….that's why many churches aren't growing, but shrinking. And why some of them are doing more sheep trading than anything else.

We have, like the movie "Gladiator", decided that the action and the battle is for the few, and the rest of us are bound to be observers in the faith, destined to come each week to the auditoriums of our churches, sitting and watching that one man in the front fight the good fight.. As long as we come faithfully and give some money, things seem to be fine. But deep down inside you and I both long for so much more than this. Jesus didn't die for this type of faith. This isn't anything radical, and doesn't seem to be the abundant life that He spoke of.

But the life Jesus often spoke of, we gloss over or ignore. Yes it is abundant. But it's also full of sacrifice and suffering. Bringing justice to those who have been wronged, and hope to the hopeless. But we don't have any true aspect of sacrifice or suffering in our faith, and instead of discovering what it means to pick up a cross or die daily, we make our faith as safe as possible. But the irony is that those we look up to, those who we see as icons, usually are the ones who didn't play it safe. The Hudson Taylors, Mother Teresas, Billy Grahams, etc.

What if Mother Teresa was a magnet instead of a virus-what would Calcutta, India look like today? Do you think you would have ever heard of a nun who stayed in her hometown and opened up another church? She was dangerous because she wasn't afraid to infect the world with her love, the love of Christ. She chose to be out in the world, as a virus infects other cells. Once people came in contact with her, they too were infected. And millions of lives were affected by her love for others.

It's time we as a body asked ourselves some difficult questions. Will we play it safe and become magnets? Will we hang out the rest of our life with others just like us, or will we go out and infect the world with the love of Jesus? Will we invade or will we wait?

Sacrifice

Disclaimer: I have been rocked to the core lately after reading "This Beautiful Mess" by Rick McKinley and "Irresistable Revolution" by Shane Claiborne. This has led to some pretty strong stuff coming to the surface. I'm still wrestling with it and working through it. So you'll find some of that "edge" in my next few blogs....don't worry. When I say "we" I really mean me. So here goes.....

I was talking with a good friend a while back about sacrifice. Mostly it was about how I lie to myself and think that by giving a couple bucks to a homeless guy is some sort of sacrifice on my part. But that's a whole different blog…..

His response was poignant-sacrifice only happens when the byproduct of you doing the action is that it prevents you from getting or accomplishing something you wanted to do yourself. For example, it doesn't really cost me anything to give a homeless guy a few dollars-when I go to a restaurant and spend $20 on myself without blinking. But I will rationalize and think more about the 5 I give him than I will about the 20 I spend on me. Why? Because true sacrifice only happens when we are required to be unselfish and set aside our own interests for the good of the many. Let me give you a few comparisons…..

Who sacrifices more: The person who supports the war in Iraq, or the mother whose son is a soldier fighting there right now?
Who sacrifices more: The person who claims global warming is an epidemic while flying private jets and driving SUV's and living in 10,000 square foot houses; or the person who believes that it's a problem, so they sell their truck to buy a smaller car?

It doesn't seem like a sacrifice unless something is on the line-unless something has to change. It costs the war supporter nothing-it could cost the mother her son. It costs the celebrity or savvy politician nothing to claim global warming is a problem; it costs the other person a "standard of living."

I guess one of the reasons I'm bothered is because we live in a society that thinks that we can solve problems by throwing money at them. And we don't ever think that we have to sacrifice to change the world around us. Which is easier? To drop 5 bucks in the salvation army bucket at Christmas time, or to get in our car and go to the Salvation Army downtown and build a relationship with someone in need? One takes sacrifice, the other doesn't.

For too long I have been a Christian that doesn't sacrifice, which to be honest with you, is quite hypocritical. Self-denial and loving others more than myself are the central elements of my faith, but you can't tell sometimes by my actions or by my checkbook. Even tithing isn't sacrificial. Sacrificial is selling my goods and giving it to the poor-the Acts type of sacrifice. Writing a check once a month to support a kid in Africa for most of us isn't a sacrifice. But not eating out for a month and sending that one hundred dollars (or more) to feed his whole family for a month? We might even call that a sacrifice, even though we still wouldn't miss a meal. But we know there are homeless going hungry in the streets, so do we pray for our brothers and sisters in the streets while fasting because of their plight? I think that's more along the lines of what Christ intended….for our hearts to be actively involved in the poor and the hurting.

At some point in our faith, we (read: I) as Christians need to step up and sacrifice. We need to put feet to our faith. I fear that the impotence of Western Christianity lies in the fact that we are practicing a form of godliness but denying the power. We say that we are Christ-followers without doing our part to fulfill that one part of the Lord's Prayer, remember? Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth (just as it's done in heaven). We are called to bring His kingdom and love to the earth-at least to the parts we touch each day.

We probably wouldn't need to ask Christians to hand out tracts on the street corners of our country if the millions of people who claim to follow Christ were constantly living examples of sacrifice. People don't see us living or loving like Christ, so our faith is no longer attractive to them. When the rest of the world sees a Christian nation living in houses that look like mansions and driving cars that cost more than they make in a decade, do you think they admire us? Do they want to follow Christ too? Or do they see a materialistic culture that is caught up in pleasing themselves?

Jesus said that the world would know that we are His disciples by our love for one another. Love demands a sacrifice. Love IS sacrifice. That's how we know Jesus loved us-because He laid down His life for our sins. How are we really doing at "loving one another?" And by one another, let's assume that we aren't talking about loving other Christians. Let's assume that it's "the least of these." Jesus' own words in Matthew 25. Do we love? Do we sacrifice?

I fear that I haven't loved or sacrificed like Christ, and now I need to change.

Just a Quote

C.S. Lewis, on why God allows us to go through grief and trials.....
"They say these things are sent to try us.....But of course one must take 'sent to try us' the right way. God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn't."
Page 52, "A Grief Observed"

It only takes a spark.....

I attend a great church. I work at this same great church. I get to see what happens behind the scenes, and sometimes I even get a chance to ask questions to the men who make the decisions that guide our body of Christ.
Our church's motto is "Make Disciples." Which is really cool, because discipleship is one of the most incredible parts of our faith.....teaching and passing on the wisdom and truth of God to others...living life together in community.
My concern is that Satan has crept in and turned our eyes back on ourselves again. Here's why: almost everyone I talk to that attend that church want to be discipled by someone older in the faith. And there's nothing wrong with that. EXCEPT that we can't let it stop there. Let me explain.
If we keep our eyes on ourselves and our own wants and needs, it paralyzes us and we become more self-centered. When discpleship becomes all about me and what I'm getting out of it, then I lose the heart of Christ. Jesus taught us to be others-centered, to give rather than receive. So what does that mean for discipleship?
It may mean that instead of us sitting around waiting to be discipled, we should actively live in community and build relationships in order to love on and disciple others. Maybe God won't allow us to find a mentor until we ourselves mentor someone younger and love on them. Jesus left his disciples after 3 years and told them to go disciple others. What if they continued to wait until they were older in the faith? It wasn't like they had all the answers-Thomas had doubts, Peter cursed and denied Christ.....not your normal "mentors". But Jesus sent them out and told them to make other disciples.
Many of us have been walking with Jesus for more than 3 years. But we are still waiting and watching for more. Satan tells us that we are weak, we have nothing to offer, we can't disciple anyone, etc. But I truly believe that discipleship has nothing to do with someone having all the answers or having it all together. It has everything to do with love and community, wisdom and truth.
We find the body of Christ impotent because we have believed the lie that it's all about us. Satan has kept us from discipling others because we haven't found a mentor like we think we should have. Don't believe him! Get in the Word, pray about your walk, and fulfill the Great Commission and live the community life of the Acts 2 church. Reach out to others, and you'll find God teaching and growing you like you'd never imagine!
The great commission? Make disciples-if you are a believer, this isn't an option. It doesn't say "Be discipled." That implies that it's all about me. It says "Make Disciples." Jesus doesn't suggest it. He tells us to go reach others and get our eyes off of ourselves. I suspect that we will discover the very things we are looking for from God when we spend our time loving others instead of hoping that someone will love on us.

"It only takes a spark to get a fire going,And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing;That's how it is with God's Love,Once you've experienced it,You spread the love to everyoneYou want to pass it on."
-"Pass it On" written by Kurt Kaiser