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?

Love

The thing we are called to do, if we say we want to follow what Jesus says to do, is to build and have healthy and holy relationships.

Sometimes that's the last thing we find ourselves pouring our lives into. What do I mean?
I'm a news junkie. I visit probably 6 or 7 sites a day to read headlines and stories from around the world. Recently there has been a number of news articles that show that many people would rather be isolated, doing things by themselves, rather than be with others.

One was that married people would rather give up intimate times with their spouse rather than give up the internet.

Another was that most spend more time watching TV/surfing the net/playing video games by themselves instead of spending time with others.

So I titled this "love"-because what is happening is we are walking away from love. Walking away from relationship. We are running full speed towards isolating ourselves from others and spending time being incredibly selfish doing things we want to do, by ourselves.

Maybe I'm talking mostly to other single people. Maybe. But I think love is shown by relationships. Friendships, parents, kids, loved ones. Are you spending huge amounts of time online? Playing video games? What are you sacrificing in order to find time to do all that?
Sleep? Food? Or is it your relationships with others............

It's not that any of those things are evil. It's that when stuff is out of balance, we miss out on love. We miss out on opportunities to learn from each other and grow in love and community.
At this point do I say "Love others?" Love your neighbor? Love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Maybe it's time to say, make sure you around in community and around people and enviroments that build love. Hebrews says that we are to encourage one another daily, as long as it is still called today, lest we become hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Some of us have become hardened in a way, where we would rather give up a friendship than our myspace. We would rather miss out on family time than give up Facebook. We'd rather be by ourselves playing Halo than face to face with a peer over some coffee or a good meal. Have we missed out on community so much that we have lost out on our chances to encourage each other? Maybe our hearts and our minds have become hardened. Just remember this:
Jesus loves you very much, and you belong in loving friendships and relationships with others. So you can love them, and so they can love you. For that is what we have been created for.

Go ahead.

Log off.

Close your laptop.

Call someone, or spend time with someone you love. It will be so much more beneficial than more time online.

Love,

Andrew

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.