Halloween Light

Halloween is upon us. Within the Christian community there is the on going discussion on whether or not Christians should participate in this holiday. Today, I just want to give you a few of my thoughts on the subject.

Growing up Halloween was never a big deal in my family. We would dress up for school, but that was about it. The one rule my parents vocalized was that we couldn't dress up as Satan, a ghost, a witch, etc. It was a holiday that we didn't pay too much attention to, and so it isn't a big deal to me.

One thing that I think we who follow Christ Jesus need to remember is that we are called to live in the light. So much of what is associated with Halloween is dark, from the scary/gory movies that come out this time of year to the decorations people use. For this reason I think we have to be very careful about how we participate in Halloween. Remember what John wrote:

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7; ESV).

A second observation is that Halloween has a focus on death. For the Christian death is the enemy. The apostle Paul wrote; "The last enemy to be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26; ESV). While the resurrection of Jesus is evidence that death will one day be defeated, it is still a reality that we face. It is the enemy, the partner of sin, and a tool of Satan. Why spend a day honoring it? Instead, we are called to proclaim life and resurrection. We should be looking for ways to turn this holiday on its head, and use it to tell others about the resurrection of Christ Jesus and the life that is available to us because of this reality.

A third observation is that Halloween downplays the evil spiritual forces that are active in the world. The "comic" versions of Satan and demons that are represented on Halloween help deceive people into believing that the evil supernatural doesn't exist. There is great danger in treating these things we don't fully understand so lightly.

While I am not anti-Halloween, I do think it is very important to think about how we are going to participate in the holiday. Don't look at it as an opportunity to walk in the dark, but look at it as another opportunity to be light.

"Anyone can attend church. Only truly devoted followers of Jesus can
change the world." - Aaron Brockett
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Be Positive

It is so easy to be negative, especially when it comes to issues that we disagree with. This isn't a bad thing. There are times when we need to stand up and voice why we oppose a certain piece of legislation or why a certain activity is evil. Yet, there comes a time that if we are not going to offer an alternative, then we will become a clanging cymbal that people ignore.

I was asked by a facebook friend a couple of days ago what I thought a Christian's responsibility was when it came to politics. I spent most of Tuesday thinking through my answer, but one of the things that occurred to me was the need to be positive. For example, I think as Christians we need to explain why our rights are a gift from God, why life is precious and needs to be protected, the value of a family made up of a dad and mom, and how we can use our freedom to change the world.

We live in a country that has traveled so far from her founding values that the average citizen doesn't even understand the basic principles that made this country great. The crisis our country is facing right now is deeper than health care, high taxes, out of control spending, sky rocketing debt, and the theft of personal liberty.

The crisis we face is one of principle and philosophy. It begins with peoples' weak understanding of God and continues though a lack of value of personal responsibility. We need to be promoters of the good and not just critics of the bad. People will not understand that there is a better way unless we tell them about it.


"Anyone can attend church. Only truly devoted followers of Jesus can change the world." - Aaron Brockett

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Working For or Against the Kingdom?

I can be dense at times. There are certain truths or lessons that some people pick up right away while it takes me a while to understand. I think the revelation that I had today falls into that category, something that many of you already understand, but it took me 35 years to figure out. This flash of truth came to me as I pondered James 3:1-12, particularly verses 9 through 12:

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water (James 3:9-12; ESV).

James tells us that there are two uses for our tongues. We can bless God and others with our words or we can curse God and people with our words. Of course there is a spectrum on which our words fall, but ultimately we are speaking to building others up and praise God or we are speaking to tear others down and curse God.

When this thought hit me I then made the application to our actions. What James teaching us in this passage has wider implications than just the words that come out of our mouths, for it also applies to how we live. With these bodies God has given us we can either sin and rebel against God or we can obey and worship God. While our actions fall on a spectrum of those two realities, in the end we are either living in obedience or we are living in sin.

In his book Surprised by Hope Bishop N. T. Wright devotes a whole chapter to “building for the kingdom.” Bishop Wright writes: “But what we can and must do in the present, if we are obedient to the gospel, if we are following Jesus, and if we are indwelt, energized, and directed by the Spirit, is to build for the kingdom” (p. 208). How do we build for the kingdom? I would argue that we build for the kingdom whenever we devote our lives to doing good works in the name of Christ Jesus.

Here is the point I want us to get today: just as our tongues can curse or praise God, our lives can either work for His kingdom or they can work against His kingdom. Ultimately what sin is is rebellion against God, and it has a corrupting nature, not only in our lives, but in the world. Remember, this world was created good, and Satan, sin, and death have been corrupting it. We are to leave sin behind because to sin is to join Satan in his effort to corrupt the good nature of creation.

On the other hand, we are called to obedience and good works because it is then that we join God in His effort to redeem creation, which includes other people. Our good works are not our effort to make us right with God, rather they are our effort to partner with God in bringing His Kingdom to earth.

I think the implication of this is that the more are devote our lives to God’s Kingdom the less we will be involved with sin. The reason is because we come to understand that our sin is corrupting the good work that we are trying to do. Just as salt corrupts fresh water, sin corrupts good works. Consider what the apostle Paul wrote in Galatians:

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:7-10, ESV).

Here we discover the key to good works: being led by the Spirit. The best way I know to allow the Spirit to lead our lives is be by students of God’s Word and to be involved in a church family. If we care about doing what God has called us to do, if we desire to be led by the Spirit, then we will make those things priorities in our lives. That way we can partner with God and work for His kingdom, rather than trying to work against God and His kingdom, because in the end that is what is futile.

We Happy Few

Daily Reading for 10/21/2009

(I don't know if this is legal, but I wanted to share with you the reading Ransomed Heart Ministries sent out last Wednesday.)

Once more, lend a mythic eye to your situation. Let your heart ponder
this:

You awake to find yourself in the middle of a great and terrible war. It is, in fact, our most desperate hour. Your King and dearest Friend calls you forth. Awake, come fully alive, your good heart set free and blazing for him and for those yet to be rescued. You have a glory that
is needed. You are given a quest, a mission that will take you deep into the heart of the kingdom of darkness, to break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron so that your people might be set free from their bleak prisons. He asks that you heal them. Of course, you will face many dangers; you will be hunted.

Would you try and do this alone?

Something stronger than Fate has chosen you. Evil will hunt you. And so a Fellowship must protect you.

Honestly, though he is a very brave and true Hobbit, Frodo hasn't a chance without Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. He will need his friends. And you will need yours. You must cling to those you have, you must search wide and far for those you do not yet have. You must not go alone. From the beginning, right there in Eden, the Enemy's strategy has relied upon a simple aim: Divide, and conquer. Get them isolated, and take them out.

You see this sort of thing at the center of every great story. Dorothy takes her journey with the Scarecrow, the Tinman, the Lion, and of course, Toto. Maximus rallies his little band and triumphs over the greatest empire on earth. When Captain John Miller is sent deep behind enemy lines to save Private Ryan, he goes in with a squad of men. And, of course, Jesus had the Twelve. This is written so deeply on our hearts: You must not go alone. The Scriptures are full of such warnings, but until we see our desperate situation, we hear it as an optional religious assembly for an hour on Sunday mornings.

Imagine you are surrounded by a small company of friends who know you well (characters, to be sure, but they love you, and you have come to love them). They understand that we are all at war, know that the purposes of God are to bring a man or woman fully alive, and are living by sheer necessity and joy in the Four Streams. They fight for you, and you for them. Imagine you could have a little fellowship of the heart. Would you want it, if it were available?

That is our destiny.

(Waking The Dead, 186, 187 )

"Anyone can attend church. Only truly devoted followers of Jesus can
change the world." - Aaron Brockett

Sent from my iPod

In Possession of Sin

Originally posted on Friday, September 24, 2004

Take a moment and think about what John Maxwell and Jim Dornan wrote in their book Becoming a Person of Influence; “Slaves is the right term to describe people who lack integrity because they often find themselves at the whim of their own and others’ changing desires” (p. 32)

The movie version of The Lord of the Rings has made J. R. R. Tolkien’s story accessible to thousands of people who would never bother with actually reading the story. One of the characters that people seem to identify with is the character Gollum. Gollum is a pitiful creature because he has been corrupted by the power of the One Ring. The Ring consumes Gollum’s life, and there is nothing he can do to break free from its power. Colin Duriez in The J.R.R. Tolkien Handbook describes Gollum like this: “In The Lord of the Rings a once-hobbit who bore the marks of long centuries underground guarding yet possessed by the One Ring which he called ‚ ‘my precious’, and which he had deluded himself into thinking was a birthday present to him” (p. 106). The possession of the Ring had changed Smeagol to Gollum, from a Stoor Hobit to a pitiful creature. The Ring may have granted Gollum unnatural long life, but it also physically changed him. Worse than the physical change was the control the Ring had on Gollum’s desires and dreams. They were twisted and corrupted so much that all Gollum could think about was to regain possession of his “precious”.

I think sin has very similar effect on us. Unlike the Ring sin will not prolong our lives, in fact God promises us that sin brings about death. It will also not physically change us from human into something less human, but sin will cause us to behave less than human (true humanity is found in Jesus). It will twist our desires and dreams into things that are evil and wicked. Sin will make us think that the only thing that will make us happy is the evil behavior that we are involved in. Sin consumes and corrupts us, which keeps us from becoming the people that God created us to be.

Consider what the apostle Paul wrote about the effect of sin on the lives of people:

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:24, 25; ESV)

The apostle Paul in Romans 1:18-32 is very clear about the corruption that takes place because of sin’s presence in our lives. When we are in the possession of sin it is impossible for us to be who God created us to be. The reality is that sin twists our hearts and souls making us corrupted forms of the people God created us to be.

I want you to understand the vile effect that sin has on our lives. Sin not only corrupts us, but it also controls us. It makes us long for the things that not only will not make us happy and content, but will ultimately lead to our destruction. Sin is not something to mess with; because it will take control of our lives, and in the end destroy us.

I know that this sounds dark and depressing, so I will not end on that note. Instead I want to give you a glimpse at light at the end of the tunnel. The apostle Paul wrote this about the power of Jesus’ resurrection in our lives: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17; ESV).

The Good News is this: Jesus has the power to restore! He can breathe life back to the dead. He can heal the twisted and evil soul that we have. We don’t have to be possessed by sin because Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has rescued us from sin and death. This Good News is for all who are chained by the power of sin. We need to remember that freedom is found in Jesus!

Sunday Quote: Governed or Ruled

Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. ~ William Penn

Continue to Follow

One of the tragedies of life is watching a person who has so much potential throw their life away for something that is meaningless. We see this happen over and over again in sports and other entertainment, but it is no less tragic when a person gifted with intelligence or compassion waste their life by neglecting their talent.

Having been around "church" my entire life, and having gone to a Christian College (whose purpose it is to produce pastors) I have to say that it is very tragic to watch people walk away from the Faith. I think the apostle Paul hated to see this happen too, and so he wrote to the Colossians:

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness (Colossians 2:6-7; NLT).

The world is too seductive not to be intentional about following Jesus. How do we do that? Paul says that we are to let our roots grow down into Jesus. That happens when we devote ourselves to God's Word, which requires doing as well as hearing, and when we prayer. The prayer that must be on our lips more than any other is the variation of, "Your kingdom come, You will be done." Again, for Christ's will to be done it requires our obedience.

It is my belief that the more we obey Christ, the more we know Christ, and the more we know Christ the stronger our faith will be. Our faith will grow stronger because it will be based on experience as well as on belief.

"Anyone can attend church. Only truly devoted followers of Jesus can
change the world." - Aaron Brockett

Sent from my iPod

Foundations For My Political Philosophy

One of the things I have pondered the most in my adult life is what a Christian’s involvement in politics ought to be. There may be no hard and fast rules for this, but it is topic that is near and dear to my heart because I can see how have I constantly allowed politics to consume my life. I know that I have to be extremely careful not to allow the politics of this world to shape my hope for life or to become a wall that prevents me from sharing Jesus with other people.

This past year has seen my politics change from conservative to libertarian, and I thought I would share with you five ideas I have helped lead the way to this switch. I am not asking you to agree with me, just simply to think about these ideas.

1. Freedom is found in Jesus and not a form of government. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is 1 Peter 2:16; Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God (ESV). This verse is found in the middle of a section where Peter is urging his readers to submit to the government, including the emperor. These people weren’t free because of the government, but because of the choices they were able to make as they followed Jesus. He set them free from sin and death, and continued to lead them into greater and greater freedom.

Look around us and we will see that many people in the United States are not free. They are enslaved by debt, by addiction, by bad relationships, and a number of other reasons. More often than not their enslavement is caused by a series of choices that they have made. True freedom is not dependent on the government, but on following Jesus.

A tangent to this idea is the reality that all freedom is a gift from God. Our founders understood this and that is why they wrote; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Declaration of Independence tells us that our liberties are a gift from God and not from government. Government’s job (at least in the United States) is to make sure people are able to enjoy those rights.

2. The politics of this world utilize two tools: propaganda (spin) and violence (force). I am indebted to Dr. Mark Moore from Ozark Christian College for this idea. I think the idea that propaganda is one of the tools of politics is essential to remember, because so many of us can get caught up in the spin of politics and we never stop to ask what is really true. President Bush was involved in propaganda when he urged us to go to war in Iraq. President Obama is involved in propaganda as he tries to convinces us of the need to pass health care reform. When there is an agenda on the line you can be certain that half-truths and bold face lies are being thrown around. We have to be very careful not to take things at face value. I am especially leery when I hear some one say: “this is the truth” (like I am just to trust them to be unbiased and to present the real facts of the issue.).

The fact that the government carries the sword is not a necessarily a bad thing. Please remember, it is one of their God-given duties to enforce laws. The rub is that the only way the Government has to enforce laws is through force. Therefore the United States has a military and different law enforcement agencies. Since that is the case it is very prudent to keep Government from being able to use that force as much as possible, and that requires keeping Government small.

3. Focus on principles and not agendas. This idea builds off the reality that the government uses propaganda to get its agenda accomplished. The problem is that most of us don’t have the means or the time to really dig into the truth of the matter. Who has time to read 1,500 page bill or track down ever stat used in a speech? It would consume our lives if that is what we had to do to participate in the political process, and excuse me if I don’t trust politicians and talk show hosts to tell me the truth.

When I talk about principles I am talking about political principles rather than moral principles. I don’t do this because of some misguided understanding of the idea of separation of church and state, but because some times we can allow our moral principles to cloud the issue. For example, I know that many well-intentioned Christians support health care reform because of the Christian principle that we need to help people in need, and so they are okay with the Government stepping in and taking over a part of life that the Constitution doesn’t give it the power to take over.

By focusing on political principles such as limited government and following the rule of law things are able to be much more clear rather than trying to navigate through the murkiness of political spin. It is also my belief that when the Government in its proper spot the moral issues of our day will take care of themselves.

4. The United States is governed by the Constitution and not the Federal Government. Our founding fathers created the Constitution to govern our government, because they understood that without restriction the Government would eventually rob us of our freedom. What we have found out is that even with the restrictions found in the Constitution the Government has grown in size and scope as it slowly takes away our personal liberties.

We do not ask the question, “Is the federal government allowed to do that?” enough. We have put too much trust in the politicians we have elected to office and we believed that they would do the right thing. They haven’t. Our politicians have shredded the Constitution in order to get their agendas accomplished and get re-elected. Unless we, the people, once again insist that our federal government submit to the authority of the Constitution we will continue to see our liberties ripped away and our economy destroyed.

5. The Government is evil. The Government is evil is because it is run by men and women who have wicked hearts. They are too easily seduced by money, power, sex, and fame. Since that is the case the question is raised, “Why should we trust them?” I don’t think we should. One of the problems that have plagued this country is that we bought into this notion of American greatness and we became so patriotic that we didn’t question what our Government did. We need to own up to the fact that the United States has done terrible things in this world.

We can no longer naively believe that what our government does, whether it is here or abroad, is good. From torturing prisoners to stealing our money through taxes and inflation the Federal Government continues to be evil. This is another reason why it is so vital to have a limited government that is held in check by the Constitution. When the Government is left to run unconstrained it will reek havoc in the lives of people.

My hope is not in a great United States but in Christ Jesus and His Kingdom. First and foremost I am citizen of His Kingdom, and so no matter what happens to the United States my hope is secure. Thank God for that reality.

We Are At War

Originally posted on Wednesday February 16, 2005

“Friends, we are now in the midst of an epic battle, a brutal and vicious war against and Enemy who knows his time is short. Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.” ~ John Eldredge; Waking the Dead

We have a tendency to forget that we live in a world that is at war. I am not talking about the war in Iraq, but the spiritual war that rages all around us. We choose to ignore its reality, but it is there none the less. We tend to chalk the negative experiences and bad things that happen to us up to life. While I would agree that those things happen as a consequence of living in a fallen world, but that doesn’t negate the reality that there is an Enemy that wants to destroy you.

Our modern western mindset has really turned us off to anything about the supernatural. The talk of a cosmic war or a spiritual war, for most people, seems to be the stuff of superstition. We might believe that, we think, if we were uneducated savages, but we are too educated to buy into that junk.

We do this to our determent. By living as if we are not at war we become very vulnerable to the attacks Satan makes upon our lives. Just because we choose to ignore the spiritual reality around us doesn’t make it disappear. The Enemy is taking shots at us and we don’t have the sense to take cover.

The apostle Paul thought is cosmic battle was real. This is what he wrote in Ephesians:

A final word: Be strong with the Lord’s mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against the rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. Use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared. In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere (Ephesians 6:10-18; NLT).

I realize that this language of war seems to be melodramatic when we have soldiers who are actually dying on foreign soil. Let me assure you it is not. Yes, we are experiencing the harsh reality of war, as every generation has, but that doesn’t mean the war of physical combat is any more brutal than the spiritual war that we are involved in. Everyday people are wounded and destroyed because of the war Satan is fighting against God’s Kingdom. We are his targets because we are God’s ambassadors, agents, and soldiers in this world.

Every suicide, every drug addict, every abused child, and every murdered person are victims of this war. Divorces, pornography, drug abuse, and terrorism are all the result of a world being torn apart by war. Satan isn’t out to tempt you to do wrong. He is out to destroy your life. This is the spiritual reality that we ignore.

Christians, we can no longer afford to ignore the spiritual reality going on around us. It is time we stand our ground and fight. Fight with truth, fight with love, and fight with prayer. Be prepared to take hits and be willing to handle the suffering that happens in combat. Remember, we can make a difference, but we have to be willing to pick up our swords and stand our ground. The fight is on, are you ready to do your part?

A Conversation With My Brother

This past weekend I spent some time with my brother and his family in Iowa City. Tom, my brother, is the senior minister at the Iowa City Church of Christ (and doing a very good job).

There were two things that came up while were we talking that I would like to share with you. We talked about the different preachers we listen to by podcast. We both listen to guys who are Reformed in their theology. Tom said that one thing that he appreciated about listening to them was their emphasis on the sovereignty of God. I laughed and told him that I felt the exact same way, and that I had considered doing a blog post on what I had learned from Reformed Theology. Listening to Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill and Matt Chandler from the Village, as well as reading Stan over at Winging It has given me an appreciation for God's sovereignty that I had lacked before.

Another item we discussed that we had arrived at the same conclusion on was the need for the family to be the primary place of discipleship in the life of children. Tom has been telling his
congregation that they cannot expect the church to disciple their kids if they aren't doing it at home. I think it is time that the Church in the US start challenging parents, not only to stick together, but to be the spiritual leaders in their children's lives. The is the number one reason why kids who grow up in the Church walk away from the faith.

It is always good to talk to someone and discover that you have both reached the same conclusion, even though you have never talked about those issues before. At least it makes you feel like you are on the right track.

"Anyone can attend church. Only truly devoted followers of Jesus can
change the world." - Aaron Brockett

Sent from my iPod

Sunday Quote: Allow Scripture To Challenge

"If we don't allow scripture to challenge us at places where our culture is doing it's best to squeeze us into a different pattern, what use is it?" - N. T. Wright; Paul For Everyone: The Prison Letters; p. 187

Creating a New Culture

(After I posted A New Culture on Tuesday I remembered this older post that deals with the same topic from a different angle.)

Originally posted February 7, 2005

In An Unstoppable Force Erwin McManus talks about the need for the church to be cultural architects. In other words the Church, rather than responding to the culture, should be the force that shapes culture. Instead of thinking how reach postmodern culture or even modern culture, the Church should created a new culture that is different from both.

Think about how postmodern culture came into existence. It is the result of people being influenced by media and education. Many people haven’t consciously chosen whether or not they are going to postmodern, but they are the product of the different influences which have affected their lives.

This is the long term problem if we, as preachers and Christians, seek merely to respond to culture: we will constantly be at least one step behind. Just as soon as we think we have things figured out, the playing field will change. This will leave us frustrated because we will constantly be wondering if we are connecting with the world.

It is important that we understand the times in which we live. So I am not saying that studying and trying to understand culture is not worthwhile, but I am saying it is not the most important thing. It is my thought that the Church needs create our own culture. Remember the message we have transforms people’s thinking, and thus we need show them a brand new way to live. Thus, the way we live reinforces the message we proclaim.

Many congregations have both modern and postmodern thinkers in it, our job is to create a new type of thinker, one which connects with our message. In preaching that means finding components which connect with one group or the other and combine them to make a sermon. Rather than trying to find components which appeal to both groups, you use these different components to teach the congregation to listen to how you communicate. What I am saying is that people are not stuck being a modern or a postmodern, the way they think can be changed. As we preach and teach God's Word one of our goals should be to create a new type of thinker:

Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is (Romans 12:2; NLT).

I guess the bottom line is that part of our goal is not to respond to the culture in which we live, but rather create a new culture which is different than the world around us. It is the difference between simply adding Jesus and being transformed by Jesus. A new culture is what we are after.

Confessing and a Brand New Start

I need to be honest with you. In my first post this month I wrote about how we lie to ourselves, and I shared a personal example of ordering an iPod Touch. I told myself that it would help me in organization because of the calender and note capabilities it has, even though deep in my heart I knew I wanted it because of its web capabilities. In that pondering I mentioned that I was going to send the iPod back. Well, as you might have noticed from a couple of posts recently I decided to keep it.

I won't get into the justifications I used to come to that conclusion, but I will point out that when we really want something it is very easy to justify it. The bottom line is that I started to feel techno- envy because so many other people had cool little devices and I didn't.

One of the things that I have come to like about the iPod touch is the ability to take notes. The majority of the sermons I listen to via podcast I listen to while walking my dog Barkley. I have found myself stopping and typing out different statements that catch my attention.

A few nights ago I was walking Barkley while listen to a teaching by John Eldredge. He was teaching on the need for men to fight for their wives and he said, "You can take your integrity back."

In the context he was referring to the reality that many men talking themselves out of engaging because of their past failures. Even though I am not married, I see this tendency in myself in other areas. In fact that is one of the biggest obstacles I face in life.

The point of what John said is that today is a new day, and yesterday no longer needs to haunt us. For us who follow Christ Jesus, that is not just wishful thinking, but it is reality. As the apostle John wrote 1 John, if we confess our sins God will forgive us.

I may have messed up in the past, but those failures and sins don't need to hold me back from doing the right thing today. What a blessing it is to serve a God who forgives our sins and allows us a brand new start. Now is the time to take advantage of that blessing. Pardon me, I have some confessing to do.

"Anyone can attend church. Only truly devoted followers of Jesus can
change the world." - Aaron Brockett

Sent from my iPod

A New Culture

I have been reading The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark, which Dr. Mark Moore mentioned in a couple of talks that I heard. Rodney Stark is Professor of Sociology and Comparative Religion at the University of Washington and a self-proclaimed history buff. The book is a combination of these two interests. I am reading the book with the assumption that Professor Stark is not a Christian, but I am not for sure what type of worldview that he holds.

To be honest, the first chapter, entitled Conversion and Christian Growth, challenged my faith more than anything that I have read. The reason being, using patterns and ratios for conversions, Professor Stark demonstrated how Christianity fits the mold as far other religions go. What happened was that he made Christianity seem so ordinary, and I believe that it is extra-ordinary.

The good news has been that chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 (which I read this morning) show examples of how unique Christianity was in the first century, and how it began to change the world. One of the fundamental beliefs I have about life that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead changed everything. This world would never be the same because of that event, and through the middle of this book you see examples of how Christianity made a positive impact in this world.

Chapter 4 dealt with epidemics and sickness and how Christians showed compassion to those who were sick and dying while the pagans just left them alone to die. Chapter 5 dealt with how Christianity improved the life of women. Chapters 6 and 7 deals with how Christianity improved life in the cities.

Professor Stark closes chapter 7 with this:

“For what they brought was not simply an urban movement, but a new culture capable of making life in Greco-Roman cities more tolerable” (p. 162)

That phrase, new culture, leapt off the page at me. What Jesus offered to people, and what the early Christians took to the world was not simply a new belief system, but a new way a living. In the multi-cultural stew that was the Roman Empire a new god or a new philosophy was not a big deal, but a life that produced hope was a big deal.

I think this is one of the areas that we need to take a lesson from the early church. The American Church has spent so much time trying to “Christianize” culture, that we have not offered people a real alternative. Instead what we offer is a watered down version of what they already have.

What the Church needs to create a new culture and not just try to “Christianize” the old one. People need to know that there is an alternative way to live life, that hope is found in following Jesus, and that the Church genuinely cares for people.

While that sounds good the problem lies in the reality that to have a new culture means that we must first reject the old culture. Way too many of us are satisfied with our “Christian” version of culture to desire a new culture. We want to be able to watch the movies we want to watch, to listen to the music we want to listen to, to follow the desires of our hearts, and to live the way we want to. We are satisfied with believing in Jesus, but we are really not all that interested in obeying Jesus.

The divorce rate, credit card debt, alcohol abuse, and sexual addiction are all indicators that we live in a nation that is crying out for a new way to live, but we who claim to follow Christ are more interested in living like everyone else. Take a moment and consider what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:17-19

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (ESV)

I know that there are many passages I could have used that teach the importance of living differently from the world, but I wanted to use this passage because it communicates an important truth: the futile ways inherited from your forefathers. Ultimately that is what culture is, it is the way of life that has been handed down to us from our parents. Peter calls this way of living futile. Here is my hope and prayer: that we will come to see the way the culture lives as futile. Only then will we be willing to live differently, and in the process show the world that there is a better way to live.

Philosophy or Action

One of the preachers I listen to via podcast is Aaron Brockett from Trader's Point Christian Church in Indianapolis. In the sermon I listened to today as I walked Barkley, Aaron said; "If your belief continues to be a philosophy and not action it will sour within you."

It is so easy to mentally agree with the Bible and vocally declare Christ Jesus as Lord, but it is far more difficult to live a life of obedience. We would much rather come to a worship service once a week and listen to a sermon.

The reality is that faith is, at times, very difficult. Faith is difficult because it requires us to sacrifice. Faith will make associate with people we would rather avoid and serve in ways which
make us very uncomfortable. Yet, if our faith isn't pushing us outside of our comfort zones, then it will not remain faith for very long. Eventually faith will shrivel and die.

While faith is rooted in what we believe, it requires us to eventually live out that belief. The reason so many of us feel stunted in our spiritual growth is because we have not taken the step of obedience. It is not a lack of knowledge that kills faith, but a lack of action.

This is one of the points Jesus made in His teaching on the wise and foolish builders. Remember to whom Jesus compared the wise builder who built his house on rock? Jesus compared the wise man to a person who hears and obeys. That is the key to spiritual growth: obedience.

We can have the right philosophy, but if we aren't doing the right actions then we aren't living by faith. True faith combines right philosophy with right action. The two go together.

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Sunday Quote: The Worst Thing About TV

"The worst thing about TV is not what it puts into our mind so much as
what it prevents us from doing. Watching television kills intimacy and
conversation and disrupts sustained thought." - John Ortberg,
The Life You've Always Wanted, p. 72

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It Has Been A Good Week

This week has been a good week for me. God has really been working on my heart. The problem has been (if you want to call it a problem) every time I have sat down to write out a pondering nothing has come. Everything has seemed to be inadequate to describe what I was thinking about. That is why I have been so quite this week.

Here is something that I would like to share with you. I was listeningto Erwin McManus preach on prayer on Wednesday afternoon and during
the message he said: "God always calls us to the ridiculous."

I admit that might be a little overstated, but it was exactly what I
needed to hear. I have shared a little bit about my situation, that I
am pastoring a church family that is in the final stages of dying.
Last week I met with a retired pastor who knew a little bit about my
situation and he told me; "Paul, I have never heard of a church coming
back from your situation."

You see I am in the middle of a ridiculous situation, and there is no
earthly wisdom that I can follow that will lead this church family
back to health. Yet, it is in these no win situations that God often
puts people of faith; so He can show up and we can give Him the credit.

Moses going before Pharaoh was a ridiculous situation, as was David
going to face Goliath, or Paul the Jew going to the Gentiles, or my
personal favorite of Jonathan picking a fight with 30,000 Philistines
with only his armor bearer at his side.

Over and over again we see God place people into impossible
circumstances. I have no idea what God's plan is for me here in Storm
Lake, but I am confident that unless I live by faith I will totally
miss out on the opportunity God has given me. This isn't about me
having having success, but it is about me being faithful so God can be
glorified.


"Anyone can attend church. Only truly devoted followers of Jesus can change the world.". - Aaron Brockett

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Eternal Vision

Originally posted on September 25, 2004

Consider for a moment something Rick Warren wrote in The Purpose Driven Life; “God has a purpose for your life on earth, but it doesn’t end here. His plan involves far more than the few decades you will spend on this planet. It’s more than ‘the opportunity of a lifetime;’ God offers you an opportunity beyond your lifetime”

Please remember that our lives are more than the time we live on this earth. God did not create us for a short physical life, but an eternal life with Him. When we view our lives in the context of our life right now we only get part of the picture. The greatest part of our lives will be spent in eternity.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “It is since Christians have largely ceased to think about the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.” When our focus is the here and now, on the physical world in which we live, our perspective becomes distorted. The reason it is distorted is because all we can see is the here and now and we are unaware of what God is doing in eternity.

This is what the apostle John wrote in his first epistle:

Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not love have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever. (1 John 2:15-17; NLT)

The apostle John makes it clear that our focus should not be on the world that is around us. He says that this world is ‘fading away.” In other words this reality will not last forever. If that is true then I believe we need to consider what the point of life is. Does it matter if you have the new BMW you have always wanted, the job you would love to do, the championship trophy you have won, or to spend an evening at the prom? All these things, and many more, are fading away, but when they we focus on is right now they become the most important things.

Why is this life so important? It is important for two reasons. It gives us an opportunity to learn to live our lives by faith. If we can learn to obey God now, when we cannot see Him, then we will obey Him when we finally do see Him. The second reason is that it gives us the opportunity to learn to love people. When we can train ourselves to love sinful and imperfect people, then we will be able to love people when God transforms into the righteous and holy people He created us to be.

John tells us that one thing will survive or endure from this world. That is the person who does God’s will. When eternity is our focus our priorities change. Instead of making decisions based on our lives right now, we base our decisions on eternity.

I believe that it is only when we start living for eternity that we put ourselves in the position to allow God to transform our lives. When eternity is our perspective we will be able to understand what is truly important. Understanding what is truly important helps us to accomplish what really matters. If you want to make a difference in this world, look to the next. If you want to make a difference right now, focus on eternity.

The Gratitude of Love

Originally posted September 17, 2004

Whenever we use the talents and gifts God has given us in His service we worship Him. Remember worship is more than singing a few songs at a worship service. True worship begins with the sacrifice of our wills as we commit to follow God’s will.

It is too bad that American Christianity has created buildings full of attenders while paying people to minister to the needs of the congregation. The result is that many people think attending a church service once in awhile makes them a Christian. We don’t challenge people to live their faith. Since we have lowered the expectations for Christians the world loses out on the amazing difference Jesus can make in a person’s life, because they neither see the transformation of people or experience the love and service of followers of Christ.

The sad reality is that we in church leadership are satisfied if the members of our church families are consistent with their church attendance and appear to live according to the right moral standard. These low expectations have created spectators rather than worshippers.

In order to be true worshippers of God we have live out the faith we claim to have rather than just going through the motions of a religion. God has blessed so we can become a blessing to others. Real worshippers not only praise God with their lips and obey Him with their lives. Consider what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:1; I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship (NASB).

I want to suggest that we can find two qualities of worship in this verse:

First we worship, not out of obligation or fear, but out of gratitude and love. We sacrifice and serve because of the love Go has already shown us through Jesus Christ. Real worship is always a response to God’s amazing love for us.

Second worship equals sacrifice. When we give our time in service out of our love for God we sacrifice our wills to His will. When we turn down overtime pay to spend time with our family that is a sacrifice God approves. When we take time to spend an afternoon with the elderly that is worship which glorifies God. Anytime we sacrifice our agendas in order to show love we give God worship which He approves. On the other had if we are unwilling to sacrifice and obey then all of our singing and prayer does not glorify God.

Genuine worship is found in our sacrifice which is motivated by our gratitude and love for our Heavenly Father. Worship is about our sacrifice in the light of God’s great love for us. Whatever we do because of God’s love is the worship God desires for our lives. What are you going to do because of God’s love for you? How are you going to worship God?

Sunday Quote: Came to Make Men Alive

"Jesus did not come into this world to make bad people good. He came into this world to make dead people alive. Those who were dead to God were to be made alive to Him through the work of the Holy Spirit." ~ Ravi Zacharias, The Cries of the Heart, p. 112

A Priceless Relationship

Originally posted on September 18, 2004

I want you to think about this question: How important is your relationship with God? Many of us would answer that it is very important, but our lives tell another story. We tend to pursue things that are temporary rather that those that are eternal. Consider what the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:7-9:

I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith (NLT).

Don’t get me wrong, there is importance to the everyday tasks of life. Jobs and money are necessities for life, and it is not God’s desire for us to retreat from the world in order to seclude and shield ourselves from the world around us. God wants us to be a part of the world, because when we live differently in the world people begin to change.

I believe Paul wants us to understand that things of this world are not evil or even unimportant. Your job and your family are very important to your life, so we shouldn’t look at what Paul wrote as a command to get rid of everything that we hold dear. Paul is instead making a comparison. Everything in life, regardless of how wonderful or good it is, cannot measure up to a relationship with God. Everything in our lives, when compared to God, is trash.

Our lives are not made full and complete because we have the perfect job or the perfect family. Our lives are made complete because we have a relationship with God. A person who has nothing except a relationship with God is able to be far more content with life than a person who has everything except a relationship with God.

Here is the irony of it all, it is when we value our relationship with God above all else that we really begin to cherish the things in this life as the blessings they really are. That is when these things are finally able to really enhance our lives.

On the other hand, when our lives revolve around the things of our lives rather than around God we are never satisfied with what we have. There is always something else out there, the one thing that just might complete our lives and make us happy. As a result, the things of this world are unable to really bless our lives, because they become a vivid reminder that something is missing from our lives.

We were created for a purpose, and ultimately that purpose is to have a relationship with God. When we have this relationship at the center of our lives, our lives begin to take on a whole new outlook. No longer do we seek to find contentment and happiness in the things of this world, rather we discover contentment and joy in our relationship with God. When that happens we are able to join with the apostle Paul and say; Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Lying to Yourself

Have you ever lied to yourself? I know I have. There have been a couple of times when I have had an obvious stain on my shirt and I told myself, “It doesn’t look that bad.” The lie that I am battling right now is the fact that I ordered an iPod Touch because I told myself that I can use it to keep myself organized, when I know the reason I ordered it is because of the internet capabilities that it has (I am planning on returning it when it arrives). I think we lie to ourselves quite often.

It is this tendency of lying to ourselves that James addresses in James 1:22-25. Read what the brother of Jesus had to say:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (ESV)

Commenting on this passage David Nystrom in The NIV Application Commentary: James wrote; “But hearing alone is insufficient. To hear and not to take action is to lie to oneself” (p. 94). The three other commentaries that I read said similar things. We deceive ourselves when we hear God’s Word and do not live God’s Word.

Why does James say that we deceive ourselves when we are only listeners and not also doers? I think it comes down to the reality that God’s Word shows us what true humanity is to look like, and when we refuse to take action we are saying that we are already what God desires us to be. That is the point of the illustration that James uses. A man who looks in the mirror and does nothing is saying that he already looks good enough. His hair needs combed, his faced needs to be washed, and his beard needs trimmed, but he has convinced himself that he is presentable as is.

The person who is able to listen to God’s Word and doesn’t take action is saying that he/she is already measuring up to what God desires. They are deceiving themselves. To aid this deception they will point out other people who need to hear this “Word from God”, but in no way will they admit that it applies to them.

What do you do with God’s Word? Do you enjoy listening to it thinking of how it applies to others or critiquing it for correct doctrine? Do you listen to it and think how it applies to your life? Do you allow the truth be told or do you look for ways to lie to yourself?

One of the ways we experience God’s grace in our lives is through His Word. God wants to guide our lives and help us understand the best way to live. I hope that we can be humble enough to accept His Word, not only as truth to be learned, but also as instructions to live. Be truthful to yourself: listen and obey.