The Foolishness of the Cross

Good Friday is the day that we remember the crucifixion of Christ Jesus.  It is good that we remember the reality that Jesus, in obedience to the Father, laid down His life for the sacrifice of sin.  My concern is that for us who have been around this message all of our lives that we don’t realize how foolish this is, the fact that out of death comes life or the fact that winning emerges from losing. Read the apostle Paul’s words:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. 

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25; ESV)

Notice the fact that Paul never says that the cross is anything but folly or foolishness.  Yes, we find power and transformation through the death and resurrection of Jesus, but I am not certain that we understand its significance.  While the cross fits into God’s plan to rescue creation from sin, decay, and death and therefore is the product of His wisdom, I am not sure that we are able to make total sense of it. I realize that systematic theologies have explained the cross in doctrines like justification, atonement, and sanctification, but I wonder unless we find the cross at least a little odd that we haven’t missed something.

While we may never grasp the full wisdom of God displayed in the cross we can still find healing in its purpose.  While we may wonder how the death of one man saves all those who believe in Him we can still put our faith in Him.  You see for us to take advantage of the gift of life, forgiveness, and mercy that is found in the death and resurrection of Jesus we don’t need to understand it in all of its complexities, but rather we need to trust the One at work through it all. 

The power of the Cross doesn’t lie in our understanding, but in God’s love and grace.  We may not understand the purpose of the cross, but we can trust the One at work through the Cross.  The point of Good Friday is not that we understand God’s ways, but that we trust God’s love.

A Mark of Maturity

Author Dallas Willard in his book The Spirit of the Disciplines wrote; “Here as always—whether in our natural life or in our spiritual life—the mark of disciplined persons is that they are able to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.” (p. 151) It is the disciplined person who is able to come through in the clutch and does not allow the pressure of the moment to rattle him/her from accomplishing what needs to be done.

It was the discipline of shooting thousands of baskets that enabled basketball legend Larry Bird to be such a great clutch performer. Without the hours of intense practice Bird would never have been able to hit as many last second shots as he did. It wasn’t about having good intentions, but it was about training his body to respond in a certain way, and that is what made it possible for him to be so great.

We understand the importance of discipline in the arenas of sports and music, but often we neglect it when it comes to living a life of faith. Somehow we have told ourselves that what matters are our good intentions, and if we are willing to follow Jesus then that is good enough. The problem is that when the chips are down and life is stacked against us we often fail. We can’t come through in the clutch because we have not trained our bodies to respond in the right way. Let’s face it; many of us are undisciplined.

I would guarantee that if we examined the lives of people who are considered to have a mature faith one thing they all would have in common is discipline. Granted they may not call it discipline, but they would have certain activities that they were devoted to doing which would express their commitment to Christ Jesus.

A verse that has come to mean a lot to me the past few months is Acts 2:42. In this verse Luke shares with us four activities that the earlier church devoted themselves to doing.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (ESV)

As the Church exploded on to the scene the Apostles made sure that the new Believers were involved in activities that would encourage these new disciples and would help them mature in their faith. Being disciplined is essential if we are going to be mature disciples of Christ.

Consider what the apostle Paul wrote about who he lived his life:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; ESV)

Paul compares his walk with Christ to an athlete preparing to compete in the games. The athlete is disciplined in his/her practice so they will be able to perform to the best of their ability and when the prize. According to Paul that is an illustration for how we are to live our lives: we are to discipline our bodies and learn to control them. Maturing in faith isn’t just a matter of knowing more or having the proper intentions, but it is about training our bodies to respond to the good desires of our new hearts. We are to discipline our bodies so we can respond in love when others respond in hate, so we can respond with joy for another person’s success rather than being jealous, or so we can give generously rather than greedily horde what we have. If we are going to live like Jesus, then we need to discipline our bodies to respond to the new heart He has given us.

Erwin McManus in his little book Stand Against the Wind wrote:

There is a process in our becoming all that God created us to be. This is the human side of divine change. Transformation is both the miracle of God and the stewardship of man. Godliness is a result of both divine activity and human action. God promises to do what we cannot do for ourselves, and He commands us to do that which He will not do for us. There is both miracle and responsibility. God entrusts us with His resources, and then He holds us accountable for what we do with them.” (p. 46)

Foundational to what I am saying is that our transformation and salvation are the miracles of God. We cannot achieve true transformation, a total change of heart, without the initiative and action of God. That is where it all starts, and so I am not advocating some form of humanism here, but rather I want to point out that we have a responsibility to nurture and grow this wonderful gift that God has given to us. To be disciplined means to be good stewards of what God has done for us.

What disciplines do we need in our lives in order to be good stewards of the new life we have in Christ Jesus? I think a good place to start, because it comes right out of the Bible, are the four activities of Acts 2:42. I would simply want to point out that the third activity, the breaking of bread, means the Lord’s Supper. This is a debatable issue, but in my study I have come to believe that is what it this phrase means in this context. One of the reasons I want to emphasis this because it is important for us to have a way to re-commit our lives to God’s Kingdom after we have stumbled and sinned.

If we are going to mature as disciples of Christ Jesus then it is essential that we have in our lives certain disciplines that help teach our bodies to live by faith. That is why one of the marks of mature Christians is their commitment to certain activities that they have found help them stay connected to Christ. If we are to follow their example then we need to have similar activities as a part of our lives. Isn’t it about time that we live a disciplined life?

It Is All About Love

{Revelation 2:2-4; NLT}
"I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first."

The church at Ephesus was a church that had taken a stand. They did not tolerate evil and they made sure truth was taught. These Christians suffered for the name of Jesus. I believe that if this church were around today we would look at it as a model. It would be a true Bible-believing-truth-telling church!

For all the good things this church was doing they had missed the point. Yes, they valued truth and morality, but they forgot the most important thing: Love. Jesus wants us to understand that the most important thing we can have in our church families and in our lives is love. Without love everything we do is meaningless. The first 3 verses of 1 Corinthians 13 stresses this point: but if I didn't love others, it would be of no value whatsoever. (v. 3; NLT) Love is essential for the life God created us to live.

How is our love for Jesus seen? Ultimately it is not seen in the stands we take or the truth we proclaim. Our love for Jesus is seen in our obedience to His commands. "If you love me, obey my commandments." (John 14:15; NLT) Don't limit obedience to the don'ts of scripture. Obedience isn't just about morality, but it is also about fulfilling our responsibility to love God and to love people.

Our love for Jesus comes out in our commitment to the Great Commission. In other words it is about reaching out and making disciples, and not just shouting the truth from the rooftops. Making disciples involves more than just sharing the truth with people, it is also about showing God's goodness to the world.

When we love Jesus not only will we proclaim the truth, but we will also show compassion. It is easy to stand up and tell people the truth God has revealed in the Bible, it is something entirely different to love people indiscriminately.

The Ephesian Church had no trouble with the truth, but they did have trouble with love. First they lost the love they had for Jesus and that flowed into a lack of love for people. To be the church God wants us to be we have to love Jesus first, and allow that love to affect every other relationship we have.

This is what I want you to understand: We can be right all we want, but if we don't show compassion to others we will be ignored. If we love Jesus we will try to love people the way He loved people.

The Greatest of These

Originally posted Friday October, 15 2004

Wouldn’t it be great to win $10 million? Who among us hasn’t taken time to dream about what we would do with that type of money? Of course being Christians we think about the good we could do with the money: the orphans we could help, the missionaries we would support, and the ministries we would start. After all we are not greedy; we just want to be comfortable.

I don’t know about you, but I often play the “if only” game. If only I had $10 million I would use it for God’s glory. If only I had courage I would plant a church. If only I had the ability I would lead worship. The list could go on and on, but I think you understand my point. I tend to think that if I had a couple of additional talents or blessings I would be able to do so much more for the Kingdom.

The truth is that our gifts have very little to do with the difference we make in this world. The important thing in God’s eyes are not our talents, but our love. God is the Creator, and He can provide us with the gifts we need to accomplish the task He has called us to do. The one thing God cannot do is make us love. Love is a choice which we make. It is a product of our free will.

We may be jealous over the amazing talent someone else has, but what makes those talents meaningful and effective is love. Without love our gifts are meaningless. That was the apostle Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 13:

If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn’t love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever (1 Corinthians 13:1-3; NLT).

Paul wants us to understand that the power behind our talents is love, and if we don’t have love then we what we are doing is ultimately meaningless. I think this is an important truth that we should ponder for a while. All the money in the world and all the awards that are won do not mean a thing without love. Love for God and love for people. Are you allowing love to power your talents?

While all the blessing God gives us are wonderful and amazing, none of them has the impact to influence another person outside of our decision to use those blessings in love. Love shows people we care about them. It makes our message both authentic and relevant in their lives.

While love is a choice, I think it is essential to remember that love was first a gift. The apostle John wrote; This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins (1 John 4:10; NLT). Because God first loved us we are able to love those around us. It is through His love overflowing from our lives that we are able to change the world. That is why the greatest gift God has given us is love, and that is why He wants us to keep giving it away.

The Foundation for Discipleship

Much has been said about nominal Christianity. It appears to many of us that a good percentage of people who claim the name Christian are not truly following Jesus. This is evidenced in the fact that Christians in the United States live no differently than the rest of the culture. For all the effort we have put into trying to be “relevant” to the culture, it seems that we have not connected with people in the way it mattered most.

How do we move people from having a belief in Jesus to becoming disciples of Jesus? Remember that on the day of Pentecost 3,000 people believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, repented, and were baptized. This presents a huge task for the 120 or so disciples of Jesus, for they were now expected to help mature these new believers into disciples. What did they do? Acts 2:42 gives us the answer: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (ESV).

In this one sentence Luke shows us the foundation of discipleship that the early church used. Their discipleship process was focused in four priorities. As we take a look at these four priorities I think we can get a picture of what we need to do in order to help people move from merely claiming to be Christians, to truly be disciples of Jesus.

I think the first thing that needs to be pointed out is that the early church was devoted or committed to these things. What I want to make sure that we all understand is that these priorities must be what we, who are following Jesus, are devoted to. As people observe our lives they will begin to understand that these things are important in our spiritual growth.

The first priority is that the early church was devoted to the apostles’ teachings. As we continue in Acts 2 we discover that these first Christians met daily in the Temple for prayer and teaching. They knew they need truth and application if they were going to live like Jesus in the world. This is the starting point of all discipleship, being humble enough to be a student of the Bible (the New Testament being a collection of the apostles’ teaching). We also have to remember that being a student is not enough, we also have to be doers. James tells us:

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 (James 1:22-25; ESV).

The true benefit of teaching isn’t the information that we receive, but the knowledge that we gain. True knowledge is seen in applying what we have learned. If we are not doers of God’s Word, then we haven’t been devoted to the apostles’ teachings, and we are not true disciples. Commitment requires both actions: hearing and doing.

The next priority is that of the fellowship. What this means is that they were committed to each other. This is plainly seen in Acts 2:43-47. They ate together, worshiped together, and generously helped each other. To be committed to the fellowship isn’t about attending events, but it is about doing life together. One of the place where we see this taught is in Hebrews 10:22-25:

...let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (ESV)

The key phrase in the passage is let us. To Christians who were struggling in the face of persecution and who were considering returning to Judaism the author of Hebrews encourages them to do life together. That is what true fellowship is all about. It is hard to come by in our culture, even in the Church, but it is so essential for our discipleship. We need people who will encourage us, who will come alongside of us, and who we can love and serve as well. Find Christian friends with whom you can do life together.

The third priority is that of the breaking of bread. Now there is some debate over what this means. My position is that this refers to communion. The reason I say that is because in the Greek it literally says; the breaking of the bread. While breaking of bread refers to the simple act of sharing meals, the extra “the” I think indicates something specific, and that would be the Lord’s Supper (which was observed during a common meal, so in a sense both meanings fit). The reason Communion is so vital to our discipleship is because it is our time to examine our hearts and our commitment to Jesus. Yes, it is a time for us to remember Jesus and His sacrifice, but that is not its only purpose. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 wrote:

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. (ESV)

One question that we have to consider when it comes to Communion is: “Do I want to be a part of God’s Kingdom?” The answer to that question will tell us a lot about the condition of our heart and what we truly want our lives to be about. When we take Communion we are reaffirming our desire to be part of God’s covenant people, and thus it provides us with a brand new start. That is why Communion is so vital to our lives as disciples.

The last priority we find mentioned in Acts 2:42 is that of the prayers. The early Christians were not only devoted to praying, but they were devoted to praying at certain times of the day. It is my belief that they continued the tradition of the Jews to pray at 9AM, Noon, and 3PM. One reason I think that is that in Acts 3:1 we read that Peter and John were going to the Temple at the time of prayer. To be devoted to prayer isn’t just about feeling comfortable about praying throughout the day, but have a set time each day when we do not let anything else interfere with our conversation with our Heavenly Father. A great example of this is found in the Old Testament. Daniel was a man of prayer, and because some people were jealous of his success they were able to trick the king into passing law that forbid praying. The penalty for praying was death. This is what Daniel 6:10 tells us: When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously (ESV).

Not only did Daniel pray in the face of death, but he also thanked God while in exile. Right there we find two excuse many of us would use for not praying. How can we pray when it would cost us our life? How can we thank God when our lives aren’t what we hoped they would be? Yet, Daniel was committed to praying three times a day. If we are going to following Jesus then we must see how vital it is to have this daily time of communication with our Heavenly Father. Prayer was an essential part of the life of Jesus, and if we are going to follow His example then it is going to have to be an essential part of our lives.

We have quickly walked through the four priorities the early church were committed to keeping. Much more could be said about each of these priorities, but hopefully you have begun to see how vital they are to the life of the Church. If we are going to have truly devoted followers of Christ, then we must insist that our church families make these four priorities the foundation of whatever discipleship program they implement. After all, if the early church found these four priorities to be essential to their growth, then it is a good bet they will be essential for our growth as well.

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
Sent from my iPod

Our Moral Responsibility

Originally posted on Wednesday, 10 November 2004

When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or who are greedy or are swindlers or idol worshipers. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or a swindler. Don’t even eat with such people. It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your job to judge those inside the church who are sinning in these ways. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.” ~ 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; NLT

The greatest frustration I have with the Church in the United States is our political involvement. We are horrified that the people of the world are acting like the people of the world and we want to be put a stop to it. The result has been Christians mobilized to go to the voting booths to vote their “conscious” so that the country they live in will reflect their morals.

As a result Christians have forgotten two important truths. First, people without Jesus are not saved, no matter how they live. The heterosexual couple living together outside of marriage is just as evil as the homosexual couple seeking to be married; God draws no distinction between the two. By keeping them from doing certain behaviors doesn’t make them people fit for Heaven. While we would love for the entire country to have the same morals as we do it isn’t morality which saves people. People living seemingly moral lives helps us forget their great need for a Savior.

Second, the greatest danger to the Church of Jesus Christ is not the morality of the world, but the morality of those who call themselves Christians. This is where the Church should focus their energy; not the immorality of the world. When so-called Christians fail to live up to the teachings of Jesus then the Truth we have to share loses its value in the eyes of the world.

Church, you want to make a difference in this world? You want to stop abortions from happening? You want people to live moral lives? Then get out into the world and live like followers of Jesus. Love the unwed mothers. Care for the helpless and the weak. Take time to make a difference in the community you live in. The early church made an impact in their world not because they petitioned the Roman government, but because they sacrificed and lived like Disciples of Christ.

In the Old Testament the morality of Israel was very important. Under the New Covenant what matters is not the morality of a nation, but the morality of God”s People, the Church. When the Church lives the way God has commanded it effect the world. Our main concern as Christians is not getting our moral agenda passed by the Government, but living moral lives which affect those around us.
Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us. ~ James 1:27 (NLT)

Not a Christian Nation

Originally posted on Thursday, 15 July 2004

“America has been known as a Christian nation due to the tremendous impact that the Christian faith has had on our society. At the same time, the Christian faith has become delusional, over-identifying itself with the society as a whole. A Christian revolution must live in tension with human societies and cultures. The ultimate goal of American Christianity should not be to make us good citizens but to make us revolutionaries in the cause of Jesus Christ.” ~ Erwin McManus; An Unstoppable Force

Is there any more dividing issue in our society than politics? In this war of values and ideologies it is hard to discuss things logically without our emotions getting involved. While harsh things are side by both sides about the other, each has the same goal, what is best for this country. Liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, though some of us would hate to admit it, both want what is best for the citizens of this great nation. Each group approaches it for different angles, with different backgrounds, and different values, there is still the common goal.

What I want to remind you of today is that as first and foremost citizens of God’s great and awesome kingdom we have to rise above all of this. Our methods should not be the methods of the world. The way we seek to make the United States better shouldn’t be through the same means as the Republicans or the Democrats seek to make a difference. The Apostle Paul tells us; For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses (2 Corinthians 10:3, 4; NASB). Our weapons are Truth, hope, and service all wrapped in love. These weapons are powerful enough to knock down the dividing walls that politics raises up.

I say this because I believe a great many of us have been distracted. We see the evil going on around us and the moral decay destroying the foundations of our country. We want to do something about it, so we turn to the government. We clamor for laws and for a correct reading of the Constitution.

The truth is that the United States is in moral upheaval, not because of laws and court decisions, but because of sin. There is no longer a common morality held by the people of this country. John Adams, the second president of the United States pointed out, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

For people apart from a saving relationship with Jesus Christ sexual sin, greed, murder, and discrimination are par for the course. As Christians we shouldn’t expect the people of this world to live any differently than that. No laws, no logical argument, or more education will make people good. It is only through surrendering our lives to Jesus that happens.

So the most important thing American Christian can do is to live lives of hope and love. Remember what Peter wrote?

Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God when he comes to judge the world (1 Peter 2:12; NLT).

This is my plea to you. Concentrate on these two actions.

Pray. I know that is the standard Sunday School answer, but the truth is that we haven’t been being praying the right prayer. We have being asking God to change the sinners in the world. Instead we need to be asking God to make us holy. When we face the sin in our lives and pursue the holiness of God, He will make us highways over which change will come.

The second action is serve. In the Church we have written mission statements and talked about programs to bring people to us. The Bible is clear on how to make a church grow. It is not by sitting up shop on a street corner and inviting everyone who comes by to stop and listen. The Church grows when Christians get out of the pews and into the communities, serving and loving those in need.

I know this sounds too simple and like it won’t make a difference. But isn’t that when God displays His power the most?

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God (1 Corinthians 1:27-29; NRSV).

Let me leave you with this quote by Dr. Michael Brown from his book Revolution.

All true revolution begins with a belief, with a dream, before it turns into action. The Lord has a plan of action for you! But it must flow out of your loyalty to Him, out of your dedication to His cause. He came to set captives free, but they will remain in bondage unless we tell them the good news.

It is more important that we help set captives free than get the right political agenda passed. That is the work we have been called to do.

Run to Win

One of the things that I regret in my life is that I didn't play high school football. Many of you know that I love football, it has become one of the passions in my life. Given the choice today I would watch a football game over a basketball game. To me football is the manliest game played.

The reason I didn't play football in high school is because I ran cross country. Entering high school as a freshman it is what I was expected to do. My eighth grade year I had won all but one of the mile races that I ran, and so when our school decided to add cross country there was an expectation that is what I would do.

I didn't mind cross country my freshman year, mainly because my coach that year was very good and he expected a lot out of me. My fastest times in cross country came my freshman year. The following years I had a couple of different coaches who didn't push me as hard as Coach Clayberg had done my freshman year. I began to hate cross country. During the meets my goal was to finish, I wasn't out to win. As a result my cross country career is not very distinguished.

My track career in high school is a different story. I loved track, and even though my coaches didn't always push us, I would do extra running after practice. As a result I was able to run at the Iowa State Track meet. The difference was in my attitude. While during cross country I was just putting in my time, during track I was seeking to be successful, I was running to win.

I believe we have the same problem in our lives that I had with cross country. We have become satisfied with just getting by, looking to finish, rather than living to win. We try to let our Christianity show as little as possible rather than living sold out lives to Jesus.

Jesus does not want us to live lives that are just enough to get by. He is not interested in us living like the world as much as we can and blending in with the people around us. It is Jesus' desire that we stand out, living lives that are radically different than the people that we know. He wants us to be winners, rather than to be satisfied with finishing.

When I talk about living our lives to win I don't mean that we have to be perfect or even the best. If that was the case than we all would be in trouble. None of us can be the best at everything, and none of us will be perfect at everything we do.

To live to win simply means to give our best. This is what God wants from us. If all we ever do is just enough to get by then we will miss out on all that God has for us. If all we ever do is just what we are comfortable with, then we will not know what it is like to live out our potential.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians to remind them to give their best. This is found in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27;

Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. (NLT)

We are to run to win. We are to give our best effort. Paul gives us two disciplines we need in order to give our best effort. First we need to have purpose. Paul says that he runs to the goal with purpose. We need a direction to go in and reason for going there. God gives us this purpose, to have a relationship with Him. When we give our best, we experience God like we have never experienced Him before.

The second discipline is that we need to train. An athlete trains to prepare his/her body for the challenge of competition. In the same way we need to train our bodies to prepare them for the struggles and trials we will face. To live as a Christian is not easy, so we need to be prepared to defend our beliefs, to say no to temptation, and to stand tall when bad times come.

Run to win is what God wants us to do. An athlete seeking victory will give his/her best effort. They will have purpose in the playing and training to prepare them. If we are going to live according to God's standard we need to give our best effort, having a purpose in our lives and training to prepares us for what lies ahead. Let's quit being satisfied with just finishing, let us live to win. Let us run for Jesus.

The Complete Work of Christ

It has been more than a week since I returned from Wild at Heart Boot Camp, but there have been a couple of thoughts that have been growing in my mind since my return. The one thought I would like to mention today is the emphasis John and the Ransomed Heart team put on the complete work of Christ. I confess that I have understood this reality intellectually it hasn’t really penetrated my heart. My focus has been on Jesus death, but I have ignored the other important aspects of what Christ Jesus has done.

There is also the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 is Paul’s defense of the resurrection of Jesus and how important it is for our lives. The Apostle wrote; “And if Christ has not been raise, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17; NLT). Part of the importance of the resurrection is that it is evidence that Christ’s death accomplished the forgiveness of our sins. It is also evidence that Jesus had defeated our two greatest enemies: sin and death.

The other aspect of the complete work of Christ that John Eldredge and his team emphasize is the ascension. I think this is an aspect that we totally overlook, and yet it tells us something very important about Jesus. Paul writing in Ephesians wrote; “I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This the the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 1:19-20; NLT). The ascension is evidence that Jesus has all authority and that He has been returned to His rightful place in heaven. Jesus is in His place of authority, He is in control of what happens.

As I have thought about the complete work of Christ this work another aspect of His work came to mind that was not emphasized at Boot Camp, and that is the life and teaching of Jesus. One of my favorite verses in 1 John 2:6. This is what the apostle John wrote; “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did” (NLT). How is it possible to know how to live our lives? We know how to live by knowing how Jesus lived and what He taught about life. He is our example for living.

What does this impact our lives? I think one critical way is that when we pray we ask God to bring the complete work of Christ into our lives: His life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension. That is what John Eldredge does in the daily prayer he gave us to pray (one of the reason this has stuck with me this week). We talk about the transforming power of Christ, but too few of us experience that transforming power. Part of the reason is that we haven’t relied on Christ to transform us, but instead we have sought to transform ourselves through spiritual disciplines. Don’t get me wrong, spiritual disciplines serve a purpose in our lives, but they are not the main way God uses to transform us. That happens when we surrender our lives to Christ Jesus, and I am being made more and more aware that this is a daily choice that we make.

Erwin McManus wrote this is in Stand Against the Wind:

“Transformation is both the miracle of God and the stewardship of man. Godliness is a result of both divine activity and human action. God promises to do what we cannot do for ourselves, and He commands us to do that which He will not do for us. There is both miracle and responsibility.” (p. 46)

What I am suggesting is that surrender our lives to Christ and allow Him to perform the miracle of transformation so that we are better able to complete our responsibility in the transformation process. After all it is getting a little tiring trying to do it all myself.

Truth: Not the Most Important Thing

I want to begin by saying that I do appreciate what Steve Deace tries to do on his radio show, Deace in the Afternoon, on WHO radio in Des Moines. There are very few people who are so firmly rooted in their conviction as Deace is. I applaud him for trying to bring a Christian worldview to the airwaves of Iowa. That doesn’t mean that I am fan, because I am not. It is my opinion that Steve is rude, childish, and arrogant, which doesn’t serve the cause of Christ very well.

That being said I want to point out that Deace made an error on his radio program today. It isn’t the first time he has made it, which has led me to believe that it is what he truly believes. His error is the belief that truth is the most important thing. I agree that truth is important. We can all agree that it would foolish to follow something we knew to be a lie. Truth is essential and we need to pursue it the best that we can. The problem is that there is one thing, one element in life, that is more important that truth. That element is love. Consider what the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:


If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. (verses 1-3; ESV)

The apostle Paul makes it clear that it doesn’t matter what we do, say, or understand, because if we don’t love then it doesn’t mean a thing. Love is the key. Don’t miss understand, life would be meaningless if we had love, but did not have the truth, and so this is not an either or thing, but it is a priority thing. When it comes to influence, people will forget the arguments that we make, but they will remember the time we pour into their lives. Love not only builds the bridge over which truth travels, but it also adds credibility to the truth that we teach. Think of it this way: Love makes truth more effective.

When Jesus dictated to the apostle John the message that was to be read to the church at Ephesus, He focused on this issue of love and truth. Revelation 2:1-7 reads:

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." (Revelation 2:1-7; ESV)

Jesus finds many good things about this church family located in Ephesus. They were hard workers, they did not tolerate false teachings, they endured hardships, and they hated the works of the Nicolaitans. This was a church family that fought hard for truth and correct doctrine.

Despite all the good things they were doing, Jesus found something that was very wrong. The problem was so serious that Jesus warned them that if they did not repent then they would be removed from His presence. What was wrong with the Ephesian Church? Their problem was that they had lost their first love. They weren’t worshiping God like they should and this flowed into the reality that they were not loving people the way they should. They stood for truth, but that truth was meaningless because it wasn’t founded on love. Jesus doesn't tell them to give up the truth, but to return to love. Again we see that it is the combination of truth and love. The two go together.

To love doesn’t mean that we accept everyone and that we don’t hold people to standards, nor does it mean that we don’t confront those who are wrong or speak God’s Word to the world. It does mean that we do it with a humble heart, a gentle spirit, and a compassionate attitude. We have to be very aware that our conduct and our tone influence the way the truth is heard. The follow of Christ realizes his/her entire life is an exhibit of God’s love and truth.

Truth is important, but it is not the most important thing. What gives truth its power are not facts and arguments, but love. We can have correct doctrine and sacrifice our lives for the cause of Christ, but if we don’t have love then it means nothing. There are many important parts of the Christian life: truth, holiness, integrity, faith, and hope, but the greatest feature of Christianity is love.

*I want to point out that I updated this on April 14, 2009. I wrote the original in ten minutes on April 13 so I could post something before I went to bed, and I don’t think I was very fair to Steve Deace (even though it is very unlikely he will see this), and I wanted to revise my initial thoughts.

The Self-Examined Life

{1 Corinthians 11:27-32; ESV}
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

A week ago I received in the mail a notice from the city code enforcement that I need to trim some bushes. These lilac bushes are on the far east side of the property and the backside of them faces an alley. The issue was that some of the branches began to hang over the alley, which of course is a problem for people who use the alley, which include garbage trucks and snowplows.

Until I received the notice I did not realize there was a problem. Since those bushes face away from the house, and since I don’t use that alley, I was unaware of what had happened. I neglected my responsibility of taking care of the property.

As I spent the next day trimming the lilac bushes I thought about the fact that I do the same thing with my heart. I don’t examine it, and the result is that I don’t know what is taking root and branching out. This means I am not caring for my heart: nurturing the good and pruning the bad, like I should. This means that my heart is often a tangled mess of good intentions and evil desires and so I am unable to understand who I really am.

I believe that God wants us to examine our hearts. One of the purposes of communion is to provide us with an opportunity to examine our hearts and lives. This self-examination, according the the apostle Paul, is one of the requirements of properly participating in the Lord’s Supper. Communion gives us the chance, not only to remember the sacrifice of Jesus, but also to recommit our lives to Him.

What the Apostle tells us in this passage is that by not examining our hearts we become weak and ill. The reason we become sick is because we don’t understand what is happening in our hearts. We become oblivious to the temptation, to the deception, and to the dreams that are taking root there. These things, because they are fertilized by the world, will grow and grow, and eventually push out our commitment to Jesus. Spiritual maturity requires constant attention: the nurture of truth and the weeding of lies.

The examination of our hearts is essential to spiritual growth. If we are not pay attention to what is happening in our hearts then we will allow Satan to regain a foothold in our lives. By not being vigilant we pay the price and ultimately we fall way from Jesus.

Take some time this week and examine your heart. Are you dedicated to Jesus? What temptations lurk in your life? Is the love you feel in your heart for God seen in the life that you live? If you are interested in spiritual growth then self-examination is a must.

The Right Example

The way we live our lives is very much determined by the examples we have had in life. This is why parents are so influential parts of our lives. They give us an example, which is so much more influential than their teaching, to live by. If they are good examples then we have a positive model to follow, but if they are bad examples then we are faced with overcoming the negative model they have provided for us.

Just as parents provide us with an example on how we are to live life, so does God provide us with an example for how He expects us to live. The apostle Paul wrote:

Follow God’s example in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, because that sacrifice was like a sweet perfume to him. (Ephesians 5:1-2, NLT)

The Apostle tells us that we are to follow God’s example, and that example is personified in Jesus Christ. Jesus represents God perfectly and He shows us how God would live if He was confined to a body. This is the example that we are to follow.

But how do we follow the example of Jesus? There is only a small group of people that were able to witness the way Jesus lived His daily life, but we are not part of that group. It is one thing to follow the example of our parents who raised us, but it is another thing to follow the example of a man who walked this earth 2,000 years ago. How do we do it?

There are two important actions that we must be part of our lives if we are going to follow Jesus. In the absence of Jesus physically walking with us we have to be away of the tools He has left behind so we can follow where He leads.

The first action that we must do is that we must be students of the Bible. The apostle John wrote: I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life (1 John 5:13; NLT). Reading through 1 John you realize that John emphasis is to explain how Jesus lived. John is writing so that we might know how we live this new life, this eternal life, that we have received from Jesus because of His death and resurrection.

The entire Bible is useful for helping us understand how Jesus lived and how we can follow His example. The Old Testament is full of stories of people of faith and how they lived their lives. It also contains God’s Law that He wanted His people to live by. The Gospels are the record of how Jesus lived, the book of Acts is a record of how His first followers lived, and the rest of the New Testament explains how we can make Jesus’ example the model for our lives.

The second action is observing the lives of mature christians. That is why the apostle Paul wrote; And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s (1 Corinthians 11:1; NLT). Paul had experience in following the example of Jesus, and thus he became a live example of what it means to follow Jesus. While his readers may not be able to see Jesus, they could see Paul and how he lived.

From reading biographies of men and women of faith to spending time with mature Christ Followers we are able to see how Jesus would respond to the challenges that we face everyday. These people help flesh out the words of Jesus and we can begin to understand how we should live our lives.

How we live our lives is influenced greatly by the examples of living that we have had. God wants us to follow His example as seen in His Son Jesus. It is when we start to follow Jesus that we begin to see how life is really meant to be lived.

Slogans of the Movement

Introduction to the Restoration Ideal #2

There are three slogans (mottoes) that have defined the Restoration Movement throughout the years, especially in the early years. Marshall Leggett briefly mentions these three slogans on pages 9 and 10. They are: “Where the Scripture speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent”; “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, love”; “Do Bible things in Bible ways, and call Bible things by Bible names.”

I want to briefly comment on these slogans. Each one has its strength and weakness, and divorced from the context that they were developed we may even their wisdom.

“Where the Scripture speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent”
To appreciate this slogan we have to remember the context in which the Restoration Movement got its start. One of the things that fueled the Restoration Movement was the reality of a Church that was splintered into denominations and sects, and each had its own creed or confession to determine who a “real” Christian was. I don’t know if we in contemporary America can understand the division that was a reality in that time. These men called for people to return to Scripture, rather than their creeds and confessions. The rule of our faith and our practice must be found in the Bible rather than from tradition or theology.

While I think most Christians appreciate the call to return to Scripture, the weakness is found in developing an arrogance that is akin to what the apostle Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians:

This is what I mean: Each of you is saying, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” (1 Cor. 1:12; ISV)

When this is your slogan it is easy to develop the arrogance of false of humility of following the Bible “alone”: “I am not a Calvinist; I am just a plain Bible-believing Christian” (as if Calvinist don’t believe the Bible).

If I could redo this slogan a little I would have it say: Scripture is our guide in how we live and what we believe.

“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, love”
This is my favorite of the Restoration Movement slogans. It reminds us that there are many things in which Christians can find unity. It also helps us remember that there needs to be grace in our dealings with each other. We are not going to have the same beliefs about everything, and there needs to be room and freedom to belief differently when it comes to those things that are not clearly stated in the Bible. And of course we are reminded to love each other. Just as the apostle Peter wrote: Above all, continue to love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8; ISV).

The problem we run into with this one is that we can’t agree what are essentials and non-essentials are. It is hard to extend liberty when we believe something is an essential doctrine. That being said there is no answer I can give to that problem except that we have to be patient and loving with people, and when we have a disagreement we have to do our best to explain our position. Love is still the best way to help people to discover the truth.

“Do Bible things in Bible ways, and call Bible things by Bible names”
This is the slogan I would just like to forget. Why? Because we live in a different time and culture. We don’t worship the same way, we don’t celebrate communion the same way, and we don’t have the same problems or concerns.

We need to remember that the Bible is our source of Truth: it forms what we believe and directs what we do. Yet, one the challenges that we face is taking the ancient principles found in Scripture and applying them to our lives. We will never be consistent in doing things the way they did them in the Bible, we will always allow our culture to influence how we do them. What we need to be consistent on is making sure the Biblical principles guide how we do things.

I would redo this slogan to say: The Bible gives us with the principles that form how we live and worship.

Committed to Communion

Committed to the Basics: Part 4

A great musician first needs to learn the notes and the scales in order to master the music. A great basketball player needs to learn how to dribble, shoot, pass, rebound, and defend before he can master the game. As followers of Jesus we have to learn and be committed to a few basic fundamentals if we are going to be successful at the task Jesus has commissioned us to accomplish (make disciples).

We find these fundamentals in Acts 2:42: They continually devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to times of prayer (ISV). I believe this verse outlines four basic fundamentals that need to be a part of our lives and the lives of our church families. The first discipline is that we have to be committed to learning. If we are not taking the time to learn God’s Word then we will not be able to know how God wants us to live. The second discipline is we need to be committed to fellowship. Life is tough and we are not going to make it through this life with our faith intact without the love, support, and encouragement of other Christians.

The third discipline that the early church was committed to was the Lord’s Supper. I want to admit that there is some debate about what exactly what the breaking of bread means. The common Greek usage means sharing a meal, but the New Testament also using the phrase to mean sharing in the Lord’s Supper. From the context it is very hard to tell what it means because we know that the early Church frequently shared meals together, and that would fit well with the idea of fellowship and having things in common.

The reason I think it is the Lord’s Supper is because I think that sharing meals would fit under fellowship, and therefore be redundant. Also, Gareth Reese in his commentary on the book of Acts (New Testament History: Acts) says that the original Greek would read the breaking of the bread which would point to something specific (given the second the) rather than just regular meals (p. 83). It would also be a very special ritual that would separate them from the Jewish religion that they had just left. The Lord’s Supper would be a constant reminder of Jesus and the New Covenant that His death and resurrection ushered in. In other words Communion helped make Jesus Christ the center of their faith.

One of the reasons that I love the Restoration Movement Churches, the faith heritage I am a part of, is the emphasis that we have put on the Lord’s Supper. This tradition, the only tradition that Jesus asked us to keep, is so vital to keeping us focused on Jesus and what He has done for us. Not only as individuals, but also as a Church Family. When done right Communion should help maintain a sense of fellowship in our church families.

In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul wrote some guidelines about the Lord’s Supper. This is part of what he wrote:

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26; ISV)

Paul tells us that by participating in Communion we proclaim Jesus’ death. One aspect of this is that we keep the sacrifice of Jesus central. It is a focal point for our lives and our worship. The Lord’s Supper serves as a powerful remainder to the price God paid to have freed from our lives of sin.

• Point to Ponder: Communion helps keep Jesus the center of our faith.
• Passage to Remember: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
• Question to Consider: How important is the Lord’s Supper to your life?

Give It Your All

We all have regrets in life. There are things we have done that we wished we wouldn’t have done. On the other hand there are things that we didn’t do that we wish we would have given a shot. For me one of my greatest regrets in life is the fact that I didn’t play football in high school. I love football, but when I had the opportunity to play I didn’t take it.

The reason I didn’t play football in high school is because I ran cross country. Entering high school as a freshman it is what I was expected to do. My eighth grade year I had won all but one of the mile races that I ran, and so when our school decided to add cross country there was an expectation in the small community I lived in that cross country is what I would do.

I didn’t mind cross country my freshman year, mainly because my coach that year was very good and he expected a lot out of me. My fastest times in cross country came my freshman year. The following years I had a couple of different coaches who didn’t push me as hard as Coach Clayberg had done my freshman year. I began to hate cross country. During the meets my goal was to finish, I wasn’t out to win. As a result my cross country career is not very productive.

My track career in high school is a different story. I loved track, and even though my coaches didn’t always push us, I would do extra running after practice. As a result I was able to run at the Iowa State Track meet. The difference was in my attitude. While during cross country I was just putting in my time, during track I was seeking to be successful, I was running to win.

I believe we have the same problem in our lives that I had with cross country. We have become satisfied with just getting by, looking to finish, rather than living to win. In other words we are looking at the minimum we can do and still consider ourselves a Christian rather than really committing our lives to following Jesus.

Jesus does not want us to live lives that are just enough to get by. He doesn’t want us to be like everyone else. Jesus wants us to stand out from the crowd. Remember He called us to be lights of the world. You can’t be a light in the dark if you don’t stand out. Remember this: we are not really following Jesus if we are just doing the minimum. Christianity is more than “going to church” and place a couple of bills in the offering plate. Christianity is about a total life transformation. That is how we live to win as Christians.

When I talk about living out lives to win I don’t mean that we have to be perfect or even the best. If that were the case than we all would be in trouble. None of us can be the best at everything, and none of us will be perfect at everything we do.

To live to win simply means to give our best. This is what God wants from us. If all we ever do is just enough to get by then we will miss out on all that God has for us. If all we ever do is just what we are comfortable with, then we will not know what it is like to live out our potential.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians to remind them to give their best.

24 You know that in a race all the runners run but only one wins the prize, don't you? You must run in such a way that you may be victorious. 25 Everyone who enters an athletic contest practices self-control in everything. They do it to win a wreath that dies, but we to win one that never dies. 26 That is the way I run, with a clear goal in mind. That is the way I box, not like someone punching the air. 27 No, I keep on beating my body and making it my slave so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; ISV)

We are to run to win. We are to give our best effort. Paul gives us two disciplines we need in order to give our best effort:

1. We need to have purpose. Paul says that he runs to the goal with purpose. We need a direction to go in and reason for going there. God gives us this purpose, to have a relationship with Him. When we give our best, we experience God like we have never experienced Him before.
2. We need to train. An athlete trains to prepare his/her body for the challenge of competition. In the same way we need to train our bodies to prepare them for the struggles and trials we will face. To live as a Christian is not easy, so we need to be prepared to defend our beliefs, to say no to temptation, and to stand tall when bad times come.

Running to win is what God wants us to do. An athlete seeking victory will give his/her best effort. They will have purpose in the playing and training to prepare them. If we are going to live according to God’s standard we need to give our best effort, having a purpose in our lives and training to prepares us for what lies ahead. Let’s quit being satisfied with just finishing and start to run to win, to stand out. Let us run for Jesus.

• Point to Ponder: We are not really following Jesus if we are just doing the minimum.
• Passage to Remember: 1 Corinthians 9:25-27
• Question to Consider: What sort of effort are you giving to follow Jesus?

God Uses Unlikely People

One of the things that strike me about God is that the value society has given to people makes no difference to Him. In fact it seems that God would rather use the common, even the despised, people of the world to make a difference in this world. Consider Moses. God doesn’t use Moses when he is a prince of Egypt, but when he is a nomadic shepherd. Certainly God has used the rich and the powerful, but more often than not God has used the poor, sinful, and abused. God uses the unlikeliest people.

This reality comes our loud and clear at Christmas time. Think about the major characters of the Christmas story: Joseph who is a poor and scandalize carpenter, Mary who is a young and scandalized girl, Shepherds who are a bunch of untrustworthy characters. Only the Magi have credibility in society, but this diminishes in Jewish culture since these men were Gentiles. The most important event in the history of the world and God chooses people who are rejected and wouldn’t be believed by society!

Makes you wonder why doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it give Jesus more credibility if he had been born to the upper class of society to people who were well respected? Wouldn’t more people believe the message if the angels appeared to the Sanhedrin rather than to a bunch of no account shepherds? One could get the impression that God intentionally uses the least likely people make it difficult for people to believe.

God uses unlikely people to show His power

The apostle Paul writes:

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? God has turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense, hasn't he? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know God, God decided through the nonsense of our preaching to save those who believe. 22 Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified. He is a stumbling block to Jews and nonsense to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God's power and God's wisdom. 25 For God's nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:20-25; ISV)

Paul tells us that God’s weakness (as if He had any) is stronger than man’s strength. In other words there is no situation in which we find ourselves in that we are stronger or smarter than God. There may people who think that if God really existed He would do this or that, but the reality is all they can do is speak from their limited experience. They have no clue of what God is doing and the wisdom and power He truly possess.

It is a testimony to God’s power that from such humble beginnings He established His kingdom that continues to grow in number and influence in this world. When we truthfully consider Christianity it shouldn’t even have gotten out of the first century, but here we are two thousand years later and the Church of Jesus Christ continues to grow in this world. As it loses influence here in the West it is exploding in the rest of the world.

I hope this is an encouragement to all of us who wonder about our value in the world. It doesn’t seem like we have any special talent and we lack the resources to really do something meaningful. We feel like we are on the sideline of what God is doing in this world. If God can use nobodies like Joseph, Mary, and the disciples to change the world than He can use and me to make a difference in the communities we live in.

God uses unlikely people to humble arrogant

The apostle Paul continues to write:

26 Brothers, think about your own calling. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is nonsense in the world to make the wise feel ashamed. God chose what is weak in the world to make the strong feel ashamed. 28 And God chose what is insignificant in the world, what is despised, what is nothing, in order to destroy what is something, 29 so that no human being may boast in God's presence. 30 It is because of him that you are in union with Christ Jesus, who for us has become wisdom from God, as well as our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written, “The person who boasts must boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31, ISV)

Many people miss out on God because they are too proud to trust in God. For some they are too proud to change their way of life and follow the example of Jesus on how we are to live. Other people are too proud of their wisdom and if God doesn’t do things their way then they are not going to believe in Him or trust Him.

Remember this: God isn’t interested in people believing in Him, but He is interested in people trusting Him. This is where many people, especially atheists, become confused. Yes, God could reveal Himself for all to believe (which will happen one day), but believing in Him doesn’t mean you will trust Him. The Bible is full of stories of people who believed but did not trust. God has decided that the best way for us to learn to trust is through the experience of discovering belief and living that belief.

The intelligent and well educated, just like the rich, will have trouble entering the kingdom of heaven because of their pride. God has chosen the simple and the unlikely people in this world to remind us that it isn’t our place in this world that matters, but whether or not we will trust Him in a world that denies His very existence.

It doesn’t matter who we are or what we have done God can use us to make a difference in this world. God isn’t looking for people with lots of money, jaw dropping good looks, and lots of degrees hanging on the wall. He is looking for ordinary people willing to put their trust in Him. God loves using people just like you and me.

• Point to Ponder: God uses the unlikeliest people.
• Passage to Remember: 1 Corinthians 1:25
• Question to Consider: Are you willing to be used by God?

Don't Just Make Noise

"Nothing brings back feelings of being cared for as much as being in a community that feels. There is hurt and loneliness on a rampant scale today. Nothing will speak to our society as much as a community that reaches out with the love of Christ." ~ Ravi Zacharias, Cries of the Heart

We live in a broken world. That fact is not hard to see. From high profile murder cases, to rampant drug use, and to the explosion of internet dating sites we understand that things are not what they should be. People are hurt, lonely, scared, and without hope.

I don't think people who are broken do not need lectures on the evil of sin. Why? They don't need the lectures because they are experiencing the consequences of sin each and every day. Nor do I think they do not need facts about the reliability of the Bible. Why? These facts fail to meet their deepest needs. What will speak to their hearts is the clear demonstration that they are not facing the hardships of life alone. In other words they need compassion, love in action, to be made real in their lives. Jesus established His Church to be the instrument of love in this broken world. If people are going to discover the love of God then it will be through the Church sacrificing to help and care for them.

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciple (John 13:34-35; NLT). Jesus tells us that our love for each other, fellow believers, shows the world that we belong to Him. For this reason I believe if we are going to reach out to a hurt and broken community we first must look at ourselves. We, the body of Christ, need to learn to love each other and care for one another so others can understand it is possible to experience the love they crave. Too many people have been turned off to the Gospel of Jesus Christ because the church they knew was far from loving. Why would people want to be part of a fellowship, if that is what it can be called, that is filled with gossip, fighting, and divisions?

The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay (1 Peter 4:7-9; NLT).

Peter reminds us of the importance of love. Love is so important for a Church not only because it will help people overlook mediocre preaching, terrible singing, and inadequate teaching, but also because it will become the source of what they are truly seeking: love. The world is an unloving place, the Church should stand out because of our love for each other and for the rest of the world. Being a loving Church also allows people to see the Gospel message fleshed out which helps them understand that Jesus can make a difference in their lives.

The Bible makes it clear that we, the followers of Christ, are the body of Christ. It is our responsibility to live in such a way so that the world can see the love of Jesus. When we insist on fighting with each other and having power struggles which divide the Church we show a hurting and lonely world that Jesus makes no difference in the lives of people.

If we really want to make difference in this world it will begin with our love for each other and our compassion for the lost. That is what will draw interest from the world to the message and hope that we have. Without love our message will be lost amongst all the competing philosophies and religions of the world.

The apostle Paul tells us:

If could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn't love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:1; NLT

If we don't love it doesn't matter what else we do all we are doing is just making noise. Let's not make noise, let's make a difference.

Following the Right Example

The way we live our lives is very much determined by the examples we have had in life. This is why parents are so influential parts of our lives. They give us an example, which is so much more influential than their teaching, to live by. If they are good examples then we have a positive model to follow, but if they are bad examples then we are faced with overcoming the negative model they have provided for us.

Just as parents provide us with an example on how we are to live life, so does God provide us with an example for how He expects us to live. The apostle Paul wrote:

Follow God’s example in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, because that sacrifice was like a sweet perfume to him. (Ephesians 5:1-2, NLT)

The Apostle tells us that we are to follow God’s example, and that example is personified in Jesus Christ. Jesus represents God perfectly and He shows us how God would live if He was confined to a body. This is the example that we are to follow.

But how do we follow the example of Jesus? There is only a small group of people that were able to witness the way Jesus lived His daily life, but we are not part of that group. It is one thing to follow the example of our parents who raised us, but it is another thing to follow the example of a man who walked this earth 2,000 years ago. How do we do it?

There are two important actions that we must be part of our lives if we are going to follow Jesus. In the absence of Jesus physically walking with us we have to be away of the tools He has left behind so we can follow where He leads.

The first action that we must do is that we must be students of the Bible. The apostle John wrote: I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life (1 John 5:13; NLT). Reading through 1 John you realize that John emphasis is to explain how Jesus lived. John is writing so that we might know how we live this new life, this eternal life, that we have received from Jesus because of His death and resurrection.

The entire Bible is useful for helping us understand how Jesus lived and how we can follow His example. The Old Testament is full of stories of people of faith and how they lived their lives. It also contains God’s Law that He wanted His people to live by. The Gospels are the record of how Jesus lived, the book of Acts is a record of how His first followers lived, and the rest of the New Testament explains how we can make Jesus’ example the model for our lives.

The second action is observing the lives of mature Christians. That is why the apostle Paul wrote; And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s (1 Corinthians 11:1; NLT). Paul had experience in following the example of Jesus, and thus he became a live example of what it means to follow Jesus. While his readers may not be able to see Jesus, they could see Paul and how he lived.

From reading biographies of men and women of faith to spending time with mature Christ Followers we are able to see how Jesus would respond to the challenges that we face everyday. These people help flesh out the words of Jesus and we can begin to understand how we should live our lives.

How we live our lives is influenced greatly by the examples of living that we have had. God wants us to follow His example as seen in His Son Jesus. It is when we start to follow Jesus that we begin to see how life is really meant to be lived.

After the Fact

One day Moses was watching his father-in-law's sheep when something caught his eye. It was a bush that was burning, but it was not being consumed. Moses decided to investigate this strange sight. When He approached the bush spoke, or rather a voice called from the bush. It is at this moment God called Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt.

Moses asked, "But who am I to appear before Pharaoh? How can you expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?"

God answered, "I will be with you. And this will serve as proof that I have sent you: When you have brought the Israelites out of Egypt, you will return here to worship God at this very mountain." (Exodus 3:11, 12; NLT).

I find it odd that the evidence God offers to Moses is after the fact. It is after the Israelites are free from the Egyptians that Moses will know it is God who sent him.

Now did Moses lack proof that his calling was from God? No, God provided proof. There was the burning bush, the voice of God, and God gave Moses two signs: the staff into a snake and the leprosy of his hand. Moses saw the ten plagues, the Red Sea divide, the pillar of cloud/fire which led Israel, plus other miracles. All through Moses' experience God showed him that He was with Moses.

Why was worshiping at Mt. Sinai the proof that God sent Moses? While all the miracles pointed to God and showed Moses and the people God was with them, it wouldn't have met anything if God did not make a covenant with the people. It was at Mt. Sinai when God established a covenant with Israel, which set them apart as God's people and prepared the way for Jesus to come. If God delivered Israel from Egypt and then never established a covenant with them, Israel might as well have been back in slavery. It was the covenant, the promise of God at Sinai which made all the difference.

Flash forward a few hundred years. Jesus has turned water into wine. He has cleared the Temple and has begun to teach with authority. The religious leaders demand,

"What right do you have to do these things? If you have this authority from God, show us a miraculous sign to prove it." Jesus replied, "All right. Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:18, 19; NLT)

We know Jesus was talking about his death and resurrection. Jesus continued to teach, heal people, feed thousands, walk on water, and calm storms. Jesus gave signs and evidence that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. But the sign which He pointed to, the final proof into who He is, is the resurrection. All the miracles Jesus performed, all the teachings He taught, everything about Jesus, even His death, means nothing without the resurrection. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead we are still in our sins, and we are wasting our time.

That is not just me speaking but that is what the apostle Paul says as well in 1 Corinthians. 15:12-19...

{12} But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
{13} If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
{14} And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
{15} More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
{16} For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
{17} And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
{18} Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
{19} If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.(NIV)

Here is the point. The central truth of Christianity is not the cross, but the resurrection. Just as the covenant established at Sinai gave meaning and significance to everything which happened before it, the resurrection gives meaning to everything Jesus did before His death. All the teachings and miracles find there meaning after Jesus' death. The Resurrection of Jesus is what gives meaning and hope to Christianity.

What does that mean for us? It means that while we need to remember the death of Jesus, because it was His sinless life that made Him the only sacrifice for our sins, our real focus must be on the Resurrection. It is the Resurrection which sets Christianity apart from other religions and philosophies of the world. The Resurrection is the final evidence that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.