No, Even if I’m Wrong

A while back I read a book on starting churches that advises you to avoid pastoring the people that make up your initial group because doing so can potentially ruin your chances of actually getting the church started. It never set right with me and I didn’t listen to that advice…and I’m glad.

What kind of church would I be starting if I began by intentionally using people rather than serving them and leading them to Jesus? Not a very good one. Even worse, what if the church didn’t take off…what justification would I have for using people like a commodity? None. And what if Jesus started the church like this – sacrificing his first disciples instead of pouring into them? I’m thankful He didn’t. It helps me to know I can trust Him.

In the end, WestRiver Gathering may make it and it may not. That’s ultimately not up to me. But I will answer for how I lead the people He has entrusted to me “now.” I can’t see Jesus giving me a pass on abusing one person to serve some potential person in the near or distant future that may or may not ever actually arrive.

Don’t pastor my initial group so I can start the church? I’m saying no, even if I’m wrong.

Plastic Bags are the Devil

Visiting in Seattle the last couple of days has been fun.  We have had the chance to visit a number of places from a waterfall down to Pike Place market.  So far my personal favorite was having brunch in the Space Needle.  Nothing quite like eating prime rib while sitting in a rotating restaurant with amazing views of the city of Seattle and the surrounding area. 

One of the strangest moments for me probably came while we were at Pike Place and saw people who were literally in awe of the “original” Starbucks.  I’m all for some coffee and personally enjoy drinking Starbucks.  But to be in awe over a brand of coffee is a bit much.  This is taking brand loyalty to the level of worship and has to be the epitome of consumerism.  Of course there are also the “anti-Starbucks” folks who seem to be around here.  They would never be caught dead in the “original” Starbucks let alone having their picture taken in front of it (just don’t speak poorly of C&P Coffee Company or Caffe Ladro around them). 

Lastly I have to mention our experience here at one of the local grocery stores.  Everything was going great until that final and fateful questions was asked:  “What kind of bag would you like?”  My response, “Plastic is fine” revealed in an instant that I was not hip to the way things go around here.  I could tell at that moment the cashier wanted to use that flower in her hair as a dressing for my grave.  It turns out I’m in league with the devil. 

How unorganic of me.

Financial Freedom

Financial freedom…what exactly does this mean? 

What kind of freedom is it we are seeking from our finances?  Freedom from debt?  Freedom from financial obligations altogether?  Freedom to buy what we want when we want?

Generally speaking, I think most people understand this to mean the freedom from worrying about finances and begin enslaved to worry and anxiety over them.  All in all, not a bad thing.  But the advice we get from most Christian money advisors seems to run contrary to the teaching of Jesus. 

The guys on the radio and TV all basically tell us the same thing:  Pay off your debt and put enough away into savings and retirement accounts so you don’t have to worry about your financial future.  Two problems here.  First, it centers our trust in the amount of our checking/savings/retirement accounts.  Second, it seems to run counter to some direct teachings of Jesus (Luke 12:13-34) where he calls the rich man who builds bigger store houses for his wealth a fool for trusting in his stored up riches.

Much of today’s advice on financial freedom tells us freedom comes from having enough stuff put away so we don’t have to worry.  But Jesus tells us our problem is that we think we can find freedom by having enough stuff put away.  It would seem then that much of today’s advice on financial freedom actually pushes us in the direction of what Jesus would call enslavement.

A Prayer Worth Praying

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence–
as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil–
to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.

Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

But now, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
(Isaiah 64:1-8 ESV)

Familiarity and Unbelief

In Mark 6:1-6 Jesus shows up in his home town and makes an effort to serve them and minister there by teaching in the synagogue. He approached them no differently than he had the other places he visited. He taught them the same things he had taught in other places. Yet they did not receive him and ultimately he was prevented from doing many things among them because of their unbelief. The question is why?

Why was he rejected here – in his hometown and not in the other places?

The answer seems to lie in the fact that they were so familiar with Jesus that they could not see him for he truly was. They had grown accustomed to Jesus. To them he was, “Just Jesus, Mary’s kid.”

This raises a disturbing question. How can our familiarity with Jesus lead us to a place where we totally overlook Him? Ignore him? Even deny him? How can familiarity with Jesus lead to unbelief?

The consequences of this are devastating.

We are told he “could do no might work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.” How many of those who were present in his hometown did Jesus desire to serve, heal, and make well but could not because of their unbelief?

They were familiar enough with Jesus to think that they knew him and what he was capable of. And what they thought they knew ultimately limited what Jesus did while he was among them. We must guard against making the same mistake. We must not become so familiar with Jesus that we begin to assume we know what he is and is not capable of doing either in us, through us, or for us.

Unmet Expectations

There are four kinds of expectations in life we typically have to deal with:

1. Expectations of God
2. Expectations God has of us
3. Expectations of ourselves
4. Expectations that others have of us

Each of these expectations impacts how we live, feel, relate to others, view ourselves, etc.  Generally speaking if we believe we are living up to these expectations we have reason to feel good about ourselves.  We feel secure, confident, at peace.  But the reality is that at some point these expectations will not be met:

• At some point your expectations of God will not be met and you will feel angry and disappointed.
• At some point you will in some way feel as though you have let God down by not living up to His expectations of you, whether real or perceived.
• At some point you will let yourself down by falling short of your expectations for yourself.
• At some point you will not live up to the expectations (whether real or perceived) that others have of you.

THE TEMPTATION TO FAKE IT

The problem for us is that when this happens we are inevitably tempted to fake it.  We feel as though we have to keep up appearances that everything is going great and that we know what we are doing because we are afraid to show weakness.

We could never talk about how we are angry and embittered against God because we feel like he let us down.  We can’t begin to talk about the ways that we think we have failed to live up to the expectations that God has for us.  There is no way we could talk to others about how we can’t stand being who we are because we have failed to live up to our expectations of ourselves.  And there is surely no way we could admit to having failed or thinking we have failed the people around us.

So rather than speak honestly and openly about our failures, struggles, fears, and insecurities we cover them up with smiles and talk about how things are going great.  Out of fear we chose to fake it and suffer in silence falsely believing we are the only ones who feel this way, think these things, or struggle with this.

On a very practical level this is why understanding the gospel and applying to our lives is so important.  One of the basic points of the gospel message is that we are sinners.  We are selfish, rebellious, and broken.  We are guilty of not just falling short, but committing crimes against God, one another, and the creation.  We are, in every sense of the word, failures who have let God, ourselves, and others down.  To think otherwise is to deny the basic truth that we are sinners as 1 John 1:8-10 plainly tells us:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  (9)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (10)  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

THE GOSPEL FREES US TO ADMIT OUR FAILURES

In order to war against the tendency to fake it when expectations are not met we must know how the gospel frees us from confusion and the fear of judgment and condemnation.  For this to happen we must understand how the gospel frees us up in each of the four areas of expectation listed above.

Our Expectations of God

In all four areas of unmet expectation this can be the most confusing because the truth is that God is perfect and good and He always does what He says He will do.  The problem is that we often expect things of Him he never promised us.  When this happens we end up confused and angry because He didn’t do something we thought he would.

The gospel addresses this because it reminds us that the bedrock message of the gospel is that we get Jesus.  He loves us and we belong to Him.  Romans 8:35-39 speaks to this when it asks:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  (36)  As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  (37)  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  (38)  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  (39)  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

By asking whether these things (tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword) can separate us from Christ he is implying that a life with Christ is not devoid of such things.  We struggle when we fail to recognize this reality because we can feel betrayed by God when hardships of these kinds hit.  Jesus promised that he would be with us through these things.  Not that we wouldn’t go through them.

Jeremiah is a great example of how to deal with the emotions we feel when our expectations are not met.  We are to cry out to Him in honesty rather than pretend that we are ok (Jeremiah 20:7-18).

Expectations God has of Us

Once we understand the gospel we are freed up from worrying and fretting about whether or not God is pleased with us.  What frees us is the realization that Jesus not only paid the penalty for our sins but in exchange has given us his righteousness so that when God looks at us He sees us as Jesus is.

We fail, but Jesus did not and every expectation for holiness and perfection Jesus met on our behalf in order to credit it to us.  This is an incredible truth.  God loves us in a way that is far better than unconditional…we are loved as Jesus is loved – which means He declares us worthy of His love because are in Christ!

This is one of the radical implications of what we are told in Romans 5:6-10:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  (7)  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–  (8)  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (9)  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  (10)  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Expectations of Ourselves

Many of us are harder on ourselves (at least inwardly) than others are on us.  We ridicule ourselves, condemn ourselves, shame ourselves, degrade ourselves, etc.  The problem is that we stop there.  We are right to look at ourselves and to mourn.  We are right to examine our heart, life, and conduct and feel remorse.  We are right to feel the weight of our brokenness.  But if we know the gospel to be true we mustn’t stop there.

We must move beyond these things to Christ who paid the penalty for our sins and has cleansed us of all of our unrighteousness.  We are broken, flawed, selfish, foolish, and ignorant.  We are far worse than we even dare to imagine.  But Jesus loved us anyway and when He died upon the cross He died for every vile and wretched thing about us…every particular, single, specific thing (see Romans 7:15-25).

The truth is we have failed ourselves and should be no surprise to us.  However, our hope is not in ourselves but in Jesus who did not and will not fail.  Further, if Jesus deemed you cherished enough to die for you in order to make you worthy of God’s love then you should stop arguing with Him.  Trust in Him and admit that you fail to live up to even your own expectations of yourself.

Others Expectations of Us

Other people having expectations of us is not necessarily a bad thing.  Other peoples expectations can hold us accountable.  They can sometimes call us to be more than we even though we were capable of being.  In the end, it is not their expectations of us that are oppressive.  It is our tendency to find value for ourselves in trying to live up to other people’s expectations of us, whether real or perceived.

The truth is that we will fail those around us.  Our family.  Our friends.  Our coworkers.  Our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We will at some point disappoint and let them down.  And at some point they will disappoint and let you down.  Sometimes it will be because of unrealistic expectations.  Other times it will be because we failed or they failed…sometimes horribly.

The gospel frees us up to admit to, confess, and repent of our failures to one another because we realize our sense of identity and value is not found in what others think of or feel about us.  Our identity and value are found only in Jesus who decided we were valuable enough to Him to shed his blood on our behalf.

THE CHOICE WE MUST ALL MAKE

Ultimately, we have to decide what we will do with our weaknesses…with our failures.  The fact is that we all have them.  This is undeniable.  The fact is that we all will fail.  This is inevitable.  But how we respond is up for grabs.

Truth

It’s interesting how easy it is to shade the truth about things.  Lying comes naturally to us all.  We call it something else of course.  We tell ourselves we are just “keeping the peace” or “being considerate of their feelings.”  We are so good at lying we even lie to ourselves about our lying.

The interesting thing is that if we are honest, most times, like 99.9999% of the time, we lie to benefit ourselves.  We lie to avoid having to deal with something.  We lie to make ourselves look better.  We lie to avoid having to take responsibility.  We lie because we are scared and cowardly.  We lie because we are selfish. 

In Proverbs we are told that the source of our lies is actually hatred.

“Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart;  (25)  when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart;  (26)  though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.  (27)  Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.  (28)  A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin” (Proverbs 26:24-28).

If we really care about other people then we will speak truth even if that truth might make us unpopular or cost us something.  In the end, speaking the truth always cost us something.  In the end, loving others always costs us something.  The two go hand-in-hand. 

We can be honest and loving. 

We can be deceptive and hateful. 

But we can’t make everyone happy and we can’t make everyone like us.  Better to just dig a pit, jump in, and pull the stone in on top of us.

 

Byproducts…

“Really, how’s that working for you?”

That was a question a friend of mine asked me one time when I was arguing with him about something.  I honestly don’t remember the issue we were debating, but I remember the question.  I remember how it ended the debate because I had to concede that the byproducts of my actions were not what I desired.  How’s that working for you?  Quite horribly…

Going through 1Peter I was reminded of that question because we are told, “do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance” (1Peter 1:14).  How often are we passionate about the wrong things?  Stupid things?  How often do we run after something thinking it will give us satisfaction, fulfillment, joy, peace, happiness only to obtain grief and other not-so-desirable byproducts?

In the end, this is why it is important to align our lives with truth.  The problem is that we all have tendencies to avoid truth.  That avoidance displays itself through hypocrisy or rebellion.  Hypocrisy is us pretending our lives line up with the truth.  Rebellion is us pretending that the truth doesn’t matter. 

Whenever pressed with the truth the hypocrite says, “I’m fine, thank you for asking.”  The rebel says, “It’s none of your business, I can do what I want.”  Both are stupid.

We are told to move away from the passions of our former ignorance.  It raises the question: what truth are you avoiding and how’s that working for you? 

The gospel (the message of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection) teaches us we don’t have any reason to fake it because we all fall short…so why lie about it?  Fess up and let God’s grace do it’s work.  It also teaches us we don’t have any real reason to rebel because God truly has our best interest at heart.  Stop being foolish and let Him lead. 

Theological Conversations…

Last night I met with some friends to pray but we wound up discussing theology. I used to think things like doctrine didn’t matter. My assumption was that doctrine was important for the classroom. It got you good grades but had no real bearing on the practical things of life. I was wrong. Doctrine matters.

What we believe ultimately shapes how we live. It shades how we view God, ourselves, and the world. It inevitably effects how we feel, how we live, and how we treat others. What we believe is incredibly practical in the end. It can kill us or give us life.

The topic of conversation last night got into the question of how God saves. Does God, in act of complete and undeserved grace, choose some who don’t deserve it to be the objects of His mercy? Or, is it up to us to choose Him and thereby receive the mercy that He offers to those who would ask for it?

Below is a comparative chart like the one we went through:

In the end, the system on the left is the one the bible teaches. All men are guilty of committing crimes against God, have become utterly corrupt and worthless and are deserving of death (Romans 3:10-18). But God the Son (Jesus) came and lived the life we should have lived, died the death we deserve, and rose in vindication over both sin and death as God’s promised savior for His people (1Corinthians 15:1-4, Ephesians 1:3-10, Romans 9:16-24).

Jesus is the point of the creation. All things were made by, through, for Him and all things are held together in Him. Everything this is exists to make much of Him.

We are not the center of the universe.

7 Reasons Christianity is Plausible – Part 2 | It Has Some History

The reason historical depth is important in determining the potential validity of one’s belief is two-fold.

First, humanity has been around for thousands of years and in that time the fundamental questions to our existence have not changed. Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? It is sheer arrogance to assume that we, or worse I, have only recently figured the answers to these questions out. We are prone today to associate “new” with “better.” But there is an inherent flaw in this kind of thinking. Whenever we assume something is better or more “truthful” simply because it is newer, or even worse – originates with “me,” we ignore the collective wisdom and knowledge of our forefathers. Put bluntly, this is foolish and stupid. It is the epitome of arrogance.

Second, it makes far more sense to assume that if God has been interacting with us that He would have been doing so for a very long time. It is not the “old” systems of belief claiming to know God that are to be feared in my view. It is the newer ones. What presumption to think we are the first humans to understand or hear from God. Further, how cruel would God have to be to only now engage us in an understandable and meaningful way?

Logically speaking, there is far more reason to trust in a system of belief that has significant historical depth to it than one that is new. Look for the systems of belief that reach back far into our existence, have stood the test of time, have retained their sense of identity through the years and various cultures, and are still around. Those are the systems of belief that, logically speaking, have some possible merit to them.

Building on our first reason for viability (theism over atheism and monotheism over polytheism) this leaves us with 3 viable options: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Of the three, Judaism is by far the oldest and Islam is the youngest. However, Christianity is not separate from Judaism in the sense that it is a “new” system of belief. Rather, Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism’s hope for a Savior or Messiah found in the person of Jesus Christ. At best, one could argue that Christianity is a sect of Judaism – one that centers on Jesus as God’s promised Messiah. That being said, Christianity is plausible because it reaches back some 4,000 or so years to Abraham. This is significant historical reach as it goes as far back as our recorded history.

However, even with historical reach we are still left with the question of how we can trust Abraham and the witness that he passed down to us? The next two reasons speak to this concern. The first is that Christianity, reaching back through Judaism, has always been Founded on Revelation and the second is that it has Mulitple, Reliable, and Consistent Sources.