It’s not what you think…

I have trouble being an American sometimes.  I think we can be too self-sufficient and too selfish.  A trip that I made to Haiti at the end of July has made it even harder for me to be comfortable.  I keep thinking about the words of Jesus and looking at my life and going something’s not right here.  One of the scriptures that I’ve looked to recently is the account of a rich young ruler.  Here’s what I see and what I wholeheartedly believe it teaches us.

In Luke 18 (also an account in Matthew and Mark), Jesus encounters a rich guy that wanted to assert himself as deserving of the kingdom of God.  So, he asks Jesus a question about what he needed to do to be saved.  It got down to Jesus telling him to go get rid of all his stuff, give the proceeds to the poor and to follow him (Jesus).   Jesus wanted him to unload all of the deadweight from his life so that he wouldn’t have any trouble being a worthy disciple.

Well, the young man refused to part ways with his stuff.  And as he walked away sad, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." And then, those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"

So, what’s the confusion about here among the listeners?  Well, you’d have to go back to people like Abraham to see.  Abraham was very wealthy.  His son Isaac was very wealthy.  And his sons were also very wealthy.  And, if you follow the history and even the law of the Jews, it seemed that those who found favor with God had great wealth.  And, now Jesus says it is exceedingly difficult to enter the kingdom of God as a rich man.  Why?

It is because God requires our full allegiance.  If we will trust in him for salvation and not our stuff, then we have to take our eyes off our stuff to truly see what he desires for us.  Jesus makes several comments similar to this.  The whole line of conversations about one guy needing to go bury his father or another wanting to go say goodbye to his family; in all of these Jesus is saying that the kingdom has urgency and if you can’t get on board with the urgency of the kingdom then you’re not worthy of me.

Jesus also says that we must pick up our cross and follow him.  That’s right pick up the very tool that was used to kill Jesus and at least one of his disciples and follow him.  The kingdom of God is counter cultural.  Christ calls us to imitate him in denouncing the ways of this world and trusting him with every aspect of our lives which may mean that we lose our lives; as in we may not be popular with the people that like the world; and as in we may literally lose our lives pursuing what he tells us to pursue.

Jesus said lots of hard stuff.  And, it all makes me ask the question… “Have most “Christians” missed the mark of what it means to follow him, to really really follow him?  

Did something change from the Old Testament to the New?  I think so.  If you look at all the patriarchs and their wealth, they served God with it.  And, one of the primary goals of the Old Testament was to establish a nation and to establish a place where God could be worshipped (i.e. the temple.)  And, now both Christ and his followers are the temple of God.  So, it doesn’t take a lot of money to upkeep a body.  So, we give it away to people who are dying with the hope of saving their lives and saving their souls.

God has called us to himself that we would worship him and then he has commissioned us to go tell others about him that they might worship him.   And sometimes it takes us selling all that we have and giving the proceeds to the poor in order to accomplish that.  The gospel aint ya mama’s prosperity gospel.  

Much love!

Two Trees - Which life will you live?

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."

So, it would seem like the easy part is over, right? We make a decision for Christ. And, I would not say that the decision was totally ours -- but I’m not going Calvin versus Arminius on you. What does it look like when a life is yielded to God? Here in the next set of verses after Jesus charges his listeners to enter at the straight gate, and to walk on the narrow path, he turns to a warning about false prophets. Thank you Jesus that you warn us about false prophets. We should always be aware that there are many that are not preaching what is true about God. And, there are also some that are preaching a gospel, but they aren’t living the true gospel.

But, halt (as Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend!”), before we go off on a tirade about bad preachers and other “church folk”, what does YOUR life look like? Or mine for that matter? In the fall of 2008, I sat through a sermon series that knocked me for a loop. The title of the series was “Radical: What the Gospel Demands”. And, it was essentially a knock in the head that said we are indeed saved by grace alone through faith alone, but our lives after coming to faith must look radically different. In other words, at that moment we no longer live for ourselves. And, I know this all sounds familiar, but looking at the words of Jesus and saying let’s take him at face value is a lot different than most of us are taught. We MUST live lives that are yielded completely to God and that meet the requirements that Jesus lays out. What do these requirement look like? Well, first we are living lives that are not indulgent. The way you spend your money and your time are barometers that show your spiritual condition. Secondly, we must obey the primary command of Jesus Christ to his followers to teach other people what it means to worship God and baptize them making disciples to the end of the earth. And, as we do that, we care for the poor and those that are on their way to hell with an urgency that shows in our lifestyle. So, in the end there is a change on the inside that is reflected strongly on the outside. In essence I heard and believe that a life that pursues achieving our dreams (even the American dream) more than it pursues living out the Jesus commands (being led and sustained by the Spirit of course) is probably not truly bearing fruit for God.

So, what this has done to my life is to cause me to look inward. It has caused me to literally wrestle with whether or not my life lines up with God’s word. In other words, is the fruit that I am bearing good or bad? And, in the places where my life doesn’t look like God’s word, am I willing to yield to God, repent, and be obedient? And, quite honestly, I have been rebellious in some areas. I have gone through periods of refusing to pray. I have gone through periods of questioning my salvation as result of my disobedience. I have been so wrapped up in trying to figure out where I stand in light of all that I see in God’s word for myself. And, I think this challenge is good, because it is causing me to look at my fruit. Am I a diseased tree that today deserves to be thrown into the fire? Or am I a good tree bearing fruit. We will recognize false prophets by their fruit. We must also recognize whether or not WE as individuals have truly been regenerated (i.e. born again, born of water and Spirit, whether we are bearing fruit in keeping with repentance). Look at your tree and determine what kind of life are you living. Is it one that brings glory to God because God is inside of you helping to glorify him? If not, join me in praying for God to reveal it to you. And, then respond accordingly!!

So, in closing this entry, I know I will probably get some flack for saying that I question my salvation (and suggesting that you question yours) but, I think it is okay and healthy for all of us to question our salvation sometimes. Paul said in one place that we should “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”. And, he also said in 2 Corinthians 13:5 that we should “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” Because on the flip side, I would say it is a dangerous thing to walk in presumption. Being confident in your faith is one thing, but I think many have cheapened grace down to a prayer card form the first grade when they first said they believed in Jesus. And since that time, many have lived as they desire, not choosing to bear fruit, good fruit. Choose life, my friends!

Much love!!

God still hates idols

The church that I attend is participating in something called the Radical Experiment.  There are five practical components including:

1.To pray for the entire world
2.To read through the entire Word
3.To commit our lives to multiplying community
4.To sacrifice our money for a specific purpose
5.To give our time in another context

As you can imagine, this is pretty challenging.  And if you're trying to be a legalist about all of the components, you are either a professional Christian or you are about to jump of the bridge.  It takes the Holy Ghost and a lot of grace to even try to keep up especially when it comes to including family in the whole picture.

But, I have been really diligent about reading which brough me to the following scripture.

1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.

4 And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
5 And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

6 In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.  -- Ezekiel 6:1-7

And, I just told you all of that Radical Experiment stuff and copied this scripture here to say that we are under a new and better covenant, but God still hates idols (even American ones ;-).  Things that you can buy or make or create in your mind that take the place of God in your life; yeah, he hates them.  So, be careful lest you idolize something and get destroyed along with it.  Reading the prophets makes me search my soul HARD!

Much love peeps!!

Honk for Hell

(Warning! Controversial thoughts found here)

These are Jarvis Wright’s thoughts on the fight over illegal immigration. I’ll tie the title in later. :)

1) Just because you make a law doesn’t make you or that law just. See the Jim Crow era when lots of laws existed that had lots of popular support. However, these laws were evil to the core.
2) Secondly, we are all here illegally in some form or fashion. And, here’s what I mean by that… A long time ago, people from Europe came to this land that we call America on boats. They made the native people sick with their infectious diseases. They evicted the native people from the land they owned (at least according to their law) , and did whatever it took to make that land our own, whether it meant killing, raping, or just humiliating. And, then there’s a long history of other people being dragged over here unwillingly and being forced into a little thing we call slavery. And, then who could forget the thousands of Europeans and Asians who came here illegally and were hated by the ones who were already here.
3) Now! I get that the so-called illegals are taking OUR jobs, and using up OUR healthcare, robbing US of resources and draining our government of cash. But, guess what, the last time I checked, the earth was the LORD’s and all that is in it. So, we should all look around at all the things we claim to be our own, and consider that they don’t even belong to us.
4) My wife summed it up best when during a conversation on politics, she said, “We’re all selfish.” And, that my friends is the number one problem – our own self-seeking pride that wants us to have “our best life now”, not considering how we might show the love of Christ in reaching others to save their life – the current one and the eternal one. So, be less selfish. Preach the gospel for God’s glory to both legals and illegals. You can begin today by considering not seeking your own comforts and your children’s comforts when this world may not exist long enough for your children to be comfortable in. And lest we forget, it will be rather uncomfortable in hell if you teach your children and their children to follow in your footsteps.

So, the jist of all this is not about the laws and who’s enforcing them, but for me it’s a matter of Christ followers getting sucked into political arguments with no basis in the mission given them by their savior. Unless God wills otherwise, America will always have more than enough resources to support those that think themselves to be here legally and those that realize that they are here illegally. It’s all in his Sovereign hands.

In case it’s unclear, unless you are a Native American…i.e. Indian, you’re here illegally as far as I’m concerned. When I see people standing on the side of Highway 280 creating distractions during rush hour with their signs saying HONK FOR ARIZONA, it ticks me off. So, to that, I say HONK FOR HELL. Your prejudice and selfishness may well deliver you there on an express route. A sermon that I heard on Jonah recently may have said it best; don’t allow your national pride to hinder the global mission of God in your life.

Much love! And, I mean that…even if you’re from south of the border.

Leaving Stuff Behind

"A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous. - Proverbs 13:22"   After attending church on Sunday, July 4th and hearing a great sermon, I specifically thought about the first half of the scripture shown above.   The fine folks here in the United States have a proud heritage that we like to pass from one generation to the next.  And, I don't knock that.  But, there is a greater heritage that we have in Christ that we should pass along to our children.  And, now I need to backtrack because I know you're looking at the scripture and you're looking at my words and you're thinking, that scripture is talking about leaving your children and their children some STUFF.  And, I don't deny that it probably is, but what about good men that don't have money to leave behind.  What would they leave?  And, for those that paid attention in Ecclesiastes to the story about the man that works so hard to leave money to his sons and he doesn't know whether his beneficiaries will be wise men or idiots.  What vanity?! 

So, here's what Jarvis Wright is thinking.  I won't spend the money that God blesses my family with frivolously but I don't plan on hoarding up so that my son(s and daughters) won't have to earn what they get in life.  But, I will pour out the life that I have for God.  So, if there's money for somebody to argue over when I die, great for them.  But, in my estimation, it's more important that we live simply that others may simply live.  And, if you know me by now, I'm not just talking humanitarian aide with.  God is moving us more and more toward pouring out our lives for the sake of reaching others with the gospel of Christ.  So, that means the inheritance that I leave for Caleb and others who may follow him will be an inheritance of a life surrendered to God.  And, the decision that I've made recently, is that I will live that life and journal about that life to leave the journals behind for my son and his future siblings; God willing.  Hopefully, what they see in me daily and what they read about me leads them to know that their dad loves God and loves them; even after I'm long gone.

Much love!!

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, Huh?! Say that again!

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism – Not my words… It’s a phrase that I’ve been running across in recent months though. And, it is what most teenagers and young adults in America think about God. Breaking it down, it means the following: 1) Deism – there is a God who made the world and is out there somewhere. 2) Moralistic – All I’ve got to do is be a relatively good person and I deserve the best out of this life and I will go to heaven when I die. 3) When I need God, he should be there to attend to my needs. What I’ve just described is a sad reality if that’s what the young of our society gather about God.

In contrast, here’s what I believe about those three points. God, is the creator of earth and all that is in it. But, he has been intimately involved with his creation since the day he made it. He seeks to be glorified by his creation and he personally made the way of our salvation that we would glorify him with our lives. Secondly, as moral as we can be, outside of accepting the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, we are all destined for a terrible end – eternal separation from God – in the form of hell. And, the reasoning behind that is, at our 'moralest', we are still haters of God and rebels that deserve to die because of our rebellion.  And, as for being there when I need him, he is never far from any of us, but that is not his chief aim in the world. Again, God is the creator, he is the one to be worship and adored – not us.

So, the point I’d like to make here is that we must know more about our God – the true and living God. It is important that Christians know what they believe and be able to articulate it. Beyond being able to articulate it, we must articulate it. And, I think in so doing, just by looking into what it is to be a follower of Christ, some of us might find that we haven’t been following him at all. And, in that case, there is an urgent matter of knowing that you know him because without him, we are destined to perish.

Much love!