Big Boots To Fill

Just heard of the passing of a great man who was a close friend of my family when I was growing up.  Bob Bisig had a long and a good life.  My earliest memories of him were when he was playing pitch at my grandmother's kitchen table with my parents, my sister, and I. He and his wife Lois had been very instrumental in my parents' spiritual growth over the years.  Bob and his wife Lois were sweethearts until the end.  I remember seeing them this last fall at my parents' 50th anniversary party.  Lois had played the organ at their wedding, if I remember correctly.  They seemed just as in love as ever as Bob escorted his bride into the party on his arm.  Bob was the kind of man who would do anything for you, and it seemed like he would do whatever he had to to help out, regardless of who you were.  Bob was a farmer, and among many other things, I remember going to their home one winter evening because they were expecting a couple of their ewes (that's female sheep) to give birth that night.  We stayed until the births took place, and I remember vividly playing with the newborn lambs after we helped get them cleaned up.  Bob was a special kind of person, an easy going, grace-filled sort of man.  I have spent a lot of my life striving to become the kind of man that I remember him being.   The kingdom of God graduates a soldier today, and God's gain is our loss.   Big shoes are left to fill, and I encourage every Christian man to step up and be the man God made them to be, a Bob Bisig sort of man.  

People Helping People

As the pastor of a church, I am often asked by members what they can do to help the church. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m not a traditional thinker.  This trait has certainly carried over into my ministry as well.  But I digress.  When people ask me what they can do to help the church, I usually tell them to do whatever makes them come alive.  The scripture puts it this way: 

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another.  Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.  Do you have the gift of helping others?  Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.  Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.”  1 Peter 4:10-11 NLT

God didn’t create you to fill a gap or serve in a position.  He created each of us to be an originals.  Simply filling a ministry need at a local church just because it needs done won’t be nearly as satisfying or effective as asking yourself:  What am I excited about?  What can I hardly wait to do?  What do I wish I got to do a lot more of?  The answers to these questions will likely point you to your destiny.  And your destiny (which means divine plan) won’t look like anyone else’s, nor will it likely be a cookie cutter, out of the box thing.  Ask yourself, What am I good at?  What do I like to do?  What do people compliment me for?  Doing these things for the benefit of others and the glory of God is your ministry.  I believe it’s time we start taking ministry back from the organization and start returning it to the people.  God didn’t create organizations, He created individuals.  Individual followers of Christ coming together is what we call church.  You will find that when given the freedom to do so, these individuals can and will minister to their hearts' content and their maker's design in a way that brings health to the body and life to the community, not to mention tremendous fulfillment to the individuals themselves.  Let’s make this the year of people doing ministry wherever, whenever, and however they feel led. This points to one of our SCC core convictions:   PEOPLE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT.  A church is supposed to do what is best for the growth of the people, not the people doing what's best for the growth of the church.  It’s a subtle shift with a powerful effect.  

Lend Me Your Ear

As residents of a free nation, we have come to appreciate and maybe occasionally take for granted the right to privacy which our Constitution provides for us.  The right to keep your business “your business” is a foregone conclusion to most.  Ironically, in this social media driven age of ours, we often post things in the virtual world that we would not write on a sign in our yards, but one thing is for sure:  we all need somebody to be real with.  There are things which all of us tend to keep to ourselves, and certainly when it comes to disclosure of your most intimate thoughts, feelings, and dreams, discretion is a must; but having someone to share with is essential for emotional and spiritual health.

One passage of Scripture puts it this way: “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed." James 5:16-18 MSG

Certainly not all of our thoughts are sinful, but if you look at it through one definition of sin which is "to miss the mark", many of my thoughts miss the mark on a regular basis.

Talking to someone about the thoughts that keep playing over and over in our heads is a great way to find balance in life and to still our sometimes restless souls.   A trusted friend, family member, or spiritual mentor can often point out the lies, assumptions, and falsehoods for what they are.  Relationships are supposed to make our lives better, so don't live your life alone.  And being around people is not necessarily the opposite of being alone.  Many people are social (being around people regularly) but never take the time to develop the close friendships necessary for a healthy life.  Let’s all take the time to be a friend and benefit from having real friends, too.  Let's make 2016 the year we open up our hearts, lives, and homes to others.

Simple Jesus, Boiling Down Your Religion Without Watering Down Your Faith

I hope you enjoy this unedited release of the introduction to the book which I have been writing for some time now.  I'm five chapters in and I am releasing this snipet as a motivation to myself to continue the work I have started until  it's completeion.  God Bless.

SIMPLE JESUS

Boiling Down Your Religion Without Watering Down Your Faith 

PREFACE

This book seeks to illustrate the inconsistencies that I have noted between the simple powerful example of Jesus and His first followers and the complicated web of modern day christian practices.  The discrepancy between the two is profound and seems only to be matched by the seeming unwillingness do something about them.  

These inconsistencies are at best ironic and at worst create a religion whose form lacks the simple lasting power to change lives.  In addition this book seeks to motivate the reader to a thought provoking soul searching quest for a simple faith laser focussed on relating to God and others the way he designed us too. 

I'm not coming at this topic from a theological or ecclesiastical perspective although I have a bachelors degree in Biblical studies and Pastoral Ministries.  Instead I am doing my best to come at the topic from a simple common sense perspective that seems to be congruent with the message and life of Christ.  

I consider myself to be a follower of Christ, but more accurately a friend of Jesus.  I have spent the last five years looking for, discovering and developing a relational faith with the Living Lord.  I hope to share with you some of what I have discovered.  

INTRODUCTION

While simple as an adjective make conjure up images of uneducated or unintelligent people, by definition it is much more of a compliment than a put down.  Simple reflects a lack of complication.  Complication in most of our lives takes on the form of drama and simply speaking drama drains the soul.  Simplicity reflects peace, solitude and tranquility.  Who among us doesn't need more of these? Simple in one sense can mean having a singular purpose and a narrow focus.  

In another sense it can mean free from vanity, guile, or ostentation. Both seem reflective of the nature and character of Christ.    Jesus by this definition was simple and I Believe that the path he walked and calls his followers to walk is meant to be one of simplicity. Not the "lets sell everything we have and move to a commune to reduce our carbon footprint" type of simplicity but a uncomplicated narrowly focused faith. One dedicated to the things which Jesus held to be most important.  

THE JESUS PROJECT

A few years ago in this very galaxy,  I took up the "extra church" practice of journaling.  I use the term "extra church" practice because journaling was not one of the things on the church I attended's list of "what you should be doing if you are really a good Christian".  I have noticed over the years that different churches have different expectations for their members. There are expectations of conduct, attendance, appearance, involvement, support, and the list can go on and on. But I digress. I took up the practice of journaling because I had started to notice an abundance of thoughts and feelings running the halls of my mind.  I had heard of the practice of journaling while reading one of the couple dozen books I was researching while I was the Adult growth director of the church where I ministered.  I wondered if the practice would help me get some of my excess thoughts and feelings out of the way so I could get back to the important things in my life. What I found was that when I dedicated the time to write them down,  the thoughts and feelings started to organize themselves into a series of themes.    As I started to concentrate on them, these themes had some serious familiarity to them.  I realized that there was an undercurrent of these thoughts and feelings that had been running through my head and my heart most of my life. An undercurrent which was meant to prompt me toward a different kind of life.  

In one of my three times a week, hour long journaling sessions (yes that used to make me feel like one of those super Christians) I was struck by a thought that provoked ovewhelming feelings of truth, purpose, and direction.  JESUS WAS CALLING ME TO A MINISTRY OF SIMPLIFICATION. In the moments that followed I was overcome with the desire to start a one-month long exercise that I eventually came to call the "Jesus Project". 

The gist of the Jesus Project was to spend thirty days only focussed on doing the things which I had found to be directly beneficial to developing a better relationship with Jesus.  All other things no matter how spiritual they might seem, or how prominent a role they had been playing in my life, would be set aside regardless of the expectations of others.  Now let me clarify I'm not independently wealthy so I'm not talking about a 30 day trip to the mountains to meditate and pray. I still went to work, played with my kids, and spent time with my wife and friends. It was the other "supposed to" sort of stuff and the time stealing habits of my life that I set aside.  What I discovered during the process changed my life forever and is the essence of Simple Jesus.  I hope it challenges your assumptions, solidifies your beliefs, and helps you tear down walls constructed by yourself and others that may be hindering your own spiritual growth and all that Christ wants to do in your life.  

Now I'm not a disillusioned, backslidden (if you theology permits) Christian seeking to bring others down but a simple reformist looking to lift others up with the hope inspire that there is an abundant life in Jesus that's not well represented by "Christianity".    I would challenge you at this point in the book to ask the Lord to guide and direct you in the pages to come. To cement to your heart truths that you need to grab ahold of and to help you let go of and lay down anything that may be holding you back from a deeper relationship with Christ.  Hold onto your seat because here we go!

BACK OF THE BOOK

If you have picked up a copy of this book and are starting to read this back cover, chances are you're already searching for something more or something less or at least some more clarity on what the "Christian life" is all about. Maybe you've had a relationship with the church that went south or have had an up close and personal encounter with the modern-day Pharisee. Maybe your experience with Christianity Seems far from Christ's promise of "my burden is easy and my yoke is light".  The good news is God wants this relationship with you far worse than you want it with him.  The fact that you're reading this right now suggests that you've already taken the first steps into a deeper walk with Christ.  And I pray right now that if you will continue reading this book that Christ will reveal himself to you in a way you've never known before a way that will change your life forever.

A Rich History Reborn

A Rich History Reborn 

Seaman Community Church was started in 1869 in North Topeka to meet the spiritual needs of the growing North land area as well as to reach out to the community at large.  Many of the members of the first generation of the church were community leaders of great reputation. 

The church was once one of the larger spiritual communities in North Topeka, but like most traditional churches in the community in recent decades, it has struggled to stop the decline in attendance.  As the culture has shifted, the church in America has largely stayed the same.  Congregations unwilling to change their approach and style have often found themselves being faced with the potential of closing the doors, not so much because of lack of funding, but because of lack of attenders.  

Churches today either need to be the best in their region at ministering to various demographics so that they can attract the most believers to their services, or they need to look to the hsitorical example of the early church and make sure that they are providing people the same opportunity to experience Christ's love, grace, and support through spiritual community as the early church did.  I believe that to do the latter will bring about healthy natural growth that is sustainable and not as subject to the ebb and flow of trends and popularity.  

Certainly these are dicey times to be a minister because of the ever changing culture we find ourselves in but God call's us to do what needs done not what is easy.  From what I have seen they are rarely the same.  

IF YOU GAVE UP ON CHURCH YOU ARE NOT ALONE

IF YOU USED TO ATTEND CHURCH AND MAKE ROOM FOR SPIRITUAL THINGS in your life, but now you have all but given up on church, Christianity, and God, you are not alone. In the last eight years the Christian population in America has decreased by 8%. At that rate, Christianity is now the fastest shrinking religion in the U.S. When the church becomes complicated, rigid, and judgmental, it becomes irrelevant; and the simple, life transforming message of Christ- along with the powerful effect of a relationship-based faith- gets lost in the mix. The real loser is the culture that now, more than ever, needs the church to be the family of God to so many in our world who are suffering from all types of broken relationships.

Well, where is the good news?  Over the last few months, God has been up to something at the oldest church in Topeka north of the river. Seaman Community Church (SCC), after seeing decades of decline, is charting a new course. They have decided to look to the historical example of the scripture and make sure they are providing people the same opportunity to experience Christ's love, grace, and support through spiritual community as the early church did.

A REFORMATION IS UNDERWAY. While music and ministry styles are modernizing, the most fundamental changes are coming in their understanding of just what a church is supposed to be from God's perspective. New ministries like a Third Friday night coffee house are providing opportunities for all generations to come together around a desire to live well, laugh often, and love much. The church is striving to become more of a family than an institution. Their desire is to love all generations closer to God with unique ministries to children and youth to start in the fall.

Check out their Core Convictions  and ask yourself if this is something you could really benefit from and would like to get involved with. What have you got to lose? Take the next step forward.  

Does Your Garden Need Tending?

As with every creative work, gardens don’t just happen.  They are started with intentionality and insight as to how they will look when fully grown and well tended.  There is a point where the creator lays out the rows and beds and plantings all with an eye for how they will look next to each other, complimenting each other, causing the splendor of the whole creation to be multiplied by the placement of each individual part.  The garden which I write about today is no different, for it was a creation of a master gardener who took great care to plant species of trees, flowers, shoots, and vines that would work well with the flow of the land, the river that ran through the garden, and the geographical limits of the area itself.  This garden was a marvelous sight to behold, each part working well with its surroundings and a pure delight for all those who ventured by to see.

As with every creation, there is a time when it reaches the pinnacle of its growth.  A time when everything is going so well that the creation itself deems the creator unnecessary.  Before long- and quite subtly- all types of invasive things started to grow, and it went unnoticed by the creation that the master gardener had not been to visit and tend it for quite some time.  Thistle, burr, and thorn alike made their way inside the garden, and even some of the garden’s original plantings outgrew their beds and started to take over parts of the garden where they had not been planted, seeking out the soil and resources of the surrounding beds. The once great garden became no more that a remnant of its former self.

Where there once was a great division between tended and wild, there was now but a blurred and very faint distinction.  As thistles, thorns, and burrs do, they choked out the growth of the plantings by dominating the space and the resources.  There was still beauty in what once had been a marvelous creation, but the wild had snuffed the majesty right out of it.  Until one day when the master gardener came to visit.  He had not been absent but merely watching from afar because, as with every creator, he longed to give his creation some space and freedom to grow.  But at just the right time, before all was lost, he entered the scene.  His heart ached for the pain of the plantings, seeing those which had been lost and those still entangled and entrenched by thorn and burr. He of course had the capacity to correct what had gone wrong.  After all, he was the master gardener.  In fact, he could have prevented all that had happened from taking place but, like a father teaching his child to walk, he had to allow the child to fall or the child would never learn how to get back up.  But now seeing the state of his creation, he reassured each plant and flower and vine that he would intervene if only they would but ask him.  Many did, and he immediately began the tedious job of pruning the garden back toward its original state.  The process wasn’t easy, and it was not without cost and pain to the plantings, for they were torn, punctured, and bleeding, but the gardener continued his work until the wild was removed and the garden was once again marvelous.  The gardener was spending his time not only walking the paths of his garden but also making new paths into the wild, removing all manner of invasive growth from any planting that would ask.  For it was now obvious that there was more than just this garden but a whole network of plantings beds of every type which the master gardener had been tending, each in its own state of disarray, each needing his loving and consistent hand to come in, restore, and connect them to his garden until one day, when all would be covered in the gardener’s creative plantings and marvelous landscapes.    

In my experience, much of the church in western Christianity is like that garden- invaded by all sorts of maladies.  The church has allowed doctrinal divisions, power struggles, suffocating debt, overbearing leadership, stylistic preferences, ungodly divisions between clergy and laity and much more to fracture it in ways that make the majesty of the early church a thing not often seen.  But Jesus, the head of the church, is within earshot, waiting for his creation to call for help so He can do the work of helping it return to its earlier productive splendor.  He’s not looking for us to return to the good old days of thirty of forty years back, but he is looking for us, His church, to stand up and be what we can be:  a true community of Christ-minded people looking to love him deeply and to love others in the same manner we love ourselves.  God has always used reformation to nudge His church back toward the purpose for which it was created, and He is marvelously at work doing the same thing now in a divinely splendid manner and in a variety of ways.  This work comes at a cost, for removing the wild often involves shrinkage, chaos, and short term loss.  But reevaluating priorities and realigning people with God’s plan for His church is well worth the cost.  I hope and pray that 2015 will be a year of returning to the Master Gardener for the western church.   

The Lost Teachings of Jesus

You might think this post is about the discovery of some lost manuscripts from two thousand years ago.  Manuscripts containing teachings of Christ, long lost to antiquity- teachings which, if applied to our modern culture, would transform our world.  Well, if that’s what you thought, then at least part of your assumptions are correct.  The teachings I'm writing about are the ones that could transform our culture and our world, but they were not recently discovered, although I might have thought so, due to the lack of their presence in the hundreds if not thousands of sermons and teachings which I have heard  in my over 40 years of Christian tradition.  The teachings I’m writing about are often overlooked in exchange for teachings on what Christians ought not to do or teachings on how Christians can become more politically active by signing the most recent petition showing the world just what lifestyles and activities we are against.

A hard lesson for all of us is that the message of Christ is not one meant to be digested piecemeal, keeping what you like while leaving out the rest.  It’s a message that, when wholly applied, will bring about revolutionary personal and cultural change- change that, at its core, is not political but relational.

A book I recently read suggested something that I have believed for a long time.  It suggested that Jesus came to show us how to be truly human.  He lived His life the way we would if we were not corrupted by our flesh and the influence of evil in our world.  Our challenge is to live our lives more like He lived His.  His admonitions were not political or religious but personal and relational.  His teachings, like learning to turn the other cheek and going the extra mile, have the capacity to transform our culture by transforming the people who embrace them and the people whom they relate to.  YOU SEE, I BELIEVE THAT WHEN THE SCRIPTURE TELLS US THAT WE ARE TO IMITATE CHRIST, IT’S NOT TALKING ABOUT LIVING A SINLESS LIFE, but living a life not centered on oneself.  Certainly Jesus didn't come to give us the freedom to sin, but he did come to give us the freedom to stop worrying about our negative behaviors so we could adopt some positive ones- behaviors that will positively impact others and inevitably our culture as well.  Behaviors like those described in the following:

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.  God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this. ... Keep open house; be generous with your lives.  By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."    Matthew 5

WHAT IF, INSTEAD OF LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE, WE START LOOKING OUT FOR OTHERS WITH THE MOTIVE OF LOVING THEM CLOSER TO GOD?  If we did so, everybody would win.  We would reap what we have sown (love and generosity).  Others would experience God as He is meant to be experienced, through active, non-condemning love.  And God's reputation as the loving creator who wants to live relationally with His people would be restored.  If we would do this, a unique thing would happen in the process.  Our tendency toward "sin" would diminish; when we focus on simply loving others like Jesus loves us rather than focusing on avoiding sin, maybe we’ll notice our struggle with sin lessening.  Just a suggestion at what could happen if we start implementing all the teachings of Christ in our daily lives instead of just the ones that are often emphasized.

Let me challenge us as we begin to wrap up this year to keep our focus on Him and on helping those He brings across our paths to move closer to Him through how we treat them and how we conduct ourselves in our world in general.

Playing It Safe

You may have heard the phrase “err on the side of caution”.  This phrase basically sums up a philosophy which suggests that we should “act in the least risky manner in a situation in which we are uncertain about the result.”  In a nutshell, it means, “Better safe than sorry.”  While there certainly is some safety in embracing this concept, embracing it in every area of life will safely lead to one thing for sure: a boring life.  I read it somewhere once that situational uncertainty goes by another name- ADVENTURE.  I would suggest to everyone reading this that to act in the least risky manner in a situation in which we are uncertain of the outcome requires little to no faith.  In my life, faith seems to be the activator of adventure.  While many will play it safe and hope for God to come through, I tend to rush on in where angels fear to tread.  While I do my best to pray about my decisions and look for the Lord’s direction in my life, I have noted over the years that His direction seems to be more and more vague in many of the decisions that I have to make.  I used to interpret that as a sign that God was wanting me to hold back and play it safe- that is, until my children started to get a bit older and more mature. 

It occurred to me that I would not be a very good parent if I continued to make every decision for my children as they grow older.  When children are little, we tend to dress them in the clothes we want them to wear, plan their schedules, plan their diets, and just generally micromanage their time.  But think about how unhealthy that would be if we treated them the same way when they were twenty-six.  Not only would it be unhealthy, but they would certainly grow to resent our involvement in their lives or, at the very least, be stunted in their development in a way that would paralyze them with inaction when we weren’t around to choose for them.  Enter our relationship with our heavenly father.  As new followers of Christ, it is common for us to run to Jesus with every choice to determine what we should do.  For me, it was pretty awesome to see how God would lead me to the answers to my questions regarding the decisions I had to make, but as time moved on and my relationship with Him deepened, the opportunities for me to choose on my own seemed to keep presenting themselves.  Don’t get me wrong; there are certainly principles of right and wrong that guide our decision making process, there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors, and there certainly are times when the Lord himself intervenes in my decision making process with a red flag or a stop sign, but like the parent of a child who is growing and maturing, I have found that in my life God steps back and waits for me to make the decision on my own.  What should we do in these situations? Well we could allow fear, doubt, and worry to be our guide and just err on the side of caution and play it safe, OR we could err on the side of action, step up to the plate of our lives, and swing for the fences.  I believe that God honors action because action requires faith.  All throughout scripture, we see God honoring people’s faith-filled action.  Why should it be any different for us?  Time and time again I have seen it myself and heard the testimony of others, that when they acted in faith, God acted in response with a blessing that would not have been seen without their action first.  I wonder how much we have missed out on by “playing it safe”.  I wonder how different our world would look if we changed our way of thinking and decided to act in faith.  Test God on this principle and see if what I am saying holds true.  I believe that God loves us so much that he honors our honest attempts even when we miss His plan for a given situation.  That’s when the father catches us with the safety net of his love and grace and sets us back up to try again.  Just like the parent of a toddler helping their child learn to walk, we give our children chances to fall down again and again, right?  No, we give our children not only the chance to learn to walk but the chance to learn to run.  I dare you to run today, and when you do, I bet God smiles.      

To be or not to be. Is that the question?

I just finished reading an article on innovative church movements in North America.  Unfortunately from almost the first sentence it was apparent that I was in different place than the author.  As with anything I read, I eat the meat and spit out the bones, and this article certainly had plenty of meat, but it just surprised me how even the most cutting edge of innovators in the church world still often miss some of the most basic of innovations .  It may have been simply semantics, but the article started out by saying “in our postmodern culture finding innovative ways to do church is essential” While I agree with the point being made, I think it reflects a bit of skewed doctrine regarding the church, for If we are “doing” church, it will inevitably end up just being one of the things on our ever increasing list of things “to do”.  I understand this now more than ever, for I have just ended a 40 year run at doing church.  It involved membership in and association with nine different organizations of people that were all doing church. At each location whether I was an “attender, member, or pastor” each organization had its membership rules and expectations, its organizational structures, and systems.  In the best of scenarios these things were set in place to move people through the system in the most efficient way so that the people could accomplish the purpose of the organization.    In the worst of scenarios they reflected the shortcomings and weaknesses of the leader who put them in place, often a leader who has been gone for some time, but whose influence still permeates the organization because change is the most resisted thing in the lives of virtually everyone I know.  

One of the primary things that I am trying to keep at the forefront of the work that I oversee is that we don’t do church we are The Church.  Things we do are temporary.  They have a starting point and ending point.  Whether events, services, or ministries, we do them for a period of time (Sundays, or Wednesdays) and then go back to the rest of our lives.  But we as Christians are the Church not merely members of a church but the composition of The Church itself.  We, who have come to Christ, are a house made up of living stones being built by the Lord as we grow in maturity and in our numbers.   The “modern” church for the most part has shed the false doctrine of the building being the church, so we no longer go “to the church”, but we have adopted an almost as problematic doctrine of “doing church” which will have to be shed in order for us to truly accomplish what the Lord had in mind for us in the beginning.  As I mentioned before it may just be semantics, people may just be used to using certain terms, and the structures of their organizations may well reflect the living communal nature of the church, but I have always been a proponent of the concept that you can tell what we believe by what we say, not what we say we believe but by what we say,  so take a few minutes as you read this to ask the Lord, The Head of the church if your actions reflect a life of doing church, or being the church.  As the head of the Church, He will be faithful to answer and to guide you to the take steps to assume your true identity as The Church.   

Fancy, Broken Things

Silently across the nation, as Christianity becomes increasingly irrelevant to the average non-believing American, the church as a whole is shrinking and a treasure of memories, traditions, and heritage are being forgotten.  One would think that Christian leaders would take note and get to the core of what is going wrong, but instead all too often we just make a subtle shift in style, do a quick remodeling of the sanctuary, borrow ourselves into oblivion, and hope for the best. 

In an effort to avoid the decline in attendance, we have lost the heart of what the church was supposed to be all about- making disciples.  We can’t run from the fact that attendance in weekly church activities is substantially down across all denominations and even non-denominations as well.  Instead of facing this fact head on and asking the tough questions, many Christian leaders have sprinted to compete for what Sunday morning saints do exist.  Like a group of people running from a bear in the woods, we have sought to just be one of the fastest runners so that the bear will devour the others first.  All of our changes only prolong the inevitable:  Christianity in America is becoming more and more irrelevant to our culture.  Nothing could be more ironic, for America was founded largely by Christians looking to express their faith without oppression, and it was America who spawned the missionary efforts of the past century that are currently changing the destinies of people across South America, Africa, and Asia.  But in our quest to reach others abroad, we have failed to reach our neighbors next door.

This competition for the Sunday morning saints has caused, or at least fed into, an equally challenging condition in American church culture, a condition called Christian consumerism.  In our effort to get what attenders do exist to come to our events and facilities, we have sought to have the best and brightest staffs, the nicest and newest facilities, and the most cutting edge worship bands.  All of which are noble pursuits on the surface, but when sought after with the wrong motives can cause us to be just a fancier, fresher version of our old, irrelevant selves.  The net effect of our updates is that attenders are just shopping.  When we ask for their support or involvement in the mission, we often get the “no thanks, I’m just looking” response.  Simultaneously, many of us have lost sight of the goal:  taking Jesus into our culture.  We have settled for an attraction model of doing Church where we try to get the world to come see how great our stuff is instead of taking the love of Christ into our culture through our daily lives.  How many of our non-Christian contacts know that we love them and that we care?  This is important to ask because without love, all of our fancy things, biblical knowledge, and our stunning spiritual gifts are just like a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  They are just noise to our world.

Discipleship is messy.  I grant you that, but Jesus didn’t call us to make converts.  He didn’t call us to market the kingdom through slick presentations, multimedia campaigns, and the latest church growth strategies.  He told us to GO and make disciples.  A disciple by nature is someone with whom we spend our lives.  Most of the Lord’s initial disciples took some time after they were invited to follow Him around the country before they understood the message and actually believed.  In the same way, we need to incorporate people who are not yet in relationship with Christ into our schedules and our homes so that they will know we are loved.  Christian disciple making is a process, not an event.  It’s not something that the church organization’s evangelism or outreach department is responsible for.  It’s something all followers of Jesus are responsible for.  The Apostle Paul’s invitation to follow me as I follow Christ gives us a great insight into discipleship.  Each of us is on a spiritual journey, either moving closer to God or further away from Him.  The enemy and the world are attempting to drag each of us away from God, but it’s God’s plan that Christians be loving people closer to Him.  At some point in the process of moving closer to God, each of us passes from death to life when we believe and trust in Christ as our savior, but this a process not an event.  While some of us who have made such a decision can point to a time and place where we recognized that we believed and a decision was made, that decision was preceded by many God encounters wherein He used people and circumstances to love us closer to Him.  We as Christians today need to recognize our responsibility to love and relate to people apart from Christ, for it is our loving relationship with them that paves their way into the kingdom.  Disciple making is by nature all about relationship, so secluding ourselves from the world and criticizing their actions while simultaneously begging them to come to our outreach events, hoping for a conversion is not a plan to succeed.  

Loving God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength requires loving your neighbor as yourself, and loving your neighbor as yourself requires us to know our neighbors.  Being God’s ambassadors requires us to be relevant to and engaged with the people we are trying to reach, and God has given each of us the privilege of being surrounded by plenty of opportunities to relate to people who are His future friends.  It’s time for us to reach out in love instead of doing outreaches in our church.  It’s time for us to love lavishly His most treasured creations.  I’m confident and optimistic that we can succeed because it’s God’s plan and, after all, He never plans to fail.

How I Hate the “Mean Times”

There are a lot of popular phrases in our culture.  

The phrase “in the meantime” is one such phrase which is used in place of other phrases such as “while I am waiting”, or “until I see breakthrough”, or how about “until my ship comes in”.  I particularly like the phrase “in the meantime” because it hints to the state of mind we often find ourselves in and the attitude we are displaying while we are waiting. 

Just recently, while waiting to be checked in to a hotel where I was staying, I had the misfortune of being second in line when there was only one clerk on duty.  You might think that second in line sounds pretty good, except I had walked up ten seconds behind a guy who had already checked in but had found out some bad news that would require him to continue on his journey instead of enjoying a nice night’s rest.  Well, the clerk was new at his job and was unsure of how to process the refund which necessitated four different phone calls to other off-duty clerks who had no more clue how to proceed than he did.  After what seemed like an eternity (which was only about 25 minutes), I stepped up to the counter and checked into the hotel without incident but with a bit of an attitude, if I‘m being totally transparent here.  The wait had nearly killed me.  My luggage was heavy and awkward, and my mood had shifted from one of expectancy too that of a medieval martyr.  I had, after all, suffered “in the meantime”.

The scripture gives us a promise about the mean times.  Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  If I had patiently endured this horrible hardship (waiting in the line, that is), I would have had the assurance of being rewarded in some way for my patience, but instead the only reward I ended up with was the hit of dopamine I got for pitying myself throughout the event and for a few moments after.

Well, I don’t have to tell you that there are far worse “mean times” than the one I recounted here.  Tragedy, oppression, job loss, and extended illness are not foreign to most of us.  My family is currently going through a little “mean time” of our own, waiting on the next ministry opportunity to occur.  You apply, wait, and then maybe receive a rejection letter or two for months until a door opens that no man can shut, and you walk through it into the next part of your destiny.

The trick to the mean times, as I am learning, is not to focus on the mean or the time, but to focus on our Lord.  “We are fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”  Hebrews 12:2 

An old song I sang in church when I was growing up is a frequent reminder to me of this concept.  It went something like, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”  Unfortunately, the reverse is true- that when our focus is on our hardship, our view of the Lord grows strangely dim.  Let me encourage you by trying to be a real as I can.  When I spend time trying to grow in my relationship with the Lord, it’s a lot easier to “suffer through” the mean times.  But when I spend my time on my own pursuits without first taking time to foster the most important relationship in my life, then things can get ugly.  Take time today to talk to Jesus, ponder what He is up to in your life, and imagine what good things He has in store.  It will make the “mean times” a little easier to navigate.

Oh, and one last thing.  When I exited the line at the hotel, I realized that there were a dozen other people behind me.  I guess the two-fold message is that others have it worse than I do and that they are watching to see what kind of attitude I am developing in the process.

The Tyranny of Desire

If you are a parent, or for that matter, if you have ever been to a Walmart store on a Saturday afternoon, you have witnessed the tantrum that emerges after a child doesn’t get his own way.  It’s pretty ugly.  It’s annoying to everyone in proximity, and it brings out the worst in most of the parents I know.  Well, there’s only one thing worse than a child throwing a fit when he doesn’t get her own way, and that’s an adult doing the same thing.  I found a passage of scripture which addresses the same issue.

1 Peter 4, verses 1-2, says “Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him.  Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way.  Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.”

The point here is that God’s decision not to purge from our lives all of the difficulties we go through actually brings about maturity in us.  We would be much like a spoiled child if we got everything we asked for and never had to face a difficulty.  Facing the trouble actually help us grow.  I’m reminded of a scene from one of the Chronicles of Narnia movies that have been released in the past few years.  Peter, a young king, finds himself in a fight with two wolves that are intent on killing him.  He calls for help, and Aslan (the Christ figure of the movie) comes to assist.  He puts one wolf to flight, but when one of his warriors moves in to kill the second wolf, Aslan tells him to hold off; this one is Peter’s.  Peter steps up to the plate and hits one out of the park, stepping into his destiny as a warrior king.

In our lives, the old sinful habit of thinking that we should always get what we want needs to be dethroned, allowing the new King Jesus to take his rightful place.  When we endure things we would rather not, we start the process of killing off that old sinful way of thinking that allow Christ access to transform us into who he wants us to be.  Doing so brings maturity and a better quality of life.  So whatever you are wresting with today, allow God to use it as the weight on the bar that you are lifting which will produce spiritual muscle and give you the physique of a fully developed friend of Jesus.  To listen to more encouraging insights, please visit my podcast page.

Simple Church?

In the summer of 2011, as a result of much prayer and contemplation, my wife Lisa and I set out to re-convey what we believe is the simple, New Testament, community-oriented message of Jesus that
has been lost in much of the organizational, overly structured religious tendencies that we have seen nearly everywhere we have been. With a specific emphasis on not pointing fingers at others, we spent several months just studying the NT. We didn’t want to just start a church slightly different from the one we came from or in reaction to the one we came from. We wanted to do something far different. We wanted the church to be as close as possible to what we found as a result of our prayerful study. We started with the message of Christ found in the gospels. We sought to interpret all of the epistles
and the history of the early church recorded in the book of Acts in light of the greatest command of Christ, which was to love the Lord with all you have and to love your neighbor as yourself. What we found was an incredibly refreshing, community-oriented look at Christianity that allows us to focus the efforts of the church on what is best for the individual Christian instead of what is best for the
organization. It's really amazing to watch as God uses each member to help the others unpack the baggage that our experiences have brought about and then to simply live out relational love for the Lord and each other in our daily lives. What we also say was that this love was to be a beacon to the lost world that we are living in.

What we found is that the principles of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission seem to be the preeminent way that God intends for the Good News to be lived out in our society. But even these basic principles seem to be difficult for us to grasp hold of in the modern version of the Christian church. The first of the two principles (The Great Commandment) is, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. … equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matt. 22:36-39 NLT.
Being the son of a high school English teacher, I like to think of this principle in terms of the verbs and nouns. Love, the action verb, cannot take place without motion. Love is not a feeling- the infatuation and warm fuzzy, butterflies in the stomach sort of love. We are to love, and that word in and of itself requires action and demonstration. The nouns of the verse provide the context in which
we are to love. We are to love the Lord, to love ourselves, and to love those around us as much as we love ourselves.

The implementation of this principle is the basis, the focus, and purpose of the church, but how should we go about that? It seemed to us that the best way to arrive at the answer is to look at what the Bible says the early church spent their time doing. The early church seemed to be more a community than an
organization, and the book of Acts says that they gathered in public places as well as from house to house on a daily basis. They were sharing meals together and doing whatever it took to meet the needs that anyone had. The passage suggests that the people knew each other, and that they knew each other
well. That type of relationship develops after spending a lot of time with someone. It is obvious that there was intimate relationship because they knew what each others' needs were. An examination of the letters that make up the rest of the New Testament shows a wide range of admonitions to the church members to demonstrate their love for each other by some of the following: be devoted to one another, honor one another, live in harmony with one another, edify one another, accept one another, instruct one another, greet one another, agree with one another, bear each other’s burdens, be submitted to one another, and forgive one another. It had been our experience that the modern context of the Christian church had often broken these admonitions down to simply sit in the same room with one another a few hours a week while the professionals do the heavy lifting of body ministry. As a result, we are seeking to get everyone involved in the things which are most often left to a few.

The second principle that we can apply to best live out the Good News in our modern culture is to implement the Great Commission. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the
commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age”. Matthew 28:19 NLT.   A quick calculation shows me that I have spent nearly 8000 hours of my life
attending church services. While that may be a lot compared to some people, it may not be even a drop in the bucket compared to others. One way or the other, those hours spent in services have given me one thing: a decent perspective on just how it is that the churches I have been part of were trying to fulfill the Great Commission. In my church experience, we have employed an outreach principle. We try to reach outside of the walls of the church building and get the “unchurched” (not God’s Term) to come into the church facility to attend some sort of “outreach event”. It was as if, "If we just get people to the facility, some of our Christianity might rub off on them." With all of the time, effort, and money involved in outreach events, it seems to me that we often still miss the point that we as individuals are to GO. I believe that, in order to fulfill the Great Commission, we need to focus on going to the lost, not expecting them to come to us. Now that seems intimidating to me and to most people, but I think
that is because we tend to look at it as a task we must accomplish instead of an opportunity to be open to. The Bible says of the early church that the world looked in and liked what it saw. The reputation of the people was that of love and kindness. The Bible says that Love (the great commandment) is going to be the way the world will know we are Christ’s disciples. In the book of Acts, it states
that the world looked in and liked what it saw and that the Lord added to the church daily those that were being saved. In those days, the church gatherings were conducted in public places as well as in private homes, but the church was being lived out everywhere that Christians went, for the church is constructed of living stones, the people of God. I would suggest to you that Christ intended for
us to go live out our Christianity in whatever venue we are in. When our lives reflect the light and love of Christ, it will whet the appetite of unbelievers around us. I believe that the Christian fully alive, living out his or her passions in public, is the bait on the hook when fishing for the lost. All the programs we want to put together, all the efforts to get the lost to darken the church building doors, pale in comparison to the testimony of one changed life that goes on to flourish in such a way that causes others to take notice. The Bible says that we should “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have...” 1 Peter 3:15 Notice that it says to be ready to give an answer. That suggests that people will be asking a question. Why do you have such hope? That may well translate to: Why don’t you yell at the ref like the other parents do? How come you are so positive all the time? Why do you work so hard for the company? How come you don’t talk bad about the boss like everyone else? I suggest to you that we take our faith into the world and live it out in an attractive manner. This will require intentionality, but it will require something even greater: that our faith in Christ be positively transforming our lives. That may be the biggest challenge we face in the current Christian church. Are we genuine and growing? If not, it may be reflective of the way we have been doing church instead of being the church. If we just accumulate attenders instead of converts, or are settling for converts instead of growing disciples, what the world sees may not look much different than what they already know. For the faith in Christ that is lacking the expression of love is hardly attractive. It almost relegates the Good News to a get out of jail free card. We are fully committed to rediscovering what God intended the church to be and then helping the believers around us to be just that: The Church. Novel idea, huh? A friend of mine recently called it a church experiment, and it may well be, but I like to think it has a better chance of success at fulfilling God’s plan for his disciples than how I had been doing things in the past, and it seems to me, THAT IS THE POINT! 

Sibling Rivalry

As a father of two boys which we intentionally had eighteen months apart (for some strange reason), I have had my fair share of experience with this topic.  Boys, by nature are, on a good day, always jockeying for position, seeing if they can outdo each other, looking for opportunities to distinguish themselves in some way to their mother and I.  To our dismay, on bad days they demonstrate some of the most disturbing of human behaviors.  Don’t get me wrong, they are great kids but they are just that kids, and by definition, immature in their relational and emotional development. 

When kids act immaturely it’s understandable.  When adults do so, it’s pretty ugly.  I know this from watching some of my own behavior. The problem of adults behaving badly has been going on from the beginning.  It’s appalling the amount of blood that’s been shed by people trying to get one up on someone else.  From early on the children of God have been engaging in sibling rivalry. The scriptures tell us of an instance between the first two brothers Cain and Able and the end result is murder.

We all have been in that place where we feel like someone else is making us look bad.  It may be nothing more than them doing something well that pushes our buttons, but regardless of the circumstances, sibling rivalry results in drama, pain, and ugly behavior.  I wish I had a dollar for every time that I sat my boys down and told them that I love them equally and that when one of them does something to hurt or make the other look bad that it hurts my heart. 

When it comes to the family of God things don’t get much better.  From the earliest days of Christianity, we see sibling rivalry rearing its’ ugly head.  The gospels tell a story of the disciples arguing amongst themselves about which of them was going to be the greatest in the kingdom.  In the presence of the Creator of the universe, whom they had witnessed raise the dead, heal the sick, and set those in bondage free, they are fighting over who is going to be Jesus’ right hand man.  Instead of making much of number one they are fighting to see who gets to be number two. 

I would like to say that 2000 years of church history would bring about more maturity on our part, but in my experience nothing could be further from the truth.  Unfortunately, sibling rivalry isn’t limited to relationships between individuals.  From the very time of Christ we see interactions like the one recorded in Mark, chapter nine.  Some of the disciples are telling Jesus that they had witnessed others doing good in His name, but they told them to stop it because they were not a part of “their group”.  Modern Christianity, at least the western style, is marked with division.  Whether Catholic or Protestant, Baptist,  Pentecostal, Methodist, Charismatic, or Lutheran, Christian organizations seem to feel the need to point out how they are different and therefore it is inferred, better, than those who do, or believe, otherwise.  One organization I have been involved with in the past has listed one of their beliefs as their “distinctive doctrine”.   Seems innocent enough but it basically means this where we get it right and everyone else gets it wrong.   Early on in my marriage, my wife and I discovered that both of us as children had either caught or been taught that if you were not part of our particular brand of Christianity, that chances are that you might not even make it to Heaven.  Well you might make it, but it would be some dumpy little corner of heaven that you would be relegated too.  Even between different local churches in most communities there seems to be a competition to see who can do this church thing best and therefore attract more of the Christians in a particular location to be a part of their particular organization.  I have a friend who is a local pastor and he shared a recent conversation with me.  One of the members of his worship team had asked to speak with him because he needed to let him know that he no longer was going to be a part of the church.  It seems that he had been recruited to play his instrument in the worship band at a church of over a thousand in the same town.  The larger church had actually sent someone to observe the man playing his instrument in the worship band at the smaller church to observe his talent and then recruited him to play in their worship band.  During my college years in a different city, I remember hearing frequent advertisements on a Christian Radio station for an up and coming new church talking about how they had the best children's ministry programs in the city.  While I’m not even able to judge my own motives accurately most of the time, it does seem logical that at least the subconscious motive for actions like these would be to get more people to attend your church so you can feel like you’re the best in a given community, or to improve the resumes of a particular leader, or at the worst, to bring more money into the church coffers for one reason or another.   

All of these things support my recent conclusion that much of Christianity has been made in our image, us-focused, consumer driven, and by doing so, understandably confusing to those who come to Christ, start attending a church, and see much of the world’s philosophies, attitudes, and policies on full display.  Don’t get me wrong I believe that the real church exists in every Christian congregation in the world.  That’s because the church is people, not doctrine, nor organizations, nor denominations or leadership structures.  We the people who are followers of Christ in relationship with God, via Christ’s sacrifice, we are the church.  

To all of this jockeying for position and competition for attenders, Jesus simply says, “He who wants to be the greatest must be the servant of all.”  In my opinion, we don’t see this demonstrated often enough.  The basis of the gospel requires all of us to lay aside our “right to be right” in exchange for doing what is in the best interest of others.  Oh, that we would stop fighting with and comparing ourselves to our brothers and sisters and start looking to serve them instead.  Check out Rediscover Hope inspirational sample.

Another Thing To Do :(

Another thing to do, another appointment, outside demands on my time.  Others’ expectations, my own expectations, prioritization.  Failure, readjustment, robbing Peter to pay Paul, disciplinary problems with kids’ attitudes, misunderstandings, offenses, worries, fears, bills, smaller paychecks, extended family, work, tax prep, finding time for things that are supposed to be most important, helping my fellow man, giving to church and others, listening to a friend.  Trying to be a good neighbor.  Is this the good life, real life, or really life at all?

Enter Jesus.

“Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.  I’ll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me -watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”                                   Matthew 11:23-30  

I spent time with Jesus and He reminded me that I should give myself as much grace as He does, that if I put knowing Him better first in my life, He would take care of the rest.  He reminded me that living with Him in my daily life is better than trying to live up to people’s expectations.  He told me that I am at my best when I allow him to be at my side, that He didn’t come to condemn me but to save me from myself and those who would condemn me.  He reminded me that just because someone says they are his messenger doesn’t mean everything they say is golden, that He wants direct access to me without any go-betweens.

Let me encourage you to let this be a year where you know Jesus better and better- not just a year where you learn more about him, but a year where you get to know him.  Remember that He wants to be known by you far more than you want to know him better, so moving even just a little in that direction will yield great results.  

For more encouraging messages with insights about Jesus and His good news to us please join us for City Light Rediscover Hope.  This one hour Saturday night event is designed for adults who are looking for encouragement, inspiration, and hope.  For a sample of what the meeting will be like visit the link below or just come on out and join us. The event lasts from 6:30-7:30 at 708 SW Gage in the Safety Training Solutions building.   What to expect from Rediscover Hope Christian Inspirational Event

Pivotal Truths Christians Need To Understand part1.

1. Christianity is a category of religion established by this world’s scholars.  Christians are people living in ongoing relationship with Jesus.  They are noted to be so by their culture because of what others can see happening in their lives.  Jesus didn’t come to establish a new religion, but to deliver people from the burdens of religion.   

Matthew 11:28 MSG “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

2. People are not collateral or a church’s workforce to be used to bring about the growth of the church or the implementation of a leader’s vision.  The church is supposed to be about what is best for the growth of the people, helping them establish vision for their own lives and families.  Christ didn’t establish the church to develop programs for reaching people he is reaching people who become the church, who then shine the light of Christ in everyday lives. 

Romans 12 :1 “Here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.”

3. Jesus didn’t come to correct your bad behavior so the church is not a tool for behavior modification.  Jesus came to wipe away the consequences for our sins to allow us access to God so that He could transform us as we focus on him.  

Romans 12:2 “Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.”

4. God is not looking to micromanage our lives.  He delights is seeing his children learn to make decisions for themselves using the experience and wisdom that He gives to pursue their passions and advance his Kingdom here on the earth.  As a result Christians are not foot soldiers in the army of God who just get up everyday and ask for their marching orders.  Christians are ambassadors, agents, and independent operators who look to God for direction when the path becomes less obvious.

John 15:15-16 “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” 

5. While all of scripture is true, the way in which God relates to us under the new covenant is to be governed by the Good News or Gospel not by the law and the prophets.  Certainly the law has not passed away, but it has been fulfilled setting us free to live in Christ under grace instead of under a bondage to a certain set of rules which we find harder and harder to follow when we focus on following them instead of on getting to know Jesus better and better. 

Luke 16:16 “Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. ¹⁷ But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned.”

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Do You Have the Audacity to Get Engaged?

When I was engaged, I spent nearly every waking hour thinking about my soon-to-be wife.  Virtually every spare minute was spent looking for ways to show her how much I cared.  I’m amazed by how romantic I was back then, and frankly a little embarrassed at how far removed from those involvements I can become today.  But that’s the subject for a different blog.  The word audacity means boldness or daring, especially with confident disregard for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restrictions.  The term engaged means deeply involved or occupied with another.  As humans, and particularly as Americans, our culture tends to put all of the focus on us.  Therefore it almost seems audacious to engage people around us.  After all, we may never even see them again.  (All the more reason to make the most of this opportunity.)  But we have an opportunity- shoot, even a responsibility- as Christians to become engaged with those we find ourselves around each day.  There’s someone that needs encouragement, a kind word, or a pleasant smile just feet from us each day.  Disengaging from the worries and business of our minds will free up the mental energy to pay the attention required to impact someone else positively.  After all, Jesus said that the most important commandments were to “Love the Lord… and to love your neighbor as yourself.”  If you are like most of us, you may not even know your neighbor next door, but we have people all around us most days.  Let’s have the Guts, the Raw Fortitude, and the Audacity to Get Engaged.

Getting Back to God's Idea

We as Christians are the Church, not merely members of a church but the composition of The Church itself.  We who have come to Christ, are a house made up of living stones being built by the Lord as we grow in maturity and in our numbers.   The building is not the church, so we no longer ”go to church”. The church is not as series of events, so we don’t “attend church”. The church is not a standard set of rituals, or practices, so we don’t “do church” These false concepts must be shed in order for us to truly accomplish what the Lord had in mind for us in the beginning. When the church doesn't function in the manner that it was intended to it's difficult for it to accomplish the purpose for which it was established.  In the early days of the church,  gatherings were conducted in public places as well as in private homes, but the church was being lived out everywhere that Christians went. For the church is constructed of living stones, the people of God.  I would suggest to you that Christ intended for us to go live Him out in whatever venue we are in   We need to be fully committed to discovering what God intended the church to be and then helping the believers around us to be just that,                                                                            The Church.  

A Good Looking Hypocrite

"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-15

Keep open house.  Well, that would require me to keep a clean house.  Now, my wife and I have people in our home every week, so the place gets a lot of traffic every Sunday.  Add to that two boys living there- well, three now that I think of it- and it’s a wonder the place is still standing.  I think the above passage that urges us to keep open house is suggesting not only that we open our homes to others, but that we share our lives with them as well.  You see, when people come over, they get to see all of your stuff.  Even our junk rooms and drawers end up getting laid out bare before others.  I think that’s part of what Jesus wanted- Authentic Living.  

Authentic Living

I once heard it said that character is looking the same in private as you do in public, or maybe you have heard the question, “Who are you when no one is looking?” I like to use the construction term Integrity.  It means consistency of strength.  If a bridge is built with steel that looks good on the outside but is full of air pockets and weak welds, it may look really good but come crashing down as the traffic begins to cross it.  You may be one of those all-or-nothing type of people who read this and think that you have to be perfect; that your every private action needs to be bathed in perfection, or you are nothing but just a good-looking hypocrite. 

A Good Looking Hypocrite

Well, if you struggle with acting the same in front of people as you do when no one is looking, you are in good company.  First off, no one is perfect all of the time.  Many of us fake perfection when we are around unbelievers to sort of sell Christianity as this magic pill that makes you perfect if you just pray the sinner’s prayer (whatever that is).  This is counter-productive because when new believers (or at least those that took the magic pill) start to struggle with their old ways- like the second day of their Christian walk- then they figure they didn’t really have a supernatural, change-oriented experience. This leads to legalism or cynicism.  Many others of us fake perfection when around other believers so that we will look good, be a part of the “in” crowd at church, or at least feel good about our choices a few hours a week.

I happen to like Paul’s writings (you know Paul, the one who was Holy Spirit inspired to write the majority of the new part of the Bible) where he says:

“For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing”  Rom. 7:19

I think there is something to be said for growth in Christian maturity for sure.  I‘m just betting that it doesn’t come from disciplining yourself to live up to the law.  Otherwise why would Christ’s sacrifice be necessary?  True transformation of behavior comes from a transformed heart and a renewed mind, both of which the scripture seems to point out happen as we get to know Jesus better and better. 

The consistency or integrity that comes from authentic living doesn’t demand perfection, but realism.  People need to see our good, our bad, and even our ugly.  It’s the same principle I try to use in parenting.  When I fail or blow it with my kids, I make sure to point out my mistake to them and say that I’m sorry and ask for their forgiveness.  You see, I don’t want to foster in them the idea that it’s okay to act like ours doesn’t stink.  It’s incredibly beneficial to my kids, my brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as my unbelieving friends to see how someone who is friends with Jesus deals with their own failures.  I don’t flaunt my freedom to sin and get away with it thanks to the sacrifice of Christ.  On the contrary, I highlight not just my struggles, but my repentance.  Not so that I can get to heaven but because it’s good for me and it is the right thing to do.  You see, regardless of my failures, I believe Jesus is happy with me and I try to let people know that.  I’m convinced he is paying attention to my successes instead of my failures, and as I get to know him better and better, my failures decrease and my successes increase.  I think they call this a batting average in baseball, and you can be sure that God’s not keeping track of yours.  

2 Corinthians 11:30 “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”

So open up your house and your life to others.  You and they will find it refreshing.  It’s also attractive to people who are hurting and hungry for something real.  If you have a hard time accepting this, ask God to show you if it’s because you really needed to hear it. 

“For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”   2 Corinthians 5:19