The Painful Path to Christlikeness

Over the past several years I have had the chance to interact with many people who have had joints replaced. That procedure is often extremely difficult and painful. Last month I was speaking with a lady that had both knees replaced at the same time and was now back to full strength. I asked her how she was doing and her reply was "it was so worth it!"

As I was reading my Bible this morning in my office, that statement came to my mind. As people, we are willing to go through great pain and inconvenience to get to a point that is better than where we are presently. My next thought the Holy Spirit gave to me was convicting. How much pain are we as the body of Christ ready to go through to get to a better place than we are now?

Trust me, I am no masochist. I enjoy avoiding pain. But the modern American church seems to value comfort over growth (I am not talking numerical, but spiritual), peace over righteousness, and unity over truth. 

Let me explain. How many times have we thought, said or heard something close to the following: "I know that they are in sin, but who am I to judge?" or "I know that God isn't please with that, but if I say something it will just make it a bigger deal. Better to just leave it alone" or from a Pastor's prospective "I know that they need confronted about that area, but if I do they might leave the church."

All of these statements in general demonstrate a real struggle in the church today. Although we are willing to go through great physical pain for future improvement, we seem to lack the desire to do the same spiritually. Why is it that we don't have that desire? Let me make 3 observations:

1. We don't understand practical sanctification
• I think the church has a pretty good grasp on the ultimate sanctification. We know that eventually when we get to heaven, we will be free from this sin cursed body and be able to worship God as He is worthy to be worshiped. 
• The thing we don't grasp well is that God wants to start changing us into His image right now! He wants us to be more like Him on a daily basis. He wants us to put off sin, and put on righteousness. God is glorified when we love what He loves, and hate what He hates.
2. We don't understand what a healthy church really is
• To most people a healthy church is where people want to attend and feel loved and welcomed. These aren't bad things, they just aren't what necessarily makes a church healthy. 
• One aspect of a healthy church is that it doesn't tolerate sin. I don't mean that people are perfect, or that you get to a point where you don't sin anymore. I mean a healthy church recognizes people as sinful, and as they sin, works with them to correct that issue and make it right. Basically help the grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. 
3. We don't value Christ more than everything else
• I understand that ministry is a people job. But when people become the center of church and Christ is removed to the secondary or lower position, it begins to fall apart.
• We need to love Christ more than our comfort, more than being afraid of standing for truth, more than our preferences. 

When we begin to grasp practical sanctification, when our churches are truly healthy, and we value Christ more than anything, then our outreach will look different because our churches will be different because the people who make up our churches will be radically different. Pain isn't fun, but the church should eagerly embrace it if it will make us more like Christ. 

We Can't Exhaust Grace, But It Seems Like We're Trying

One thing social media has done for the world, and not in a good way, is allow people to speak their minds without having to speak it. As I watch world and church events unfold, I am often unimpressed. 

I am not against social media, I participate in many avenues on it, but I am growing more and more concerned at how Christians, in particular, are using it.  We comment and click with seeming impunity. We don't respond to circumstances like Christ would have. I have seen too many posts condemning everything, from the president, to somebody else's church and pastoral staff, to local guy across the road. I have seen attacks, anger, and even flat out lies, all from Christians. We are some of the first people to object to lying, but are also some of the first people to share every article without ever checking it out. If we want to be credible, we have to live credible lives. In a day and age where arguing is conversation, may we as Christians speak the truth in love.

I don't think that any person can out sin grace (you may have got that from the title). You are always one step from forgiveness and repentance. My concern is that the church today seems bent on seeing if it can out sin grace. We allow so much of this world to dictate who we are, and we allow so little of the Gospel dictate anything.

As I watch everyone sharing their "Ice Bucket Challenge" videos I am challenged with a simple truth. What if the church was as concerned with the Gospel as they were with social media? What if  I started a challenge that said if you don't witness to a lost person in the next 24 hours you had to donate $100 to a Missionary. How viral would that go through the church? From my view, not many would participate. It seems as if the church really cares about peoples health, but doesn't really care about their souls.

So what do we do to start making corrections? I believe we begin to filter. We don't share anything unless we know it to be absolutely true. We don't demean others in person, so we don't demean them online either. We make the church a haven for the weary and a hospital for the sick. We love the Word more than we love how many people watch our videos, or how many followers we can attract. We intentionally live out the Gospel, and we intentionally speak Gospel truths, because neither happen by accident.

Leaders are Communicators

As I have done several times already, I want to discuss what I am learning. The board here at Mountain Home Bible Church is working through "The Conviction to Lead" by Albert Mohler. Once again it is good to be sharpened. 

Let me start with quoting the book:

pg. 94- "Convictional leadership begins with a commitment to truth and a relentless desire to see others know and believe that same truth. But communication is a form of warfare. The leader is always fighting apathy, confusion, lack of direction, and competing voices. The wise leader understands this warfare and enters it eagerly."

He then gives 3 essential hallmarks of powerful communication: clarity, consistency and courage.

This is a great and simple way of reminding me of making sure that I intentionally communicate truth. In a world full of mixed messages, and subtle hints, we should be a group of clear communicators. Over the years I have been guilty of trying to get to the working before we getting through the communication step. That often, especially in my case, came from a faulty view that communication wasn't working. Communication is working, and it is essential to successfully leading people. 

As Christians we need to know where we are going and intentionally lead people there. In order to do this we will often repeat the same message over and over. Not because we don't have anything else to say, but because we realize that the message we have been given is essential. As the world remains far from God, speaking this message will require courage. 

May we accurately portray the Gospel with intentional communication. Be bold, speak truth.

Living in an Abusive World

Last week I was reading various sports articles and came across an article on Ray Rice getting a 2 game suspension. Players are getting suspended all the time in the NFL, but what stood out to me was what he was suspended for.  He received a 2 game suspension for knocking out his then fiancé (now wife). To put that in perspective, Terrelle Pryor was suspended for 5 games for signing autographs for money while he was in college. Simple math says he could have knocked out 2 women and still got a shorter suspension.

The point of this blog post isn't to rail on the NFL. It is to simply point out that we live in a messed up world. A world where it is worse to sign some objects than it is to knock out your fiancé. This messed up thinking has over time found its way into the church.

In an abusive world, the abusers blame the victims. This shouldn't surprise us in any way, but what should surprise us is how often that mentality filters into the church. Our world is full of people who have been abused either verbally, physically or sexually and the church should be the place of safety for them. But often it becomes a place of stigma and shame. A place where not only are they not welcomed and loved, but they are shunned and marginalized.

A few simple thoughts on how a church can be a safe haven for the abused.

1.      Be trustworthy- abuse victims have trust issues, recognize that and embrace them anyway

2.      Be their advocate- often victims fall into the cracks. Either people don’t believe them, or people don’t report the abuse. As Christians we need to believe and report issues.

3.      Be patient- the church needs to be ready to listen when a victim is ready to speak, but they also need to realize that it takes time for them to do that.

4.      Be willing to deal with sin even if it is costly- one of the major reason abusers are dealt so lightly with, is that most organizations don’t want a black eye. They are more worried about PR than the victim, the abuser, or the Gospel.

We need to be churches that are willing to stand in the gap for people who have been abused. We need to be willing to love those who have been traumatized and may not love back. We need to be willing to stand against abusers no matter how popular or important they are. We need daily grace so that we can show daily grace to others.

Leadership Is All About Character

Once again I have been challenged by the book we are working through as board here at Mountain Home Bible Church. "The Conviction to Lead" by Albert Mohler has been a great choice for us. Last Friday we discussed 2 chapters in the book, chapters 9 & 10.  

Here are two of things that stood out to me from chapter 9.

Page 79- paragraph 1-"As a community of character, Christians are to reflect the moral commitments to which we are called. As Jesus made clear, the moral credibility of the gospel depends on those who have been transformed by the grace and mercy of God demonstrating that transformation in every dimension of life. Within the church, leadership falls on those whose light shines with integrity and power."

I am reminded of Missionary Ron Goossen and what he said to our church this Spring. "if we are the light of this world, what wattage is your bulb?" Has the Gospel so transformed us that we are different in every area of our life. Is our character demonstrating that transformation?

Page 80- paragraph 3 & 4 -"We are not perfect, and claims of perfection will only serve to undermine our leadership. We will fail, and we must be answerable for those failures. Our sin will show up in our leadership, usually without delay. Character is indispensable to credibility, and credibility is essential to leadership. The great warning to every leader is that certain sins and scandals can spell the end of our leadership. We can forfeit our role as leader and the stewardship of leadership can be taken from us."

How credible are we? Maybe as Christians we should ask the question, how credible is the church? In a day filled with scandals, failures, and celebrity pastors, has the message of the Gospel lost its credibility because the representatives of that Gospel have lost theirs? As a pastor I am graciously reminded by God that my position is based on my character and credibility. I don't need to be perfect (good thing!) but I do need to be growing and striving. 

Without character, we don't have credibility, and without credibility we don't have leadership. May we be known as a people of character. People who not only say we love God and His Word, but people who live like we love them! 

The Biggest Freedom No One Is Talking About

It is the month of July, a time when Americans in particular celebrate freedom. We celebrate the freedom of speech, press, religion, guns, etc. To make sure everyone know how excited we are about those freedoms we host fireworks displays, parades, and festivals.

Over the last few years there has been an increase in talking about standing up for freedoms, Christians have lined up at Chic-fil-a to buy a sandwich to support the owners right to free speech, they have rallied around Hobby Lobby and the right to not deny their religious conscience in their business. More generally, churches today have lined up behind the view of personal liberty. Nothing is really off limits as long as you are ok with it. I am one of the first to admit that culture is rapid changing and the church needs to minister to the culture we live in, but the best form of ministry isn't imitation.

The biggest freedom Christians have is one that no one seems to be talking about. We have been given the freedom to NOT sin!  Galatians 5:1 says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” As a pastor, father, man, and Christian I cannot explain why people get saved and then celebrate the ability to go back into the same sins God saved them from in the first place. It isn't spiritual maturity that gives you the freedom do whatever, spiritual maturity gives you the freedom to give everything up for Christ.

One of the greatest lies the modern church in America has accepted is that we are free to live on the edge of obedience, on the edge of worldliness, on the edge of truth, on the edge of sin. We have become used to hearing statements like these:

“I can drink as long as I don't get drunk”

“I can listen to music about sex, drugs, etc. as long as I don't do that myself”

“I can attend church when I feel like it as long as I say that I love attending”

“I can watch any movie I want, regardless how many times they curse, the amount of nudity, supporting homosexuality, and the open mocking of God as long as it is funny or popular.”

“I can wear whatever I want, you can't tell me what is modest. If people struggle with my attire it is their heart issue, not my fault.”

We may not always say these out loud, but we say them with our actions. Why is that we are so willing to cite personal freedom as permission to live more like the world, and we never want to cite biblical freedom to live less like it? I would contend that our heart is more wicked than we would like to admit. No matter your religious training or how long you have been saved, our heart tends to fall back into pride and self-reliance with great ease.   

Today let me encourage you to give up the world for Jesus. Celebrate freedom by celebrating the ability to not sin. Stand firm because Christ has made you free!

Is Anyone Else Tired?

Yesterday I read this verse as part of studying- 2 Thessalonians 3:13 “But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.” I happened to be pretty weary as I read it.

We have just finished a major remodeling job in our sanctuary, had a week of VBS, and still managed to complete the other tasks that fall on a Pastor during those times: preaching, hospital visits, board meetings, etc. It has been awesome to see God work through our church! The auditorium looks amazing and VBS was great! We had more kids come out than we planned for, the workers were a big help, and the Gospel was given clearly each night.

After the craziness of June, both ministry and personally, I am worn out. As I read that verse my first thought was almost a complaint. “Lord, there is so much more to be done, why am I so tired? Give me some more energy to get this stuff done!” As if somehow the Lord owed it to me to give me more energy, or that the verse somehow offered a promise of never being fatigued. But as I thought over the verse and allowed the Lord to work it into my heart, it was a huge challenge and encouragement!

This verse is a challenge to not get tired of doing good. It isn't that we don’t get tired, we all do. It is challenge of the heart, even when you are physically exhausted, love doing right. We are saturated by a world that loves so many distractions and as they see us they should notice what we love. They should notice that even when we are tired we still do right. How many times have offered an excuse for a bad response as “I am just tired”? Tiredness often just reveals more of our selfish, prideful hearts. When the events of life press on you, love doing right.

So today, I am at work, still tired, but excited to do right (and really looking forward to vacation in a little over a week!).  

The Graciousness of Closed Doors

I am sitting in my office today thinking of New Zealand, wearing my All Blacks shirt, and over the past few years I have gradually figured out Rugby (great game!). This spring my family passed the 3 year mark since the Lord closed the door for us to head to NZ as missionaries. 

People have asked if I was disappointed to not go to NZ, and the answer is yes and no. Yes, because I was burdened for the people to know Christ, burdened to see solid churches who love Christ, people, and their communities established, burdened to see young men trained for the ministry. No, because I honestly couldn't imagine serving there when God had so clearly closed the door. 

In the last few years God has really taught me 3 things about closed doors:

1. He closes them for our good.

This was probably one of the hardest lessons for me to learn. After leaving a church we loved in Jacksonville, FL and traveling for 2.5 years all over the place trying to raise support, getting a closed door didn't seem like it was “for my good.” But in reality it really was. Sometimes we say closed doors are good because it means that God will open another, and while that is true, it discounts the goodness of God in closing the door in the first place. I truly believe one of the reasons God closed the door for my family to head to NZ was a difference in philosophy in some areas that I didn't think would be that big of a deal, but now 3 years later and 3 years as a Senior Pastor, I realize they would be have a point of friction that the ministries I love in NZ didn't need.

2. He closes them for His Glory.

It is easy to say that everything happens for God’s glory, but sometimes it is tough to live like that. As the Lord closed the door to NZ, I was introduced to wonderful community in AR. It is a town I had never heard of, with a church I had never of, and full of people I had never met. It was hurting church, it had recently split, but it had people who wanted to grow and who are some of the most gracious people that I have had the privilege to serve alongside of. The Lord gives us gifts and knowing what we are gifted with and using those gifts is essential to a healthy church. I am graciously reminded almost daily, how God put me in a ministry where my gifts are maximized. Each church is wonderfully unique, and being in a ministry that allows my family to thrive is a gracious blessing.  

3. Closed doors are great teachers.

I cannot begin to tell all the things that God taught me through closing this particular door, but let me give you a few:

• I treat missionaries on deputation with deep respect. My ministry is the better because of this.
• I have a bigger vision for the needs of missionaries, our church is better because of this.
• My philosophy of ministry has been shaped by many churches, pastors, and missionaries. My church family is better because of this.
• I have more patience with people as they struggle through the question “what is God’s will for my life.” My counseling is better because of this.
• I have a better understanding of the big picture (though I wish I understood it even more!). My family is better because of this.
• I have a deeper trust in who God is and that He is always good. My walk with God is better because of this.

So today, if you find yourself the recipient of a closed door, whether it was expected or not, do not be discouraged. Get out your notebook and take some notes, because God is teaching you something. Celebrate it, study it, remember it, grow from it, but most importantly glorify God with it! When you get to that open door, be thankful for all the closed doors God put in your path to guide you there.

Moral Outrage without Morality

Over the past few weeks we have seen most of America respond to the Donald Sterling situation with disgust. The point of this blog post is not to discuss that actual event; it has been discussed by many others. The point of this article is to stimulate our thinking as it pertains to what it means for morality and Christians.

To be honest, I wasn’t surprised by the NBA’s response to the situation. The response of the majority of people seemed to follow the typical pattern. Person says dumb racist comment, world screams for justice. Racism should have no place in the world, our society, and especially the church. We should be offended when people act this way. But Christian, are we offended or are we pointing people to the Gospel?

After I watched several news conferences, interviews, and read a bunch of various comments, I came away with one question: on what basis does anyone of these people say what is moral? Is it based on society? Based on preference? Based on laws?

If we remove the Bible as the source for standards and morality, what becomes the defining standard? What if no one was angered by his comments, would that have made them ok? The Bible states that we are all created in the image of God, so to me it doesn’t matter how others respond, God already has. In a country where half of every marriage ends in divorce, we kill unborn babies, where drunkenness is rampant, profanity is everywhere, adultery is accepted, and immorality has no limits, why is racism not allowed? In a country where morality is almost always left to the individual (you can’t tell someone they are living wrong, period.) how do we then tell someone he is living wrong? On what basis do we make those statements?

As a Pastor, the angered response of so many people reminds me that God has placed inside each of us a divine conscience that constantly points us to our Creator. People are offended because they know that human life has value, it means something. What they don’t know is why they have these internal feelings and thoughts. The discussion of racism, morals, and society is a perfect chance to point people to the designer and perfect moral compass.

May we point people to the Gospel more often than we point out the problems of this world. 

The Best Way to Celebrate Easter

Over the past few weeks, I have been busy getting ready for our church's Easter Sunday. Our day included a church wide breakfast and special AM service. There were specials, videos, a Scripture reading, singing and a message. I was honored to be a part of that service. Everything about it seemed to shout “He is risen!” I was both challenged and encouraged by the many people who served, ministered and attended Sunday.  

As I spent a great deal of time getting ready for that special service, I was often challenged by one thought. Is God really honored if we make a big deal out of one service, but hardly dedicate any other day to Him the rest of the year? I am not against spending time making Easter a service to remember, I am already thinking of way to make next year even better, but how big of a deal is the resurrection to me today? tomorrow?

I am challenged to live in such a way that I make a big deal out of Easter every day of my life. There are so many distractions that the world offers me as a way to escape that duty, and honestly I fail often. There are many unsaved people who will even attend the obligatory Easter service, and I am grateful they come, the challenge is do I come because I am obligated or because I love being here? How grateful am I that He rose again? Grateful enough to live every day for His glory? Grateful enough to make much of Christ and little of me?

This year let’s commit to making much of Easter every day! John 10:10 “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

How Good Are Your Instincts?

Each month as the board meets here at church, we have been reading and discussing chapters from various books in an effort to help us grow and be more effective leaders. The book we are presently going through is “the Conviction to Lead” by Al Mohler.

Here is one of the quotes that stood out to me this month:

“The Christian leader must have mental reflexes that correspond to biblical truth. When something happens or an issue arises, the leader's mind must activate the right intellectual reflex. Once that reflex is engaged, the process of thought is already far down the road. If the reflex is wrong, the leader is in danger-and so are all those he leads.” (page 34, second paragraph)

How good are our instincts? How quickly can we assess a situation, and naturally reflex into a biblical response? We understand that it takes time to learn a new physical skill, we even continue to work on some of them for most of our lives, but do we realize that we need to be working on our spirituals skills just as regularly?  

This has major implications to every type of believer. If we have not trained ourselves to reflex the right spiritual response, then in a heated and tense situation we have almost no ability to respond biblically. We cannot assume we will just say the right thing, or do the right thing- we all know that we are more likely to do the wrong thing or say the wrong thing. How can we prepare our reflexes to respond rightly? An athlete repeats the same movement over and over so that during competition he doesn't have to think about the movement, it just happens. We need to repeat spiritual truth over and over, meditate, study, listen, read, and engage other godly people in conversation. The more we know of the Word of God, and the better we understand it, the quicker and godlier our responses will be.

We often joke that no one gets to Mountain Home, AR by accident. We live in an off the path place. A serious truth though is that no one becomes godly by accident either. We must choose to go the hard route, to learn the hard lessons, but the result is worth it! 

Learning From A Failed Leadership Decision

We have had an eventful week in Christianity! I know that I am a small fish in a big sea, and my thoughts are not widely read, but they have been swimming in my mind over the past few days and I hope they can be an encouragement to you.

One week ago, World Vision US, adopted a policy that allowed legally married same sex couples to be employed by their ministry. Not surprisingly, the LGBT community cheered, some denominations (mostly those who hold a very loose interpretation of scripture, or do not hold it to be authoritative) also cheered. At the same time most of evangelical supporters of WV saw it for what it was, an abandoning of Scripture. This decision really didn't surprise me, I figured at some point, some board would go this route, I just didn't know who. WV was the first to test the waters. But it isn't the decision that I want to really focus on, they reversed course just 24-48 hours later, I want to look at the statements, process, and how that applies to us.

First, let’s look at part of the statement as they introduced what they were about to do. Notice how they want to know that they have a board full of wise people in high places and they have spent a great deal of time praying over this issue.

“By way of background, our board of directors is recognized as one of the leaders among Christian organizations in the U.S. It includes deeply spiritual and wise believers, among them several pastors, a seminary president, and a professor of theology. Since this policy change involves the sensitive issue of human sexuality, the board spent several years praying about and discussing this issue”

Second, they want to be sure that you know they aren't compromising:

“I want to reassure you that we are not sliding down some slippery slope of compromise, nor are we diminishing the authority of Scripture in our work. We have always affirmed traditional marriage as a God-ordained institution. Nothing in our work around the world with children and families will change. We are the same World Vision you have always believed in.”

Third, this is a quote from the recanting of the new position back to the old one:

“We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends, who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to Biblical authority. We ask that you understand that this was never the board's intent. We are asking for your continued support. We commit to you that we will continue to listen to the wise counsel of Christian brothers and sisters, and we will reach out to key partners in the weeks ahead.”

Here is where I think we can learn from WV. 

First, wisdom doesn't come from having a board of really important people. 

Second, the will of God never violates the Word of God (spend more time reading the Word). 

Third, just because someone says they are not compromising doesn't they aren't. 

Fourth, if you change, be big enough to admit it. 

Fifth, realize when you abandon Scripture, the true church will be offended. 

Sixth, realize that you can’t please the world, you were created to please God, so do that instead!

To Lent or Not to Lent!

Lent this year is March 5^th- April 17^th. I have read several articles from both sides of the arguments as to whether or not one should participate in Lent. This year I decided to take the plunge. Lent is basically a chance to give up something for a selected period of time in order to achieve some goal. Some use this event purely as a chance to discipline themselves, others as a chance to give up something in order benefit their health or fitness. In a religious context it can be used to give up something in order to be less distracted, spend more time reading the Bible, in prayer, etc.

I have always been told by every coach that I ever played for “go big, or go home.” So for Lent this year I decided I would go big, I gave up dieting. To say it has been a struggle would be an understatement. At times I wake in the middle of the night, my mind and body screaming for a dry salad without cheese or croutons. Over the past few weeks I have found I can drown those screams out with a doughnut, sometimes it takes two.

I am grateful for those around me who have been willing to keep me accountable, I am sure that I couldn't do this alone. While going through the drive through at Burger King I almost ordered the SatisFries in a moment of weakness, realizing how close I was to failure, I redoubled my efforts, skipped the fries and had a double whopper with cheese.

As I write this post, I am not looking for applause, I haven’t finished yet, I still have a few LONG weeks to go. But I am confident that I can make this work and if I do, for Lent next year I am thinking about giving up turn signals!

The Gospel is better than Technology and Celebrities!

The Gospel is better than Technology and Celebrities!

Over the past few weeks we have seen much discussion over God and Hollywood. There was the release of the new Movie “Son of God” and Matt McConaughey thanking God in his Oscars acceptance speech. It seems to me that maybe we are missing the big picture in both of these instances.

American Christianity seems desperate for a celebrity to make serving, loving and obeying God cool. We want writers, pastors, actors, musicians, etc. to become popular enough that the mainstream world will accept them, and by default accept Christianity. If the church today is waiting on the world’s approval, maybe it is time we wake up and realize that it isn't coming.

I am not really a huge fan of movies based on the Bible, mainly because I study the Bible (I am a Christian and a Pastor) and it drives me crazy when they get the story wrong (full disclosure: it makes me just as crazy when they do this to other books as well). Did the script writer intentionally skip a detail, or was that detail too hard to film or convey? In most Christian movies, I am usually left asking, "What happened to the Gospel?" 

I hear several arguments that about Christian films that go along the lines of “we just want to get the conversation started.” We should be looking for ways to get people talking about the Gospel, but I am not convinced that watching a movie that messes up the biblical narrative and makes Jesus this wimpy, emotional character helps the discussion. After people watch these movies and they come to church, how much to do we have to un-teach about the Bible (this is assuming the church they attended afterward even preaches the Bible)?

I don’t want to fault Matt McConaughey for talking about God in his acceptance speech, I have no idea what he knows about God and the Bible, and who knows where his heart is. But I do want to take to task some of the Christians that came out afterward all fired up that we got a Christian in Hollywood. I would rather someone thank God than not mention Him at all, but thanking God and living for God are two vastly different things. In a world where we are desperate for celebrities to endorse us, maybe we should teach our kids who our real heroes should be. Men like Hudson Taylor, Jim Elliot, David Brainerd, Charles Spurgeon and John Calvin. Read about some people who believed the Word of God and not only was their life changed, but so were the lives of the world around them. Sadly, most Christians today don’t have spiritual heroes and neither do their kids.

In a world where people rely on technology and celebrity endorsements to complete their lives, Christians should be cutting against the grain and putting all our emphasis on the Gospel. After all isn't the Gospel better than them both?

When we love confrontation too much!

This post is hopefully going to be a balancing act. A helpful look at where principle and doctrine meet conscience and grace. Admittedly, I will not be able to cover the whole topic, or even get everything in its proper balance that I do cover, but we must be working toward that goal.

It would seem that this post would almost be unnecessary.  I mean, don’t we all know that we haven’t arrived? Don’t we all realize that we can improve in our walk with God? Don’t we all realize that we haven’t somehow answered all the theological questions that are posed when reading through Scripture? Since the answer to all the questions is an obvious yes, the question becomes, why don’t we live like it?

Sometimes Christianity is known more for what it won’t do than what it does. This creates a love for confrontation, and because holiness will be persecuted, so we start to pick fights so we are “persecuted” (and therefore holy). This is not only crazy (I mean this with as much love as possible), but it also causes the church and Christ much harm.

We desperately need to love truth, and when others don’t know that truth, don’t quite understand it the way we do, or even maybe refuse to obey that truth, we need to love them, pray for them, and teach them. For too long the church has forgotten how much we have been forgiven, and in turn we have forgiven little. We should not get joy in the false teaching of others, we should not get praise for “going it alone.” Too often each church believes they are the only one left standing for Christ, when in reality, there are many people standing for Christ even if we disagree on some of the peripheral issues. We have made much of the little issues and little of the gospel.

As a pastor, part of my job is confrontation. Each time that I am heading into a confrontation my heart has a choice. I can love my job, love my convictions, or I can love grace. If I choose to love my job, the conversation will start something like this: “As Pastor, it is my job…..” If I choose to love my convictions, the conversation will start something like this; “According to my study and belief……” But if I choose to love grace, the conversation will start something like this: “I love you, and I know Christ loves you even more. Can we talk about an area of your life that I see that might not be reflecting that love the way you think it is?”

How to tell if you love confrontation more than truth:

-        Confrontation gets you more excited and passionate that God’s Word does.

-        Confrontation is more common than encouragement

-        Confrontation is the thing you are known for

-        Confrontation happens no matter how small the issue

-        Confrontation is your first thought instead of grace and forgiveness

There is much more to say on this topic, this post is just dealing with the surface of the issue. Love truth, love others, love peace, and forgive daily.

Next Post:  The Gospel is better than Technology and Celebrities!

Does Grace Mean I Can’t Judge?

As a Pastor I often hear two statements said, sometimes to me, sometimes just in general. First, “who are you to judge?” The assumption of this statement is that since we are all sinners, we have no right to confront another about their sin. Second, “You should just love people for who they are.” The assumption of this statement is that love means that I am happy for you to be just the way you are, no improvements needed.

Let’s look at each statement individually.

“Who are you to judge?”

I would agree that we are all sinners, but that doesn't exclude us from being able to evaluate other people’s actions in light of the Scripture. I Corinthians 5:12 lays out the command for the church to judge other Christians. (A quick note about judging: nowhere in scripture are we allowed to assess motives. I don’t know why you did what you did, and you don’t know why I did what I did, but we can both see what the other is doing. So judging someone is simply looking at their life through the lens of the Bible.) We are responsible to keep each other accountable and to lovingly confront those who are in sin.

“You should just love people for who they are.”

Once again there is some truth in this statement. I am to love others as Christ loved me. In Romans 

5:8 we find that God loved us while we were still sinners. But the amazing thing about God’s love was that He doesn't desire for us to stay as sinners. He wants to sanctify us and make us into the image of Christ. I love my boys, with all their faults, but I don’t desire that they remain with those faults. I desire that they be corrected and molded into a better person that more accurately represents Christ.

Why Judge?

We judge because the testimony of Christ is at stake, the reputation of the church, and our progressive sanctification. Judging is hard, but necessary. It is imperative that as we judge we realize that we are capable of falling into the same sin (Gal. 6:1) and that we have the goal of restoration always in mind. Judging isn't winning, or being better, it is recognizing that another person has an area of struggle. They may struggle in a different area than me, but their flesh has a stronghold and I am commanded by God to help, so are you.

When to Judge?

Here is the where the real difficult parts start to weigh on us. How big of an issue does it have to be before we confront? How often should we confront? Where is an appropriate place to confront? These difficult questions really have simple answers if we follow Matt 18. If you know someone overtaken in a sin, confront. You notice a pattern developing, or you see an action that is an affront to the Gospel, confront. You confront one on one. Don’t start with an attack, don’t assume motive, simply state what you have observed. Ask them to pray with you about it. Tell them you would love to keep them accountable. Minister with as much grace as you would want them to do when they confront you (this is going to happen unless you never sin =).  Never confront in public if at all possible. There is always an exception to the rule, but normally make it a private matter. Public confrontation make the person extremely defensive, confrontation is already hard to take, do it in public and it is almost impossible to take.

There are tons of great resources out today about this topic and I encourage believers to spend some time praying about this specific role they have in the health of the church. Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

Next post: When we love confrontation too much! 

Do We Really Forgive?

The end of Jeremiah 31:34 says, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Can we be brutally honest with ourselves? When was the last time we forgave like that? When, after we have been wronged, have we never thought of it again. I know my tendency is to keep detailed lists of the wrongs people have done to me. It is not part of our normal nature to forgive like this; in fact it requires a divine nature that only God can give.

As we live in a “religious world” full of rules and expectations, we become masters of following the rules so others see us as Spiritual. Then their positive view of us leads us to assume that we are more spiritual than everyone else, or that we deserve to be treated better than everyone else. I was having a conversation about this topic with my brother-in-law, Joe Henson, and he mentioned a saying that has stuck with me over the last few weeks. Here is the saying, it was from Chris Anderson: “We want to be a church in which everyone is more aware of his own sins than the sins of others, and more aware of God’s grace than either.” My heart desire is to be a part of church like that, but too often I am far from that goal.

How much time do you spend focusing on God’s grace compared to your sin and the sin of others?  How often does the church, which is us, struggle with the right focus? We turn on backs on hurting people because they have wronged us. We are quick to remember the faults of others, and slow to forgive. We want others to prove they are really sorry before we accept the apology and forgive. 

I am so glad that our Heavenly Father doesn't forgive as we forgive. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were still sinning and in no place to even desire repentance, Christ died for us. He did not wait for us to come to Him groveling and begging for forgiveness, He just gave it. He forgave before we even asked for it.

In Jesus' example prayer he prayed that God would forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. How much would we be forgiven if our forgiveness was based on how well we forgave? 

Imagine how different church would be if we started forgiving before we were even asked. Imagine if we lived like we were forgiven of more than everyone else, imagine how God’s grace would shine like a beacon of hope to those who are lost in sea of darkness. If the church has any hope of reaching the surrounding world with the Gospel, the Gospel must first shake us to the core and transform us to people who live like Christ lived. May we make much of Christ by forgiving as He forgave!

Next Post: Does Grace Mean I Can’t Judge?

Celebrating Guardrails- Part 2

Why is it that we have a love-hate relationship with rules? On one hand we love the ones we like, and on the other hand, we hate the ones that seem to restrict or inconvenience us.  We tend to promote the rules we don’t have any trouble following, and ignore the ones we daily struggle with.

When Jesus was interacting with the adulterous woman, he wasn't working on the rules; He was working on her heart. In a culture today (esp. in our present day churches) we are struggling with the balance toward heart and rules. Rules produce quantifiable results, and we like that, heart changes are much harder to see and count.

How do we balance enforcement of rules with a desire to see heart change? Regrettably much of church history is a story of imbalance. At points we can see the tendency towards loving rules, and then the pendulum will swing to the other side of we aren't about rules we are about hearts. Where is the middle ground of such a difficult topic?

It starts with understanding forgiveness. In verse 12 after Jesus tells the woman that He doesn't condemn her and that she should go and sin no more, He turns and says, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”  Salvation brings forgiveness and forgiveness brings light. The purpose of the light is so that we no longer walk in the darkness. This doesn't mean that we don’t have rules; it means that we don’t love the rules more than the Savior.

I have had the opportunity to be involved with many people getting married and I have yet to hear the future couples say, “I can’t wait to be married so I can have some more rules and obligations.” They are excited about marriage because of the relationship not the rules. That doesn't mean that there are no rules. Each marriage is unique and so will be how that relationship works, but it has rules. In our relationship with Christ, we are unique, and so are the rules.

I think the church today is hurting, mostly behind closed doors. We have forgotten what forgiveness looks like. We have forgotten why we have been given rules. We don’t forgive others as we have been forgiven. We judge people, without judging ourselves. We lack grace, not because we haven’t been given enough, but because we refuse to allow it to transform us. We love the rules more than the relationship and that means disaster will come (or in many cases, it already has).

Next Post: How do we get back to forgiveness and grace? 

Celebrating Guardrails- Part 1

I don’t want to pretend that I am some master of church history or have some special insight into culture that others do not have. Yet, it seems to me that over my lifetime I have watched some well-meaning people confuse some really important concepts. One of the concepts is the basis for the name of my blog.

Rules are essential to healthy relationships. They guide us, inform us, motivate us, even correct us, but it is also essential to remember that rules aren’t the purpose of the relationship. The relationship is the goal, the rules just help that relationship work better. Using the analogy of the guardrails, they are there to keep you on the road, to make the trip safer. Most of us don’t drive through a new area and say, “Wow, did you see that guardrail? That was the most spectacular guardrail I have ever seen.” We focus on many other things. But if we lose control of our vehicle the guardrail is there to stop us from going over the edge.

As I watch conservative Christianity (this is where I live and Pastor) struggle with cultural challenges I have noticed a couple of responses:

1. On one hand some will celebrate a certain guardrail. They pose for pictures next to the rail, they get others to commit to loving that rail, and anyone else who isn’t at the same rail is heading down the wide path to destruction. This position is extremely vigilant in one area, and the other areas are of little significance.
2. The second view thinks that we should remove all guardrails. Everything is good and fine and we won’t fail so we don’t need any rails to protect us.
3. A third view would be one of making as many rails as possible. If it is good to have one rail, it must be better to have 10,000 of them. The rails don’t even have to be found in the Bible, they can be extra, as long as we have a lot of rails we are going to be just fine.
4. A fourth view is rail smashing. The goal of this view is to find as many rails as possible that others have and run them over just to prove they didn’t need the rail anyway. It isn’t good enough, according to this view, to have freedom, I must make you know my freedom as well.

There are some many other views that I can list here, but that is the major ones. Although they are all vastly different than each other, they all have at least one thing in common: they all make the rail the goal.  

Let’s take a look at a biblical example of this in John 8:1-12 (click the reference to read the passage).

Here in the passage, we find a group of religious leaders celebrating a rule. It is a good rule, it is a healthy rule, but they have absolutely no concern for the woman, just the rule. They aren’t pleading with her to let God change her life, they just want the rule enforced.

In their attempt to enforce the rule, they also want to see how Christ will respond. After asking a few times, Jesus responds with, “the person without sin should cast the first stone.” Notice Jesus didn’t even mention the rule, He simply pointed out that everyone there was a rule-breaker. That phrase has been repeated much in the defense of the no guardrail position, but Jesus did not remove the requirement to obey God’s rules. He says to the woman, “go and sin no more.” Jesus puts the focus on her changing. There is much to be said on this topic, but I save it for the next post.

Part 2 will be coming soon!