I do a lot of thinking about what needs to happen in our community to get us back on the same page, working and thinking together for the good of our town instead of individuals and groups thinking solely about their own interests.

Prayer specifically.

Jesus actually warned against turning prayer into a public performance (Matt 6). Our goal in prayer is NOT to draw attention to ourselves, instead it is to communicate with our Father.

“But,” some might say, “Jesus prayed before meals, before he broke the bread that fed thousands, doesn’t that mean we should pray in public?” While this is a public setting, these are also people who were explicitly there to see Jesus. These were not people gathering in the public square for city business, this was not a group of local magistrates making decisions about taxes. This was a large crowd of people who were following Jesus around.

Should Christians pray in public? Sure. We should pray at all times in all places. But, we aren’t supposed to make a show of it. If we’re doing it for attention, we’re doing it for the wrong reasons. If we’re praying at Wendy’s because we want to make sure people there know we are Christians, that’s the wrong reason.

Christians should pray for their leaders, from school leaders to city leaders, county commissioners to state representatives, leaders in congress to the president. We should ask God to give them wisdom and help them to lead with selflessness and humility.

Why would I speak about this as a pastor? It’s pretty simple. I feel we Christians have gotten way off track lately. For some reason we have adopted the belief that we are in a cultural war and it’s our job to fight for cultural dominance.

But, that has never been true Christianity. When Christianity has gotten OFF-track, it has gotten deeply invested in things like power, authority, and control. But, in its truest forms, when it has been at its most authentic version, Christianity has been about something entirely different than domination – personal sacrifice.

Jesus was the only person who had no guilt, and he surrendered his life to be executed for the sins of others. He had every right as the only sinless human and the son of God to NOT be crucified, but he “…became obedient to death, even death on a cross.”

Not only, does the pursuit of power and authority go against the truest form of Christianity, it’s unwise. Research shows us that when people feel that their freedom to think or make their own choices is being threatened, they INSTINCTIVELY resist and often double down on their opposition to that position.

A lot of this came from the belief that liberalism was being forced down America’s throats, so we needed to fight back. But somewhere along the way, some Christians in America have shifted from defending religious freedom to expecting public institutions to reflect specific Christian practices.

Strong, healthy communities aren’t built because one person or side has all the control and ideas. They’re built when we work together to find ideas that support the majority of citizens, not just my neighbors who agree with me. Some people call it compromise, I call it sharpening. Good ideas come from a place of humility, refinement, and discernment. No, we don’t have to suspend our morality to help sharpen one another’s ideas. But we do need to suspend our pride.

The Proverb says, “As iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another.” (Prov. 27:17) As you probably know, there is no “context” with proverbs like there is with the New Testament. It does have a historical and literary context, but it’s mainly a collection of wise sayings that were collected by Solomon, who did a lot of business (He was the wealthiest man who ever lived). He may have been talking about two believers, he also might have been talking about two people in general.

Things like wisdom, humility, mutual submission, peacemaking, and discernment often require others to sharpen us instead of dominate us. The lessons we remember best in life are the ones that someone helped us discover, not the ones that were forced on us.

What if, as Christians, we started living lives of sacrificial love like Jesus modeled for us? And what if by living that kind of life people saw our lives and wanted to know why we are the way we are?

It’s not special for one person to try to exert power over another. That’s been happening since time immemorial. But, someone who sacrifices themselves for others, that’s different. It’s what Jesus did for us. It’s what he commanded us to do for others.

No, I’m not advocating for some kind of silent faith. I’m advocating for a faith that is lived out according to the New Testament. A faith that is seen and felt long before it is ever heard. A faith that comes from personal sacrifice, no coercion, domination, outrage or performative power. We need to follow in the way of Jesus who never sought to dominate secular or religious society, but instead laid down his life.

What if we spent time in private praying for our neighbors? What if we spent time praying for our leaders? What if we spent time praying for God to mold and shape our own hearts to be people who lay down our lives for others, who loved and prayed for our enemies…who, instead of being motivated by our selfish ambitions, we treated others are more important than ourselves. If we could do these things, we would be a lot closer to having the same attitude toward one another that Christ had toward us.

The post Civic Engagement: A Faith That Is Seen Before It Is Heard first appeared on David Lindner.

Today is President’s Day. I did a little research and found something strange.

If you read presidential speeches from both parties over the last century, you’d think we were the most unified, compassionate people on earth.

Republicans have said things like:

• “With malice toward none; with charity for all…” — Abraham Lincoln
• “The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us.” — Theodore Roosevelt
• “Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.” — 2000 campaign speech

Democrats have said things like:

• “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” — John F. Kennedy
• “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.” — 1958 speech
• “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.” — 1992 campaign speech

And George H. W. Bush said:

• “We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account… We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend… a citizen who leaves his home… better than he found it.”

If you stitched those quotes together and removed the names, most Americans would nod along and say, “Yes. That. More of that.”

So here’s the honest question:

If both sides talk like this… why doesn’t it feel like this?

The Leadership We Hear vs. The Leadership We Imitate

For decades, presidents have invoked unity, dignity, mercy, shared responsibility, and moral courage. But in practice, what often gets rewarded isn’t restraint, it’s dominance. It’s not gentleness, it’s viral humiliation. The most shared clips are not thoughtful reflections; they’re verbal knockouts.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: culture imitates influence.

If the loudest, most rewarded voices model outrage, then outrage becomes the language we speak. If sarcasm gets applause, sarcasm becomes what’s valuable. If humiliation wins airtime, humiliation becomes the strategy.

We say we want unity, but we reward combat. This isn’t just one party or another. It has become a fundamental part of our society.

What Happened in the Last Decade?

The last ten years didn’t invent division, but they definitely poured gasoline on it. Around 2016, it seems that everything shifted. Outrage became entertainment. The pandemic intensified it. The 2020 election deepened it. Every step along the way, the temperature rose.

When people live in a constant climate of threat, survival instincts kick in. And survival mode does not prioritize thoughtful interaction. It prioritizes protection. It doesn’t ask, “Is this wise?” It asks, “Is this safe?”

Which is why we now have millions of people who genuinely believe they are defending goodness — while simultaneously dehumanizing the people across from them.

We don’t start by hating. We start by defending. Then we justify, harden, repeat.

And Scripture saw this coming long before cable news.

Why Arguing Actually Makes Us More Extreme (What the Research Shows)

Here’s the uncomfortable part: arguing doesn’t usually move people toward the middle. It often pushes them further out. I’m not being cynical, it’s actually how our brains work.

In the 1950s, Leon Festinger introduced Cognitive Dissonance Theory, showing that when our behavior and beliefs don’t line up, we experience psychological discomfort. To resolve that discomfort, we adjust our beliefs. In one classic study (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959), participants defended a boring task as interesting. Afterwards, many of them actually reported believing it was interesting. Why? Because once they argued for it, their minds adjusted to reduce internal tension.

Translation: when you publicly defend something, even casually, your attachment to it increases.

Then in the 1970s, Henri Tajfel’s “Minimal Group Paradigm” showed something even more unsettling. People were randomly assigned to meaningless groups — based on arbitrary preferences like abstract paintings. Within minutes, participants showed favoritism toward their assigned group and bias against the other. No history. No ideology. No policy disagreements. Just identity.

We don’t just hold positions. We become them.

Later research on attitude polarization (Lord, Ross, & Lepper, 1979) demonstrated that when people are presented with mixed evidence on a controversial issue, they don’t usually moderate. They interpret the evidence in ways that strengthen their original position. Exposure to debate can increase polarization.

Add in motivated reasoning and identity-protection, and the pattern becomes clear: once a belief is tied to our identity, challenging it feels threatening.

And when something feels threatening, our survival wiring activates.

We don’t think, “Is this wise?” We think, “Am I safe?”

We don’t calmly evaluate. We defend like our survival depends on it.

That’s why arguing often hardens people instead of softening them. The more we fight to prove we’re right, the more our brains reward loyalty to our tribe.

Which explains something important: many Americans genuinely believe they are defending goodness, while simultaneously becoming more entrenched and less charitable. We’re becoming evil in the name of righteousness.

We’re not just disagreeing. We’re bonding with other people in the trenches with us. Which makes it hard to lay down our weapons of mass destruction.

What the Bible Actually Says About Anger, Rivalry, and Devouring Each Other

James writes to believers under pressure: scattered, destabilized, uncertain. His instruction is not soft. It’s surgical:

“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.” (James 1:19–20, NET)

Notice what he does not say. He does not say anger is never understandable. He says it does not produce the righteousness God desires.

Then he goes further:

“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3:14–16, NET)

That phrase “selfish ambition” refers to factional rivalry, partisan spirit. James is not addressing Roman politics. He’s addressing believers fighting inside the church.

He continues:

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical. And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace.” (James 3:17–18, NET)

Peace is not weakness in James. It is strength under control.

Paul echoes this in 2 Corinthians:

“For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards, for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3–5, NET)

Paul does not deny conflict. He redefines it. The war is not against people. It is against arrogance, distorted thinking, and pride.

Then Galatians drops the line that should make all of us pause:

“But if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another.” (Galatians 5:15, NET)

That’s not metaphorical fluff. It’s a warning. Communities that feed on each other collapse.

So What Do We Do?

Here’s the tension: both political parties speak the language of unity. Both invoke compassion. Both quote Lincoln’s “better angels of our nature.”

But rhetoric does not form character. Modeling does.

And if modeling from the top has trained us to reward outrage, then renewal cannot begin at the top. It has to begin at the bottom, with us.

If the loudest voices are strengthening our survival instincts, then quieter voices must shape our consciences.

If leaders say, “Seek the right answer,” then we must actually practice that — even when it costs us points with our tribe.

If presidents speak of mercy, then mercy must be visible in us. Real cultural change is not viral. It’s formative.

And here’s the hopeful part: influence doesn’t only flow downward. It can also rise.

Outrage is contagious. But so is peace.

Contempt spreads. But so does honor.

Sarcasm multiplies. But so does kindness.

We have spent years perfecting the art of proving we’re right. Maybe it’s time to practice the harder discipline of being righteous.

And while that might not trend any time soon, it might just bring some healing we all need.

The post Why America Feels So Divided (And What Scripture Says About Outrage, Leadership, and Renewal) first appeared on David Lindner.

That wasn’t something I had seen for a long time.

I grew up in a small town with one high school. Everyone was invested. Not because it was perfect, but because it was ours. We were all about the Jackson Ironmen. It’s still that way, especially when it comes to football. People cheered even when the team wasn’t great. They showed up because those were their neighbors’ kids. They understood, even if it wasn’t said out loud, that community isn’t built by winning every argument—it’s built by showing up consistently.

That’s the version of Battle Ground I keep hoping we don’t lose.

Where our church was before, I looked for that sense of shared identity for years. I tried to create it. I talked about it. I hoped for it. But it never really took root. People lived near each other, but they didn’t feel connected to one another. I met with the leaders of all the neighborhood associations and they told me that others had tried to build it in the past, but that these were bedroom communities for Portland. People live their lives across the river, they just sleep here. Institutions were tolerated at best, resented at worst. There was very little sense that anyone was pulling in the same direction. There was no support for the schools. Nothing that made it feel like we were in a community.

So when we came here, it felt familiar in a way I hadn’t expected. It felt like going back home.

It didn’t take long before I started to see that the idea of Battle Ground I had in my mind wasn’t the reality. It used to be. I’ve talked to people, but lately it’s been like we’re trying to live up to our name.

The truth is, communities don’t usually fall apart all at once. They slowly stop imagining a future together. Disagreements harden into suspicion. Fatigue turns into disengagement. Eventually, people stop asking, “What kind of town do we want to be?” and start asking only, “How do I protect what’s mine?”

I don’t think that’s who we are. Or at least, I don’t think it has to be.

Throughout this series, I’ve tried to lower the temperature and slow the conversation down—not to avoid hard realities, but to help us see them more clearly, and from different points of view that we are used to hearing in the FB groups. Most people in this community are not extremists or ideologues. Some are. Then again, some of the extremists aren’t actually in our community. They’ve just chosen to make Battle Ground their playground for cultural warfare. For those doing so, you have our permission to go back to your own communities and play your games there.

But the people in BG are tired, stretched thin. Navigating rising costs, uncertainty, and a constant stream of information telling them something bad is always just around the corner. That’s not moral failure. That’s modern life. That’s the social media algorithms prioritizing rage over peace.

But fatigue doesn’t have to turn into withdrawal from one another.

One reality we can’t get around is that 85–90% of children in our community go through public schools. These aren’t abstract systems. They’re kids whose parents are trying to do their best. They’re teachers and staff who live here, shop here, and raise families here. They’re the same people many churches say they want to reach and care for. The same people who have been hearing Christians talk about them with vitriol. Whether we realize it or not, how we talk about schools sends a message about how we feel about the people connected to them. I literally just had a conversation with a student who said, “They hate us.”

Communities are always teaching something. The question is what lesson we want to pass on.

Faith has something to say here too—not in a loud or domineering way, but in a grounded, steady one. Scripture consistently calls God’s people to love what is near before trying to fix what is far. To seek the welfare of the city. To be present in imperfect places. To be known not primarily for what we oppose, but for the way we love sacrificially. That kind of faith doesn’t demand agreement or blind trust. It asks for courage, humility, sacrifice, and sometimes forgiveness—especially when old disappointments still linger.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean pretending nothing went wrong. It means refusing to let past wounds decide the future for today’s kids and families who had nothing to do with those failures.

When I imagine the Battle Ground I hope we become, I don’t imagine a town without disagreement. I imagine a town that still knows how to disagree without tearing itself apart. A place where we value human dignity above personal agendas. A place where decisions stay local because people stay engaged. Where skepticism doesn’t turn into cynicism. Where leadership is held accountable but also supported enough to do hard work well. Where we still know how to say, “These are our kids,” even when it costs us something.

I hear so often about how people long for the “Good ol’ days.” To be honest I do too. But, you know what? We actually CAN still have the “Good ol’ days”…

If we decide to.

The choice is up to us. It always has been, it always will be.

Can you imagine living in that community that existed 30-40 years ago? The one where everyone showed up for every football and basketball game (Okay, not every, but many!)? The Battle Ground, where we knew our schools were some of the best in the area, our teachers loved our students in ways teachers don’t always seem to do in bigger metropolitan areas, and where we choose to bring up the schools in conversations because we can’t believe all the good things that are happening there.

Can you imagine living in a community like that?

Can you imagine if we all decided that what’s best for this community isn’t if “My side” wins, but if we come together, if we fight for unity amidst our rising diversity, if we work hard to fight off the divisiveness that has engulfed our nation? Where we fight for what’s best for the future, not ourselves?

Wouldn’t it be so amazing if, instead of being in the news because another levy failed, because for some reason we are a hotbed of political extremism, because so many have bought into every conspiracy theory surrounding schools that exists…

Wouldn’t it be amazing if people outside BG talked about that weird community that fights hard to work together? The community that fights hard to make sure the future of their community is stronger and better than what it has been in the past? The community that says – The only way this place gets better is if I make it better? The community that says – the spiteful narrators of division and hatred in our society don’t speak for us – we speak for us. The community that says, we’ve had enough being told how to think about our local schools by people who don’t live here, by people who don’t send their kids to public schools, by people who haven’t had kids in schools for decades. We’ve had enough of people using us as pawns in their greater political schemes or to grow their personal profiteering platforms. We’ve had enough of being manipulated by people for their own personal profit and gain. We listen to the voices of our neighbors more than the voices of the pundits.

I think it would be incredible.

And, I think it’s entirely possible. We just have decide. It will cost us. If we do it right, it will cost everyone something.

But it will be worth it.

That’s the kind of community worth protecting.

That’s the kind of community worth investing in.

Who’s in?

The post The Battle Ground I Hope We Become first appeared on David Lindner.

Before we get too serious, let me start with something small and painfully ordinary.

Most of us have very strong opinions about our neighbors, and most of those opinions are formed in their absence. You know, when you’re driving home from work, at the end of a long week, and one of the neighbor kids is riding their bike slowly down the middle of the road. Or when you’re late for work and you get behind grandpa Joe. And you’re mad at him for driving slow when you were the one who hit the snooze button one too many times. Or when your neighbor dumps their burning charcoal over the fence into YOUR backyard. If you’re thinking that last one sounds oddly specific, well…

These are the times we need to remember that loving your neighbor is not primarily a feeling. It’s a discipline. And that’s what makes this conversation harder than we want it to be.

What Kind of Christian Do You Want to Be Known As?

I think underneath all the conversations about schools, levies, frustration, and politics, there’s a quieter question most of us don’t say out loud but eventually have to answer: what kind of Christian do I want to be known as? Not what position did I take or how strongly did I defend myself, but what kind of presence was I in the place God actually put me.

That question matters because to Jesus love wasn’t an abstract idea. When he summarized the law, he didn’t say, “Love God and make sure you’re never taken advantage of.” Or, “Love God and your neighbors who vote the same as you.” Or, “Love God and band together with people who think the same as you and actively fight against the people you disagree with.” He said, “Love God and love your neighbor.” And when someone tried to narrow that definition—because of course they did—Jesus told a story that deliberately crossed boundaries and made everyone uncomfortable. The Samaritan didn’t help because the system was good, or because the injured man shared his beliefs, or because it was strategically smart. He helped because love, when it’s real, moves toward the vulnerable. Jesus’ closing line wasn’t a theological statement; it was an instruction for daily life: “Go and do the same” (Luke 10:37, NET).

That story still presses on us because it refuses to let love stay theoretical. Loving your neighbor isn’t a value you hold; it’s a person you become, usually toward people you didn’t choose and situations you don’t control. It’s inconvenient by design.

Faithfulness in Imperfect Places Is Not a New Idea

The Bible is surprisingly consistent on this. When Israel was exiled into a culture they didn’t trust, under a government they didn’t choose, God didn’t tell them to withdraw, resist everything, or wait until conditions improved. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God told them to settle in, build lives, and “seek the welfare of the city” they now lived in, adding the uncomfortable line, “for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7, NET).

That wasn’t an endorsement of Babylon. It was an invitation to faithfulness where they were, not where they wished they were.

This is usually where we want a footnote. Something like: “This applies, unless the city is frustrating, or inefficient, or feels hostile to your values. I’ll see it’s welfare as long as _______.” Unfortunately, Jeremiah didn’t include that clause. There are no fill in the blanks in Scripture.

What the Early Church Was Actually Known For

The early church took this posture seriously. Long before Christians had power, influence, or cultural leverage, they were known for caring for people most others ignored. Church fathers like Tertullian and Justin Martyr wrote about Christians being recognized not by political dominance but by their willingness to care for the poor, the sick, abandoned children, and the marginalized.

During plagues, when many fled cities to protect themselves, Christians stayed. Not because Rome was righteous, but because neighbors were suffering.

That kind of love didn’t make Christianity popular at first, but it made it credible.

Public Schools and the People We Say We Want to Reach

That history matters when we talk about schools, because right now 85–90% of children go through public schools. These are not abstract institutions. These are families. Kids. Teachers. Staff. Neighbors.

That means the same people churches say they want to reach, are the ones in schools every day. The kids roam the hallways and their parents welcome them home at night. Not only are these the people we’d like in our churches (at least, I would like them in mine), but they’re also the people we’re supposed to love sacrificially.

We talk a lot about wanting families to come back to church, about being a welcoming presence in our communities, about living missionally. But it’s worth asking honestly: why would people feel drawn to a faith community that seems to resent, distrust, or actively fight the place where their kids spend most of their lives?

This isn’t about agreeing with everything. It’s not about blind trust or pretending schools are perfect. Loving your neighbor doesn’t require endorsement. It requires presence, humility, and a willingness to seek someone else’s good even when it costs you something.

Jesus never said love would feel efficient or fair. He said it would look like a cross. That thing we’re supposed to pick up daily and follow in Jesus’s footsteps.

Forgiveness, Old Wounds, and Letting the Present Be the Present

There’s also a quieter layer to this that’s harder to talk about: forgiveness.

Some people in this community carry real disappointment and hurt connected to past school district promises and decisions. Those wounds are understandable. They shouldn’t be minimized. But unprocessed hurt has a way of becoming a filter, shaping every new decision whether we realize it or not.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting or pretending nothing happened. It means refusing to let old wounds dictate how we treat today’s children, families, and teachers who had nothing to do with those past failures. How many years ago did those things happen? 10? 15? Before many kids in the schools today were born. Is it fair to punish them for something they didn’t do?

So Again: Who Do You Want to Be Known As?

So again, the question comes back to identity. What kind of Christian do I want to be known as here? One who fights relentlessly for personal rights and comfort, or one who is willing to love sacrificially in the place God has actually planted them? One who is primarily reactive and defensive, or one who is steady, present, and generous toward neighbors who may never agree with them?

Christian faith has always been most compelling when it was most embodied. When love showed up locally. When it cared for people before it tried to correct systems. Is the system broken? Parts of it are for sure. Do they need repaired? Yes. Will voting no against the levy address any of the parts that are broken? Not even in the slightest. If you want to fix those, you need to talk to state and federal representatives. And I think you should do so often.

Loving your neighbor where you live doesn’t solve every problem, but it does answer one important question clearly: This is who we are. This is what it means to follow the Jesus of the Bible. To lay down your life for the betterment of those around you.

That’s who I want to be. That’s how I want to be known.

The post Loving Your Neighbor Where You Live first appeared on David Lindner.

At first, that sounds kind of appealing. Less bureaucracy. Fewer people telling professionals how to do their jobs. Probably saves a lot of money. And for a few minutes, everything seems fine. The plane takes off. Everyone relaxes. You start thinking maybe air traffic control was overkill.

And then you remember that there are hundreds of other planes in the sky. You see them out the window while you’re flying. You think about changing planes at O’Hare, where roughly 2,500 planes land every day on eight runways, which works out to about 200 planes per hour. Then you remember the weather systems. And the federal regulations. And suddenly it clicks that the job of air traffic control isn’t to fly the plane—it’s to make sure all the planes don’t accidentally meet each other at 30,000 feet, or on the runway.

Not that we’ve seen that happen recently. And not that those accidents had anything to do with administrative-related problems.

Except that it actually did. (Read this article to see: https://www.aviationtoday.com/2023/09/12/alarming-rise-in-near-misses-among-u-s-airlines/)

Administration Is Expensive—Until the Toilet Is Dripping Through the Dining Room Ceiling

That’s usually how administration works. When it’s doing its job, you barely notice it. When it’s gone, you notice very quickly—and you usually end up on the news. Sometimes people are harmed. Sometimes worse.

One of the most common things I hear when people talk about school funding is this: “Why don’t they just cut administrators?” It sounds reasonable. In a season where everything feels expensive and bloated, it makes sense to look at the top and assume that’s where the excess must be hiding.

But once you actually look at the numbers—and the work—this argument falls apart pretty quickly. The issue isn’t that Battle Ground has too many administrators or that they’re wildly overpaid. The issue is that administration is invisible until it fails, and when it fails, it’s expensive, disruptive, and often irreversible.

Administration is like plumbing (No offense admins!). No one thanks you for it. Everyone notices when it breaks. And it has an uncanny way of showing up at the dinner table.

This Is the Job Where Mistakes Cost Millions (When This Goes Wrong, It Ends Up in Court)

Administrators carry the heaviest responsibility in the system. They are legally and ethically accountable for district operations, thousands of students, hundreds of employees, and compliance with multiple layers of state and federal law.

That responsibility includes:

• Managing a $150+ million annual budget, contracts, and long-range financial planning
• Legal compliance with IDEA (Special Education) — the highest litigation-risk area in K–12 education
• Administration and reporting for Title I, IX and other federal programs
• Employment law, labor contracts, and due-process requirements
• Student safety protocols, crisis response, and threat assessment
• Mandatory financial, staffing, and performance reporting to the state

Key data point: Failures in special education compliance alone routinely cost districts hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in settlements, legal fees, corrective action plans, or lost funding.

Paying for experienced, competent leadership at the top isn’t indulgence.

It’s risk management.

You Can’t Hire Top-Tier Leadership at Flea Market Prices

This part is often misunderstood.

At the very top, the data is clear: Battle Ground pays $65,000–$100,000 less than surrounding districts for superintendent-level leadership. And they get rewarded with heavier workloads and more responsibility.

That’s like choosing to buy your sheets at the flea market. (“You gotta loosen up the purse strings.” Phoebe Buffay, Friends.)

Looking more broadly, using conservative estimates based on public salary schedules for superintendents, assistant superintendents, and directors (excluding principals), Battle Ground administrators earn roughly $25,000–$35,000 less on average than their counterparts in Evergreen and Vancouver.

Administrative labor markets are regional, not local. Paying well below nearby districts shrinks the applicant pool and increases turnover.

You don’t get top-tier leadership by hoping people will accept less money for more responsibility indefinitely.

Unless your goal is exhaustion, burnout, and plane crashes.

Fewer Administrators Doesn’t Mean Less Work

This is the part that almost never makes it into the conversation.

Using NCES staffing data, Battle Ground has fewer administrators per student than surrounding districts:

• Battle Ground: ~1 administrator per 287 students
• Evergreen: ~1 per 254 students
• Vancouver: ~1 per 265 students

That means Battle Ground administrators are responsible for more students per admin, not fewer.

Which is impressive—unless you’re the administrator.

Despite similar staffing percentages, Battle Ground has fewer administrators overall, which means:

• Broader job scopes
• More programs per administrator
• More compliance responsibility per person

Lower pay + higher workload = burnout, turnover, or errors, none of which save money long-term.

There is no spreadsheet from any financial advisors where “exhausted people making high-risk decisions” shows up as a cost savings.

What People Usually Mean When They Say ‘Cut Admin’

When people say “cut administrators,” what they’re really saying—often without realizing it—is:

• Don’t do the compliance work
• Increase our legal exposure
• Risk losing state or federal funds
• Push more work onto fewer people
• Increase the odds of state oversight or intervention

The work doesn’t disappear. It just breaks somewhere else, and the bill usually shows up later with interest. And that interest isn’t just dollars. It’s reputation, oversight, law-suits, and students put at risk of harm with life-long impacts.

The repercussions cost far more than whatever we thought we were saving.

I know the price tag looks high. But it’s not when you understand the responsibilities. For the administrators I know, they carry a far heavier load than I would ever want to carry. And the money they make doesn’t make up for the time away from families, stress and strain, and years lost from their lives.

Appendix: What District Administrators Actually Do

(District-level roles; not principals)

• Superintendent — Ultimately responsible for legal compliance, financial stability, and all state and federal reporting for the district.
• Assistant / Deputy Superintendent — Oversees daily district operations and ensures required programs, departments, and compliance timelines stay on track.
• Director of Special Education — Manages IDEA compliance, IEP oversight, disability law requirements, and high-risk legal exposure.
• Director of Federal Programs — Administers Title I, II, III, ESSA, and other federal funds, ensuring money is spent legally and reported correctly.
• Director of Finance (CFO) — Builds the district budget, manages levy and bond compliance, oversees audits, and ensures solvency.
• Director of Human Resources — Handles hiring, certification, labor contracts, investigations, and employment law compliance.
• Director of Curriculum & Instruction — Aligns teaching materials and professional development with state learning standards.
• Director of Student Services — Oversees discipline systems, attendance compliance, crisis response, and student safety.
• Director of Assessment & Accountability — Manages state testing, graduation requirements, and mandatory performance reporting.
• Director of Technology — Maintains student data systems, cybersecurity, and state-required reporting infrastructure.
• Director of Facilities & Operations — Ensures buildings, transportation, and operations meet safety and compliance standards.
• Director of Transportation — Oversees routing, driver certification, safety compliance, and state reimbursement reporting.
• Director of Communications — Manages required public notices, parent engagement compliance, and public records responses.
• Program Coordinators / Executive Assistants — Support state and federal reporting, grant documentation, audits, and compliance deadlines.

These are the people that keep things from falling apart. They are our air traffic controllers.

The post “Just Cut the Administrators” Sounds Simple—Until You Look at the Work first appeared on David Lindner.

People are right to feel squeezed right now. Taxes in Washington are high. Housing costs are brutal. Insurance is up. Food costs are out of control. When someone says, “I just can’t afford another levy,” that isn’t selfish or uninformed. It’s honest. Many of us feel pressed on every side, and it often feels like decisions are being made far away by people who don’t live with the consequences.

But here’s the part of this levy conversation that often gets missed: voting no doesn’t freeze costs—it shifts who controls them.

Right now, Battle Ground Public Schools is intentionally trying to keep levy rates lower than surrounding districts, even as costs rise. That’s a local decision, made by people who live here, with local taxpayers in mind. That only works if the district remains financially stable.

If repeated levy failures push the district toward insolvency, local control begins to erode. The district can be placed under binding conditions by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, and in extreme cases, receivership becomes a possibility—where another district or the state steps in to stabilize finances.

This isn’t theoretical. Yelm Community Schools is a real Washington example. After four consecutive levy failures, Yelm was placed under binding conditions with oversight from OSPI and Educational Service District 113. It wasn’t a dramatic takeover, but it did mean reduced local autonomy. Budget, staffing, and financial decisions required outside approval. The key point is this: it didn’t happen because of one vote. It happened because of a pattern over time that steadily narrowed local control.

Here’s what many people don’t realize: once that happens, levy rates are no longer set locally. They’re set by whoever takes over, with the primary goal of restoring solvency—not minimizing the tax impact on Battle Ground residents.

What the numbers look like

If the levy passes, Battle Ground’s total school levy rate (including the capital levy) would be $2.44 per $1,000 of assessed value.

For a $500,000 home, that’s about $1,220 per year, or $102 per month.

Compare that to nearby districts—the likely benchmark if local control were lost:

• Vancouver Public Schools (~$3.55) → ~$1,775/year
• Evergreen Public Schools (~$3.64) → ~$1,820/year

That’s $45–$50 more per month, set externally, with less community input.

The irony is hard to miss: voting no to keep taxes low now can lead to higher taxes later—decided by someone else.

A note for people worried about ideology

For those concerned about “woke” ideology in schools, there’s another layer worth naming. If Battle Ground were absorbed into a larger district like Evergreen or Vancouver, curriculum decisions and cultural direction would be set by districts that are already more urban, more centralized, and more progressive than Battle Ground is today.

Keeping control local allows this community to slow things down, ask questions, and shape implementation. Losing local control doesn’t freeze cultural change—it moves those decisions farther away, to systems less responsive to Battle Ground’s values and pace.

This isn’t about demonizing other districts. It’s about acknowledging reality.

Choice vs. control

I understand the instinct to push back when things feel unaffordable. That instinct makes sense. But the real question isn’t only, “Can we afford this?” It’s also, “Who do we want making these decisions?”

As long as Battle Ground remains financially stable, we have a voice. Receivership doesn’t remove costs. It removes choice.

And in a season where so many decisions already feel out of our hands, that distinction matters more than we might want it to.

The post Why Voting “No” to Keep Taxes Low Can Actually Raise Them Later first appeared on David Lindner.

I still cringe a little thinking about a viral subway video I believed years ago. It showed a woman confronting men for “manspreading,” and I remember feeling certain it captured something real and troubling about our culture. I shared it. I talked about it. I thought, is it really wrong to sit that way? Only later did I learn the video was staged and spread by outlets linked to Russia, including “In The Now”, specifically to provoke outrage and division. What unsettled me most wasn’t that I was fooled, but how easily I was fooled—how quickly emotion replaced curiosity, and how confident I felt before I’d actually checked anything. It was a humbling reminder that good intentions, strong feelings, and even moral language don’t protect us from misinformation, and that slowing down is sometimes the most honest response we can offer.

Russia has spent years engaging in what analysts and intelligence agencies call information or hybrid warfare—a strategy aimed not at persuading Americans to adopt a specific viewpoint, but at amplifying division, confusion, and distrust inside democratic societies. Instead of tanks or troops, this approach uses viral videos, fake or staged content, and emotionally charged stories that exploit existing cultural tensions, knowing that people will spread them organically through social media and conversation. The goal isn’t to make Americans pro-Russia; it’s to make them less trusting of one another, less confident in shared institutions, and more reactive than thoughtful. By encouraging outrage and suspicion across many issues at once, Russia weakens social cohesion in the U.S. and other countries without ever having to confront them directly.

Could it be that their tactics worked? Certainly not. I’m sure you’re not as gullible as me. I’m sure you haven’t been fooled by any AI videos lately – like a Pentagon explosion or a fake volcanic eruption or something. Are we all being divisive because we were trained to be that way by bad actors? No, we’re smarter that that.

I will admit, when I saw the video I thought, “Are you serious?” Turns out – no. But, a lot of people did believe it. In fact, there are probably still people out there who do. What makes me cringe isn’t just that I believed it – it’s that I talked with people about it.

So, let’s assume we’re all smart enough to detect such shenanigans. At least in viral video format. But what about when it comes from the mouth of someone we know and trust.

Most misinformation doesn’t come from people trying to deceive us. It comes from people we trust—friends, family members, coworkers—who are repeating something they heard somewhere else. A podcast clip. A news segment. A social post that sounded confident, urgent, and emotionally charged. By the time it reaches us, it feels less like information and more like concern.

That’s what makes it hard to challenge. Questioning the story can feel like questioning the person, and most of us don’t want to do that. Especially when the person sharing it sounds sincere, worried, or faithful. So we nod, absorb it, and pass it along, often without realizing that we’ve become part of the transmission problem. This is how misinformation actually spreads—not through villains, but through relationships.

Why Repetition Makes False Stories Feel True

One of the reasons these stories stick is that they feel right. They confirm existing fears. They offer a clear villain. They simplify complex systems into something emotionally manageable. And when something aligns with our anxiety or frustration, our brains tend to lower the bar for verification. Repetition does the rest. The more we hear something, the truer it starts to feel, even if it isn’t.

It’s like that lie you try to not believe about yourself. The lie that strong people don’t need help. And you know it’s not true, but you can’t shake it. Because you’ve heard it a lot. You’ve told it to yourself many times. It was confirmed by others along the way. So you believe it. No matter how untrue it is.

Christian Language vs. Christian Morals

Where this becomes especially complicated for Christians is that many of these stories are wrapped in religious language. They sound moral. They sound protective. They use words like “values,” “truth,” and “standing firm.” And because they sound faithful, we assume they must be faithful. And many of them even quote verses right out of the Bible – usually out of context – but we recognize them.

But here’s an important distinction we don’t talk about enough: Christian language is not the same thing as Christian morality.

It’s entirely possible for someone to use Christian vocabulary while making judgment calls that don’t reflect Christian ethics. Saying the right words doesn’t automatically produce the right fruit. Scripture consistently measures faithfulness not by how religious something sounds, but by what it produces—love, patience, humility, care for the vulnerable, and a commitment to truth.

Just because our favorite podcasts or news anchor is good at using Scripture to defend their argument, doesn’t mean their argument is Biblical. And it doesn’t mean they believe what the Bible is teaching on that subject. What it means is, they want YOU to believe that they believe. Because if you believe they believe, then you will trust what they say.

Sincerity Is Not the Same as Accuracy

This doesn’t mean people are being dishonest or manipulative. Most aren’t. At least the real people in our lives. It means sincerity and accuracy are not the same thing. A person can be deeply concerned, genuinely faithful, and still wrong about the facts. And when fear is involved, even well-meaning people can pass along claims without checking whether they’re specific, local, or verifiable.

Being Christian doesn’t make us immune to manipulation. In fact, there are studies that show that Christians are more likely to fall for conspiracy theories.

What researchers found is this:

• High-trust communities (churches, political groups, tight social networks) are more likely to accept information shared by insiders without checking it.
• Moral framing (“this is about good vs evil,” “protecting values,” “they’re coming for us”) increases belief, even when claims are weak.
• Conspiracy thinking rises during times of anxiety, loss of control, or cultural threat, which many Christians have felt in recent years.
• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pops.12822

A Baylor University study found that highly religious Americans were more likely, on average, to endorse contemporary falsehoods. (https://news.web.baylor.edu/news/story/2021/religiosity-and-conspiratorial-beliefs-linked-baylor-religion-survey-findings)

We are a trusting group. We are also used to believing things that aren’t seen. When it comes to our faith, this is a good thing. When it comes to misinformation, it’s a problem.

Discernment Is Not Distrust

Christian discernment isn’t about distrusting everyone. It’s about slowing down before we absorb or repeat claims that make us angry or afraid. Strong emotional reactions are often a signal that we should pause, not react. Wisdom doesn’t rush. It asks better questions.

Questions like:

• Who benefits if I believe this?
• Is this claim specific enough to verify, or vague enough to spread?
• Does believing this produce clarity and care, or suspicion and fear?

None of those questions requires us to confront or correct the person who shared the story. They’re internal questions. They’re about what we do with the information once it reaches us.

Why This Matters for Our Schools and Community

This matters because second-hand misinformation doesn’t stay abstract. It shapes how we talk about teachers, administrators, and schools. It affects trust. It influences votes. And it often lands hardest on people who are already stretched thin—families, students, and staff who didn’t create the narratives being placed on them.

And, what really bothers me, is that we’re believing and passing on information from voices that don’t have a stake in the community. Many stories are passed on from national podcasts/shows. Even the ones that have local ties don’t usually have local stakes. They might live near the school, but they don’t have kids in the school or help in the schools. Their claims are based on hearsay – which is Matlock talk for gossip. Another word would be slander. And as addictive as gossip can be, it tends to only benefit the people who aren’t involved while making victims of the people they’re talking about.

Refusing to pass along unverified claims isn’t naïve. It’s an act of neighbor-love. It protects relationships while still honoring truth. It allows us to say, “I’m not sure about that,” without saying, “You’re wrong.” And, here’s the thing, it doesn’t make you a bad neighbor or friend to disagree with them on an issue. You are allowed to weigh the facts and make an informed decision – even if your information SEEMS to conflict with your friends’.

Slowing Down Is a Faithful Choice

Christian faith has always required discernment, especially in noisy environments. Being careful about what we believe and repeat isn’t a lack of conviction. It’s a form of faithfulness. And in a moment when fear travels faster than facts, slowing down may be one of the most countercultural—and loving—things we can do.

Before we argue about solutions, budgets, or systems, it helps to make sure we’re not building our conclusions on stories that only sound right. Truth matters. So does how we carry it.

Facts matter because they are organized. And our faith is one of order and structure, not chaos. There are forces in the world (be they Russian, Political, or supernatural) that thrive on chaos. Chaos favors the loud while minimizing the wise.

The question, is are we wise?

The post When the Story Sounds Right (But Isn’t) first appeared on David Lindner.

There’s a phrase I hear a lot right now, and on the surface it sounds wise, responsible, and mature. It’s the kind of thing you say while nodding slowly and staring at the ground like you’re in a serious movie about adulthood.

“Now isn’t the right time.”

I get it. Inflation is real. Groceries cost more. Gas costs more. Insurance costs more. Everything costs more, except our patience, which seems to be shrinking at a concerning rate. When people say “now isn’t the right time,” they’re usually not being selfish. They’re stretched thin.

I’ve got a 1971 Ford F-250 Camper Special sitting by the shop. I did a lot of work on it, getting it running well again. I got it for $750 and dreamed of getting it to a point where I could drive it around town. I rebuilt the carburetor, cleaned out the heads and put on new gaskets. I was using the truck to haul gravel, my daughter Hannah was riding with me. Smoke started pouring out of the dashboard. We made it home without a fire. But, the electrical fire melted the wiring harness. And I didn’t have time to rewire it. And I didn’t have the money to pay someone else to do it. It wasn’t the right time. Someday. So it’s been sitting there for years now. Accumulating other problems while it sits there. I’ll have to redo some of the work I’ve already done.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth we don’t always want to say out loud: “Now isn’t the right time” is often how long-term problems quietly get worse.

Inflation Doesn’t Pause the Needs

One of the crushing things about inflation is that it affects everything, but it doesn’t pause anything. You have the same bills you had in 2019, but less margin. There are things you want, maybe need, to do, but you’ve been putting them off.

Here’s the thing, schools don’t get to say, “We’ll stop needing nurses for a few years.” “We can just stop trying to help kids graduate.” Kids don’t stop needing support because the economy is rough.

Inflation doesn’t make needs disappear. It makes them more expensive.

And that’s where timing gets tricky. Waiting feels cautious, but delay often comes with a price tag. Anyone who’s ever put off fixing a car, a roof, or a weird noise in their house that “probably isn’t serious” already knows how this story usually ends.

Delaying Doesn’t Freeze Costs — It Raises Them

Here’s the part that rarely makes it into the conversation: delaying funding doesn’t hold costs steady. It increases them.

Staffing costs rise. Maintenance costs rise. Replacement costs rise. When a levy doesn’t pass, the district doesn’t magically save money by waiting. It uses reserves, cuts services, and defers expenses, which almost always makes the eventual bill higher.

This is just math. Inflation rewards early action and punishes delay, even when the delay feels reasonable at the time.

“Not Now” Still Has Consequences

I think sometimes we treat “not now” as a neutral position, as if it means nothing happens. But “not now” is still a decision, and it still shapes outcomes. It just does so quietly, without a vote or a headline.

When levies fail repeatedly, districts don’t stand still. They adjust. They cut. They stretch. They do less with more until “less” starts to show up in visible ways. And by the time those effects become obvious, they’re harder—and more expensive—to undo.

Saying “not now” doesn’t protect schools from inflation. It exposes them to it. It says, “I know the gutter is an issue, but if I look the other way when I pull in the driveway, I hardly notice it.” But, just like Leaf Guard gutters aren’t getting any cheaper, neither are the costs associated with running a school district.

This Isn’t About Politics — It’s About Timing

It’s worth saying clearly: inflation isn’t partisan. It doesn’t care who you voted for, what podcast you listen to, or how you feel about national politics. It shows up at the gas pump, the grocery store, and the school district budget all the same.

Schools operate in that same economic reality. The question isn’t whether inflation exists. The question is whether waiting helps or hurts in the long run.

And historically, waiting almost always costs more.

• Districts may lay off counselors or nurses, but then face higher costs later due to increased student needs.
• Cutting early education or tutoring programs now can increase remedial education costs later.
• Delayed technology upgrades often need much more expensive replacement later, rather than phased updates.

Short-Term Relief, Long-Term Cost

Using reserves and cutting programs can feel like relief in the moment. It buys time. It avoids hard conversations. It lets everyone breathe for a bit. But short-term relief often creates long-term pressure.Which is where we are now.

Once reserves are gone, they’re gone. Once you’ve lost a great teacher, they’re not likely to return to the district. And news spreads to other teachers seeking employment. Once programs disappear, families feel it first, and the community feels it later.

Inflation doesn’t forgive delay. It compounds it. And it can take a lot of work to rebuilt something that has been dead for a long time.

Being Careful vs. Being Costly

I don’t think people who say “now isn’t the right time” are careless. I think they’re trying to be careful. But there’s a difference between caution and cost avoidance, and sometimes they get tangled together.

Carefulness asks, “What’s wise in the long run?”

Avoidance asks, “How do we get through this moment?”

Both are understandable. Only one is sustainable.

Wise Timing Is Part of Stewardship

When I said “Now isn’t the right time” is how we get here, that’s only partly true. Wise people listens to reliable sources – not profiteering doomsdayers. “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.” (Prov. 13:20 NLT) Those podcasts that you hear people talking about, do they live in the area? If they do, do they have kids in the schools? Have they EVER had kids in our schools? They’re getting rich off the rage they’re creating, and they playing with our lives and the futures of our communities children to do it.

But, back to timing. From a faith perspective, stewardship isn’t just about how much something costs. It’s about when we act. Wisdom also pays attention to timing, not just intention.

Sometimes the most faithful decision isn’t the easiest one in the moment. It’s the one that prevents greater harm later, even if it feels uncomfortable now.

Inflation doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. It just keeps moving. If future you came back to present you and said, “if you don’t fix that gutter now, it’s going to cost you 25 times more,” even if present you didn’t want to spend the money, you’d find it.

Why This Matters for What Comes Next

This post isn’t meant to scare anyone or rush anyone. It’s meant to name a reality we don’t always like to face. Waiting feels safe, but it often makes the road ahead steeper. I still want to fix that truck, but it’s going to cost a lot more now.

And this matters because timing connects directly to what happens next. Repeated delay has consequences, not just financially, but structurally. When resources run thin long enough, control starts to shift, and options start to narrow.

That’s where we’ll go next.

Previous Articles:

• Support Does Not Equal Endorsement
• The Middle Decides This
• That Awkward Moment When Christians Invented Public Schools
• Santa, Sasquatch, And School Scare Stories
• Linksys, Comcast, And What Schools Actually Control
• Your School Board Isn’t A Magic Wand

The post “Now Isn’t The Right Time” Is How We Got Here first appeared on David Lindner.

I’ve noticed something strange over the past few years. Many Christians I know genuinely care about kids, families, and the health of their community. They show up when someone’s in crisis, bring meals, volunteer, and pray faithfully. But when the conversation turns to public schools—especially funding them—something shifts. The room tightens. The tone changes. We would support schools, but…

And then we fill in the blank with whatever topic is on the top of our minds. (Or the topic that our favorite pundit was talking about yesterday.)

For some reason, supporting schools feels less like caring for neighbors and more like endorsing an ideology. Which is odd, because most of our neighbors’ kids go to public school. That’s not a political talking point; it’s just reality. And yet, this is where things often start to feel backward.

Does Supporting Public Schools Mean Compromising Christian Values?

A lot of Christians I talk with carry a quiet fear underneath the conversation: If I support public schools, am I supporting something that contradicts my values? It’s an understandable concern. I’ve wrestled with it myself. But it’s also a question that needs a little air and clarity, because it assumes something that simply isn’t true.

Supporting public schools is not the same thing as endorsing everything that happens in them. If that were the standard, Christians wouldn’t be able to function in modern society at all. We pay taxes that fund programs we disagree with. We drive on roads maintained by governments we critique loudly—sometimes while sitting in traffic and critiquing them very creatively (No? Just me?). None of us lives in a world of perfect alignment. We live in a world of shared systems, imperfect institutions, and real people who depend on them.

If total agreement were the price of participation, faithfulness would be impossible—and frankly exhausting. Christianity has never required that kind of insulation in order to be faithful. In fact, no church has 100% agreement on doctrine/theology. I can almost guarantee that you disagree with your pastor about something. I know this because I’ve been working in the church at some capacity since 1998. The pastors on staff disagree with each other over what some would consider core doctrinal issues.

Can you imagine a life where you only participated in systems that you 100% agreed with? And I mean, no ounce of disagreement. The only songs we could sing would be songs we wrote ourselves. The only books we could read would be books we wrote. The only podcasts we could listen to would be podcasts we made. And the funny thing is, even then, we couldn’t listen to ourselves for long because eventually we change our minds about something. So, we’d have to go back and burn our own books.

Biblical Precedent: Faithful Presence in Imperfect Systems

Scripture gives us repeated examples of God’s people being called to work for good inside broken systems they neither designed nor controlled. One of the clearest moments comes when Israel is living in exile, under a foreign empire with values very different from their own. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God tells them not to withdraw, wait it out, or spend all their energy cursing Babylon. Instead, He says, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for if it prospers, you will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7, NET). That instruction is striking because it doesn’t come with a list of conditions. God doesn’t say, “Seek the welfare of the city once you agree with it,” or “once you’re in charge,” or “once it reflects your values.” The call is to seek its good precisely because real people’s lives are bound up in it.

The New Testament carries that same posture forward. Paul reminds believers that God works through imperfect governing structures to restrain chaos and promote basic order, even when those structures fall far short of righteousness. In Romans 13, he writes that governing authorities are “God’s servants” in the limited sense of maintaining order, not moral perfection (Romans 13:4, NET). That doesn’t mean Christians stop critiquing injustice or abandon discernment, but it does mean engagement is not betrayal. Scripture consistently presents faithful presence, prayer, and participation as the norm—not withdrawal. The biblical pattern is clear: God’s people are called to seek the flourishing of the places they inhabit, even (especially) when those places are complicated, frustrating, and far from ideal.

Why Withdrawing from Public Schools Isn’t Neutral

This is where I think some of our instincts get crossed. Many Christians are trying to protect their convictions, which is good. But sometimes protection quietly turns into withdrawal, and withdrawal starts to look like neutrality. The problem is that opting out doesn’t actually create neutrality—it just removes your influence.(And, as far as I’m concerned, I think it would be much better to have your influence in our community.)

The schools don’t disappear. The kids don’t vanish. The families don’t suddenly gain better options. What disappears is your presence, your voice, your care, and your willingness to share responsibility. And the voices of the extremes are all that’s left. And to be clear, this isn’t an argument against homeschooling or private schools. Families make those choices for many thoughtful, faithful reasons. This is an argument against disengaging from the common good while still benefiting from it, because withdrawal doesn’t protect communities—it fragments them.

Loving Your Neighbor Where They Actually Are

There are those who are using Battle Ground as their own political project for personal gain. But most families in Battle Ground don’t have the same agenda. Their experience in this community isn’t an experiment, it’s life. While-collar and blue-collar families, construction families, single-income households, and families doing their best with what they have who don’t have unlimited options. For many of them, “just choose something else” isn’t realistic; it’s theoretical. And love that ignores economic reality isn’t love—it’s an idea.

If loving our neighbor means anything at all, it means paying attention to where their lives actually take place. For most kids in our community, that place is public school, whether we’re comfortable with that or not.

Stewardship Without Control

I also think we sometimes confuse stewardship with control. Christians can slip into the assumption that if we don’t run something, own it, or fully agree with it, we can’t care for it responsibly. But stewardship doesn’t require dominance. It requires attention, responsibility, and humility. You can steward something you don’t control. You can care without commandeering. You can invest without endorsing everything.

If our faith only works when we’re in charge, it’s more fragile than we’d probably like to admit. For most of the New Testament, Christianity flourished in a world where it has zero control.

What Supporting Public Schools Actually Means

That’s why it helps to be very clear about what supporting public schools actually means—and what it doesn’t. Supporting schools means caring about kids’ safety, learning, and dignity. It means sharing responsibility with neighbors and investing in the place you actually live. It does not mean agreeing with every policy, abandoning convictions, trusting blindly, or pretending concerns don’t exist. This isn’t blind trust; it’s neighborly responsibility, and those are not the same thing. It’s looking at the needs of the kids in our community and saying: “They deserve better. Someone needs to advocate for them the way someone advocated for me.”

Faith Is Local Before It’s Ideological

Faith, after all, isn’t abstract. It has an address. It has faces. It shows up in ordinary places—like schools full of kids who didn’t ask to be part of our debates or carry the weight of our distrust. It’s much easier to argue about national politics than to wrestle with local consequences. It’s easier to talk about values than to ask what love looks like on your own street.

Supporting public schools isn’t about winning an argument. It’s about refusing to abandon the place God has already planted us, seeking and advocating for its flourishing. And that, inconveniently and quietly, looks a lot like loving your neighbor.

The post Support ≠ Endorsement first appeared on David Lindner.

By margins small enough that you could gather the deciding votes in a church foyer and still have room left over for the coffee table. Which may actually be the most important element we partake of at church—at least when it comes to listening to the sermon.

Why Battle Ground’s School Levies Keep Failing by Inches

The last three levies weren’t landslides. They weren’t statements, even though some have tried to paint them that way.
February 2024: 49.05% Yes / 50.95% No.
February 2025: 48.95% Yes / 51.05% No.
April 2025: 48.38% Yes / 51.62%.

They were near ties. And that tells us something important: this isn’t being decided by the loudest voices on either end. People on the far left and far right have already made up their minds. The people deciding this are the people in the middle. The people who aren’t marching, posting, or yelling. The people who are tired, cautious, and honestly trying to do the right thing with limited information and limited margin in their own lives.

If that’s you, I want to say this clearly at the beginning: feeling torn doesn’t make you weak. It makes you honest.

Who the “Middle” Voter Really Is in Battle Ground

A lot of people in the middle are there for understandable reasons. Some are cost-anxious households where every new bill feels personal. Inflation hasn’t been theoretical for a long time now. It’s been grocery receipts, insurance renewals (just saying the word insurance makes my blood boil), gas pumps, and that quiet moment when you open the mail and think, “Okay… this again.” When another ask shows up—even a local one—it doesn’t land in a vacuum. It lands on top of everything else, especially all the things you had no say in.

Others are institution-skeptical. Not because they hate schools or kids, but because they’ve lived long enough to know that systems often overpromise and under-explain. They assume money gets wasted because sometimes it does. They’ve learned to read fine print because the fine print has burned them before. That instinct didn’t come from nowhere.

There are also Christians who feel genuinely conflicted. I have definitely been there. They don’t love everything about modern culture, and they don’t want to feel like they’re endorsing things they disagree with. At the same time, they don’t like the idea of pulling away from where most of their neighbors’ kids actually are. That tension isn’t hypocrisy. It’s what it feels like to care about more than one thing at the same time.

And then there are people without kids in the schools anymore—or maybe ever. They still care about the town, but they don’t want to be guilted into decisions that feel disconnected from their daily life. They didn’t opt out of the community, but they also don’t want every vote framed like a moral exam they didn’t sign up for. That’s a fair frustration, even if it makes levy talks awkward at backyard barbecues.

If you’ve felt pulled in two directions, you’re not flaky. You’re the middle. And in Battle Ground, the middle is deciding this.

It’s also important to say this out loud: hesitating didn’t mean you didn’t care. A lot of people voted no thinking it would send a message, buy time, or force better answers. That’s a normal civic instinct. It’s the same instinct people use when they don’t immediately say yes to a contractor estimate and want to “sit with it” for a bit—preferably while staring at the driveway and sighing.

Two thoughts about sending a message. First, some wanted to send a message about their disapproval of the current state of public education. They have concerns, and their vote was their opportunity to express them. The problem is that the message had the wrong audience. It’s like telling the customer service agent on the phone that you disagree with Adidas’ use of Kanye in commercials. The best they can do is pass it up the line, with very little certainty it goes anywhere.

Second, a community’s disapproval of operations levies does send a message—to the students. I’ve heard it from their mouths: “Our community doesn’t support us. They don’t believe in our education.” I’m not saying this to strong-arm you. I’m saying it because it’s true.

When Hesitation Has Consequences

Back to the point: with school funding, sitting with it doesn’t pause the clock.

Since those close votes, cuts have already happened. The quiet kind that lead to real changes in classrooms: bigger class sizes, higher fees, fewer options. Positions not replaced. Programs trimmed. The system didn’t feel punished. It never will. We punished the customer service agent, not Adidas. The impact flowed downward. That’s not an accusation—it’s just how the mechanics work.

Another reality is that all of this is happening while people are already feeling squeezed from other directions. Washington State has passed new taxes. Clark County has approved increases. Fees, registrations, and everyday costs have crept upward in ways that don’t announce themselves but still show up on your bank statement. Basically every streaming service raised its rate in late 2025. We can’t afford to go out for entertainment, and it’s getting more expensive to stay in, too. Even if you can’t list them all from memory, you can feel them. The timing really is unfortunate.

On top of that, inflation hasn’t been meaningfully relieved at the national level. President Trump and conservatives in Congress have focused on other priorities they believe matter deeply—borders, courts, culture, national identity. Democrats have focused on their own set of battles but remain at a stalemate. Meanwhile, groceries didn’t get the memo, and gas didn’t lower itself out of respect for anyone’s wallet.

So when a local levy appears, it doesn’t feel like one decision. It feels like one more weight. That reaction makes sense.

But here’s where the questions start to matter.

If these votes keep failing by the slimmest of margins, what story are we telling ourselves about what a “no” actually does? If the system doesn’t absorb the impact, who does? If hesitation keeps producing the same outcome—cuts, instability, repeated returns to the ballot—what exactly are we hoping will change? It’s a lot easier to tear down a building than to replace it, especially with construction costs right now.

At what point does choosing not to decide stop being neutral and start shaping the future anyway? It’s like not fixing the broken gutter on your house because you can’t decide whether LeafGuard is worth it, so you let it sit for a year or three. Eventually the house decides for you, because you’re sick of birds building nests in the eaves. If that illustration feels oddly specific, that must be on you—not because of something happening at my house.

February’s levy isn’t about new information or a sudden shift in direction. It’s a replacement measure, showing up after inflation, population growth, and three close failures have collided. It’s here not because the district is trying again for fun, but because the underlying math never went away. Kids still show up. Schools still open. The calendar keeps moving forward whether we feel ready or not.

None of this means you’re required to feel enthusiastic. This isn’t about cheerleading or pretending the timing is ideal. It’s about being honest about what repeated hesitation produces in a town where most decisions are made right down the middle.

The middle isn’t powerless. It’s decisive. Your vote matters because it shapes your future as well as the future of students. When margins are this thin, choosing to really reckon with the outcome of a vote matters more than being perfectly comfortable with every part of it.

You don’t have to love everything about public schools to recognize that most of your neighbors’ kids depend on them. You don’t have to trust every institution to notice when the cost of opting out keeps landing on the same people. The ones carrying that weight aren’t current politicians or leaders from three generations ago. They’re living comfy, cozy lives. The cost shows up here.

You don’t have to be certain to decide with your eyes open. Making an informed decision requires information—hopefully accurate information. There are loud voices spreading misinformation. I hope these posts help paint a clearer picture.

This isn’t about winning an argument. It’s about realizing that in Battle Ground, the future is being shaped less by loud opinions and more by quiet hesitation. That means the people in the middle—thoughtful, cautious, tired, sincere people—are carrying more weight than they may realize.

If that’s you, this decision really does come down to you. Not because you’re being blamed, but because you matter.

The post The Middle Decides This first appeared on David Lindner.

Post 4 — Jan 4 | Battle Ground Levy Series | Post 1 | Post 2 | Post 3 |

One of the more surprising things I’ve learned while working in public education is how many Christians assume public schools are some kind of godless modern invention—something dreamed up by secular elites in a smoke-filled room, designed specifically to undermine faith and family values.

That story makes for good talk radio.

It just doesn’t happen to be true.

If you want to understand where public education actually came from, you don’t start with Washington State or the Department of Education. You start with the church. You start in church basements, with working-class kids, and with a group of Christians who believed something radical:

• Children matter.
• Education matters.
• And loving your neighbor sometimes looks like teaching them how to read.

The Sunday School Movement (Yes, That Sunday School)

In the late 1700s, England was deep in the Industrial Revolution. Children—especially poor children—worked six days a week in factories, mines, and fields. Long hours. Dangerous conditions. No education. No social mobility. No rights.

Enter Robert Raikes, an English Christian reformer who looked at this situation and said, essentially: This is not okay.

Raikes believed that if children were made in the image of God, then they deserved dignity—and part of that dignity was education. Since these kids worked all week, Sunday was the only day available.

So churches began opening their doors to teach:

• reading
• writing
• basic math
• moral instruction
• Scripture

This wasn’t about indoctrination in the modern sense. It was about literacy, formation, and opportunity.

From Puritans to Raikes to Public Schools: How Education Became A Shared Responsibility

In early America, the Puritans already had schools, but they were local, community-based, and deeply religious. Their goal was universal literacy so that every person could read Scripture for themselves. This conviction led to some of the first compulsory education laws in the Western world, such as the Massachusetts School Laws of 1642 and 1647 (the latter often called the “Old Deluder Satan Act.” Seriously.). Education was seen as both a spiritual duty and a civic necessity, but it remained limited in scope—primarily serving stable, settled communities and operating alongside church life rather than replacing it.

As industrialization reshaped society in the 1700s, that model no longer reached everyone. In England, massive numbers of children worked six days a week and had no access to education at all. This is where Robert Raikes enters the story. Raikes did not invent Christian instruction, but he reorganized it for a new social reality. What began as church-based education quickly scaled into a nationwide movement, demonstrating that broad, organized education could dramatically improve public health, social stability, and economic opportunity. By the early 1800s, reformers on both sides of the Atlantic—many of them shaped by Christian ethics—recognized that education could no longer depend solely on churches or charity.

Let that sink in: Churches were running the largest educational system in the world.

What the Puritans had begun as a moral obligation, and Raikes had expanded as a social intervention, governments gradually assumed as a public responsibility. Public schools emerged not to replace Christian concern, but to institutionalize it—ensuring that education was universal, consistent, and available to every child, regardless of family, church affiliation, or economic status. In this sense, modern public education is not a rejection of its Christian roots, but the natural outgrowth of them.

From Church-Based Education to Public Schools

As Sunday schools expanded, people began to notice something important: education worked.

Children who could read were less likely to end up in prison.

Workers who could do basic math were more employable.

Communities with educated citizens were healthier, safer, and more stable.

Over time, reformers (many of them Christians) realized that relying solely on churches wasn’t enough to educate everyone. Education needed to be:

• Universal
• Consistent
• Accessible regardless of denomination (That’s wild to think about.)

And so, gradually, governments took on the responsibility of funding and organizing what churches had pioneered.

Public schools didn’t replace Sunday schools because Christianity failed. They expanded because Christian compassion succeeded. Compassion was what changed the world. Mercy. Kindness. Walking with people in their pain.

The modern public education system is not the rejection of the Sunday School movement—it’s its descendant.

So, Why Does This Matter Now?

Because many Christians today argue against public schools as if they’re opposing something foreign to the faith.

Historically speaking, that’s like opposing hospitals because the church no longer runs all of them. (Which I know many Christians do this as well. Have you ever seen that big cross on most hospitals and emergency rooms?)

Public schools exist because Christians believed education was a moral good, a community responsibility, and a way to love neighbors who could never repay you.

That’s not secular ideology.

That’s Christian social action. Which I know freaks a lot of people out. “There you go, talking about social justice!” Sometimes, oftentimes, Biblical justice is social. Take the current cultural baggage off the term social.

Public Schools Still Serve the Same Mission

Fast-forward to today.

In Battle Ground, the vast majority of students—around 85–90%—attend public schools. These are our neighbors’ kids. Our coworkers’ kids. Kids from families who:

• Can’t afford private school
• Don’t have the flexibility to homeschool
• Rely on schools not just for education, but for stability

Supporting public schools isn’t about endorsing every policy or curriculum choice. I don’t endorse everything either. If I had the power, there are things I’d change tomorrow. I’ve never worked in any organization where I agreed with 100% of the decisions. Just ask the pastors I used to work under.

It’s about asking a deeper question:

If Christians helped create education for the common good, why would we abandon it now?

A Faith-Based Case for Supporting Schools

Scripture consistently calls God’s people to shared responsibility:

• Care for the vulnerable
• Invest in the next generation
• Seek the welfare of the city

Public schools are one of the primary ways a community does that together.

When schools are underfunded, it’s not “the system” that suffers first. It’s kids. Especially kids without options. And so much of our focus in Evangelical Christianity is on “the system.” And I get it. Yes, in a lot of way “the system” is broken. But our local school district and the students in the buildings are literally the last branch on the tree. They’re downstream from all the systems that are actually creating the issues to begin with.

So, is it perfect? No. Is our local school board perfect? No. Do I agree with all their decisions. I doubt it.

Supporting something imperfect for the sake of others is not compromise. It’s discipleship. It’s caring for the 85-90% of students who know you and look you in the eye while you’re handing out candy for halloween.

Why This Connects to the BGPS Levy

The levy isn’t about ideology. Groups, podcasts, networks, loud voices are trying to make it about that. It’s not.

It’s about whether Battle Ground continues a long tradition—rooted in Christian compassion—of educating all children, not just the ones whose families can afford alternatives. Not just the ones in our denomination. Not just the ones who go to our church.

You don’t have to agree with everything that happens in the schools to be able to say: This matters. These kids matter. This community matters.

Public education didn’t start as a rejection of faith.

It started as an expression of it.

And that history is worth remembering.

The post That Awkward Moment When Christians Invented Public Schools first appeared on David Lindner.

We’ve got Santa, who somehow manages to deliver gifts to 2.3 billion children in one night with the help of eight reindeer, one of whom must have lived a little too close to Chernobyl. We’ve got Hallmark movies, where every struggling bakery in a small town is magically saved by a handsome architect wearing a red scarf. And here in the Pacific Northwest, at least one guy in every coffee shop is 93% sure he saw Sasquatch last week, probably just before he could get his phone out to snap a pic (or he didn’t want to take a pic and risk ruining the treasure he had found).

December is peak season for believing things that aren’t exactly verifiable.

Which brings me to… the public school system.

Specifically, the myths people believe about our local schools in Battle Ground.

Now, look—I don’t blame anyone for believing a myth. I once believed for an embarrassingly long time that the little “sharpeners” in the knife block actually did something. (For more context, click here.)

Turns out they’re about as useful as a screen door on a submarine (any Rich Mullins fans out there?). But I kept using them because… well, that’s what came in the box.

Likewise, a lot of folks in our community inherited stories about what’s really happening inside our schools—stories that mostly came “in the box” from big podcasts, national influencers, YouTube culture warriors, Instagram influencers, and that one uncle who sends Facebook posts in ALL CAPS.

But here’s the thing:

Just because a story goes viral doesn’t mean it’s true.

And just because something is true somewhere doesn’t mean it’s happening in Battle Ground. And even if it is happening in Battle Ground, that doesn’t mean it’s because of Battle Ground Public Schools.

So today, let’s put on our Santa hats, flip on Harry and the Hendersons, and look at the difference between myth and reality—Battle Ground edition.

Myth #1: “The schools are pushing extreme political agendas.”

If by “agenda,” you mean:

• teaching teenagers to show up on time,
• turning in their work,
• not putting Cheetos in the tuba, and
• maybe learning how to do long division…

…then absolutely. Guilty as charged.

But the idea that Battle Ground classrooms are all running some secret ideological experiment is simply not supported by what’s actually happening in our district.

What does our curriculum process look like? I’ve learned at a pretty deep level what the curriculum adoption process is like in our district. And it’s not simple. It’s slow on purpose. They want to get as much community and teacher feedback as possible. The guiding question is always:

“Will this help our kids learn?”

Not “Will this get us featured on a national podcast rant?”

If you want to see how curriculum is chosen, here’s a good place to start: BG CAST Episode on Curriculum Adoption: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bg-cast/id1617925382?i=1000590914543

For deeper research: A nonpartisan explainer on local curriculum authority: https://www.nsba.org/ASBJ/2021/August/local-control

Myth #2: “Teachers are indoctrinating kids.”

I know dozens of our teachers personally. You know what they’re doing when they get home?

Grading papers…Falling asleep while grading papers…Drinking lukewarm coffee while grading papers…Getting up at 5:30 a.m. to… grade more papers.

Then they go and teach the curriculum that was chosen by the district, work to get students caught up who are behind, work with students who are at different levels, go to staff meetings, give students money out of their own pockets for lunch, give students their own snacks, and more.

If this is the indoctrination curriculum, it needs a rewrite. These people aren’t running mind-control experiments—they’re fighting to help 12,000 students learn, grow, and build futures that reflect who God made them to be. They’re treating students with the dignity and respect all humans deserve, because they are made in the image of God.

Are there teachers who think differently from me? Yes. Are there teachers who think like I do? Definitely, we have a pretty good mix. And the way most curriculum works, they don’t have much room to work in their personal ideology. And it’s against the rules to do so.

(Legally, public-school teachers do have First Amendment free-speech rights, but those rights are limited when they’re acting in their official role. Federal case law (including Garcetti v. Ceballos) allows school districts to restrict political expression during classroom instruction, work hours, or when a teacher is speaking as part of their professional duties, in order to maintain neutrality and avoid influencing students. Outside of work, however, Washington teachers retain full political-speech protections as private citizens, as long as they are not using school resources or representing the district. In short: teachers may not promote their personal political beliefs in class, but they are absolutely allowed to have and express those beliefs off the clock.)

Back to the conspiracies. I love a good conspiracy theory. It’s fun to listen to Goerge Noory late at night. But, if there’s a “conspiracy” going on, it’s a conspiracy of exhausted adults trying their best to hold everything together with limited resources.

Myth #3: “I saw a video of a crazy thing happening in a school… so it must be happening here too.”

This is the Santa Principle:

When people want to believe something strongly enough, they assume it’s happening everywhere.

The truth?

National stories rarely match local reality.

It’s like assuming that because someone in Florida keeps an alligator in their bathtub, we’re probably doing the same thing here in Battle Ground. (For the record: we are not. Not even out where we live. And we live OUT there.)

If you want to see actual data about what’s happening in Washington schools—not clickbait—start here:

OSPI (Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction): https://www.k12.wa.us/ EdWeek data on school trends: https://www.edweek.org/

Or even better, Volunteer to help out in the school that’s closest to you.

Myth #4: “The district is hiding something.”

If anything, our district is exhausting itself trying to communicate.

They publish reports. They run newsletters. They take questions. They hold meetings (that almost no one shows up to). They literally do a podcast with me to increase their level of transparency.

You know who usually listens to these things?

People named “Mom,” “Dad,” and occasionally “A Well-Meaning Pastor Who Internally Regrets Having This Many Tabs Open.”

Transparency isn’t the problem.

Engagement is.

If you want to know what’s happening, the doors are wide open. It’s like Costco on a Saturday: overwhelming, but everything is technically available. (If you want to volunteer, start here: https://www.battlegroundps.org/page/volunteer)(I feel like I already posted that link. Oh, wait, I did. I’m going to leave it, just in case you don’t know how to scroll back up.

So what’s actually true?

Here’s what’s NOT a myth:

• Our students need stable funding.
• The state does not provide adequate funding. (They should, but they do not. This is a problem NOT caused by BGPS.)
• Our teachers need sustainable workloads.
• Our programs need investment—not cutbacks.
• Our community thrives when our schools thrive.
• Our students need a community that has their back.
• And most importantly: local problems require local solutions, not imported national outrage.

We don’t need Santa. We don’t need Sasquatch. We just need people willing to look at what’s actually happening, not what social media says is happening.

A Quick, Honest Word as a Pastor

Christians are supposed to be people of truth. People who don’t spread rumors, but instead, research what the facts actually say and then present them faithfully, even if those facts do not agree with their own point of view. We are supposed to be people who love their neighbors—including the ones who teach algebra and the ones learning it.

When Paul says, “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”, that applies to how we speak about our community’s children, too.

If 85–90% of our local kids attend public school, the ones living next to you, getting on and off the school bus that you wait impatiently behind (is it just me?), then supporting those schools is one of the most practical, tangible ways we can obey Jesus when He says:

“Love your neighbor.”

Myth-busting isn’t just good civic work. It’s discipleship.

Further Reading / Deeper Dive Links

• NBER Research on Education Funding & Outcomes: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w20847/w20847.pdf
• Learning Policy Institute: How Money Matters https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/how-money-matters-factsheet
• Washington OSPI Data Dashboard: https://www.k12.wa.us
• NSBA: Understanding Local Control in Schools https://www.nsba.org/ASBJ/2021/August/local-control
• Educational Equity & State Funding in WA: https://educationvoters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/LEV-Summer-2024-Funding-Equity-Report.pdf

The post Santa, Sasquatch, and School Scare Stories: (Sorting Myth from Reality in Battle Ground) first appeared on David Lindner.

With as technologically advanced as we have become, how is there not some sort of light or alert you get from your Comcast modem that tells you when the internet is down, so you don’t have to go down the Google worm hole to try to figure out how to get your church back online? I mean, just a little red blinking light would be great. How hard would that be.

I finally went to down detector and learned that about half the country had probably been doing the same scavenger hunt as me. No matter how many times I power-cycled the modems, routers, switches, access points, and my soul, nothing was going to change. We weren’t going to have internet again until the people with the power to fix it, actually fixed it.

And honestly, that’s about how local school boards work.

People think electing the right person to the school board will overhaul curriculum, change graduation requirements, rewrite state laws, end federal mandates, fix transportation funding, repair buildings, stop inflation, reorganize the universe, and maybe solve whatever Coast-to-Coast AM is talking about at 1 a.m. (because that’s when the really fun stuff is talked about).

But here’s the truth:

Most of the big, controversial things people want school boards to change are actually controlled by the STATE (and Congress), not the district.

If this were a home improvement project, the school board is the person who can pick the paint color and hang some shelves. The state legislature is the general contractor who decides what walls exist and where the electrical panel goes.

Let’s break it down.

What Local School Boards CAN Do

✔ Adopt curriculum

This is always the hot-button one. In Battle Ground, committees review options, parents can participate, and the board approves the final choice. But the curriculum companies? They’re not writing edgy manifestos. They’re writing products they can sell to all 50 states. Their motivation is profit, not ideology. So as much as we’d like to believe what the podcast hosts are telling us, (and to be honest, it might be a lot more fun if all the crazy stories they conjured up were true), the reality is, curriculum companies want more profit. Making multiple curriculums for red/blue states costs too much money. So the curriculum has to be something any district in the country would buy. Otherwise, no soup for you. Deeper dive: https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/how-money-matters-factsheet

✔ Set the district budget

Within constraints. Big constraints. Lots of constraints.

✔ Hire and evaluate the superintendent

They can’t hire every teacher, but they hire the person who hires the people. Are you familiar with church boards? Their job is, usually, to oversee the pastor, who oversees everything else.

✔ Approve policies that fit within state law

Think of it as: “You may choose any speed, as long as it’s between 24 and 26 mph.”

✔ Set local goals, culture, and direction

This part really matters. Boards help shape how a district treats people, how transparent it is, and whether the community trusts it.

What Local School Boards CANNOT Change

And this is where most political arguments get misdirected.

❌ They cannot change state graduation requirements

Those come from OSPI and the Washington Legislature. Details: https://wsipp.wa.gov/ReportFile/1108/Wsipp_K-12-Education-Spending-and-Student-Outcomes-A-Review-of-the-Evidence_Full-Report.pdf

❌ They cannot change state-mandated health/sex education requirements

Districts choose from the state-approved list; they don’t create the rules. (This was one of the longest curriculum adoption processes in district history.) Details: https://ospi.k12.wa.us/

❌ They cannot dictate what teachers may believe personally

Federal and state law protect teacher speech outside their official duties—while restricting political advocacy during instruction. ACLU breakdown: https://www.aclu-wa.org/app/uploads/2024/09/free_speech_rights_of_k-12_public_school_teachers_in_washington_state_final.pdf

❌ They cannot fix building funding shortages caused at the state level

Washington’s school-construction funding model is famously broken. Local voters and the Legislature hold the power here, not the board. Not the superintendent.

❌ They cannot change teacher salaries on their own

That’s a mix of state allocations + collective bargaining.

❌ They cannot eliminate state testing requirements

Unless they would also like to eliminate Washington State’s Constitution. (Which, frankly, seems unlikely.)

❌ They cannot ignore federal laws

IDEA, ADA, Civil Rights protections, Title IX… These obligations don’t disappear because a community member says, “Well, they shouldn’t have to do this.”

So Why Does This Matter for the Levy?

Because a lot of frustration aimed at our local schools is actually frustration with state or federal policy. If you want those things to change, call your representative. Run for office.

When people believe school boards can overhaul the entire system but don’t… they get angry at the wrong people.

When you go to Google to check out what Elon Musk is up today, or who you should start on your fantasy team this week and you get the hourglass of death, you think: “My 15 year old Linksys router must have finally broken.” But sometimes, the router is still doing its job. And it’s the something going on way deeper in the infrastructure.

The levy is one of the few things our community actually gets to decide. Many have decided against it because things that are outside our district’s control. We are boycotting, yelping, Facebook reviewing, and calling the BBB to lodge complaints about Linksys, when Comcast is the problem.

We may disagree on policies or curriculum, but the levy isn’t about politics— it’s about keeping teachers in classrooms, keeping class sizes manageable, and keeping students supported.

If You Want to Change State Policies…

Please do. Seriously.

Call your state legislators. Email them. Show up. Vote in state elections. Run for office.

But let’s not punish our local kids for decisions made 150 miles north in Olympia, or 2,812 miles east in DC.

Because what is in our hands is whether Battle Ground students get the support they need right now.

The post Linksys, Comcast, and What School Boards Actually Control first appeared on David Lindner.

Except those tiny sharpening stones wore down sometime during the Obama administration.

So one day I finally broke down and bought a real knife sharpener. Not the “gentle encouragement” kind. The industrial kind. The kind that sounds like a jet engine taxiing down a runway while chewing gravel.

The first time I ran a knife through it, I thought for sure the neighbors were going to call the police. The sound is… horrendous. Like a blender full of silverware. So now, whenever I sharpen knives, I have to wear hearing protection and crank some old-school Christian rock on 11 just to drown out the carnage.

But the knives? They’re actually sharp now (when I sharpen them). Sharp enough to cut something firmer than melted butter.

The tool made all the difference.

And that’s what hit me: For years, I was trying to fix a real problem with the wrong tool.

Which brings me, strangely enough, to our local school board.

We Treat the School Board Like It Has the Wrong Tools (Or Like It Has All the Tools)

If you listen to conversations around town—or venture into the dangerous wilderness that is the Facebook comment section—you’d think the school board has the power to fix every single issue anyone has ever had with public education.

Curriculum mandates? “Board needs to fix that.”

State graduation requirements? “Board better do something.”

Federal laws? “Board should overturn that.”

Teacher shortages, funding formulas, unfunded mandates, national trends, TikTok? “All the board’s fault.”

It’s like we think the school board is hiding a magic toolbox in the district office. A toolbox filled with enchanted wrenches that tighten up state laws and mystical saws that cut through federal requirements.

But here’s the truth:

The local school board doesn’t have the tools people think it has. Not because they’re incompetent, but because those tools don’t exist at the local level.

(What I Have Learned in the Last Four+ Years)

(In the fall of 2021, the Battle Ground School District sent out an email inviting parents and community members to join a new thing they were starting: the Citizen’s Advisory Committee. Not long into that adventure I offered to help the district with a podcast to help build a bridge between the school district and the community called the “BG CAST.” (Battle Ground Community and Schools Together. It’s funny because schools have an inordinate amount of acronyms.) I wanted to make a difference in our community and this was a great opportunity. If you want to make a difference, you should join too!

Over that time I’ve learned A LOT about how the school district operates, what they can/can’t do and about the people who are making the decisions. I honestly never thought I’d get this deep into the school world, especially deep enough to write about it on my personal blog. But, here we are.

So, while I’m not an expert, I know a lot more than I used to. I used to think I understood how things work, but I was wrong – VERY WRONG.

I’m going to share with you what (I think) I know. If I end up being wrong, I will make corrections.)

What the Board Actually Has in Its Toolbox

Local boards have important tools—just not the supernatural ones.

They can:

• Hire and evaluate the superintendent
• Set budget priorities
• Approve programs and electives
• Shape district culture
• Support safety and student well-being
• Encourage transparency
• Strengthen community trust

Those are real, meaningful responsibilities.

But they can’t:

• Rewrite state laws
• Change state learning standards
• Adjust federal requirements
• Eliminate mandated curriculum
• Redesign statewide funding formulas
• Bring back 8-track tapes

Those aren’t local tools. Those belong in Olympia or Washington, D.C. (Except for the 8-tracks. That’s probably something Jeff Bezos would have to do.)

Expecting the board to fix state-level problems is like expecting my old, worn-down knife sharpener to give me razor-sharp knives. It wasn’t built for that.

When We Expect the Wrong Tool to Do the Job, Everyone Gets Frustrated

If I ran my knives through that old, dull sharpener another 500 times, they still wouldn’t cut a tomato. And yelling at the sharpener wouldn’t help—even if it felt good. It would also feel good to take a sledge hammer to it.

That’s what we do when we treat the school board like it has magic powers. We get frustrated, blame them for things they literally cannot change, and then wonder why nothing improves. Then we show up at board meetings with our figurative sledge hammers, expecting to change something that can’t be changed there.

We’re using the wrong tool on the wrong problem.

Clarity Is Better Than Magic

Here’s the good news: When you use the right tool for the right job, things actually get sharper. Stronger. Better.

The same is true with our schools.

If we stop expecting the board to solve problems out of its reach—and start understanding what they genuinely can do—we’ll not only aim our concerns in the right direction, but we’ll also build a healthier, stronger community in the process.

And, if we learn where to get involved so we can make a difference, then maybe more people will learn how to use the right tools for the right job.

Over the next several weeks, I’m going to unpack what local boards actually do, what they can’t do, and why using the right tools in the right places might just change everything.

And maybe—just maybe—we’ll all learn to sharpen the right things.

Next Monday: “The Thermostat That Doesn’t Heat the House: What Local Boards Actually Control.”

The post Your School Board Isn’t a Magic Wand (Even If We Really Wish It Were) first appeared on David Lindner.

(I recognize this post is too long and that you probably won’t read it. But this is a complicated issue, so I wanted to be thorough.)

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Eph 6:12

I haven’t written a post in a long time. Almost 3 years. There are a lot of reasons for that. One of those reasons is that I’ve been doing a lot with our high school in Battle Ground. Maybe I can give some context.

To be honest, I’ve been worried about writing this post. Not because of what I’m going to write. But because of who might come after me for writing it. And that’s a problem. Why am I, as a pastor of a Christian church, concerned that by writing a post in support of public schools, I will be attacked by pastors and leaders of other Christian churches? That’s a problem. It should not be.

The Context

Before our church moved to Battle Ground, we were down in Vancouver. I tried on multiple occasions with multiple schools to find a way I could help the schools near the church: elementary, middle, and high school. With one school, we had a great relationship until the principal left. The next principal was not interested in partnering with our church. I tried with the middle school and high school just to volunteer and was met with quite a bit of resistance – because I was a pastor.

I get it. Some pastors have been a little too eager to proselytize and a lot too reluctant to love. I can understand why my motives would be questioned. But, it always bothered me that the principal/staff never took the time to get to know me before making those assumptions and closing the door.

When we moved to Battle Ground (actually before our move), I found the exact opposite. I got involved with the Citizen’s Advisory Committee, started a podcast to help build a bridge between the community and the school district, and then started volunteering at the high school when my oldest was in the choir. Where it felt like bouncers were keeping me from entering before, I was greeted, welcomed, and WANTED.

That started me on a path to get my certification and take over (and hopefully rebuild) the choir program at BGHS. I’ve been in the school every day for nearly 3 years now (one as a volunteer and two teaching). Do you know what I’ve learned? I have never had this kind of opportunity to be among people in the community.

Before this, as a pastor, I felt isolated. I was only around other church people all the time. I didn’t know what “real” people were like anymore. I was insulated and isolated from the people who make up the majority of our culture. I had no connection. And when I tried, as soon as people found out I was a pastor they would put up their hackles and oftentimes just stop talking/walk away. But that hasn’t happened in the school.

So why do I think we should support the levy (and the schools)?

Did you know, that even at the height of the pandemic, only 17% of students were enrolled in either private school or home school? (Link: https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2023/acs/acs-55.pdf ) Before the pandemic, the numbers varied from 8-12% who were in private/home. For a long time the numbers were about 92% of people went to public school. (Did you know the public school system was an outgrowth of the original sunday school movement where churches sought to educate children who were being used as child labor?)

I went to public school. My wife went to public school. My parents went to public school. And the chances are pretty good that you did too.

The VAST MAJORITY of people go to/went to public schools.

Is it really wise for us to set ourselves up as opponents to the one institution that has the most influence in a person’s life outside of their family?

Do I agree with everything that happens? No.

Are the things that people are talking about on massively popular podcasts actually happening in our schools? No. I can’t speak for all schools and districts, but I know our schools. I’m probably one of the most informed citizens about our schools. But, there is a lot of folklore about the public schools that gets promulgated through podcasts that just isn’t true. Or if it’s true, it’s one out of a thousand.

So Many Good Things

One thing I’ve learned by doing this podcast with the school district for the past 4 years, is that there are so many good things happening in our schools. So many good teachers doing great things. So many good students showing kindness and love to one another. So much good. CAM students giving back after hurricane Helene. Open Doors, a program that helps students get a GED who didn’t finish high school. PTA’s And PTO’s that raise money to provide equipment for students, Unified sports, River homelink earning awards, Greg McKelvey leading the band for 27 years, fighting addiction, providing resources for homeless students, teaching the trades like construction, electrical and HVAC, partnering with businesses in the community to teach and train students how to be good employees. And that’s just a few. There are so many good things happening.

Who Will Suffer

I know a lot of people who are vocal about their opposition to public schools talk about how the teachers and admin are paid too much. And they think by opposing the levy they are sticking it to “the man.” That’s not true. Will positions be cut if the levy doesn’t pass? Yes. Will those people suffer? Yes? Will the rest of the administrators and teachers suffer because they have to carry extra weight? Yes.

But who suffers most are children. They’re the ones that will have more students in their classes, so less time with the teacher. They will have less access to things like middle school sports where they start learning about working as a team, work ethic, how to win and lose graciously. And that’s just the beginning.

The biggest victims are

Curriculum

One of the biggest concerns I hear is about curriculum. If you want to know more about how curriculum is chosen in our district, I’d encourage you to listen to this episode where we talk about the curriculum adoption process (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bg-cast/id1617925382?i=1000590914543).

With the exception of the sex-ed curriculum the state does not get involved in a district’s curriculum selection. With that curriculum, the state offered 3 choices to all school districts. We had a big committee of members of the community involved in that selection process.

What should you know? The district does not choose a curriculum that is extremely slanted toward the left or the right. Think about it logically for a second. What are companies like McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin interested in? PROFIT! They want to make money. The way they make money is by selling as much of their curriculum to as many schools in as many states as possible. It is in their best interest to write a curriculum that is very centric.

If you want to get involved in helping choose curriculum, you can join a curriculum adoption team. Click here to learn more.

Does that rule out a rogue teacher with an agenda? No. But if that happens, you should talk with your principal. Because they have a curriculum they are expected to teach. If they’re going outside of that, the administrators want to know.

Other Levy Facts:

The current proposal was initially set to be 4 cents more than the last levy. What does that amount to? About $20 more for a 500k house. And if any new houses get built in the district, that amount starts to go down. So, it’s likely people would be paying less, probably even before the levy dollars started being collected. I reached out to the district and received this clarification: “The new levy rate is estimated to be $1.95. The expiring levy was estimated to be $1.99 when it passed. Since then, the actual rate has dropped. It is $1.68 for this year.” To see how levy rates change over the years, look at the “History of Battle Ground Public Schools property tax rates” on this page: https://www.battlegroundps.org/page/taxes.

There are several “unfunded mandates” from the state. Where the state government requires a certain amount of X (nurses for example), but only pays to cover part of them.

Our district already has the lowest tax rate of all districts in Clark County. This proposal would still keep us the lowest.

Our district handles money very responsibly. You probably think admins are paid too much. For the amount of time they spend and burden they carry, they don’t. Projects come in under budget. Do they make a lot? Yes. As much as other administrators? No. Think about it. In order to hire good, honest, reliable people, they have to be paid competitively. If a neighboring district is offering twice as much for the same job, where are they going to go? If you had the opportunity to do the same job for twice as much, would you go there? We want good, honest, reliable people running the complex system of our district. That’s what we currently have. You may not agree, but I’ve gotten to know many of the people in district office over the past 4 years, and I’m always impressed at the caliber of people we have working for our school district.

And, we’ve had a lot of teachers leave nearby districts to work for Battle Ground because our district has a good reputation in the county. Some are even coming for lower pay because they want to work for an administration that they can trust.

Do I Agree With Everything?

No. I don’t agree with everything that happens in the district. But, as a pastor, I’ve also never worked at a church where I agree with every policy. I’ve never worked at a church where I agree with 100% of the theology of every pastor on staff. I’ve never had a church where 100% of the people in the church agreed on 100% of everything about the church. And somehow, I still believe.

The only organizations that are able to get close to 100% agreement on everything are probably cults. And they are only able to do so through force and manipulation. And even then, agreement does not equal belief. I can say I agree with a policy because I know if I don’t I’ll lose my job. But I still don’t believe it.

How Can We Oppose The People We Want To Reach?

For some reason, too many Christians have formed the false belief that it is our job to judge and condemn people outside the faith. That’s just not true. At least not according to the apostle Paul. “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.” (1 Cor 5:12-13) It’s also not our job to try to convict people of sin, that’s also God’s job. Jesus actually taught about that: “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment”. (John 16:8)

What is our job? To live a life that shines. Not preaching condemnation. Not judging people. But, according to Jesus:

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:13-16)

Who is they? Well, Jesus is talking to people who wanted to follow him. So, the “they” would be others who weren’t following Jesus. And how do we let our light shin? By doing good deeds. Not by preaching, not by condeming, not by fighting against the very things that acutally sustain many of the people, but by doing good deeds.

Don’t like how things are going? Get involved. Volunteer. Make a difference with one student. Love one student. Love one teacher. Love one principal. Love one custodian, support staff or superintendent. That’s how we change the world. By doing something good for someone who can never pay us back. That’s how we become like Christ. By sacrifically loving others. Laying down our rights just like Jesus laid down everything he had the right to as the son of God. He, the perfect, sinless, spotless lamb of God actually became sin. He became sin. Have you thought about that? “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21) Jesus wasn’t just “clothed” in our sin, but he actually became it. He became it so he could deal with the judgement we deserved for it. And He became the sacrifice for it.

That’s how we’re supposed to live as his followers. We’re supposed to deny ourselves, take up our cross and love one another. We’re supposed to lay down our rights and everything we think we’re entitled to so that others can benefit.

Bottom line:

I hope you’ll support the school with the levy. I do. Not just for my own personal benefit. But for the benefit of all 12,393 students in the district. I hope you’ll show them that you care about them by supporting something, even in the fact of adamant, vocal opposition. I hope you’ll have the courage to stand up to the bullies. I hope you’ll get involved with the schools and make a difference in the life of one student. I hope you’ll show some love and encouragement to just one teacher or administrator. I hope you’ll see what I see. 12,393 people made in the image of God who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. 1,240.65 people who work for the schools that are also made in God’s image. (I’m only a .2 person).

And maybe, somehow we can all start to rally around the students and people in our schools and see our community come together like it was back in the day. Maybe we can put our weapons down and pick up a broom. Maybe we can stop yelling at our district leaders and go shout for the musicians and athletes. Maybe we can be different than the rest of the country. I think we can. I hope we will.

It’s possible. Check out the documentary “Undivided” about Roosevelt high school in Portland. Maybe that could be all the churches coming together with the entire distirct and saying, “let’s do this together. For the good of the future of our community.”

By the way, if you’re looking for a church that supports the schools, think about SixEight Church!

The post Why, As A Pastor, I Hope You Support The Levy first appeared on David Lindner.

We streamed our services from the first Sunday of the pandemic until Easter Sunday of 2022 when we decided it was time to stop the stream. Ironically, this wasn’t the first time I had made this decision for our church. Two weeks before the lockdown started, I told our church we were going to stop streaming our services. God has a sense of humor.

I wanted to write this article, because there aren’t really any voices out there encouraging churches to shut down their streaming. Every time I listen to one of the big Christian leadership podcasts, they talk about how important it is to keep doing so. It put a lot of pressure on me for a long time to keep going even though I felt it was time to shut it down long ago. So, in case you’re a pastor of a small church like me, here’s at least one voice saying it’s okay (probably even good) to shut it down.

1.) Church is the people, not the service.

The reason we stopped streaming in 2020 was the same reason we stopped in 2022. I don’t want people determining whether or not they will give our church a try based on my preaching or personality, on our worship, or what they’re able to see of our church in a 1.5″ X 4″ box on their smartphones while they’re using the bathroom.

The best part about any church is the people. I don’t care if you go to Chuck Swindoll, Andy (or Charles) Stanely, Steven Furtick, John MacArthur, Charles Spurgeon, or even to the Apostle Paul’s church. The preacher isn’t the best aspect of that church, because they can’t be. It’s impossible. The preacher is a person, not a church. They may be the spokesperson for the brand, but they aren’t the body of people who makes that a church.

The word used for church in the New Testament is “ekklesia.” It means “called out ones.” It’s the people who have been called out of the darkness and into the light. Translators did a huge disservice by translating ekklesia church, because the english word church comes from the German word Kyrche, which actually does mean the church building, or structure where religious gatherings are held. But, since there’s not much of a chance we’ll ever successfully change what we call the “church,” we have to stick with the nomenclature of the day.

The point remains, biblically, church isn’t a building – it’s a people. You can’t experience the people on a live stream. You might see the backs of their heads, see them raising their hands, etc., but you don’t get to mingle with them. You don’t get to hear their stories or jokes, see their smiles, feel their hands as you shake them, and most importantly, you can’t feel the presence of the Holy Spirit that dwells in the midst of that group. Peter said that the people of God are a temple made up of living stones. When we gather, the gathered body is the dwelling place of the Almighty. Like God dwelled in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and Temple in Jerusalem, He dwells in the temple of living stones.

2.) It reduces the value of the church

Have you notices how easy it is to scroll past someone or something on Facebook or Instagram? We spend all of 0.3 seconds looking at the picture one of our friends and family posted. Someone shares a struggle they’re having, we click the care emoji and move on through our feed. We move even faster past the advertisements and any agency we think wants something of us.

We do the same thing to our church’s posts on FB/IG. In fact, sometimes we can’t scroll past them fast enough. We like to compartmentalize our world, so when our church gets filtered into our Social Media (SM) world, between the advertisement and political posts, it makes us feel things we don’t want to feel.

Anything you can scroll past in less than a second doesn’t hold much value. We would never spend such little time engaging with someone in real life. Before SM existed, we’d have to go through the whole envelope of pictures and hope we didn’t see anything that would haunt us in our dreams. Sure, we didn’t always want to, but we did it because the people who took the pictures matter to us.

SM has caused us to value friendships less than we did before. It has also caused us to devalue church. What we value gets our time and attention. If we’re being honest, what moves of us value about SM is either the attention or entertainment we get from it. We like it when people like our posts, or when we scroll onto something entertaining. We’re in it for us.

Putting “church” into this “in it for me” environment takes the self-sacrificial nature of church and turns it into just another form of entertainment. If we even choose to take it in.

3.) It feeds the cancer of consumer Christianity.

The church is not a commodity to be consumed, it’s a community we devote ourselves to. That’s how Luke describes it in Acts 2. “They devoted themselves to the apostles teach, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.” They weren’t coerced, they devoted themselves. They gave up what they were used to so they could be a part of the new covenant and the covenantal community that was created by Jesus’s death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Spirit.

Consumer Christianity is the cancer that is killing the church in America and everywhere in the Western World. In parts of the world where it could cost them their lives to be a part of the church, consumerism means absolutely nothing. There is very little concern given to the quality of the worship, the appeal of the worship leader, the attire of the senior pastor, or how entertaining they can be. But, today people are choosing which church they’re going to attend next (because they’ve gotten bored with their current experience) based on how entertaining or appealing that church is on their live stream.

Our church is sandwiched between two megachurches. We spend more money on streaming equipment in 2020 than we had spend on tech for the previous 7 years combined. And it still paled in comparison to what those other churches were able to do. They spend more money on one camera than we did on our whole system. They spent more money on lighting than we spend on all our ministries combined.

It’s not supposed to be a competition. I believe that. Unfortunately, as fewer non-Christians consider giving churches a try, the only real way most churches grow is by transfer growth. So, even though it’s not a competition, it is. And it’s one most medium to smaller sized churches can’t win. To be honest, when we try to keep up, we’re sacrificing what really needs to be done in the hopes that we might ascend the great wall of technology.

And the more we keep fueling the competition, the more the church at large loses. The more we train people to evaluate their church experience from an entertainment/programming position instead of fellowship and community.

All Churches Should Stop Streaming

I’m not going to lie. I think ALL churches should stop streaming their services. Yes, even the biggest ones. But I know there’s no way that’s going to happen. I know the big guys would strongly disagree with me.

Has it actually helped?

Like many churches, we saw a big boost in viewers for the first few months of the lockdown. About triple our weekly attendance. But, by the time summer rolled back around, those numbers were down to about a third of our average weekly attendance. Once we went back to in person services, we had even less.

A lot of churches argue that they still have more people watching the live stream than they have attending. But, at the end of the day, even if that’s true, is it helping those people who watch? Sure some of them are shutins. Some are unable to attend in person. I get it more than you know. Now that we all have the equipment, we can still record the service and distribute it to those who can’t make it.

But the truth is, when we said that church was still church even when we were just streaming services online, we taught all our congregations that church is just an episode of a show that we watch. We watch it just after The Office and just before Sunday Football, or the PGA, or Game of Thrones.

I’m not opposed to streaming. I like the idea of doing something that is specifically designed for that environment. But, we can’t call it church, because it isn’t. It’s entertainment, and honestly, it doesn’t hold a candle to the other entertainment people watch on their smartphones while they’re going to the bathroom.

If you can do it while you’re sitting on the toilet, it’s probably not church.

Those are just my thoughts. Feel free to disagree.

The post Small Church Pastors: 3 Reasons To STOP Streaming Your Services! (Why we stopped streaming.) first appeared on David Lindner.

As I was going through my “read” books on Goodreads to put them into better categories, I decided to make a category for books I’ve re-read. Which got me thinking, what books are on your re-read list? I’d honestly love to know the answer to that question, because some of the books that have become rereaders for me are ones that others recommended.

These are some of the books I’ve read multiple times

(The books linked below contain Amazon affiliate links that directly support SixEight Church. They don’t support me personally.)

Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller

• Most books on faith are stuffy and boring, this one focused primarily on stories and interactions Don had with people living in Portland at that time. I hope to write a book similar to it some day.

Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success by Kerry Patterson

• A great, research-based book that covers the required components for change. If you want to change anything in your life for good, it’s worth the read.

Draw The Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge by Mark Batterson

• A great book on prayer, broken down into a 40 day journey.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala

• Another great book on prayer based on the story of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. A great read. I have one caveat – if you read it, try not to interpret the application of the book into a prayer service for your church.

In The Name Of Jesus by Henri Nouwen

• A great book on Christian leadership based on serving the community of believers “in the name of Jesus.”

Mentor Like Jesus by Regi Campebell

• A somewhat different approach to mentoring and discipleship that looks different from most church-based discipleship models.

The Mind of the Master by Robert E. Coleman

• A great insight into how Jesus thought. I Highlighted most of the book. If you only read one book on this list, read this one.

The Power Of Moments by Chip Heath

• Some great insights on creating moments that help people change their lives.

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

• Learning to experience God, worship God in every moment and every situation.

The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller

• This book radically changed the way I think of God and the parable of the Prodigal son.

The Secrets of the Vine by Bruce Wilkinson

• Great principles for what’s required for a thriving relationship with God.

Switch on your Brain by Caroline Leaf

• Great insights into what it takes to change the way we think.

The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews

• A wonderful fictional tale teaching important principles for life.

The Winner’s Manual: For the Game of Life by Jim Tressel

• A great book on virtues for becoming a man, by the greatest football coach in Ohio State Football history. Yes, I know he was sanctioned, but his mistakes were pretty trivial compared to others and in my opinion he was grossly mistreated by the media.

The post What’s On Your “Re-Read” List? first appeared on David Lindner.

While this is a review, I am not being paid to review this product. I received a free copy, and I was interested in it for one reason: I have boys. I have an 11 y.o. and another about to turn 14 y.o. Anything that takes the timeless truths of the gospel and puts it into a format that middle-school and highschool aged boys will actually look at, well that’s something that’s interesting to me.

What I love about these comics is, they are word-for-word. They took the NIV translation, word-for-word, and illustrated it using a medium that is relevant to young people. And, as popular as comics are among many men of my age, I have to believe that it will be helpful for them as well.

I have to confess, I’m not super fond of attempts to visualize the life of Christ, particularly of the crucifixion. For instance, I’ve never seen Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” I know many people love that film, but I just feel like if God wanted that to be on film He would have had Christ come at a time when film existed. I don’t condemn or judge anyone who watches them, it’s just a personal feeling.

That said, I do appreciate the illustrations throughout the novel, including the portrayals of the torment and crucifixion of Jesus. I think it will help add a layer of reality to Jesus’ death that may not exist in some young minds. Their target audience is 12+, so keep that in mind.

One more personal reason I love this work is because of its creativity. If you know me, you know I love creative pursuits. And I love to see people use their creativity to tell the story of God.

So, if you’ll consider checking them out, here’s a link: https://www.wordforwordbiblecomic.com/buy 

Gospel of Mark: Word for Word Bible Comic: NIV Translation 9781914299063   = $19.99. 

El Evangelio de Marcos: : Verso a Verso Bíblica-Cómic : Traducción NVI 9781914299070  = $19.99. 

ALSO, Word for Word is currently in the process of crowdfunding $20,000 for our forthcoming title The Gospel of Luke. If you’d like to help them fund the next novel, check out their Kickstarter here:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/word4wordbiblecomic/the-gospel-of-luke-word-for-word-bible-comic-niv-and-nvi?ref=424wph

The post Word for Word Bible Comic, Gospel of Mark first appeared on David Lindner.

If you know me, that’s not a new statement. I’ve been that way my whole life. At least as long as I can remember. And for me, the best part of Christmas has always been the music. I remember listening to Perry Como, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and more, over and over. I remember when my dad bought the Time-Life Treasury of Christmas music on LP and playing them all year round. My Christmas playlists on Spotify are days long, not just hours. I love Christmas music.

There’s something about Christmas music that makes us happy. I think it’s all the happy memories that get tied to these songs year after year. Those memories just build up, one on top of the other, year after year until we’ve got a file cabinet full of memories attached to each song. Eating Christmas dinner, opening presents, playing games with friends and family, sitting around the fire, each of these moments have been framed with Christmas music. And when we listen to them, these cascading memories all get lit up inside us.

One of our other favorite things about Christmas is the movies we watch. “It’s A Wonderful Life.” “Elf.” National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation.” (Anybody want a subscription to the jelly of the month club?) “Home Alone.” Just to name a few.

One of the complaints a lot of people have about Christmas music is that it’s the same 20 songs over and over in different ways. And, they’re not wrong.

So, when I was picking the songs to record for my second Christmas album (I released “When The Snow Falls” in 2012), I wanted to pick at least a few songs that you might not hear on every other Christmas album. You’ll find peaceful versions of “Christmas Vacation”, the main title from “Elf”, “Somewhere In My Memory” from “Home Alone”, and a very nostalgic medley from “It’s A Wonderful Life” (Yes, “Buffalo Gals Won’t you Come Out Tonight” is in it.)

If you listened to my 2012 album but haven’t listened to anything I’ve done recently, this album is all piano. No singing. No busy instrumentations. Just peaceful piano music. Music you can enjoy while you’re sharing a meal, opening presents, or just to have on at your desk while you work.

Don’t be surprised if you find yourself going off to “distant places” while you listen. Music has a way of taking us there. And if you do, let me know. That’s exactly what I’m hoping for.

This album will be available on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, YouTube and basically, everywhere you buy or stream music on Monday, November 21, 2021. A single of the Main Title from Elf will release a few days earlier on November 17th to whet your appetite.

Merry Christmas!

The post PEACEFUL PIANO CHRISTMAS first appeared on David Lindner.

I love listening to His stories and his preaching. He does a great job laying a foundation for the first 2/3’s of the sermon, then really preaches it home at the end. No, I don’t agree with everything he says in this sermon, but still, there is so much really great content to listen to here.

I hope you enjoy it!

The post Rev. Ermal Wilson, Revival Night 2, 04-07-2001, The Process Of Communion first appeared on David Lindner.

I’ve entitled the album “Aphiemi”, (Pronounced: af-ee’-ay-mee) which is the greek word for forgiveness and sending away. It means: to send away; to bid going away or depart; to send forth, expire; To let go, leave alone, let be, disregard; To leave, go away.

Matt 27:50. “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up (Aphiemi) his spirit.”

This album is the story of that “giving up” and the consequential “sending away”. It’s the story of what Jesus did for us and what we receive because of what He did.

Colossians 1:13-14 – “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness (Aphiemi) of sins.”

“What’s with all the greek words?” Good question. As I’ve been working to get my music on playlists, I’ve noticed something. The songs that don’t have too “churchy” of a title aren’t rejected as much as those that do. I also noticed a lot of other pianists who title their music with words from other languages. So, I thought, what if I used greek words that mean something to me as the inspiration for the song. Then the word itself shouldn’t be a turn off for someone looking for good piano music and, if someone likes the song, then they go look up what the word means, maybe a seed gets planted?

This will be a digital release only, meaning I don’t plan on making physical CD’s. You can purchase the album on iTunes and Amazon on Tuesday, May 18th (Mt. St. Helens Day). But, one of the most meaningful things to me is when you add it to your prayer and worship playlists and when you share it with your friends.

Thanks to all of you who support me and my music!

The post ApHIEMI: Peaceful Piano Album first appeared on David Lindner.

Maybe you don’t struggle that way, but I do. But, the truth is, the battle belongs to God.

¹⁵ He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. ¹⁶ Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. ¹⁷ You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’”

2 Chronicles 20:15-17

When you’re staring the face of an enemy, it can be overwhelming if you think that it falls on you to defeat the enemy. The truth is, the Battle Belongs to God.

Of course we have a part to play. God will not force himself on us, he requires our participation. But, it’s always God doing the majority of the work. Imagine that it’s a 90/10 partnership. God doesn’t 90% while we do 10%. (In all likelihood, it’s more than that!)

All we can ever contribute is the 10%. 10% is our max capacity. But, in order to defeat the enemy we need 100%. No matter how you do the math, 100% of 10% is still only 10%. We can give everything we’ve got, but if we’re fighting on our own, we will still come up radically short.

But, if we start the fight from the position of faith that God is fighting for us (and not against us), we’re starting with enough to win the battle.

In fact, this is the story that inspired Phil Wickham to write this song.

“One of my favorite stories in all of scripture comes from ‘2 Chronicles 20’. It’s a story of this huge army that is amassed to come against the people of God. And when the people of God and their king, Jehoshaphat, hear of this horde coming their way, they freak out. They literally come to God and say, ‘We are powerless against this army, but our eyes are on you, God. Show us what to do.’ And God responds to them. His Spirit comes upon this Levite man and through the Levite man God says, ‘Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the battle is not yours, but it is God’s. You will not have to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position and see the Salvation of the Lord on your behalf.'”

When all I see is the battle
You see my victory
When all I see is the mountain
You see a mountain moved
And as I walk through the shadow
Your love surrounds me
There’s nothing to fear now
For I am safe with You

So when I fight I’ll fight on my knees
With my hands lifted high
Oh God the battle belongs to You
And every fear I lay at Your feet
I’ll sing through the night
Oh God the battle belongs to You

And if You are for me
Who can be against me (yeah)
For Jesus there’s nothing
Impossible for You
When all I see are the ashes
You see the beauty (thank You God)
When all I see is a cross
God You see the empty tomb

So when I fight I’ll fight on my knees
With my hands lifted high
Oh God the battle belongs to You
And every fear I lay at Your feet
I’ll sing through the night
Oh God the battle belongs to You

Almighty Fortress You go before us
Nothing can stand against
The power of our God
You shine in the shadows
You win every battle
Nothing can stand against
The power of our God

So when I fight I’ll fight on my knees
With my hands lifted high
Oh God the battle belongs to You
And every fear I lay at Your feet
I’ll sing through the night
Oh God the battle belongs to You

Oh God the battle belongs to You

Brian Johnson, Phil Wickham

The post Battle Belongs, Phil Wickham (Piano Instrumental) first appeared on David Lindner.

I kicked her out of her room the second week of January, and I’m still working on it. So, no “remodeler of the year” awards for me. I’m approaching the finish line, but still not there. Part of the reason it’s taking longer than expected is I wanted to redo all the stuff behind the walls like Insulation and wiring.

Setting aside the surprises left there for me by my grandpa (like cut wires dangling in the wall still connected to the circuit), the wiring was old and didn’t have a ground wire, so it needed replaced. A lot of the wiring ran over her bedroom, so there was a fair amount to do.

One of those lines in her ceiling was the line that went to the boys bedroom and the hallway lights that had a three way switch.

Well, once I got through grandpa’s 6 wires he had running into this one light fixture, I ran all new wire to the lights and down to the brand new switches. I researches different ways to wire a 3-way switch and found one that would work best for my situation. I enlisted the help of my oldest son to pull the new wire through the attic crawl spaces and all that fun stuff.

Once we got everything the way it should be, new wires, new switches, the black wire on the gold terminal, the white wire on the silver terminal and the bare wire on the green, etc. I had Henry go flip the breaker back on. Except it never came on. It popped right away.

Hmm, that’s weird. I turned the switch on and had him do it again. The lights were off, then I flip the switch and popped the breaker. I go to the other switch, flip it, have him flip the breaker, the lights are on, then I flip the switch, off goes the breaker.

“What in the name of Sam Hill.” I don’t know who Sam is, but something was wrong.

I found a setting on the switches that kept the lights and breaker on, taped over one switch and let it be while I went back to the internet to try to figure out what was going on.

After letting it sit for a week, and having done some research, and assuming I had done something wrong somewhere along the way, I decided the best thing to do was pull all new wire, including additional wire to be able to wire the switch in the most standard 3-way switch wiring I could find.

So, Henry and I pull out all the wire we had previously run. We run new wire. It takes several hours to do all this. I get everything hooked back up, we go flip the breaker and the lights are on.

Good Start. I flip one switch on and off. No problems. But, when I go to the other switch. The confounded breaker trips again. Are you kidding me!?

Back to the interwebs.

I found one forum where someone else had a similar problem. Some were saying that maybe there was a bare wire in the box touching the ground. But then someone said, swap out the switches. Even if they are new, they could be faulty.

So, the next day I go out to the shop to find an old 3-way switch grandpa had salvaged from somewhere along the way, put it in and “wa la”, everything works. It was a bad switch.

“Are you kidding me! Are you freaking kidding me!” It took every ounce of restraint I had not to take the switch, put it inside a pan of lava, which I would then run over with my truck and then blow up the truck. But, since my truck isn’t running and I don’t know where you can buy molten lava on the internet, I then used all my restraint not to take the switch to the customer service counter at the big orange box store that sold me the faulty switch and yell at the teenager behind the counter “This stupid 3 way switch cost me three days of my life. What are you doing to do about it?!” To which I imagine they would reply, “What’s a three way switch? I don’t think we sell those here.” So, that would do no good.

The third option? Save the switch and use it as a sermon illustration.

The switch has an internal fundamental flaw that caused the catastrophic failure. From the outside the switch looks perfectly fine, but inside one of the hot terminals is connected to the ground, causing the breaker to trip when it’s switched to that terminal. As it should. That’s what breakers are designed to do.

Even though everything looked right, and even though I had done everything right, the fundamental flaw kept the switch from functioning properly.

As human beings, we are made in the image of God. There is a divine dignity to being human. Every human being on the planet regardless of any external variants we see should be treated with the divine dignity that comes with being intentionally made to resemble the creator of the universe.

At the same time, because of our rebellion, every single human being on the planet at this moment and throughout human history (except one) has an internal fatal flaw. On the outside, everything looks right, but when someone flips the switch, something trips on the inside of each of us.

The fatal flaw is that we want to be our own gods who have the ability to determine our own truth.

That might not sit well with you. But, all you need to do is look around you to see the evidence. In a world where everyone tries to determine their own truth, it doesn’t take long for those truths to collide.

The standard for wiring is that black goes to gold, white goes to silver and bare wire or green wire goes to ground or the green terminal. Yes, there are times to make exceptions, but the vast majority of the time, that’s the standard.

But, let’s say you decide that you want to wire your house with white to gold, black to ground and bare to silver. Yeah, you might be able to make it work, (assuming you make those changes all the way to the panel, you’ll still probably burn your house down, but hey, it’s your house), but then imagine I come over with my camper (which I don’t have, a guy can dream), and try to connect my camper which is wired the standard way to your house that’s not wired to standards. Well, we’re going to be tripping breakers, burning up appliances and burning down each others houses.

(By the way, this is where there is such a thing as the “International Building Code.” Used by nations around the world, the IBC is “an essential tool to preserve public health and safety that provides safeguards from hazards associated with the built environment”.) Sorry to all you “Scrooged” fans.

Right now, our society is trying to argue that this faulty internal wiring in each human isn’t faulty. It’s just different. And no one is allowed to tell me how to “wire my house.” And sure, as long as your house isn’t connected to my house, and you’re just burning down your own house, I guess that’s up to you.

But, society doesn’t work that way. We’re all connected in various ways. Our lives all affect other lives. The only world in which we can all determine our own realities is one that will trip breakers, start fires and blow up. Precisely what is happening before our eyes.

Until we understand our internal fundamental flaw, we’re going to keep progressing town the funnel of chaos. But, if we can see that there is a way of life for which we were designed in the first place and allow the master electrician to come in and rewire us from the inside out, there is eternal hope for us all.

The post Home Improvement, 3 way switches and the Gospel first appeared on David Lindner.

Now, before you go thinking I’m some kind of anti-technology advocate (though, I am in favor of not letting kids and tweens have tablets and smartphones because of the affects they can have on brain development), I’m not saying you should destroy every device in your home, disconnect from the grid, build a cabin somewhere in the remote forest of Montana and hope no one ever comes to find you. But, as a society, we have been pretty thoughtless in our adoption of technology (myself included). And we have been (myself included again) pretty thoughtless in how we let our kids use technology. I have two considerations I’d like you to make.

First, how much time are your kids on devices and watching screens per day?

According to the AACAP (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry), “On average, children ages 8-12 in the United States spend 4-6 hours a day watching or using screens, and teens spend up to 9 hours.”

According to a survey done by ABC, “The majority of young people seem to be getting smartphones much earlier as well. By age 11, 53% of kids have their own smartphone, and by age 12, 69% of them do — an increase from 41% in 2015.” (Link)

As a parent of 4 kids, I know what you’re thinking. “Don’t tell me how to raise my kids!” Or “I just want them to be happy.” Or “I don’t want to be the bad guy. I hate telling them no.” I get it. It’s hard to take something away from your kids that they love. But, the dangers of too much screen time are just now being uncovered. According to a study from the National Institute of Health:

• “…children who spent more than two hours a day on screen-time activities scored lower on language and thinking tests, and some children with more than seven hours a day of screen time experienced thinning of the brain’s cortex, the area of the brain related to critical thinking and reasoning.”
• “we can hypothesize is that screens could inhibit certain aspects of a child’s development by narrowing their focus of interest and limiting their other means of exploration and learning,” – Dr. Jennifer F. Cross
• Children to have more than 2 hours of screen time per day are more likely to have Behavioral, Educational, Obesity, Sleep and Violence problems.

And for teenagers, the danger of cyberbullying greatly increases with having a smartphone:

• “Out of all the students, 9.5% reported having encountered cyberbullying. As expected, the general trend saw that cell phone-owning students had a noticeably higher risk of being bullied online, a statistic which was most significant in grades three and four. Furthermore, students with cell phones were also more likely to engage in cyberbullying themselves, leading researchers to suggest that cell phone access allows greater exposure to an already prevalent culture.” (Link)

Recommendation: Using parental controls on devices, limit screen time to no more than 2 hours per day. Less if they’re younger. (Research suggests limiting screen time to video chats with family members under 3 years of age.)

Second, how much time are you on your device when your kids are present?

Okay, so this one is so prevalent that it actually has a name: Phone Snubbing, aka “phubbing”. It’s looking at your smartphone instead of the people you’re with. There are so many times throughout my week where I’m talking with someone, their phone dings or buzzes and then I sit there and wait while they check what it is, respond and oftentimes get distracted by the other things on their phone. I’ve literally lost hours of my life waiting for others to put down their phone and be present with me. You have too, and you’ll probably notice it more now.

I make a very active effort not to look at or check my phone when I’m with people. I seek to keep my screen time on my phone at an hour per day. Sometimes less. For me the phone is a tool, not a toy. It’s for communication. This isn’t to elevate myself. I used to spend a lot of time on my phone around others.

But then a friend of mine was talking to me about their wife (also a stay at home mom) who likely spent 8-10 hours a day on their phone. I had two thoughts. First, they’d probably be better off putting their kids in a day care where they would at least get interaction with other kids and intentional interaction with adults. Second, I was spending too much time on my phone or laptop with my kids around. So, I decided to make a change.

I still spend more time than I should on my laptop. And I’m working to reduce that. But think about it. Your kids look to you. Your kids are looking to you for approval or disapproval. Their framework for right and wrong, positive and negative, identity and so much more comes from your face. When our faces are buried in a device while our kids are doing things in the background, they miss out on much needed response to help them develop a healthy sense of right and wrong and self-image.

According to Elite Content Marketer (link), we are spending 3 hours and 43 minutes per day on our smartphones. More if you’re a millennial, and more if you’re in generation Z.

“So, this feels kind of judgmental, what are you suggesting?”

I’m not judging. I’m guilty. Almost all of us are. So, let me make some suggestions.

1.) Work to get your screen-time on your smartphone down to necessary communication related activities only.

It’s a phone. Just because you can play candy crush (or whatever game is popular nowadays) for hours on end while you use the bathroom and get hemorrhoids, doesn’t mean you should.

2.) Work to reduce the amount of time your kids spend on screens, especially tablets, smartphones and portable devices.

It will be challenging, but you don’t have to do it all at once. If your child currently spends 4 hours a day on a portable device, try to get it down to 3 a day for a week. Then shoot for 2.

3.) Establish these basic screen rules for your family.

• No screen-time during mealtime
• No screen-time in bedrooms
• No screen-time in the car

But, I don’t know what to do to fill up all the time! (25 Time With Your Kids Activities)

Well here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Read Books together (Make use of the public library!)
2. Play games as a family. (Uno is one of our favorites that works for younger kids)
3. Go for a walk as a family or with one child at a time.
4. Go to a park.
5. Ask your kid what their favorite toy is and why. (Favorite activity, book, movie, superhero, etc.)
6. Do some “Mr. Wizard” experiments.
7. Build a blanket fort.
8. Have a picnic (in the blanket fort if you want!)
9. Play some of the old backyard games (freeze-tag, red rover, etc.)
10. Play C-O-W or around the world at local basketball court.
11. Fly a Kite
12. Have a paper airplane contest
13. Draw, revise, re-draw and color a picture.
14. Write a story (Use a famous story like Toy Story as a guideline if you don’t know where to start.)
15. Bake or cook together.
16. Garden (Flowers are great, but kids love growing vegetables that you get to eat too!)
17. Study constellations in a book, then try to find them at night.
18. Have a water-balloon fight.
19. Write letters to neighbors, aunts & uncles and family members (or senior citizens in nursing homes)
20. Work on a project together (cleaning out their closet, weeding the flower beds, etc.)
21. Learn some “magic” tricks.
22. Listen to some music together, share your favorites even if they hate them! (Or listen to the top 40 from genres or from different years and decades, talk about the ones you like/dislike and why.)
23. Make sock puppets and put on a puppet show
24. Make a treasure hunt
25. Find a script for a popular play or movie and rein-act it together.

The post 25 Things you can do to spend Screen Free Time With Your Kids first appeared on David Lindner.

The term for this is, paradigm. In case you’re not sure what I mean by that, let me explain. Your paradigm (the lens through which you see the world, AKA worldview) is a combination of your beliefs, values, knowledge, identity, habits, family history & relationships. (And many more.)

Each of these areas of our lives affects how we see the world and in turn how we interpret what we see and what we experience.

In the beginning, Adam & Eve’s paradigm was God, His goodness and their God-given purpose. That was all they knew. These were the only filters available to them. This was their paradigm. And it was all they needed. Their identity wasn’t in question, they knew who they were. They believed in God and that was enough. They valued what God said to value. They did what God said to do. And their relationship with God and each other was perfect.

They weren’t roaming through the garden looking for their “Place in this world” (Any Michael W. Smith fans?). They were living out their God-given purpose every day. And it was really good.

But that one act of wanting to be God (determine for ourselves our own path and what is right and wrong) changed everything about how they saw and interacted with God’s world. And it changed everything for us also.

The “why”, that driving force behind their lives changed from their God-given purpose to the pursuit of personal pleasure. Their paradigm went from God-given purpose to personal pleasure.

How Do you see this paradigm at work in your life and in the world around us?

How is your paradigm affecting you

The post How Is Your Paradigm Affecting You first appeared on David Lindner.

For most of my life the church has been playing the relevance game. The church didn’t change its approach for a good half a century or more, and as a result, culture went flying by. At the same time, the speed at which culture was changing also greatly increased.

Today the church finds itself immersed in the flood of secular society. We took the relevance thing to the extreme and jettisoned nearly every meaningful expression of our faith because it was old and outdated. We’ve not just thrown the baby out with the bathwater, we’ve actually undermined our very foundation.

No, I’m not saying the church has to go back to the methods of the 1940’s and 50’s. There is nothing wrong with changing methods. At least that’s what all the leadership experts say. As long as the mission stays the same, it’s all good.

But, as I’ve written about quite a bit in my series on the church (read more here), through this process of “relevantization” we led the people in our churches into a big and dangerous lie. A lie that actually stands in direct contrast with Christianity.

What is the lie?

Well, the basic operating system of the secular society is built on the belief that we deserve to have everything we want, how we want it and when we want it. That’s how our world operates. That is the driving force or “magnetic pull” of secular society. I know this not only because I see it and read about it, but because I experience it. There are lots of things I want to be a certain way that aren’t that way and I spend a great deal of time trying to make them the way I want them to be. And if I’m not mistaken, you do the same thing.

The basic operating system of Christianity is to deny yourself, to die to the life you want for yourself, stop trying to save your life, lay down you life for your brother or sister – basically the exact opposite of the operating system of secular society.

The lie we have brought into the church that has been wreaking havoc for decades now is that we can bring secular society together with Christianity. We have believed that the two can somehow come together to create a space where people can get church the way they want it and that by getting what they want they will choose to come to our church over other churches.

(The church has basically only been moving people around for the last 30-40 years. The bulk of church growth in one church has come at the expense of the loss of people in other – usually smaller and older churches. This is not quite what Jesus had in mind either.)

We have trained generations of Christians to believe that they deserve to go to a church that offers them the programs and services they want for the stage of life they are in. We’re telling people they deserve to do whatever makes them happy when it comes to church which is about dying to all those things.

The two ideas aren’t just different, they’re not even oil and water, they’re actually opposed to each other.

That’s not to say that Christianity is actually fighting against culture. That’s not what I mean at all. We aren’t opposed to people outside the faith. Too many Christians live that way. But the way of Christ – which is a way of life – is opposed to the way of life of secular culture.

In fact, Christianity has been plagued with individuals and groups who have succumb to the lure of secularism. So many churches have split because half of the church wanted grey carpet while the other half didn’t see anything wrong with the purple. The group that wanted the grey wanted to be more relevant and the church that wanted the purple didn’t want to spend the money. Churches have split of pianos and pews. I took quite a bit of heat when I moved a section of orange padded pews out of the sanctuary at one church and replaced them with chairs that better matched the carpet. Other churches have split over doctrinal issues, issues that exist in large part because of their predominance in society. And everyone can support their side with a verse, albeit usually taken out of context, but a verse nonetheless.

Add to that all the Christian pastors and leaders who have fallen to the lure of secular society whether financially, egotistically, sexually and so on.

We are supposed to be different, but for the last 40 years or more we have been obsessed with looking more and more like secular culture. We are supposed to be a light to the people outside of Christianity. We are supposed to represent a way out of the chaos of secularism. Instead we’re doing the opposite. We’re trying to use secularism as a lure to draw people into something that’s entirely different, only, when they come into our “different” people discover it’s not all that different.

What should we do?

It’s actually quite simple: stop making every decision based on what we want. That’s actually what we’re supposed to die to. We’re actually supposed to deny ourselves not indulge ourselves. Modern Christianity seems to have become one indulgence after another. We took worship and turned it into a profit-driven product. We took preaching and turned it into a comparison. We took the organic nature of the living organism of the church and turned it into systematic, corporate pursuit for our own vanity.

So, the church you’re going to isn’t as cool as the church down the street. So? You’re church may not be as culturally trendy as that church, but that doesn’t mean God isn’t using your church to make a difference. Your pastor may not be as cool as Steven Furtick and your worship leader might not be as passionate as Bethel, but he’s YOUR pastor. He’ll be there for you when you’re sick or struggling and need some guidance and encouragement. Good luck getting that from Furtick. I get it, I love his preaching too.

So, your church doesn’t have the programs for your family that the church offers down the street. So? Maybe instead of following the desires of your heart you could get involved in creating that ministry in your church. The father of one family that left our church quite a while back told me the reason they were leaving was because our kids program just wasn’t working for their kids. Then he asked, “I have to do what’s best for my family, don’t I?” I can’t quite remember how I responded back then. I wasn’t quite as bold then as I now.

What would I say now? I would say, actually what’s going to be best for your family is to stick it out. Research shows that the kids who get experiences catered to their preferences are the most likely to leave the church when they grow up. But the kids who worship alongside adults, serve alongside adults and from middle school on start to learn what it’s like to be participate in a group where you have to make constant preferential compromises, well, those are the kids who endure in church.

A pastor who’s been in the ministry for longer than I’ve been alive said at a pastor’s lunch that he’s had at least 10-20 times more people come to his church over the years than he currently has attending. And that’s not visitors. He was talking about people who would come for a year or three or ten and then decide to move on. He said that he’s had to just learn to love people while you have them. I’m working on that.

But, I’m not very good at it. You see, I’ve always been a bit of an idealist. When I hear a pastor say that we just have to learn to love them while we have them, what I hear is concession. (I’m not being critical of this pastor at all.) We have this huge glaring problem in the church, and no one really seems to be working to solve it. It’s broken. It’s not the way it’s supposed to be.

We’re supposed to love one another unconditionally. In case you don’t know, unconditionally means without conditions. If there are conditions that cause us to stop loving the people God put us in community with then we aren’t loving unconditionally.

We’re supposed to be different. We’re not supposed to elevate our needs (which if we’re being honest aren’t really needs, they’re actually preferences and desires) above the needs of others, but we do it all the time. We fight against one another to get what we want and if we don’t get our way, we’ll go somewhere that will give us what we’re looking for.

We’re just not all that different anymore, myself included. Yes, Jesus will always build His church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Yes there will always be righteous remnant who will stick it out through the thick and thin. I’m so thankful for those who do.

But, I can’t help but wonder if we’ve stopped trying to be the ekklesia, which literally means the called out ones and have chosen instead to embrace the magnetic pull of the culture that actually opposes God’s plan.

The post Opposing Magnets: The Church and Secularism first appeared on David Lindner.

But, if you’ve been feeling anxious lately, this might be just the thing for you.

I grew up singing hymns every Sunday morning and evening. Sometimes on Sunday evenings, Dad would bring out the overhead projector and we’d sing choruses, but other than that, we sang everything out of the “People’s Hymnal” until the church bought the new “Hymnal for Worship & Celebration.” I have copies of both in my office. In fact, I have nearly two full shelves of hymnals in my office. I have boxes of other music from my days as a worship pastor in storage, but I keep these on my shelf in my office.

There’s something about these old songs that really resonates with so many of us. So much of our Christian heritage is encapsulated in these songs. Many of the songs that came out of the last great awakening our world experienced are in the pages of these old books.

To be honest, I find myself missing these old songs more than usual lately. Perhaps it’s because of the craziness of the world we live in. Maybe it’s because their melodies were pounded into my head at a young age. Maybe it’s because I’m getting old and nostalgic. I don’t know.

If you grew up singing hymns in church and find yourself missing them more than usual lately, you might want to check this out.

If you like to have some simple music on in the background while you work, this might be a good addition to your collection. If you like to have some music on while you pray or study Scripture, this might be simple and peaceful enough not to distract you and yet serve to enhance your time alone with God.

There are a lot of ways you can enjoy the album.

You can purchase it on Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube and others.

• Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08WTSNXS5/)
• Apple Music Link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/peaceful-piano-hymns-vol-1/1554537925
• 7Digital: https://us.7digital.com/artist/david-lindner/release/peaceful-piano-hymns-vol-1-14899866

You can also stream the music on whatever streaming service you prefer:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3LqrnWXNKE1cffPcMzJmQW?si=SWv1qqPRS1K7y-ssuzRA5Q
• Pandora: https://pandora.app.link/oEv66MN1Feb
• YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k_-hevn7mw-anh-gKZylRk3UYYbSoenDQ

The post Peaceful Piano Hymns, Volume 1, Now Available online first appeared on David Lindner.

Now, I’m asking for your help with something:

• Do you have a worship music playlist? Would you consider adding this album to your playlist?
• Do you have a preservice playlist for your church? Would you consider adding this album to that playlist?
• Do you know someone who has a worship music playlist? Would you recommend they add this to their playlist?

“What with the playlist thing?”

Good question.

So, here’s the deal. During the last reporting period for Spotify I had 85 total streams on my 2012 Christmas album. I made 29 cents from those 85 streams. That album only appears on 7 playlists total, including a few of my own. And that album isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so I get it.

But this album has a much broader appeal, especially on Spotify where people listen to playlists as background music all the time.

I have a goal of getting songs from this album on at least 100 playlists. Some playlists like this one I created has 10 followers. (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3KYXzCatH8EYMiDg93CSSv?si=n4vDD7I0S9OtPkKZlvynaQ Would you consider following this playlist? I’ll be adding my music to it.) But, there are other playlists that have tens of thousands, even millions of followers. The more playlists a song gets on, the greater the likelihood the Spotify folks will select it for one of their playlists, which have millions of followers.

So, will you help me get this music on some playlists? No, I’m not trying to get wealthy off of Spotify. That’s not likely to happen. But, getting this music out there for more people to hear and listen to and worship and meditate to, well, that’s why I’m doing this. And it would be awesome to make back some of the money I’ve invested into equipment and student loans that I’m still paying off for the music education I don’t really use.

I haven’t mentioned the streaming part until today. If you’d like to purchase the album, as I have said with other independent artists like myself, I always recommend buying the album from whatever digital platform you prefer (iTunes, Amazon, YouTube Music, etc.) and THEN stream it on Spotify or your preferred streaming platform. Do both. For independent artists you know, always do both.

Why do both? Because independent artists don’t have a label or PR person helping them get the word out. And, chances are, most independent artists you know aren’t the type who are likely to promote themselves and try to sell their music. I personally hate it. I’ve done more for this album than any other, but I still feel slimy about it.

So, yes if you’d consider buying it for 10 bucks, that would be awesome. But also, if you’d consider adding this to a playlist and then actually playing that playlist, that would be great too.

Aside from giving people a tool to help them in their personal worship, (I’ll be writing more about that tomorrow) I have some numeric goals, and they seem kind of crazy, but you can help for free if you want.

• Get on 100+ playlists with 100+ followers. (I don’t know how, but still a goal)
• Go from 4 monthly listeners to over 10,000 monthly listeners this year.
• Make enough money to actually receive a payout from CD Baby. (Still 37 dollars short)
• Get one of my solo piano songs on an official Spotify playlist.
• Be able to help other artists get their music heard.

You are free not to do any of this and I won’t think less of you for it. I’m not keeping a list of all my friends who do/don’t so that I can do a drive by fruiting. But, it’s free and even very easy in terms of the amount of time it takes to do some of these things.

So, I figured I’d ask. The worst that could happen is you’d say no. The most likely thing to happen is you’ll forget before you finish reading this senten….

The post Help me get playlisted with “Peaceful Piano Hymns” first appeared on David Lindner.

Distraction is one of the most dominant themes of our technologically advanced modern lives. We are consuming more and more content for shorter and shorter lengths of time. Major platforms like Instagram don’t even allow you to share longer videos.

It shouldn’t surprise us that we are also the most anxious, stressed and depressed generation in history. Our stress ratings are going through the roof at an astronomical rate. Tensions are high and getting higher. The pressure to perform at higher levels is itself at a higher level.

It’s easy, in the mist of this kind of a culture to find ourselves weary and troubled. It’s easy to only see the problems and darkness that abounds. It’s easy to experience these problems, lose hope and start to believe the lie that the enemy is winning and all we can do is wave the flag of surrender.

But there is a reality that exists in the presence of this struggle and darkness, a reality that cannot be seen with our physical eyes and often unheard by our physical ears. The reality is, there has never been a moment when God isn’t in control.

All we need to do, in fact all we can do is turn our eyes upon Jesus. That is the only way that the things of the earth can be put into their proper perspective. When we look fully into His wonderful face we will be able to see into the eyes of victory over the sin and rebellion, discovering the truth that we are more than conquerors.

When our eyes are fixed on Christ, not only do we discover personal peace in the midst of chaos, we also unearth deep within us a desire put there by God himself to bring others out of the chaos of these turbulent times and into the realm of peace that passes understanding.

Whatever you’re facing today, turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.

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.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion
For more than conqu’rors we are!

His Word shall not fail you, He promised;
Believe Him and all will be well;
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

The post Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus first appeared on David Lindner.

People say a whole bunch of things about climbing a mountain. Things like “The best view comes after the hardest climb.” The three rules of mountaineering say: “It’s always further than it looks. It’s always taller than it looks. And it’s always harder than it looks.” And one of my favorites: “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” (Sir Edmund Hillary)” But I don’t know if any of them would suggest packing spicy fried chicken into your pack before you leave.

I don’t know if you know me personally, but I’m not a small guy. I’m not massive, but I’ve got one of those frames that don’t work well with BMI charts. I’m pretty sure that the weight of just my bones alone would put me in the obese category.

On top of that, I have asthma, which makes long periods of physical exertion fairly challenging. But, I decided early on that I was going to do it, that I would make it to the top and back. So, I trained that way.

For months I carried a backpack with 30-40 pounds of weights in it up and down hills near our home and in the Columbia River Gorge. My brother (who had climbed before) said he didn’t think I’d need to carry that much, but I wanted to be over-prepared. Not because I wanted to win, but because I didn’t want to be one of the people you see on the news getting flown off the mountain in a helicopter.

I bought some gear like poles and hiking boots, and figured I could carry enough water in the back pack for the hike.

The night before, I couldn’t sleep. Like often happens on Saturday nights before church on Sunday. I got out of bed early, to be at the meeting point on time. Of course, everyone else was late. We signed in and read all the warnings, drove to the drop off site and it was time to start.

As we started the hike, we were met by other climbers who were already on their way back down. This definitely gave off the wrong impression. “I mean, if they’re already on their way down, this might not be too bad after all.”

The first couple of miles weren’t so bad, just a typical northwest hike. Awesome trees and beautiful views for miles. I even remember having some short sentenced conversations during this part of the journey. But, that didn’t last.

I wasn’t prepared, at all, for what came next. I’d read about it in forums, but I didn’t train for how difficult it would be to get through the boulder fields. The boulders, some of which were as big as me, were something you had to climb. And being “not small” that meant, I had to hoist my weight up and over hundreds of boulders for what felt like a couple of days.

Finally, we got through the boulder fields and into what is referred to as the “pumy”. This is the blanked of pumice that covers the top 1,000 feet or so of the mountain. It’s like walking on marbles. You take a step up and slide back about 70% of the step you just took.

But, I wasn’t going to quit, so I just kept going. Well, I finally made it to the top, to join the rest of the family, many of whom were ready to start heading back. They were the “in-shape” part of our group. The kind that do this kind of thing for fun. One even volunteered to be a part of a rescue team to get people like me off the mountain.

When I got to the top, people were eating lunch. I didn’t have much of an appetite, but my aunt shared some of her Safeway spicy fried chicken with me. If you want to know a great meal to eat on the top of a mountain, it’s not spicy fried chicken.

I’d run out of water on the way up. I was able to bum a few sips from others, but I was super dehydrated. And we still had to get down. Which is just as hard as going up. Especially the boulder fields. They don’t necessarily get easier because you’re going down.

I was blessed to have some family members hang back with me, and keep me company, though most of the family were long ago. I even had one cousin who finished, made it to the parking lot, then came back to make sure I was okay. He walked with me the rest of the way back, because “we can’t leave anyone on the mountain.” I’ll never forget that.

Eventually, I finished. I was the absolute last one. Others had already eaten and left. Some were still eating. Everyone was ready to be home.

I lost 10 pounds on that day. So, if you’ve got a boxing match coming up and you want to get into a lower weight class, I know one way to do that.

I learned some things on that climb, that have stuck with me years later.

1.) I live in a world where I have climbed a mountain. It sounds ridiculous, but not everyone can say that. Often times while driving around town or on the way home, I’ll look at Mt. St. Helens and think, “I’ve stood on the top of that mountain.” Not everyone can say that. Yes, the view was amazing.

2.) Preparation is important, but people are importanter. I know it’s not a word. But, it’s true. I definitely wanted to quit, but having people going through the same struggle as me, some with other challenges I didn’t have, it helped quite a bit. Plus, had it not been for the generosity and fun nature of my aunt, I wouldn’t have had any spicy chicken.

3.) I succeeded because I had decided in advance not to quit. I say this all the time, but many things in life that we wrestle with are things we shouldn’t wrestle with. We waste lots of mental energy trying to determine if we are going to do something, when we should have just done it. The same is true for so many things in life. Like church. Don’t wait until Sunday morning to determine if you’re going to church. Decide right now that you are going to be at church every Sunday for the rest of your life. You can always make exceptions, but when the exception is the rule, there is nothing stopping you from staying home. “It’s not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves.”

4.) Quitting wasn’t an option. Sure, I could have quit and they would have called a rescue team to get me. They have a one wheeled gurney to get you down the mountain. But, when one of the guys who might be getting you was also on the hike with you, it makes that a little harder to play that card. You got yourself into this mess, you’re getting yourself out.

5.) Life happens in the valley. When we got to the top, there was no life there. There are no trees, no grass, no water, no shelter. The conditions through the winter are harsh and unfavorable for survival. Climbing a mountain is something you do one one day for the experience of having done it. But you don’t life on the mountain.

Throughout most of human history, humans have made their dwellings in the lush and fertile climate of the valley. The mountains play a purpose in the system. They collect snow, which melts during the summer to provide water for the valley.

We should not be confused into thinking that mountaintop experiences are what life should be made of. Nor should we constantly compare life in the valley to the one-time experience of climbing a mountain. Experiences are good, but they are just that, experiences. Sure, we have many experiences in life, many good and some bad. And it’s often the experiences that serve as trail markers on the journey. But, so much of our lives are lived in the ordinary, day-to-day life of the valley.

I’ll never forget that day and the struggle I had. I’ll never forget the help from family. I’ll never forget eating spicy Safeway chicken on the summit.

But, life happens in the valley.

It’s when we come back down to the valley after having climbed the mountain that we gain the benefit from having climbed a mountain. It adds some much needed perspective to life in the valley. It shows us just how good it is where the peaceful waters flow. Yes, climbing a mountain has had an impact on my life, but no where near the amount of impact life in valley has and will have.

The soreness of that day is long gone, and much of the mental anguish of the experience has now been transformed into positive memories, much like what happens to parents who have had one kid and somehow decided to have 3 more. Someday, I’ll go back up there again. I’ll struggle and exert myself until I get up and back. And I’m certain I’ll be the caboose of whatever train it is on that day. But, what I know is that the blessings of the fertile valley of life we all live in, the ones we take for granted, these are what life is.

And, no matter what happens to me, thanks to my aunt, I’ll always be able to say that I ate Spicy friend chicken from Safeway on the top of Mt St Helens.

The post Eating Spicy Fried Chicken On The Top of Mt. St. Helens first appeared on David Lindner.

One of the things I love about this hymn (and so many others) is the way each verse puts a different focus on this verse which is the chorus. Each verse paints a different picture. Verse 1 is about God’s gift of grace to us. Verse 2 speaks of the peace that we receive from that grace. Verse 3 talks about the Spirit, 4 talks about going through trials and 5 about the coming day of Christ’s return. Each verse points us back to the one in whom we have believed that will lead us through every one of these situations until that day.

My album, “Peaceful Piano Hymns” which will be released on Tuesday, March 16th, here is a little bit of “I Know Whom I Have Believed.”

Lyrics:
I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.

Refrain:
But “I know Whom I have believed,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.”

I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word
Wrought peace within my heart.

I know not how the Spirit moves,
Convincing men of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word,
Creating faith in Him.

I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days,
Before His face I see.

I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air.

The post I Know Whom I Have Believed, Peaceful Piano Hymns first appeared on David Lindner.

In Part 2, we talked about how dopamine is driving much of our approach to church.

In Part 3, we took a very brief look at the Bible’s teaching against pursuing certain desires.

In Part 4, we talked about Dopenet’s destructive role in the church.

Today, (If I haven’t completely ticked you off and you’re still reading) I want to talk about the answer.

In the upper room, Jesus established a New Covenant between His followers and the Father. (For a quick tutorial on Covenants, I highly recommend this video from The Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/covenants/)

The church was created in the upper room on the foundation of the New Covenant. However, that covenant where we remember the sacrifice of Jesus is not just a reminder of the Cross. It’s a reminder of the call to follow Christ and a reminder of the unity of all believers throughout History.

And just like the covenants prior to Jesus, this covenant came with a command. But, unlike the covenant with Moses that had 613 commands, this covenant only had one accompanying command, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35 NIV)

As the old Hymn goes, “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her lord. We are a new creation by water and the word.” We are built together on the foundation of Christ and the apostles, with Jesus himself as the cornerstone. (Eph. 2:20)

That means that the entire church throughout human history, everyone who claims Christ, is built on the foundation of the New Covenant and its one accompanying command, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

How did Jesus love us? “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Before we existed, before we could do anything to earn his love, God extends His love toward us through Christ on the cross.

This is the self-sacrificial love that started the church and it’s the self-sacrificial love that is supposed to be the hallmark of the church. The light that we are supposed to shine brightly to the world as a city set on a hill is the light of laying down our lives for one another. When Jesus said, “anyone who comes after me must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me” it wasn’t just figurative language. To be a follower of Christ requires self sacrifice and it requires us carrying the same cross of loving one another to the point of death the same way Christ loved us.

It doesn’t take must to see the stark contrast between Jesus’ approach to church and our modern approach. The two could hardly be more different. Jesus died to give the church life. We take from the church until it has nothing left to offer us and then move on to do the same to another.

The problem with our current, dopamine driven approach to church is that we’re trying to join together two things that are fundamentally opposed to one another.

Dopamine and desire are the root causes of our rebellion against God. The fruit with which Adam and Eve rebelled against God was “desirable.” It was desirable for gaining wisdom, aka being more like God. The pursuit of personal desire is equitable to rebellion. As we have said, when what you want is more important than anything else, you’re not only rebelling against God, but you’re worshipping an idol.

Our current approach to church is all about personal desire. And that’s what we, as modern day Christians need to deny and die to.

We have to stop seeing the church as something that exists to meet my needs and desires. We have to stop seeing the church as yet another thing in our modern society that we can customize and have “our way.” It’s “my way” thinking that got us into this mess in the first place.

In a recent sermon at our church I said: We need people who will say, “the pastor said this stupid thing, and the elders did this dumb thing, and they don’t have the programs that I want for my kids, and the worship isn’t quite what I would prefer, and the building is kind of a ghetto, and the pastor thinks his funny but he’s really not, and I just absolutely love my church.”

Why? Because church isn’t about the fulfilment of personal preferences. Church is about serving one another in love. It’s about carrying one another’s burdens. It’s about faithfully walking with one another. It’s about being there for one another without needing the organization of church systems to coerce us into it. It’s about sticking it out through the thick and thin. It’s about reconciliation.

The real church is about all the things that the modern church isn’t about.

Our role as Christ followers is to love God with our entire being and to love our neighbor in the same way that we love ourselves.

We are supposed to be actively working to deny ourselves the things our flesh wants and to be people who hunger and thirst for righteousness. When we use the things of this world to fill the hunger in our souls, we are always thirsty and never satisfied. But when we are hungry and thirsty for the righteousness of the Kingdom of God, we will be satisfied. (Matt 5:6)

We have it so good today. If the early church leaders knew the luxury of modern church, they may scoff at us. “You have buildings? You have Microphones? You can do church online so people can watch from their couches? Wow, our people get used as street lamps and lion fodder.”

So what is the answer for the problem of the church today? The same as it was at the beginning. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. Love one another the same way Christ has loved us.

We need to stop fighting for our rights and getting what we want. We need to stop jumping from church to church because they have something our current church doesn’t offer. We need to stop using the church to benefit ourselves personally. We need to stop running when there is a conflict in the church or when someone has a problem with me or when I have a problem with someone else.

We need to stick with the church God led us to until God leads us away. And by God I mean God, nothing else.

So, your church isn’t like you want it to be. So what. Your church isn’t as cool and your pastor isn’t as trendy. Yeah? Big deal. Those were never meant to be determining factors in our covenantal commitment to God’s bride that Jesus died to create. The church is supposed to be counter-cultural. We’re supposed to look different. We aren’t supposed to look the same.

God didn’t lead you to your church to consume your pastor’s preaching until you get tired of it, or until you discover another preacher on YouTube that you like better. God led you to your church because he has a role for you to play in fulfilling the great commission through that body. God is assembling the perfect body at your church to reach the people only your church can reach. Your purpose at your church is not to fight for your way. Your purpose is to die to your way so that someone who is outside the kingdom can find their seat at God’s table.

So, what if you took leaving your church off the table? What if you committed to staying at your church until you die or until God speaks very clearly to you to move you somewhere else? What if you determined to work through all the good and the bad, the ups and the downs, the coming and going of others, the changes in style that you love and the ones that you hate? What if we were as committed to our church family as Jesus was to us on the cross? What if we stop fighting for what we think we’re entitled to because we’ve put in our time and deserve to get what we want for a change and instead thought about what others around us need to deepen their faith?

That’s the kind of church I want to lead. That’s the kind of church I want to be a part of. That’s the kind of church I want my kids to grow up in and remember when they’re older.

The thing we’re looking for we will only find when we stop looking for things and start seeking God with all our hearts.

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13.

The post Upside Down Church, Part 5: The Answer first appeared on David Lindner.

In Part 1, we talked about how our entire approach to church is about ourselves and our desires.

In Part 2, we talked about how dopamine is driving much of our approach to church.

In Part 3, we took a very brief look at the Bible’s teaching against pursuing certain desires.

Today, we talk about the desire factory we live in known as the internet.

One of the worst things that has happened as a result of the internet and social media is dissatisfaction. Prior to the internet, we would only be dissatisfied with something when someone in our life gave us reason to be. If the neighbors got a new car, we’d want one. If a family member went to a new church, we’d want to. But, with internet 2.0 we’re bombarded with people we know getting new everything all the time.

The internet, which we may as well call, dopenet, is all about more. More stuff, more ideas, more followers, more, more, more. More division, more independence, more speed, more, more, more. I saw an Amazon truck on the free way that ways, “Truckloads of more.” And it’s more we can have on our doorstep the next day, sometimes the same day.

Before the pandemic, Americans were spending an average of 11 hours per day in front of a screen. Yes, much of that for work, but another 4-6 hours per day outside of work. We’re awake for about 16 hours per day. So, 11/16th or 68% of our day is spent infront of a screen. The average american sees thousands of advertisements per day. (During the pandemic, those numbers went through the roof, but there isn’t any data yet to show how high.)

Simultaneously, advertisers are becoming informed more and more by science, making them more effective at using dopamine to get us to get their stuff. We’re not giving ourselves a fighting chance. It’s hard to overcome the siren call of dopamine when we submit ourselves to it’s pull for 68% of our day.

Add to that the fact that here in the pacific northwest, our people are already more independent and adventurous in the DNA. (Yes, that’s actually true.) When someone we know gets that new, shiny thing and brags about it, dopamine tells us to pursue it and more. You need more, because dopamine is also driving us to win and to dominate the people in our lives. Dopamine drives us to elevate ourselves and prove that we are better.

And the same is true with church. When someone we know experiences the dopamine high that comes with a new church, dopamine tells us we should get that same feeling. And then the justifications begin. The church God led you to is about to die the death of a thousand justifications. It’s called confirmation bias.

Once we have an idea in mind, our brains start looking for evidence to support the thing we want. According to Wikipedia: “Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values.” Under the influence of dopamine because of what you’ve seen from a friend on social media, your brain starts to actively look for evidence to interpret and favor your newfound desire to find a new church. On top of that your brain will start to recall a list of flaws and problems you’ve collected over your time at that church and bring them to mind to support your new thesis. Not only have we moved beyond sacrificing ourselves for the good of the body, now we’re doing exactly the opposite of part of the scriptural definition of love. “Love keeps no record of wrong” until you need to justify and vilify the church you want to leave.

This is where some of the greatest damage is done to churches. People under the influence of dopamine, needing something new & shiny to sustain their dopamine high, often start looking for good reasons to leave their church and fine a new one. These justifications become ammunition against the church, leadership, ministries, programs, etc. and become the validation for leaving.

I am coming to realize how addicted I am to the siren call of dopamine in my life. I want more all the time. It’s easy for me to listen to successful pastors and want their preaching skills or to hear their audiences and want that.

This is one of the reasons I fast regularly. If you don’t know how to endure physical hunger and tell yourself no when your stomach wants more than it needs, how are you going to be able to tell your mind no when it wants more.

Dopamine has been the driving force behind the worship wars. “We deserve to have the kind of worship we want!” Dopamine drives us to want our church to be like “______” church (fill in the blanks with Northpoint, Willow Creek, Saddleback, Elevation, Bethel, etc.) Dopamine is in the driver’s seat in our approach to church.

Before the internet, we wouldn’t have known about most of these churches. We wouldn’t have known we needed our pastor to teach more like Andy Stanley. We wouldn’t have known that we needed our church have a strategy like Saddleback. We wouldn’t have known how to be a cool, buff pastor who uses a handheld mic if it wasn’t for the internet and Elevation Church. And we wouldn’t have known that we needed our worship to be like Bethel. Dopenet is destroying the church. (If God wanted all churches to be the same in all expressions, He would have been explicit about that in the New Testament.)

Also, we’re losing our testimony because of our dopamine addiction. We believe we have the right to xyz. And our clinging to our rights, fighting for our rights and vilifying those who disagree with our rights and pose a threat to them has put a big, thick bushell over our light of selflessness that’s supposed to be shining brightly for the world to see.

What’s the answer? That’s for tomorrow.

The post Upside Down Church, Part 4: Dopenet’s Destructive Effect on the Church first appeared on David Lindner.

In Part 2, we talked about how dopamine is driving much of our approach to church.

Today, I want to give us a biblical view of desire.

The desires of our flesh are opposed to our desire for God’s best for our lives. At least when they’re driving everything. Scripture is full of warnings about our desires:

• “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.” James 4:2
• “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” Galatians 5:13
• “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.” 1 John 2:16
• “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Romans 13:14
• “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,” 2 Timothy 4:3
• “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16

“But doesn’t the Bible say that God will give us the desires of our heart?” Yes, after it says “delight yourself in the Lord.”

We all want God to give us the desires of our hearts. We pray and ask God to give us what we want. When He does, we believe in Him. When He doesn’t, we doubt. That that’s not how it’s supposed to work. We’re supposed delight ourselves in the Lord. Make ourselves happy, or make merry over God. We’re not supposed to use God to get Him to give us the stuff we want that we think will make us happy.

Instead, we’re supposed to desire more and more of the Lord. “Love the Lord with all your heart…” The heart is where desire comes from. With all our desires, we are to love the Lord.

Unfortunately, many times in my life, the desires of my heart have been for myself and I have tried to use God to give them to me. That’s called exploitation. When you use someone or something else unfairly to get what you want from them, you’re exploiting them. God doesn’t exist to give you what you want. In fact, he doesn’t exists for our benefit. He didn’t create us because He needed us. He created us because He wanted us. God doesn’t lack or need anything. But, he wanted us. He wanted us to worship Him.

Instead, we worship ourselves and so many created things. Truth #1: Whatever consumes my attention and my affection is what I worship. For most of us, the thing that consumes our attention and affection is ourselves. We spend most of our waking hours concerned with getting what we want and making as much of life go our way as we possibly can. For others, we worship ideas, people and things. We spend our time obsessing over political ideologies, entertainers and technological devices.

Truth #2: We become like what we worship. “They worshipped worthless idols and became worthless themselves.” (2 Kings 17:5). Ironically, the way to boost your self-worth is not to focus more on yourself and what you want. That’s a surefire way to diminish it. At best, you’ll just become more like you, which is the original problem. At worst, you’ll spiral downward as you aren’t enough for you. But, worship God, the one who made you in His image and you’ll start to find the real worth with which your make created you.

So, allowing ourselves take the church, the body of Christ who’s primary purpose for existence is to worship God as one body and turning it into something we use to meet our personal desires and treat as a commodity that we consume is…exactly backwards. We exploit the church for the purposes of our own desires.

Enter, the Internet and the destructive force it has played in the church. Tomorrow.

The post Upside Down Church, Part 3: Desire, Biblically Speaking first appeared on David Lindner.

Today, we’re going to talk dopamine, but first a story.

In high school, I worked at a pizza place called “Cardo’s.” I was a delivery boy most of the time, including the night of the flood. There was a big creek (proper southeast Ohio pronunciation is crick) behind the store. All night long as I worked I saw the waters rapidly rising in this creek. Higher than any of us ever remembered.

By the end of the night, when we closed early, the waters were up to the level of the sidewalk in the back of the store. We normally parked the cars behind the store, close to the creek. This night, we parked in front of the store. But that wasn’t much better.

The next day, I drove as close as I could get to the store where I could see the cars pushed up against one another and the building by the current of the floodwaters.

Another driver and myself decided to go into the waters and push the cars out to the mechanic next door. It was all we knew to do to be able to help. The water was about knee level inside the store, a little higher in the parking lot.

We had no idea what was in that water. I must have touched my face while some of that water was on my hand. I ended up getting something the doctor diagnosed as Impetigo, a skin infection. Thankfully some antibiotics cleared it up.

The water was dirty, but we went in anyway, thinking we were doing the right thing.

Now, Let’s talk dope. Dopamine that is. Dopamine is the molecule of more. (Read “The Molecule of More” by Daniel Liberman, not a Christian book, FYI) Dopamine is never satisfied. It’s insecure. What you have is never enough, you need more, just in case.

Desire is the problem. God wants his people to want Him more than anything else. Unfortunately, we are so addicted to the instant gratification that comes with the fulfilment of our physical and tangible desires that we don’t understand how famished our souls are for God.

Dopamine drives us to want more. Dopamine is never satisfied. And nearly everything in our modern American life has been engineered to use dopamine to addict us. The News media uses dopamine to get us addicted to their fear-based narratives. Video game makers are masters of dopamine manipulation. And social media makers like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (and whatever other new fangled social media apps the kids are using these days), along with other major tech leaders like Amazon, Google, Samsung and others all employ “attention engineers”, who’s job is to get you to spend more and more time on their platforms and devices.

We are very unaware of the high level of manipulation that is taking place in our modern society. Even when we see the devastating effects of it, as we have seen throughout 2020, we continue to allow these platforms and attention engineering manipulators unrestricted access to our hearts, minds and lives.

Dopamine was designed by God to help us find the nourishment we need to thrive and fulfill his command to be fruitful and multiply. But, like everything else, it too has been compromised by the fall. It is something that can become a curse to us.

Think about life before any form of technology. Survival wasn’t a guarantee. Many people died before the age of 40 and families often had 4 or more kids, so that if one didn’t make it, you’d still have 3 left. It sounds morbid, but it was reality. Society wasn’t nearly as affluent either. So, people had to work hard to survive, to find food, fuel for warmth and building shelter. Dopamine was critical. Your literal survival was on the line.

Today it’s much different. Thanks to various advancements, most live into their 70’s. And being in the country that has developed the technology that drives the world, we have enjoyed affluence. Even the poorest among us have more at their disposal than much of the world. We have more than more than enough. But, still we’re never satisfied. That’s dopamine. Where dopamine used to be driving us to help us survive, now it’s driving us to fill our lives with more and more of the stuff we don’t need.

Desire is dopamine. Curiosity = dopamine. Anticipation = dopamine. New & shiny = dopamine. Secrets (aka gossip) = dopamine. Comparison = dopamine.

Our modern technological world is giving us hits of dopamine at every turn. Social media, video games, YouTube, major dopamine. TV shows, podcasts, commercials, news – nearly everything you do on a screen is using dopamine.

We are living in mirky flood waters of technological advancement. Technology that we also mindlessly adopt into most facets of our lives. The waters of technology have risen so rapidly and our dopamine driven desire led by curiosity and the desire for the new and shiny have led us into some very mirky, dirty and dangerous waters. There are unknowns lying in wait beneath the surface that we can’t detect. Unknowns that are devouring our souls without our knowledge. Infections that are eating away at the very foundation of humanity and civilization before our eyes.

And the same thing has happened to and in the church. Many of us as church leaders have mindlessly embraced this technology. Many of us have allowed the dopamine driven ways of our culture to infiltrate the way we run and build models of ministry in the digital era.

Like anything, I believe that technology can be used by God to spread the gospel and build the church. But, like anything, it can also be used for increasingly insidious purposes and we need to be more and more cautious with it.

What technology has done, however, has little to do with the devices themselves. They are merely mechanisms for the real problem. Dopamine driven desire.

Our devices are filling our minds with the lie that we can and should have everything in our lives the way we want it to be. Not only that, but that we deserve to have everything the way we want it. And that we are fools to settle for anything “less than the best”. After all we work hard.

The truth is, no matter how good we are at getting things in our lives the way we want them, that is a pursuit that will always end in disappointment. It will never satisfy us. We will always want more. Because that’s what dopamine does.

And the truth is, this same thinking has deeply infiltrated our approach to church. We want more.

Just like dopamine plays a huge role in “falling in love” and when that “feeling” wears off we feel like we are “falling out of love” (when what is really happening is less and less dopamine is being produced in our brains while the “here and now chemicals” of oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins are taking over) we do the same thing with choosing a church.

At first, everything is new and shiny and amazing. As the dopamine wears off and we start to notice more and more things that aren’t quite like we wish they were, we start to fall “out of love” with the church and find ourselves dreaming of finding the perfect church.

Not only is there no such thing as a perfect church, and not only would you ruin that church if you found it, we end up walking away from what may be the most perfect church for us because we think there is something better out there. The truth is, we don’t need to go to the church we want to go to. We need the church that needs us and that we need. And I’m old enough to know that what I want and what I need are rarely the same thing.

As we will see in the next posts, true satisfaction, joy and happiness only comes when we deny our desires and embrace the call of Christ to deny ourselves, take up the cross of loving one another sacrificially and follow Jesus instead of trying to get Jesus to follow us where we want to go.

Until then, maybe think twice before adopting that new piece of technology. You might end up with an infection that’s hard to cure.

The post Upside Down Church, Part 2: The Dopamine Floodwaters first appeared on David Lindner.

Is it wrong to want your church to grow? No, I don’t think so. Healthy things grow. In fact, when a plant or a tree doesn’t grow, it’s a sign that something is wrong.

But, should we be completely obsessed with growth in our churches? Should everything be driven and decided based on how it will affect a church’s ability to add people to the roster? Should all of our energy and effort be spent on getting the number on that wooden reader board going up every week?

What kind of a church have we created in America by pursuing growth at all costs? It’s certainly not a very spiritually mature one. In fact…

The fruit of this pursuit is a church that’s driven by exactly the wrong thing. We have churches full of people who think the church exists to meet their needs and keep them happy. People who treat the church like a commodity to be consumed. Who evaluate and choose a church like they would a new car or streaming service.

Scripture teaches that the foundation of the church is the apostles. Most of whom were martyred. The command that drove the apostles was the command of Jesus in the upper room to love one another like He loved them, by giving his life for them on the cross. Jesus said the requirement for being his disciple is denying yourself daily. And the cross we’re supposed to carry is the cross of loving others sacrificially.

Our entire approach to church is about ourselves which is actually the opposite of the call for following Christ. And that’s just for choosing churches. It’s just as off when it comes to staying with a church.

The gospel says to lay down our lives for the benefit of others. When things aren’t going to way we think they should be in our church, we start making justifications for our departure. We become intoxicated with the idea of what a new church or new approach to church might offer us (another sign of our addiction to Americanized Christianity) and are able to find a thousand reasons why our church is the problem. Our church dies the death of a thousand justifications.

The church has become a means through which our desires are to be met and when they aren’t, the church is the problem, not us.

The way it’s supposed to be is: deny yourself, lay down your life for your brothers and sisters in Christ.

The way it is: sacrifice my brothers and sisters in Christ in pursuit of the fullfilment of my own desires.

This may be a hard truth to grasp, and I don’t mean to offend anyone with it. But, the church was never supposed to be a place where I am served. It’s supposed to be a body, for whom, I lay down my life.

Church is a sacrificial community. And the only correlation sacrificial community has with my personal desires and preferences is that I have to deny them.

Not getting what you want isn’t a reason to leave a church. Getting what you want isn’t a reason to stay at a church. Getting things the way you want them isn’t a reason to lead a church. In fact, this is one of the hardest lessons for young leaders to learn. I had to learn it. As a pastor, I can’t make decisions for the church based on what would work best for me personally. I have to make decisions for the church based on what’s best for the whole community and what God wants for us.

Not having the programs you want isn’t a reason to leave a church. Until recently, our church hasn’t had a youth program. It’s been that way for several years. During that time, we have had many people try out our church and choose not to attend our church because we didn’t have a youth program. Many would even say, “we love the church, our kids loved 6:8 kids, but there just isn’t anything for our teenager.” One time, I may or may not have responded by saying, “If you and the other families who have said that to me would stay, we would have a youth group.” They didn’t come back.

Is it wrong to want a good youth program for my kids? No. Is it wrong to assume that a church without a youth program won’t be a place that God can develop my kids? Absolutely. In fact, there has been quite a bit of research now showing that youth groups may have played a big part in the rise of the “dones” and the “nones”. (Those young adult Christians who say they are done with church or choose “none” when it comes to religious affiliation.) It turns out catering to kids their whole lives and then sending them into a larger group of adults with a worship environment that isn’t perfectly tailored to their desires doesn’t work so well. (Read “Sticky Faith” and “Growing Young” by Dr. Kara Powell)

We’ve created and have been replicating “Me Church” for decades and decades now. And that’s exactly backwards from God’s design. Me Church is upside down from what God originally intended.

Tomorrow, we’re going to look a little bit more at this idea of desire, getting what you want and dopamine’s effect on the current culture of church in America.

The post Upside Down Church, Part 1: Me Church first appeared on David Lindner.

Did you know that if you tell yourself that you need to do something, your own brain will rebel against yourself? Seriously. We are rebels. All of us. Yes, me too. I am a rebel. When I tell myself I need to get healthy and lose weight, it’s the last thing I want to do.

If someone says we should do something, we instinctively rebel against it. Even when (or I think especially when) those things are good for us. I call it the rebel reflex. You should eat healthy. No. You should read your Bible. No. You should work less and spend more time with your family. No.

But, I’ve been noticing it more and more. What’s concerning is how many Christ-followers resist authority.

Yes, I’ve heard the justifications. I’ve had many of those justifications used against me as a pastor. But it’s definitely not limited to pastors. We feel even more emboldened for some reason when it comes to governmental leaders.

It doesn’t really matter who the leader is. We might agree with a leader on everything except for one issue, but we allow that one issue to become the most important thing to us and it becomes divisive. Once we find one issue, we start looking for justifications. And the leader dies the death of a thousand justifications.

Or the moment a leader says or does something we don’t like or disagree with, we feel justified in our rebellion against that leader. So we go in search of a replacement and throw our support behind them until the same thing happens again. And we feel perfectly justified in doing so.

I think it’s because we have conflated our “rights” as Americans with the call of Christianity. And we bring those American “rights” into our Christianity. The problem is, they don’t work so well together. If America is about “unalienable rights”, Christianity is about alienable rights. Christianity is denying yourself, laying down your life for others.

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34-35

Love means sacrifice. The way we love one another is the same way Jesus love us, by dying in our place. Does the way, the truth and the life have the God given right to be alive? I would think so. But he denied that right for our benefit.

For Jesus, the Son of God and third member of the Trinity of the “I Am”, it would have been well within his “rights” to demand that Pilate bow and worship him and submit to His ultimate authority over all created things. But what does Jesus do? He submits to Pilate’s authority the same way He submitted to Herod’s authority and the authority of Caiaphas. Jesus denied himself, took up His cross and made a way to the Father for our benefit. His denial required him to submit to immoral, unbiblical authorities. He didn’t put up a fight, He didn’t protest, He didn’t have a list of justifications for why He didn’t need to submit.

Both Peter and Paul say it:

¹³ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴ or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

1 Peter 2:13-15

The very sad and unfortunate truth is that our problem with authority has had massive consequences for the Gospel.

“But, they’re so immoral. How can I submit to someone who ________.” Let’s take a look at Romans 13:1-2

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ² Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

Paul, told the Romans to be subject to governing authorities. Rome! You know Rome right? It’s where they beheaded people who admitted they were Christians. It’s where the used Christians as street lights. It’s where they watched Christians wrestle with Lions and leopards for entertainment.

And yet, Paul was telling the Romans to be subject to the authority of Rome. Why? Because whoever rebels against their authority is rebelling against what God has instituted. God puts leaders in place. Even the evil ones. That’s a hard truth to understand, but God has been using evil leaders to accomplish his purposes all throughout history.

Unfortunately, Christians in America have been so vocally and demonstrably opposed to any authority figure they don’t agree with lately that we have lost our ability to shine as lights in the darkness. Instead, we have embraced the ways of darkness by vilifying those leaders. We speak ill of them, call them names and make it our mission to let people know that we don’t follow their leadership.

I get it. I do. We all think we’re right. We all think we know what’s best. We all think if people would just do what we wanted them to do, everyone would be much better off. Maybe you don’t, but I have definitely thought that. But that’s not love. There has only been one person who knew what was right and lived what was right. And if Jesus is our example, then we need to learn how to do what He did: Submit.

³² This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
    and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
³³ In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.”

Acts 8:32-33

Jesus was deprived of Justice and yet, even though He was being wrongfully executed he was silent. Many of the early martyrs did the same. Others shared the gospel while they were taking their last breaths. In all cases, there were certainly people watching who were appalled at the injustice taking place.

I haven’t been good at this and I want to be better. I haven’t been great at submitting to authorities. I haven’t been great at being silent when I’m wrongfully accused. But, as Paul said in Romans 12, quoting from Deuteronomy 32 ““Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” If a leader is doing something wrong, God will deal with that. If someone is doing something wrong to me, God will make that right too.

We have a problem with authority. And to play on John’s words about love, if we can’t submit to the authorities that we can see, how can we submit to God’s authority whom we can’t see? I don’t understand (and to be honest, I don’t agree with ) everything God does and has done. There are parts of the Bible that always leave me scratching my head. I don’t understand. It’s beyond me. But I’m not God. God is eternal in every way, and I’ve only been around for a few measly decades. To quote the priest from Rudy: “There is a God and I am not Him.”

At the same time, I don’t understand everything our Governor does. I don’t understand everything our city council members do. I don’t understand everything our presidents do. But again, I am not the governor or president. God hasn’t put me in that position. He has made me a pastor, and here’s something I do know. There are times you make a decision or go in a certain direction and people don’t like it. Then you get judged and condemned for making that decision without any consideration to your motives behind it and at the same time you get a mountain of assumptions heaped on you that aren’t true. We do this and much worse with our governmental leaders. We judge not only their actions but assume the worst of intentions and condemn them for intentions they likely do not have.

“But what if they are asking me to do something immoral?” We don’t have to cross God’s moral boundaries if a leader is asking us to. (Although, there are several times where people are commended in the Old Testament for lying to immoral leaders to help God’s people, so I’m not sure what to do with that.) But, we also have to be careful that the perceived moral boundary we are being asked to cross is actually one of God’s moral boundaries and not an American boundary that we have conflated with Christianity. If your leaders asks you to kill your neighbor, don’t do it. If your leaders ask you to mistreat your neighbor or do anything to them that you wouldn’t want them to do back to you, don’t do it. But remember it’s “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It’s not “Make others do to you what you want them to do to you.”

Does this mean we do not advocate for the rights of those who are being mistreated? No, that is something we are supposed to do. But we have to ask ourselves is this a Biblical right that is being denied to someone made in the image of God? Or is this something I want for myself that I justify by calling it a right I’m fighting for on the behalf of others?

I’m sure there will be some who read this and get angry at me. I get it. There are leaders I don’t want to follow. There are leaders I don’t agree with. But, what’s more important: Me fighting and screaming to get my way or denying what I think I’m entitled to so that the light of Christ might shine through me and reach someone whom I’ll never reach by vilifying them, their beliefs and the leaders they support that espouse those beliefs?

The truth is, my fellow conservative American Christian brothers and sisters, we aren’t as right as we think we are. We’ve missed the mark on a huge issue and there’s a massive black eye on the Christian witness right now because of it. We won’t fix it by shouting harder and louder for our rights. We’ll only fix it by following the example of Jesus who loved us enough to die the death we deserved to die even though He deserved the opposite.

But we have an authority problem and it’s costing us more than our own personal way of life. We want what we want the way we want it. And we’re going to support whoever gives it to us and vilify the ones who don’t. It’s not just about our way of life. It’s costing us our ability to reach people outside the kingdom.

And that is too high a price to pay.

The post Dear Church, We Have An Authority Problem first appeared on David Lindner.

Before I get into the meat of the article, I want to say something. I’m not being critical of you for church shopping. I understand there are times when it’s necessary. It’s an American luxury to have so many choices. I’m working on article that deals with some of the times it may be acceptable to find a new church, some of them being: When you move, false teaching, lack of community and an inability to use your gifts. But before we get to those, I want to deal with the idea of church shopping at a philosophical level.

So, let’s assume your church has started teaching that Jesus didn’t really come in the flesh. So, the apostle John said in 1 John 4: “This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.” So, if your church is teaching that Jesus didn’t really come in the flesh, that would mean they are being misled by the antichrist. After talking with the leadership of the church and addressing the issue you’ve learned this is the teaching the church has chosen to embrace. So, it’s time to find a new church.

Unfortunately, most of the time people leave church, it’s not for one of these reasons. As every pastor has had to experience, I’ve heard my fair share of excuses for leaving. But that’s for a later post.

Our typical approach to church shopping usually has us looking for a church in a similar way we look for a restaurant. If you’re a family with kids, you’ll likely look for a church that has the best program for your kids. If you’re a little up there in years, you might look for a church that has more traditional music. If you’re young and single, you might look for a church with all the coolest and latest bells and whistles (and probably where other young single people already go, you know, just in case…).

In other words, our general approach to church shopping is to look for what we want and then try to find it. We think that if we can find a church that has the things we want, we’ll be able to settle down there and be happy. But is that the truth?

What is happiness anyway?

Over the years, I’ve heard so many people say, “But I’m just not happy at my church.” I’m usually pretty polite about this, but I want to say, “Yeah, so?” Without getting on too much of a soapbox about happiness and our idolatry of pursuing it, we need to understand that happiness is the world’s intermediate replacement for what God really wants us to experience which is joy. Joy is so much deeper and better than happiness. Happiness is fleeting. And when that “happy” feeling fades, we find ourselves feeling like something is wrong. The only thing that is wrong is our overemphasis on happiness.

In fact, the word happy doesn’t really appear in Scripture. Some translations translate the word “blessed” as happy. For instance some say “Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!” (Psalm 144:15) but the word is actually blessed. “Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.” Either way, notice that it doesn’t say, “Happy are the people who get everything in their life to go the way they want it.”

True happiness or Joy is the result of trusting completely and entirely in God alone. Yes, there is much we can do to help ourselves be joyful by being grateful, being generous and refusing to allow our state of heart to be affected by circumstances. The desire to find happiness in things beyond ourselves is actually an “echo of Eden.” God designed us to find true happiness and Joy in Him. So, no matter how many things of this world we use to try to find happiness, they will always disappoint, because we weren’t designed to find happiness there.

Church shopping myth #1: Finding the right church will make me happy.

Sometimes, for a while this happens. But eventually something WILL happen in every church that can make your experience there “unhappy”.

Which brings me to the real problem with church shopping: it misses the point of church entirely.

Church isn’t about getting your needs met. There is no where in Scripture that presents the idea that we should find a church meets our needs.

In fact, church is precisely the opposite. In the body of Christ is where we sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of others. That’s what Jesus commanded us to do when He gave us the new covenant. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Jesus gave his life for his followers, we’re supposed to sacrifice our lives for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Galatians 5:13 – “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

We incorrectly limit the idea of “flesh” to those sins like sexual immorality and gluttony. But that’s not accurate. The “flesh” is our desires.

You may think I’m pushing it, but I’m really not. Using our freedom in Christ to pursue a church that meets our needs is following our flesh and not serving the body of Christ.

“…not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Phil 2:4)

Church Shopping Myth #2: I deserve to be at a church that meets my needs.

The truth is, we aren’t supposed to go to church to get our needs met. We go to church to meet the needs of others. If we all seek to serve and meet each others’ needs, then everyone’s needs get met. But if even a small portion seek to get their needs met, it becomes a burden on all the others.

Paul said: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal 6:2) A few verses later he says: “for each one should carry their own load.”

But, this isn’t the reality of modern American church. We come to get our needs met. We choose a church based on our needs. So instead of everyone carrying their own load and distributing the needs of the body amongst the whole, the needs of the body get distributed among the minority while the majority take.

It’s commonly said that 10% of the people do 90% of the work in any given church. I’d say it’s closer to 20% do 80%, but still not a balanced approach. In our church, we’re much better than this. But, there are still some who do quite a bit more than others.

If each person needs one thing and every person has something to give, the system works. But if each person needs one thing and not every person gives something, then soon there will be those who have to give two things or three things to make up for those who don’t give anything.

But here’s the thing: church isn’t about getting your needs met, it’s about serving. God gives gifts and the point of those gifts is not so we feel better about ourselves. In fact, the gifts are given for the benefit of the body: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (1 Cor 12:7) The gifts are given to manifest God’s presence here on the earth, to unify to the church, to exemplify God to an unbelieving world and ultimately to bring glory to God. (https://iblp.org/questions/why-did-god-give-us-spiritual-gifts)

Imagine if you will, a member of the early church coming to talk to you. You know, one of the ones who was oppressed and literally persecuted. Someone who risked their life, lost the opportunity to work and more for their faith. Or imagine the church in parts of the world where people walk miles each way to attend. Like a church in India where people walk all day Saturday and spend the night in the church to be there for Sunday.

Imagine if they were to come and talk to you about the criteria you’re using to find a church. “Well, we just need a church that has more of a focus on ________.” “We need a church that has a better __________ program.” “We need a church where the pastor is more _________ and isn’t so _________.”

I can imagine their response. “Wait, you have a _________ ministry!? And there are churches that focus on ___________? And there are so so many churches that you get to choose between them? Wow, we just had the people we had and were grateful when we didn’t die.”

We have the point of church reversed. The point is not to get our needs met. The point is to meet the needs of others. Jesus said that “The son of man came, not to be served but to serve.” We need to go to church for the same reasons.

Myth #3: Finding the right church will make me a more mature believer.

As much as we would like to put the blame on our churches for our lack of personal spiritual vitality, we know the real reason our walk with Christ is dead. It’s hard to have a relationship with someone when you only talk to them once a week.

Look, I’ll be the first to tell you how important Bible teaching is. But here’s the thing, when I preach a sermon, I only present about 1/30th of what I studied and have learned in my life about that topic of selection of scripture. I can do my best to teach you what I know, but studies have shown that you’ll only remember about 5-10% of what I say. That means you’re getting about 1/300th of the actual material.

Did you know that coloring sheets originated as a discipleship tool? Because people didn’t have access to the scriptures and couldn’t read, they used pictures to teach. My wife has been teaching our kids about the printing press. The kids have a hard time grasping a world where books aren’t everywhere. We have thousands in our house. And I have hundreds more at church. We have a shelf full of Bibles at church. That was unheard of a few hundred years ago and is still unheard of in parts of the world today. Not to mention the millions of books that have been written about the Bible and the infinite number of materials available online. I mean, we really don’t have any excuses for not growing in our walk with God on a daily basis.

You walk with Christ might temporarily improve when you find a new church, but odds are it won’t last. Once the newness wears off, you’ll fall back into your old habits and drift away from God.

Yes, I think churches should focus way more on discipleship. We have spent a great deal of effort on this for years at our church. But, I’ve learned something too. You can’t make people want to grow in their walk with God. If they don’t want it, it doesn’t matter how good the discipleship program is, people won’t adopt it into their lives.

Can I tell you the blunt truth? If you’re not growing in your walk with Christ, it’s not your pastor’s fault or your church’s fault. There is no one to blame but yourself. And that doesn’t need to feel condemning. It’s the truth and the truth actually sets us free. In this case, you’re in bondage to the idea that your spiritual maturity is someone else’s responsibility. It’s not. Pick up your Bible and read it. When you’re finished, read it again. Talk with someone about what you’re reading. I can’t want it bad enough for you.

So, you might find an amazing church with an incredible discipleship program, and you might say that’s what you’ve been looking for. But, if you don’t go through the hard, transformative work of discipleship, nothing will change.

I’m not complaining

I know it sounds like I’m complaining. I’m not. While we have had these kinds of issues in our church over the years, we don’t seem to at the moment. We will.

What I want is to somehow help us stop treating the church like a commodity, like a restaurant or a cell phone or internet company. It’s not about comparing service plans to see which company (church) has the most bang for your tithing bucks to offer you.

To make it simple, if the words “but I just want a church that _______” are driving your search, you might need to go back to the drawing board.

The post 3 Myths We Believe About Church Shopping first appeared on David Lindner.

That did not happen. What the election has shown us is that we are more divided now than we have been since the civil war. And that’s concerning. As Jesus said: ““Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.” (Matt 12:25)

But, that’s not the most concerning thing to me at this moment. What’s more concerning to me is how entrenched we are in the reality of our party’s point of view.

I get it. It’s much easier and more enjoyable to talk to, listen to and engage with people and content that I agree with. It’s incredibly difficult and can be exhausting to engage people and ideas that are adamantly opposed to mine.

And I’m lazy. Not as lazy as I used to be. But, when something is going to take more effort than I want to expend and it’s something I don’t want to do anyway, I’m not very likely to do it.

And I’m impatient. I want resolution and reconciliation now. I don’t want to wait for it. I want people to see my point of view, recognize the error of their ways and come over to my side so we can live happily ever after.

What’s more challenging is the two ideologies dominating our society are becoming increasingly more religious in nature. These aren’t just philosophical disagreements anymore. These are beliefs we hold deeply in our hearts. Not only does this make is harder for us to find middle ground, it makes it harder for us to have open minds. I mean, when was the last time you heard a Christian and a Muslim coming together to work out their differences to form a new religion. Or a Catholic and a Hindu. It’s not going to happen.

Of course, when it comes to religion, it shouldn’t happen. But political philosophy is not religion. Your party holds to ideals that are counter-biblical. It doesn’t matter which one you adhere to. Because the party was never meant to be the source of our morality.

But that’s what we’ve made it. Now, both parties don’t just represent a philosophical and ideological framework we think works best to help move our country forward. Now, both parties represent a moral framework by which we must live our lives.

Because of this, our personal identity has gotten far too wrapped up in our political belief system. Now, who I am as a person is defined by my agreement with my parties ideology and my value is wrapped up in whether or not society supports or contends with my political identity. We no longer have political associations, we have political identities.

So then, when you disagree with my political affiliation, that means you disagree with who I am at a fundamental level. That means, you don’t just think differently, but that you dislike who I am as a person. In fact, I may even think that you hate me for holding the political point of view that I do.

We live in a world where one side believes unicorns are real and we have the science to back it up while the other side can confidently disprove their existence using science. Both sides discredit the scientists of the other, claiming they are letting their beliefs cloud their pursuit of the truth.

One side sees a world where unicorns are allowed to run and fly freely, sprinkling their magic all across society. The other side sees a world where there is no such think as unicorns and anything that looks like a unicorn must be disproven immediately.

It’s like half of the country lives in the Marvel Universe while the other half lives in the DC universe. Both think their universe is superior, and what they want more than anything is for their universe to confidently defeat the other. We want to see Superman and Captain America go at it. We want to see Iron Man and Batman face off in a head to head competition where the only way to win is by killing the other and eradicating their faulty thinking and broken universe from the face of the planet. And we were confident that when they did face off, our guy would be dominant. But they weren’t.

Here’s the thing, the law of non-contradiction states that contradictory propositions cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time. The Marvel Universe and the DC Universe cannot both be the best universe at the same time. Except for in soccer, someone has to win.

My concern in continuing down this path is that we will think that the only successful outcome is victory at all costs. That’s not going to end well for anyone.

Unless we can find a bigger why. What if we could find a why that did not require the defeat of those who disagree with us? What if we could find an outcome that did not elevate our personal point of view over that of others?

Until we find a bigger why, we will have no reason to compromise. We will have no reason to work together. If our why is our personal belief that we are right and the other side is wrong, our end goal will be to see our side victorious.

The problem is, for our side to be victorious means the defeat (and if we are being honest, we would hope for humiliation) of half of our fellow American citizens. You can hear it on voices on both sides in the media. We wanted to win. And not just a win, but a landslide. We wanted a decisive victory that would completely defeat and demoralize the opposition.

We may not agree on anything at the moment, but we are still citizens of the same United States of America. Fighting for the defeat and destruction of those who disagree is to fight against our own future success. We have never nor will we ever succeed by suppressing the voices of those who think differently than we do.

What is the bigger why?

May I make a suggestion?

The more we fight for our rights, the more divided we will be. Fighting for what you think is your right only pits you against those who don’t agree with you. It doesn’t matter what we think we are entitled to, the harder we fight for what we think we deserve, the more we must diminish others opinions of their own entitlement when they inevitably contradict our own.

Here’s the challenge: It only works if both sides agree to lay down their entitlement to their rights. If one person lays down their rights while another clings to their own, the one will be taken advantage of, abused and mistreated by other.

If my rights infringe on the rights of others, it is not a right, it is an entitlement. As someone who believes that God created everyone in His image, I believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. I do not believe in suppressing one person to artificially boost another. Any such boost will only live as long as that person is more powerful than the other.

But, if two people come together who are determined not to fight for their own rights and to take advantage of the other for their own personal advancement, then together they can truly work for the good of all. If I have your best interests in mind and you have my best interests driving you, then something different can happen.

Of course, being taken advantage of didn’t stop Jesus. He knew he would be taken advantage of, mistreated, abused and wrongfully executed, but still – He laid down his rights.

So, I guess at the end of the day, I’m asking: Are you fighting for victory for your side at the cost of your opponent? Or are you fighting for what’s best for us all at cost to yourself?

Things don’t have to be the way they are. We can change the future by changing the way we approach one another today. We can make the law of noncontradiction work in our favor if we’re not so focused on the contradiction and renew our focus on loving one another.

The post Divergent Realities and the Law of Noncontradiction. first appeared on David Lindner.

Knowing that she doesn’t really care for it, I jokingly said: “Are you excited to listen to today’s podcast?” She usually gives me some sarcasm back and says, “Mm-hmm.” Like her father, she’s not a person of many words, which probably surprises you since my posts are usually not super short.

Last night, she asked if we could not listen to it. I asked why. She was nervous and maybe a little worried about the election. I still started the podcast, but turned it off after a few seconds and turned on Christmas music. (Hey, I’m not perfect, but I do know that Christmas music is almost always the answer.)

Then I shared some of my pastoral wisdom with her. And I wanted to share it with you as well, if you’ll allow me. Feel free to stop reading if you’d rather not.

There’s never been a moment when God’s not been in control.

Right now, in major cities across the country, businesses are boarding up their doors and windows for fear of what’s going to happen tonight. The state of Oregon has taken over command of portland police and created a unified force in preparation for tonight and the nights to come.

If there was an accurate way to measure anxiety, we’d probably all be elevated, if not off the charts.

It doesn’t matter which side you’re voting for, right now nearly everyone is concerned about the outcome of the election.

I know, it sounds cliche. Trite even. But, we need to remember it.

There’s never been a moment when God’s not in control.

God is not human, that he should lie,
    not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
    Does he promise and not fulfill?

Numbers 23:19

Because we are imperfect people who make mistakes, change our minds and are radically inconsistent, we have a hard time understanding a God who does not change, who does change his mind and who always keeps his promises.

And for those who’s hope is in the Lord, we have a God who protects us and surrounds us like the mountains that surround Jerusalem. And his protection is both now and forever.

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
    which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
    so the Lord surrounds his people
    both now and forevermore.

Psalm 125:2

As I wrote last week, believers in Jesus Christ have a peace that cannot be understood. We are no longer at war with God, instead we are God’s children. We are on God’s team. We are on the side of victory.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 14:27

From the before the beginning of civilization until long after it ends, there’s never been a moment when God’s not in control. In Psalm 90:2 the psalmist writes: “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

God’s name is actually, I AM. In other words, “I am the God who always is.” There has never been a moment when God wasn’t. There will never be a moment where God isn’t. God always was, always is and always will be. 

God says: “Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me.” (Isa 43:10) 

God is the only one who exists outside of the context we are confined to. He knows what we will never know. He sees what we could never see.

It’s hard to understand how God could be in control when the world seems so out of control, but that could also be seen as evidence that God’s plan is unfolding just as He said it would.

“Hold on a second, bub. HOw can you think the chaos of the world is evidence that God is in control?! That’s crazy!”

It’s actually not. Romans 1:18-32 make this pretty clear. God has made it clear to all humanity that He is God. From the beginning God has shown us who He is. There is enough evidence that we are without excuse. And yet, people have chosen to go their own way. We know about God but don’t honor him. We claim to be wise in our own eyes, but are fools. Instead of worship God who made us in His image we worship things made in our image.

Because of this, God let people go their own way. We exchanged the truth of God for a lie. So, God let us follow our evil desires. He let our useless, rebellious minds rule over us, leading ourselves to do evil things. To be wicked, greedy, mean in every way. To be people who murder, argue, cheat and are hard to get along with. People who gossip, say cruel things about others and hate God. We are proud, conceited, boastful and always thinking up new ways to do evil.

So, yes, even the chaos is proof that God is in control. Even though it seems like someone has turned the thermostat on society all the way up, then smashed it with a hammer, the truth is, only God has control over the thermostat.

Christians, Be Calm. Trust in the Lord.

No matter how many times we break our promises to God, God always keeps his promises. Joshua 21:45, “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…

Heb 10:23-24

So, Christians. Be Calm. Trust in the Lord. Our hope has never been in the government. If it is, it shouldn’t be. Every leader throughout History has been chosen by God: “there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” (Romans 13:1) 1 Peter 2 says that leaders are sent by God.

I don’t know what’s going to happen tonight and this week. I don’t know how things are going to go for the candidate you voted for. I don’t know how things are going to go down in your city or town. I don’t know how what happens today is going to affect our lives from this point forward.

I just don’t know.

But, I do know that God loves His children. I know that God never leaves us or abandons us. That God did not leave us as orphans but sent His Spirit to dwell in us. I know that God is not going to let chaos, destruction and evil go on forever, that there will be a day when all that is wrong will be made right, there is coming a day when there will no longer be crying, pain or heartache and that there is a day to come when God will restore His physical Kingdom on this earth and we will no longer be subject to human authorities.

I know that God has always been faithful. I know that God has never once broken a promise. I know that His ways are higher than my ways and his thoughts are higher than my thoughts.

I know that, no matter what happens tonight, it’s not going to be surprise to God. God has never once been surprised by anything that has happened. He knows and sees it all.

And that God is there, with us in every situation. And that if God can calm the wind and the waves, then he can calm the worry and anxiety that is filling your heart and mind today. Have faith in God, not in the surrounding circumstances. God is bigger than it all. So, just as Jesus spoke these words to the winds and they died down, let Him speak them to your soul today to calm you, no matter what happens:

“Peace. Be Still.”

The post No Matter What Happens Today, God Is Still In Control first appeared on David Lindner.

(I was starting to write “without getting political” but you can’t really write that anymore because everything is political…)

So, I’m not super outspoken on my personal political position, though it probably wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to be able to figure it out. Without divulging what those are (because they would become a distraction), I wanted to share you with you a pressure I’ve been feeling for quite some time.

I’ve felt this way for a long time, but never more so than now. Because the voices of people and sources that oppose my political position are so boisterous and dominant, I feel that I no longer have permission to share my point of view.

It feels to me that taking a stance on an issue would open me and my family and my church and my livelihood up to unfair attack. I may be wrong. There may not be many, if any who would care about my opinion. But, because the threat looms so large, I haven’t shared.

It appears that only one side of the conversation currently has permission to speak.

Because of this I have found myself looking for places where I can speak and share freely with people who are less likely to attack me. Unfortunately the only places to do that are in circles of people who already agree with me.

This is what Ed Stetzer wrote about in his book “Christians in the Age of Outrage.” The echo chamber of like minded ideas is getting so cacophonous that it’s like everyone is shouting into one of those toy microphones.

This is the real tragedy of today.

We can’t discuss issues anymore. We can’t find the middle ground. Anything resembling discussion is now just arguing talking points from your position. Maybe it has always been that way.

According to Linus, you’re never supposed to talk about religion, politics or the great pumpkin. But, we have to find a way.

I know it’s harder now than ever. It’s hard because, as a society, we don’t deal well with any kind of confrontation. It’s hard because the facts are harder and harder to find. It’s hard because we feel emboldened by social media. It’s hard because the access of information has only served to entrench us in our preconceived notions.

Somehow, we have to learn to disagree with one another. We have to learn how to be able to talk about issues, debate them, disagree on them and even vehemently oppose them without dehumanizing the people who hold them.

Agreement is not a prerequisite for love and acceptance. Dignity is not something we give only to the people we agree with. Respect isn’t something reserved for people who vote the same way you do.

We have believed a ridiculous lie that we should only be around and in relationship with people who agree with us on everything. If not everything, nearly everything.

We have believed the lie that we have a right to part ways with people, end relationships and mistreat people because we disagreed with them on an issue or because we had a problem with how they lived their life.

“Disagreement is not necessarily a reason to head for Splitsville. In fact, a relationship without disagreement is probably too brittle to last. Some of the best human bonds are forged in the fire of disagreement.”

Jerry Spinelli

But the truth is, there is still truth. There are still facts. As convenient as it would be to believe in relative truth, it simply does not correlate with reality. There are universal truths that have governed all thriving societies.

The most foundational of those truths is this: we are made in the image of God. And anything made in the image of God deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

“But what about our leaders? They aren’t good examples for us in this!”

You’re right. That’s a true statement. And I agree with you. Many of our leaders on both sides are far too divisive. Yes. Both sides. Not just the other side. My side. Your side.

Unfortunately we can’t change their behavior or tenor. No human being can change another. We can only change ourselves. The truth is, we have the leaders we have because we have all allowed ourselves to be led down this road. Our leaders aren’t going to fix this.

It’s on us.

As Henry Cloud says:

“This is one of the marks of a truly safe person: they are confrontable.”

Henry Cloud, Safe People

Blame shifting isn’t going to get us out of this mess. We have to own it. We have to be the kind of people who can be confronted. It doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to disagree. In fact, I think we SHOULD disagree with others. But we should do it with dignity and respect and only do it if we are absolutely committed to being absolutely committed to that person.

Here’s the thing: I have ideas about issues, you have ideas about issues. When those ideas live solely in my own mind, they can be weak and anemic. Even if I think I’m absolutely right, there is likely another side to the issue that I haven’t even thought about. Until I hear the other side, what I believe is only as strong as the level of agreement people have with my idea. But, If I discuss my point of view on an issue with someone who disagrees and a reshape my belief on that idea as a result, I have a belief that is more sustainable.

Are there issues that can never be compromised on? Absolutely. But most issues have some flexibility to them. Not all, but some.

But, let me ask you a question: When was the last time you got someone to change their mind by belittling them for their beliefs?

No matter how wrong what we believe may be, most of us believe what we believe because we think it’s true and right. Not many of us are evil villains who believe what we believe because we are secretly hoping for the destruction of civilization as we know it. We truly believe that what we believe is the truth.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I have changed my mind on some big issues over my life. Some of the ideals I’ve held made sense to me until I experienced them more intimately in my life. But, other ideals that have changed have been the result of an honest and open dialogue with people who disagreed with me.

We can’t control our leaders but we can control ourselves.

Before you misread me, I’m not saying to just control your tongue and not speak your mind. But, only speak your mind with the dignity of the other person in mind.

I have never met a single other human being, with whom I agree on everything in life. Not one. Not even my wife. It is a lie to think that I can only love people I agree with. It’s a lie because there is no one I completely agree with on everything and yet I love tons of people.

What if, not matter what happens in an election, we determined to treat every single human being with dignity and respect, even the ones who hold vastly different ideas than we do?

And what if, instead of waiting for someone else to set the example, we became the example for others? What if when people who agree with us belittle and name call those who don’t, we stood up for those they were belittling? And what if we refused to belittle the candidates that other people proudly support? What if we refused to believe everything we see on the news and read in the media? What if we were driven more by relationships with one another than we are by being right, having the loudest voice and holding the most power?

Sometimes it takes a lot of heat to make something moldable. It might take some heated discussion between you and someone you disagree with to get you to open your mind. But when you heat a metal up to extremely high temperatures, all the impurities come out and you have a better, purer metal.

What if a part of the reason we have so many unresilient people these days is because we’ve completely done away with any form of disagreement thinking it was in the best interest of the other person, when in reality, what’s in our best interest is being challenged. We don’t grow without being challenged. We don’t grow without resistance and strain. Maybe we’re not resilient because we’ve never truly been pressed. Resilient means to spring back after being bent or stretched. Like a rubber band that isn’t stretched doesn’t hold anything together, we’re falling apart because we’ve never been stretched. We only have people we agree with us around us.

Have you had a respectful disagreement with someone lately?

What can we do to change things? What are you ideas?

The post The Real Tragedy Happening Right Now: The Missing Forge Of Transformation first appeared on David Lindner.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

Matt 5:9, John 14:27

The Call To Follow Jesus Is…

The call to follow Jesus is unlike any other call. The call to follow Jesus is about denial. “Deny yourself, take up your cross (which is your love for others) and follow Jesus.”

The call to follow Christ is about denying ourselves. Many have tried to read other things into the gospel, but those things simply aren’t there. Coming to Jesus isn’t about what I get, it’s about giving what’s been given to me.

What has been given to me? Peace. Specifically peace with God. “Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom 5:1) Because of Jesus, as a believer, I am no longer at war with God. I’m not opposed to God, I’m on God’s side. And God’s side is peace, shalom, wholeness, completeness, lacking nothing. Sure you can try to twist that into selfish gains, but that’s not what it is.

And as one pastor said, when the gospel came to you, it was on its way to someone else through you. The Gospel never goes to a person for the personal benefit of that person alone. The gospel is always on it’s way to someone else through the recipient.

So the call to follow Christ is never and can’t ever be about our own personal rights. The call to follow Christ is not about what I deserve, what I’m entitled do or what I have coming to me. The call to follow Christ is about loving one another like Christ has loved me in that he laid down his life in my place.

So then, why are so many Christians today…

…obsessed with their rights? Of course we all know the answer to this. It’s because we’ve been deeply americanized in our thinking. We live in a “my way all day every day” world. And when that way of thinking is so pervasive it’s like the air we breath, of course it’s hard for us to think differently.

Here’s the thing. That’s the call. We’re supposed to be different. We’re supposed to be so radically different from the world that people outside the faith look at the way we live our lives and glorify God. (Jesus, Sermon on the Mount) I’m concerned that for too many believers, our rights as Americans have superseded our call as Christians.

Biblical Justice

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath…”

Romans 12:17-19a. (NIV)

As followers of Jesus, when our “rights” are violated, we are to model Jesus’ response. How did Jesus respond? He was silent, like a sheep being led out to be slaughtered. He prayed for his enemies on the cross, interceding for them. He stayed on mission despite being wrongfully executed.

God will deal with all injustice. There is no need for us to take justice into our own hands. There are systems to uphold Justice that God has put in place. But, it is not our responsibility to fight for our own personal rights.

The Gospel of Peace

“and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

Eph 6:15 (NIV)

Why is it that it is our feet that are fitted with the gospel of peace? Some say it’s so that we will advance the gospel. I can see that. Others say it’s a reference to walking the walk. Maybe. I think the most compelling argument is that, as Christians, we are supposed to take our stand on one thing alone – the gospel of peace.

We have been given the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Cor 5:16-21) Our primary purpose is to bring reconciliation between people and God. The war we are supposed to end first is the war mankind has fought against God for thousands of years.

And, yes, we are supposed to bring peace to the world. There is a day coming when God will remove his peace from the earth (Rev. 6). Until that day, our mission is peace. Peace with God and peace between men.

Now Is The Time

Now, more than ever, the world needs Christians to live Christ first instead of party first. I get it, you’re concerned. I am too. But division is the fruit of the deception of the enemy. Division is sown in selfishness and pride. Division is the product of living as though I am entitled to a certain way of life. How? When my “rights” born out of selfishness become the most important thing, out of necessity, I must infringe the “rights” of others to secure my “rights.” That’s why the call is to lay your life down and take up the cross of love.

Now, here’s the part where you get mad at me…

Peace isn’t limited to people we agree with. We aren’t just called to make peace with our friends. Jesus said, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Matt 5:43-48 NIV)

Sadly, we can’t even live at peace with the people we agree with anymore, let alone the people who are adamantly opposed to our point of view. Being at peace with someone doesn’t mean you agree with them. It simply means your bond with them overarches disagreements. The bond of love. Unconditional love. In other words, love that does not require anything of the other person. Political or cultural agreement is not required for peace.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:13-15 (NIV)

So then Christians, If you are voting for Joe Biden, you have a responsibility to intentionally create peace with people voting for Donald Trump. If you are voting for Donald Trump, you have a biblical responsibility to create peace with anyone voting for Joe Biden. It doesn’t matter who “your” candidate is, even if you’re writing in Jesus, you have an obligation in Christ to seek peace with everyone.

After the election…

After the election and before it, the world is going to need Christians acting as peacemakers. We aren’t in control of the response of others to our attempts to make peace, but, as far as it depends on us, we are called to live at peace with everyone. Everyone. Everyone.

The more believers who actively seek to make peace, the better chance our nation has as responding to the election in a peaceful manner. The more believers who lay down their rights for the cause of Christ, the fewer voices there will be shouting for what we think we are due.

So many people are expecting outrage after the election, no matter the outcome. But, what if we mobilized believers across this nation to be ready to take their stand on peace?

If you agree, will you share this article? (If you’ve shared a lot of divisive posts lately, maybe this one would be better to share than those?)

The post It’s Time. Peacemakers, the world needs you. first appeared on David Lindner.

But, is the church being persecuted? Well, the definition of persecution is:

“hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs.”

According to wikipedia, persecution is:

Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, imprisonment, internment, fear, or pain are all factors that may establish persecution, but not all suffering will necessarily establish persecution. The suffering experienced by the victim must be sufficiently severe. The threshold level of severity has been a source of much debate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution

Are Christians being mistreated, some. Are Christians being harrassed? Yes. Is the suffering “sufficiently severe”? I don’t know. And what is the threshold of severity?

But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that there is a war against the church taking place in modern society. Now, I will be the first to tell you, much of the perceived mistreatment is not persecution. In fact, much of the mistreatment is retribution for Christians who sought to impose a Christian way of life on people who don’t have the desire or frankly ability to live that way. Most, if not all Christians struggle to live a Christlike life and they have the assistance of the Holy Spirit to help them.

Now, it’s also true that anyone – believer or non-believer – who lives by God’s standards will thrive. So, is it evil to suggest that non-believers live within God’s parameters? No, not at all. But, neither is it right to try to force someone to do so against their will. If they don’t want to live that way, forcing them will only create a more entrenched rebellious spirit.

But, what about the war against the church?

Yes, there is a war taking place against the church. There always has been. Unfortunately, many Christians have misplaced the originating point of the war. There are two groups Christians have wrongly focused on for the attack. Non-believers and the media.

Do non-believer and the media attack Christians? Sure. Is there an assault against Christianity and in the media. Definitely. But, are they the source of the attack? Not at all.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12, NIV

The two primary causes of the war

What are they? Fallen humanity and fallen spiritual beings.

1.) Fallen Humanity.

Evil is in the world because we invited it in. The series we’re in right now at SixEight Church is dealing with this specifically. (Click here to watch it) If we as humans had chosen to obey God’s one rule, all we would know is God and his goodness. But, we wanted more and that’s what we got. From the moment we rebelled against God we have been facing the consequences of our decision. Evil isn’t in the world because God isn’t good. Evil is in the world because mankind chose to trust ourselves instead of trusting God.

As a result of our choice, mankind went from being completely good and embracing God’s good life to being somewhat good and a whole lot of bad. The problem is, rebellion is like an aggressive disease that takes over the host. Without an intervention, on their own, people will continue to become more and more corrupt.

2.) Falling Spiritual Beings.

But there is more to the story that bad people. People are not the only being to have rebelled against God. The Devil and his angels did the same. These are those who were cast out of heaven. I know my non-believing friends will have a hard time with this, but there is a great video by The Bible Project that helps. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CamYtVpoTNk)

The two primary tactics of the devil and his minions are isolation and deceit. You can see it in the garden. The serpent got Eve by herself and deceived her. The Devil was a liar from the beginning, and doesn’t have any truth in him.

The Devil’s Cocktail

Rebellion + Deception = Destruction.

When you take people who have embraced rebellion and add deception to that rebellion what you get is complete destruction.

If you’re read much of my writing or heard my teaching, you know I constantly rail against rebellion. This is why. The prophet Samuel said to Saul when Saul rebelled against God by trying to act as a priest: “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.”

Being rebellious, while celebrated by our modern society, is actually the entire problem. Rebellion opens us up to more and more tactics of the Devil to deceive us. The more we embrace rebellion, the more likely we are to embrace deception which only leads to greater levels of destruction in our lives and the world.

Staying in the light and avoiding deception is incredibly hard as a believer. Especially in an age where so much false teaching is prevalent and available on our devices 24 hours a day. Avoiding deception when you’ve embraced rebellion is impossible.

This is what is happening in the world today. People have embraced rebellion and that rebellion has opened them up to greater and greater deception by the master deceiver. The end result is destruction.

Is There A War Against the Church?

You better believe it. There always has been, there always will be until Christ returns and destroys the devil and his works. Is it getting worse? Clearly. The further away from God we get, the further away from truth and good we will get.

What is the answer?

Jesus, people who live like Jesus and share Jesus with those in bondange to rebellion.

Yes, Jesus is the answer for the world today. The song is still true. Jesus is the only way, the only truth and the only life. Jesus has chosen to share himself with the world through people who have rebelled against the rebellion by surrendering their lives to God and His ways. What the world needs now is Christians living more like Christ. And what the world needs now is Christians who aren’t afraid to talk about Jesus, share Jesus and invite people to the well that never runs dry. People are thirst and Jesus is the living water. Everything else people do to satisfy their thirsts leaves them wanting more. Jesus satisfies.

What should we do?

Well, I believe a part of the attack against the church is getting people to stop participating in church. For decades now the enemy has been working to entice people to spend less and less time at church with other believers. This year, as a result of the pandemic, more believers than ever haven’t been to church in months.

The isolation has been crippling to many. When you’re alone, you’re far more susceptible to deception. So many have been deceived in so many ways during this time. So, yes, I’m going to say it. If at all possible, I think you should go back to church. Whatever church that may be. I know that may bother some people. Yes, I understand the risks. I’ve done the research and tried to get to the facts. But, there are other facts. What good is it to save your life but lose your soul? That sounds familiar…

We have to get back into actual community with other believers who are seeking to live by the truth. And our time with other believers needs to be spend on Jesus and not the war. When we get together with other believers, we need to be resolute in our focus on Jesus and the gospel and the way, the truth and the life. Don’t waste your precious time with other light-bearers by being obsessed with the lies the enemy is swarming society with. Yes, address the mistruth in them. But, don’t be obsessed with them. Be obsessed with Jesus.

Digital connection is good, but it’s not the same. If that’s all you have, then do as much of it as you can. But, if there is anyway for you to look in the physical eye balls of another believer, do that. Neuroscience has shown that our brainwaves align when we are together. There is more to being physically together than can be replicated via Zoom, Facebook, Facetime, texting & phone calls. Those are great, but they are not replacements.

Are you afraid? Talk to another believer about your fears. You can search the web if you want, but there is so much misinformation out there, it’s so easy to be deceived. And so much of it is fear driven and manipulative. Without getting to controversial here, from what I’ve read from the CDC, you are much more likely to die in a car crash on the way to church than you are from getting covid at church.

The truth is…

We will never be safe from disease. That’s a consequence of the curse. Sickness is in the world because we rebelled against God. Sickness will be in the world until Jesus makes all things new. Many people, trying to stay safe from physical illness have only become victims of mental illness.

Should you be safe? Absolutely. Be safe. But don’t equate safety with isolation.

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Ecc 4:9-12

There is a war taking place against the church. But, it’s a war that has already been won by Christ. When we come together, we are the body of Christ. Which means, together is where we experience victory over the devil and his tactics, because Christ conquered the devil. Victory over the devil is found within the community of Christ.

The post The War Against The Church first appeared on David Lindner.

As I observe the state of our society these days, one thing keeps bothering me: so much hate. So, I’ve been doing what all cool people do, research.

The Science of Hate

Hate is, supposedly, a byproduct of the fear response. When we feel threatened, our amygdala triggers our fear response. The amygdala processes information 40x faster than our “rational” brain. The amygdala works with the entire nervous system, receiving information and processing it for potential threats. It’s amazing. If it decides something is a threat, it kicks in the “fight or flight” mechanism, pumping adrenaline through our body to prepare us for what’s to come. (Read my article: “What fear is doing you.“) Our amygdala processes the info and the determines where to send it from there. When it comes to love and hate, if we hate someone or something, the hate circuit gets lit up.

The “hate circuit” shares some similarities with the “love circuit.” They share two regions, the putamen and the insula. The putamen is the region of the brain responsible for movement and the insula is associated with feelings of distress.

The primary difference: the areas of the frontal cortex that are associated with judgement and reasoning are more active with hate than they are with love. When we love someone, we are less judgemental and less critical of them. When we hate, our judgement kicks in.

The neural circuitry for hate also involve the areas of our brain responsible for drive, premeditation, planning and storytelling.

There’s one more thing that love and hate share, (and this was a surprise to me) Oxytocin. We typically think of oxytocin as the “cuddle” hormone. If oxytocin were a character it would be poppy from trolls. But, that changes when it comes to hate. Oxytocin is released when we hate, but its effects are quite different.

Biologists understand this paradoxical nature of oxytocin; they describe it in terms of the “tend-and-defend molecule.” But this is important to remember: To defend those we consider Us often means we attack those we consider Them.

https://observer.com/2016/08/how-to-overcome-the-hormones-that-make-us-hate/

There’s a lot more science to this, but that should be enough to get us through this article.

Who cares?

Right now, it seems that we all do. We just might not be aware of it.

It turns out, (If you know me, this won’t surprise you…) a major component in hate is storytelling.

“A 2010 study by Stanford University researchers Elissa Lee and Laura Leets, who measured teenagers’ reaction to hate groups’ Web sites, found that storytelling with implicit hate messages, rather than direct exhortations to hate, is the most effective way to persuade impressionable minds”

[source: Lee and Leets].

Take special note of, “Storytelling with implicit hate messages, rather than direct exhortations to hate, is the most effective way to persuade impressionable minds.

Rutgers University sociologist Martin Oppenheimer, who with his family fled Nazi persecution in the 1930s, argues that hate is sown among a group by identifying and exploiting their frustrations, insecurities, and/or fear of losing out on things they want or need. The trick is convincing people that the explanation for their problems is someone else who is threatening to take away things that ought to be theirs, or is a menace to their safety. Additionally, he says, organized hatred helps give meaning to the lives of those who feel marginalized. 

https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/hate3.htm

“Identifying and exploiting their frustrations, insecurities and/or fear of losing out on things they want or need.”

Question, can you think of anything that has happened recently that might cause the majority of us to feel frustrated, insecure and/or afraid of losing out on things we want or need? Anyone else still staying stocked up on toilet paper?

But wait, there’s more!

A largely ignored internal memo to senior executives at Facebook in 2018 explained: “Our algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness.” Left unchecked, the algorithms will feed users “more and more divisive content in an effort to gain user attention and increase time on the platform”.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/27/social-dilemma-media-facebook-twitter-society

In that same article:

Tristan Harris, a former Google design ethicist and the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, points out that far before technology overpowers human strengths, it will overwhelm human weaknesses. Sophisticated algorithms learn our emotional vulnerabilities and exploit them for profit in insidious ways.

Does that sound familiar? “Learn our emotional vulnerabilities and exploit them for profit in insidious ways.

It sounds like a better name for Facebook might be Hatebook.

So What?

I don’t know about you, but I hate being manipulated. (Yes, I know I used the word.) When I see someone trying to manipulate me, there’s a reaction in me that kicks in pretty hard, making me want to push harder against the manipulation. I’ve been in meetings where people have tried to use their emotions to get me to make their decision, it usually makes me fight harder against them. I know, I have room to grow.

But, the cold, hard truth is: we’re being manipulated. We all know there’s a power struggle going on right now. The truth is, there are multiple power struggles taking place. Republican vs. Democrat. Conservative vs Liberal. Big Tech vs. News outlets. East vs. West. Dis Integrationists vs. unionists. And the list goes on. (Every time I say that phrase, Sandi Patty’s “The gift goes on” gets stuck in my head. You’re welcome.)

People, organizations, movements, etc. are all manipulating us for their own purpose: power. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (John Dahlberg-Acton) Whoever has the most power over the people has the most power over everything else. What should tick us all off is that they’re using hate to manipulate. What’s worse, is these groups are getting us to hate each other for their own advantage. They don’t care how it affects you and I and our ability to have decent relationships even though we disagree. Their only concern is their own superpower.

The ability to use hate to manipulate is the reason there is such a struggle right now to “control the narrative.” We’re being told the battle going on right now is between liberal and conservative ideals, and yes that is a big battle. But the real battle taking place is over who has the greatest ability to manipulate the people.

Chamath Palihapitiya, former Vice President of User Growth at Facebook said to Stanford Students: “I feel tremendous guilt…the short-term dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works.” Not only do the algorithms play on our hate, they manipulate our brains by using curiosity to keep us scrolling and rewarding us with a 400% spike in dopamine for likes, comments, etc., roughly the same size of a spike you get with cocaine.

Not a big Facebook user? Instagram is owned by Facebook. Not using social media at all? Google works the same way. Not only are we addicted, but the algorithms we are addicted to get progressively narrow in what they show us. We see less opposition and more agreement with our preconceived notions, making the oceans of hate deeper with each like, comment and share.

What do we do about it?

Well, there are a few things.

First, I think we may have to get off of Hatebook. I’m doing my best between myself and our church to fill Facebook with more positive and uplifting material, but if we aren’t aware of the advanced algorithms preying on our minds, it can be dangerous. At best, limit your time on Facebook. There are apps to do this on your phone.

Second, if you won’t say it to their face, don’t say it online. The hate you share online doesn’t change anyone’s mind. Some of the hate I see some of my friends share stand in such deep contrast to who I know them to be in real life. Some of the nicest people share some of the vilest posts.

I’ve shared before, my Facebook feed is pretty purple. Our church is pretty purple. I’ve had people think I’m too liberal and too conservative. I have a lot of friends on both sides of the political fence. Before I post anything, I think of both sides, not just the side I agree with. When I write, I have actual faces of people I know on both sides in my mind as I write. You should do the same. Before you share that next post, think about the person you’re friends with on Facebook who disagrees with you. Don’t assume we all agree. We don’t.

Third, consider the source. Whatever source you go to for your information, recognize that they are all driven by two things: A worldview and a profit margin. If you’re more conservative, you likely go to Fox News because they’re driven by a conservative worldview. If you’re more liberal you probably choose CNN or others. Neither are unbiased. Both are driven by their worldview and both are driven by profit margins. Both have seen ridiculous profits as a result of the pandemic, protests & riots, forest fires, the election and everything else going on in 2020. There is no such thing as an unbiased reporter. Every single human being is biased by their worldview.

Fourth, (and the only real solution), we need to up our efforts to be like Jesus by about 100 times our current levels. Jesus has the only real solution to hate:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus, Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:43-48

As the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

Remember, love is not a feeling. That is one of the biggest lies of our culture. Love is a decision. Love sacrifices itself for the benefit of others. True love does not seek to benefit itself first. Love lays down its life for others. (Read this, this, this & this.)

Now, more than ever, true followers of Jesus Christ, true Christians MUST lead by example in loving our “enemies.” We are being constantly inundated with messages of hate by the media and social media. I have seen so many Christians sharing messages that are the equivalent of hating our enemies. I’ve seen so many pastors on both sides arguing their case on Facebook for why their ideology is right and why opponents must are immoral for thinking the way they do. It’s disheartening. Should we stand up for what’s right? Sure. Should we stand up for the oppressed and marginalized? Definitely. But we will never make progress by shouting louder and louder all the ways our opponents are wrong. All that will fuel is the hate.

Jesus, in his infinite wisdom wanted to use a different tactic: love. Remember the different ways the brain deals with love and hate? (“I don’t know man, that as a long time ago.”) Hate uses the judgemental part of our brain where love lessens it.

If we’re going to find a solution to the division and hatred in the world today, it’s not going to be found in deepened the oceans of hate. It will only be found in making the intentional choice to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. Loving our enemies is how we are made complete, not lacking anything.

The post Is HATE to blame? (4 Ways To Deal With Pervasive Hate) first appeared on David Lindner.

I’ve thought a lot about love recently. Our modern understanding of love has immensely deviated from God’s design. This has led to so many problems in nearly every relationship we have.

I recently wrote on the topic of love, but feel compelled to keep writing. I’m not speaking of romantic love, though this affects that. While “romantic” love as it is portrayed on screen and on the page is perhaps the most infected with this virus, tall the ways we love each other has been affected.

I’m also not speaking to those outside the church at large. I don’t expect non-believers to love unconditionally, it’s likely impossible to do so. You’re more than welcome to read on, but I’m not directing my thoughts toward you. I’m talking to people who have received God’s unconditional love offered to them through Jesus on the cross. What we have received is what we are supposed to put into practice. Are we?

As I said before, unconditional love only exists when there are no conditions put on that love.

Now, I’ll grant you that I’m a weirdo. That’s not new information to anyone. All my life I have connected more with people much older than me than I ever have with people my own age. Probably because I was generally unaccepted by people my own age. Maybe that’s why I think this way.

At the same time, the state of the church when I was growing up was very intergenerational. Yes we had youth group and programs for kids. But, so much of our church life was intergenerational. We didn’t do play dates with just kids. Sometimes it was a family with kids, other times it was older couples or widows in the church. Some of my fondest memories are times our family spent with people much older than us.

What did we have in common? By modern standards, not much. We weren’t in the same life-stage, we didn’t have family on the same sports team, we didn’t root for the same sports teams, we didn’t live in the same neighborhoods, or even the same town. But, we went to the same church and that was enough to bring us and keep us together. My family was at that church most of my life. There was a commitment to one another that surpassed other things. But that changed just as things have changed in society.

Things Have Changed

There, of course, are exceptions to what I’m about to reference and they are shining examples for all of us to follow. There are people who love unconditionally and have been doing so for generations. Unfortunately it seems that these examples are exceptions to what is becoming more and more normal.

As you know from my earlier posts, the Bible presents the church as a covenantal community of believers. Covenants, like marriage (or like marriage is supposed to be), are not contracts. A contract is: “You do this and I do this. If you fail to that, I am within my rights to do this.” Unfortunately, many of these contracts are unspoken agreements that are unknown until they are violated, at which point it’s usually too late.

But, just because we don’t treat something like a covenant doesn’t mean it’s no longer what it is. Even though our perspective has changed, the consequences of neglecting the covenant have not. As in a marriage, when the covenant is broken, there is trauma. And, as we have all witnessed in our own lives, it’s those left behind who tend to deal with the brunt of it. I and many pastors I know have had so many conversations with people who ask questions when people leave like: “What did we do wrong? What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with us?” And like so many parents deal with in a divorce there are answers to these questions that can’t be given because they come across as gossip or slander. For years I would tell people to ask them about it, but that usually ended in gossip or slander too.

You might be asking yourself, “Why are you writing these posts? Aren’t you just complaining?” I felt that way for a long time. I have a draft of an article I tried to write in 2016 about this topic, but I didn’t want to complain. I have another 8-10 articles over the past 4 years I’ve tried to write, but haven’t. The reason I’m writing is I see a massive problem in the church that isn’t being addressed, probably because it’s difficult to do so. Our church hopping, church shopping mentality towards church has vastly diminished the testimony of the church in society at large. We jump from church to church, attacking the churches and leadership as we leave with no thoughts of the consequences of our actions.

The Role I Played In The Problem

Just so you know, when it comes to blame, I look in the mirror. When it comes to the origination of the problem, we need not look any further than church leaders. The moment we turned church into a matter of preference, we started the church down the slippery slope we now find ourselves careening down out of control.

In the name of “relevance” we pushed our churches out of covenant, to contract to “month to month”. We never said it, but with our decisions we communicated to our congregations that the new covenant was not the most important thing, but keeping up with other churches and trends was the most important. We said the mission was the most important thing and that we should never change the mission. And I believe that the majority of pastors believed that all along. But the mission of the gospel seemed to take a backseat to the mission of attracting people to our churches with relevance.

And I pushed for relevance for a long time. Especially when I was a younger worship pastor, I pushed hard to “get the church into this century”. I’m as guilty as anyone for the mess we’re in. Now, I will tell you something I think is still true. Yes, we should never be married to a method and the church at large was married to a method. But, our fight to free ourselves from those outdated methods became so boisterous and adamant that it ended up overshadowing the mission while those clinging to outdated methods fought just as hard for things to stay the same.

So, what’s love got to do with it?

I suppose I should get to my point.

Whether it’s loving other individuals or the church at large, somehow we have to get back to covenantal love and away from the conformist “love” we have adopted.

What I mean is, we love others and our church as long as they conform to our preconceived notions of who/what we think they should be. In essence, we love others as long as they conform to our image of who they should be. We love one another as long as they are trying to live with our expectations of who they are supposed to be. We love churches as long as those churches seek to live up to our ever increasing list of demands of what church “is supposed to be”. We create pages and pages of terms and conditions on our unspoken contracts, holding people accountable to them and condemning them when they fail to live up to them.

What we don’t realize is that we are trying to create church in our own image. We are trying to create relationships that fit our own image.

That’s a problem. We were never meant to force people to fit into our ideals of who they are supposed to be as people. That’s God’s job. At the same time, were never meant to force the church to adapt to our ideals of what church is supposed to be. Again, that’s only for God to define.

If we’re going to get the church back to a point where it’s “walking” testimony lines up with it’s “talking” testimony, we have to learn to unconditionally love people as they are, not merely for their potential to “become” that person or church. The kind of love we’re supposed to have in the church is supposed to be so radically different from the love of the world. People outside the church are supposed to be able to look at the way we love one another and know that we are followers of Jesus. But, we don’t even love one another the way Jesus said to love our enemies.

Jesus said, “If any man would follow me, He must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” For years I didn’t know what it meant to take up your cross. But then, one day it hit me. It’s the new covenant. In that upper room, Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” He also said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” And John said that in that upper room, Jesus showed us the full extent of His love. The way we take up our cross is the same way Jesus took up His – we lay down our lives for one another before they have done anything to earn such an act. Jesus did not go to the cross after the disciples had earned his love, but before. In fact, when he was carrying the cross, his disciples were hiding in fear for their lives.

This is the kind of love we’re supposed to love one another with. Not a love the demands and expects terms and conditions to be met and holds them over the head of those who must meet them as prison of our love. That’s not love, that’s terrorism.

If we could somehow find a way to lay our preferences aside, stop demanding people to live up to our ideals and truly and faithfully love one another unconditionally, then I think an unbelieving world would be drawn to us like a moth to a flame. That would truly be the beginning of something special, the beginning of a kind of love the world does not understand.

“The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them”

― Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island

I want to love like that.

The post The Beginning Of Love first appeared on David Lindner.

Let me start by saying, I struggle with this point as much as anyone. So, I’m not talking about it because it’s something that I love. In fact, if I had my way this wouldn’t be a part of church.

Most of the time, when people get dissatisfied with church it’s the organization that takes the blame. Things like style of music; topical, textual or expository sermons; egalitarian vs complementarian; congregational rule, elder led or elder governed and other church governments; sunday school, small groups or house churches; chairs or pews; and the list literally goes on and on.

People get dissatisfied with something about the organization. The organization doesn’t live up to their individual unwritten and unexpressed rules and expectations for church. Sometimes the rules are thought to be biblical, even though they’re often taken out of context. Many times, the rules are modern day cultural expectations being imposed on the text or the organized church or they are ideals rooted in some sort of church conflict.

Sometimes people will leave a church for the right reasons, which is something I’ll go into detail about in a future post. But, most of the time, that’s not the case.

Alright, so what is this “unknown” reason so many Christians get satisfied with church?

To be honest, there are many. But this is definitely at the top of the list. Are you ready for it? I’m nervous you aren’t and that you’ll stop reading as soon as I write the phrase. What is it? Submission to authority.

You’re mad at me aren’t you. Let me explain.

I have spent a lot of my life resisting the authority that God has placed over me. I have questioned it, challenged it, assumed motives and more. As someone who has been under authority I know what we do to authority figures in the church.

During my 15 or so years as an associate pastor, I heard and participated in negative talk about my pastor and other church leaders. When I should have had the courage to put out fires I stoked them with my own complaints.

In my 7+ years as a senior pastor, I’ve heard plenty of negative talk about myself, heard assumptions about my motives and a ridiculous number of accusations across the spectrum.

As Christians in America, we are ridiculously unkind to the pastors God has put in place in our lives as spiritual authorities. And I’m just as guilty of it as anyone. I’ve had to ask God and pastors I served under for forgiveness.

Americans Rebel Against Authority

Neuroscience has shown how our thoughts can actually have an effect on our DNA. “Cynical hostility” and “pessimism” can lead to shortened telomeres which can lead to physical problems like cardiovascular disease among others. (Ironic that cynicism and pessimism can lead to heart problems.)

Without getting too nerdy, there is hardwired memory that gets passed on from generation to generation. While our understanding of DNA is still pretty limited, there is evidence to show (and the Bible confirms) that sin can be passed on from generation to generation. (Feel free to challenge me or post clarifying questions in the comments.)

Not only is rebellion hardwired into our DNA as humans, but as Americans we have been passing greater levels or rebellion to authority on to subsequent generations since before our nations beginning.

Just look at the treatment of authorities in our day and age. Whether it was President Obama or President Trump, people in the opposing party would say: “He’s not my president.” We feel we have the right to resist authorities that we disagree with. And it’s not just the president, it’s any authority.

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

Romans 13:1-2

What we fail to understand is that bringing that same rebellion into Christianity is actually sin.

(Insert Wall-E “Woh, woh, woh, woh, woh” here.) “My rebellion against spiritual authority isn’t sin. It’s my right.” Maybe, but the starting point of following Jesus is denying ourselves and whatever we think are our rights, so…

Maybe we should look at some scripture:

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Titus 3:1-2

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

1 Peter 2:13-17

Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5:21

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:5

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Hebrews 13:17

But how does this lead to dissatisfaction?

It seems like it would be the opposite, doesn’t it? It seems like we would be more satisfied when we make decisions based on what we want and prefer, right?

But, that’s the lie we believe. “The more I can get things in my life the way I want them to be, the happier I will be.” The problem is, this puts us and our desires at the center of our universe. We get frustrated with church and justify our statements by saying: “I just think church isn’t supposed to be like this or that.”

Which is the problem, we read small selections of scripture out of context and “take it to mean” whatever best suits our personal desires.

We will never be satisfied with the church if our foundational approach to church is based on our personal desires and preferences.

The lie says “Do whatever you need to do to make yourself happy.”

The truth says: “Submission to God’s system of authority is where we will experience joy.”

You know that popular verse:

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:23-24

Do you know the context of these verses? Yep, Submission.

• “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands,”
• Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
• Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.

Do you know what else is in these verses? Instructions for the people we are supposed to be submissive to:

• Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
• Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
• Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

We say things like, “I have no problem submitting to authority as long as the authority is worthy of my submission.” The problem is, that’s not a biblical argument.

We are never told to submit to authority only if the authority is worthy of our submission. That’s not a biblical idea, that’s an American idea that we impose on Scripture. In fact, the opposite is taught several places. We’re supposed to submit to authorities even if they are mistreating us.

The path to satisfaction is paved with submission.

Over the years when I have been dissatisfied with a church I was a part of, my lack of submission only served to fuel greater levels of dissatisfaction. In fact, the majority of division that exists in the church today is not because of the organized church but because of the division we create due to our personal desires. It’s when we start fighting for our way and our rights that the church starts to divide.

We think we get dissatisfied when we aren’t getting what we want. The truth is, we stay in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction when we think the most important thing is getting what we want. Why? Because our motives and focus are in the wrong place. We’re motivated to please ourselves and our focus is on our personal desires.

Aren’t you just trying to get people to be submissive to you?

I can see why you would say that, I thought the same thing. But, WHO the authority is isn’t the point. Every time we submit to an authority, we are submitting to Jesus. Even the oppressive leaders? Apparently so.

If we can’t submit to the authorities we can see, how can we submit to God whom we haven’t seen? (1 Jn 4:19-21)

But what about Peter saying: “We must obey God rather than men.”

Again, we have to look at the context. Acts 5 is dealing with the apostles being told “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name…”. Peter wasn’t resisting their authority. He was simply saying he had to preach about Jesus. So that seems to be the one area where rejecting authority is okay. If your government leader tells you not to preach about Jesus, resist that authority. If your pastor tells you not to preach about Jesus, resist.

Does this mean we follow along blindly? No, but when there are issues that we feel need to be addressed, we do so in an unconditional love fashion and we do it the right way. We don’t stir up dissention by talking with all the wrong people about it and then vote with our feet when we don’t get our way. At the same time, we need to stop assuming the motives of leaders are usually selfish and impure. Of all the pastors I know, we all have one desire driving everything we do – making disciples and telling people about Jesus. Are there leaders with bad motives? Sure. But they are the exception, they’re the 1%. Should we follow them? We’ll talk about that in a later post.

Wrapping up

We are rebels. We don’t like anyone telling us what to do. Neuroscience even shows that we don’t like ourselves telling us what to do. If you tell yourself you have to do something, your brain will fight yourself.

Our culture has embraced and celebrated this rebellion. We have embraced this same rebellion in the church. Rebellion is what led Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They didn’t want to submit to God’s authority, they wanted to be their own authority.

We can’t embrace rebellion in the church. We can’t support the ideology that supports rebellion against any and all authority. Instead, no matter how difficult it may be, we have to deny ourselves take up our cross and follow Jesus. What is taking up your cross? Well, for Jesus it was submitting himself to God’s authority, as well as Roman and even Jewish authority. Did Jesus resist the cross? Yes, but only to God. And in the end, what did Jesus say? “Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done.” Jesus submitted himself to the cross even though He was perfectly innocent.

We will never experience the joy of the church until we learn the joy of submission.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Phil 2:3-4

The post The Unknown Reason So Many Christians Get Dissatisfied With Church first appeared on David Lindner.

Last week, I wrote an article talking about “7 Things the church Isn’t” but I didn’t get much into what the church is. Truth be told, there’s a much larger list of things we’ve made church into that aren’t the church.

What is the church?

Well, I don’t know if we really want the answer to that question. It’s a bit like Morpheus with the red and blue pill. The version of church we’ve been lured into is like the dream world of the matrix. As Morpheus said: “You take the blue pill — the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.“

This “believe whatever you want to believe” mindset hasn’t just infiltrated the church, it’s dominated our individualistic approach to church so much so that many have adopted an approach to church that is actually contrary to the gospel.

Remember that verse I shared last time?

²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

Luke 9:23-25 (NIV)

Remember what we said last week about about baptism?

When you’re baptized into Christ, your individual identity is buried with Him through baptism and as you emerge from the water you receive a new identity in the family of God.

http://davidlindner.net/2020/09/seven-things-the-church-isnt-and-what-the-church-is

Church has become so much about stylistic preferences, program choice and the pursuit of comfort and convenience that the idea of denying ourselves actually offends us. We want church the way we want church, and we will go to as many churches as is takes to find the version of church that works the way we think church should be.

I think this ultimately stems from our ingrained rebellion against authority. Of course this has been in us since Adam & Eve rebelled against God in the garden. But it’s also the foundation of American civilization and baked into the very make up of our way of thinking. America was founded on rejecting the authority of England. We have a problem with authority. No one tells me what to do.

Our problem with authority has led us to make many mini modifications to church over the centuries that have resulted in a church that looks nothing like God’s design. Instead of being a covenantal community of believers, we have twisted and altered the definition of church to be all about us, our personal beliefs and hyper-inflated preferences.

You have a problem with authority, Mr. Anderson. You believe you are special, that somehow the rules do not apply to you. Obviously, you are mistaken.

RHINEHEART

(If anyone is still reading, I imagine 90% of people will stop reading after this next statement.) If we are going to experience church as God designed it, it begins with submission to authority.

Submission to Authority

Now, I know where your mind probably went. “You’re a pastor, you just wants to have power and authority over ‘your’ people.” And I know why you would go there, because my mind goes there too. The truth is they aren’t “my” people, they are God’s. I’m just the steward and shepherd. Nearly all the pastors I personally know think and feel the same way. Yes there are some who get on power trips and like to exert their dominance over their “flocks”. But these aren’t pastors. They are aberrations.

Jude talks about the false teachers that Jesus and the apostles warned about who “reject authority”, “Follow their own ungodly desires”, “divide you”, “follow mere natural instincts” and “do not have the Spirit.” (Here’s a hypothesis I have: A test for evidence of the true Spirit of Christ is whether or not someone seeks to unite or divide the church.)

John puts all false teachers into the category of being anti-Christ. False teaching is teaching that elevates our personal, ungodly desires. False teaching (in part) tells us to follow our natural instincts. False teaching celebrates dividing the church over differences of opinion. False teaching rejects authority.

From my observations, the primary reason there is so much division in the church today is because we have rejected God’s authority and the authority system that God established in the church.

Discipleship is nearly impossible in the modern church because we reject authority. We won’t allow anyone to become a spiritual authority in our lives, so we have no one to speak truth into the weakest areas of our hearts. I have seen it (and many pastors have echoed it) so many times, people are happy to be in a church until the pastor says something that confronts an issue in their life. So the person leaves the church. As a result, we never get to deal with the issues that are keeping us from a deeper relationship with God, things that dare I say have become idols.

So, before I get myself into trouble here, because there’s a lot more I want to say and I feel myself getting bolder as I write, let’s get to what Church is.

Church is a covenantal community of believers led by qualified elders who share in communion, worship, teaching, prayer and edification and who maintain corporate holiness through biblical discipleship.

Today, I just want to deal with the first qualifying term: Covenantal Community of believers. But, what covenant exactly?

The Covenant of love.

John 13:34-35 – “‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’”

In the upper room, the night before His crucifixion, Jesus made a new covenant – a covenant of love. It was a covenant that would be secured by his substitutionary death on the cross with his own flesh and blood. He would take our sins on himself, and He who knew no sin would become sin so that we could become the righteousness of God.

In that one act, Jesus exemplified for us the new Covenant of the Kingdom of God. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Very similar to Jesus’s other statement: “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” That is the kind of love Jesus had in mind when He made this covenant. The kind of love Paul described in 1 Cor 13 (Which I wrote about here). Love that loves one another with patience & kindness. A love that doesn’t envy, boast, isn’t proud, doesn’t dishonor others, isn’t self-seeking, isn’t easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, doesn’t delight in evil, rejoices with the truth. Always protects, trusts, hopes & perseveres, a love that never fails.

This is the Covenant of the community of Christ. This is what you and I were baptized into. This is the fundamental foundation for any church. Without this, it’s hard to argue that you have a church.

A covenant is more than a contract. Covenants aren’t broken. At least they’re not supposed to be. Contracts are broken when one party fails to uphold their end of the agreement. But covenants, especially those established and secured by God are eternal.

Deny Your Desires

Sadly, however, for so many Christians, this is the last thing on their minds. Instead of denying ourselves, we fight for ourselves and our “rights”. And when that fight results in not getting our desires met, we break the covenant. Instead of a love that is patient with one another, we are incredibly short tempered. Instead of protecting, we throw others to the wolves. Instead of trusting, we assume ill intent. Instead of hoping, we pronounce condemnations. Instead of persevering, we jump ship.

True discipleship requires covenant. As a pastor, I sit in position that offers me a unique perspective. While I haven’t “seen it all” I’ve seen a lot. Often I see things that need to be addressed in a person’s life. (And I know beyond a shadow of doubt that I have things that need to be addressed in my life.) But, this requires covenant. It’s hard for me to open up my whole life to someone who has 4 fingers on the handle to the emergency exit. And though I may see things that I think Scripture could really help someone address, I’m not going to say anything either. Because when I do, the inevitable happens. That thumb wraps around the handle and they’re out.

That thing, whatever it may be, has a stranglehold on someone’s heart and I can see it. And I want to help with it. But, when I try to help they bail out. (Which by the way only indicates how great an idol or stronghold this thing has become.) In part, I think we all fall for the misconception that we have things figured out. We don’t need our pastor or spiritual leader’s help. In fact, they need ours. They have quite a bit to learn. We sadly use our idols as justifications for elevating ourselves.

Because of the lack of covenant, people by the thousands hop around from church to church, embracing the church up until the point that God through a leader confronts an idol. And it’s usually the point that God needs and wants to address the most.

Do you want my advice? (Probably not) If you’re thinking about leaving your church, wherever that may be: don’t. Are there valid reasons for leaving a church? Some. But 99.9/100 times we don’t use valid reasons, we use selfish reasons often coming back to our inability to submit to authority and following our selfish desires.

It’s not about size, a building, a service…It’s not about my individual pursuits or dreams…It’s not about relevant preaching and worship styles…it’s all about God. It’s about worshipping God, being His people. This is His story and we are His church. That’s what He wants. God never breaks his promise with us. He wants us in the same relationship with Him that He has towards us. We, through the church, submit to His authority. (More on that later.) And the only way we come together is by denying ourselves and our desires.

Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize, just as I did, there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

Morpheus, The Matrix

If we’re going let God use us to change the world with the gospel, we’re going to have to understand this difference between knowing the path and walking it. Why would a non-believing world want to have anything to do with a divisive, cannibalistic church?

If we want to truly make a difference in the world around us, we have got to stop treating church like a commodity and start treating it like a covenantal community. “American Dream” thinking has crept into the church over the past 60+ years, spreading like a virus and has reached deadly levels. The local church is the hope of the world, but not the American church as we know it today. A covenantal community that comes under God’s system of authority and denies their own desires is the hope of the world.

Anything else is the world.

The post What IS the church? (How our individualism & desires have derailed God’s design) first appeared on David Lindner.

But, it’s one of those things…You know it’s true, as a pastor I’ve taught on this until I’m blue the face, and not much changes. We treat church as a commodity. The point of church is getting our needs met. We go to church to get fed and get the relational connection we feel we need. We go because we want our kids to get a good biblical foundation. We go because of what we get out of it.

Last week, I wrote at article about love. Love is the covenant on which Christianity is build. The “new covenant” Jesus instituted the night before his crucifixion was a covenant of love. “As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.”

But, our modern, individualistic approach to church has no basis in scripture. A short survey of some of Jesus’ teaching and New Testament passages paint a very different picture:

The son of man didn’t come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. (Matt 20:28)

The Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers were given to equip the saints for the work of ministry to attain unity of the faith. (Eph 4:11-13)

Go into all the world and make disciples… (Matt 28:18-20)

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer. (Acts 2:42-47)

And the real kicker:

²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

Luke 9:23-25

In fact, do a read through the New Testament. The only times you find individualism mentioned is in a negative way. When people would use grace as a license to sin they were reprimanded.

7 Things the Church ISN’T

1.) The church isn’t a service or a sermon. The church cannot be attended. Though we take attendance for different reasons, church isn’t something we attend. As you’ve heard a million times, we don’t go to church we are the church. But knowing something and practicing something are very different things. We may know church isn’t a service, but how many have left a church and chosen a new church because of the service alone?

Neither is the church the sermon. Biblical teaching is important. But attending and listening to a sermon isn’t the point. We’ve made it the point. We’ve made it the reason we “go to church”, but it’s not the reason.

2.) The church isn’t a building. Although, because of sloppy translation, technically the word “church” does mean building, the actual word used in the New Testament is Ekklesia which means: “a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly”. The word church comes from the German word Kirche, which does mean a building used for assemblies. Because of it’s connection with Christians who were meeting in these buildings, it became slang for ekklesia. Ekklesia though, has nothing to do with a building. It’s the family of God.

3.) The Church isn’t an individual pursuit. When you’re baptized into Christ, your individual identity is buried with Him through baptism and as you emerge from the water you receive a new identity in the family of God. The very thing driving much of our approach to church today is the thing that was supposed to be put to death when we received our new life in Christ. The only real use of individualism in the New Testament is in reference to individual holiness, something most modern believers don’t want to talk about.

4.) The Church isn’t a show/performance. Unfortunately, much of our approach to church, much of our effort as church leaders has been about the “hour on Sunday”, As Nancy Beach put it. This has been a mistake in our thinking as church leaders that has produced the net result of millions of church goers being led to believe that hour is the primary point of emphasis. Is there anything wrong with a worship service? No. Is there anything wrong with doing it well? Not at all. Is there anything wrong with it being the primary focus? Yes. Prior to my 7.5 years as a Senior Pastor I was a worship pastor. I am as guilty as anyone of putting too much emphasis on that one hour. I have been wrong and have been actively working to change my approach for years.

5.) The Church isn’t volunteering at a non-profit. I love people who volunteer at non-profits. We have some amazing people who volunteer at our food pantry every week. But volunteering at a non-profit, even a Christian non-profit where you as a believer fellowship with other believers is not church. It’s good. No, It’s great! But it’s not church.

6.) The Church isn’t having coffee with other believers. Yes, technically “2 or 3” are gathered. But is it really in Jesus’ name? Sometimes, undoubtedly, yes it is. But let’s be real. How much of the time is about Jesus and how much of the time is about that person that did that thing that you can’t believe they did? It’s a great thing to fellowship in small groups. It’s a great thing to build intimacy with other believers. It’s a great thing to hold one another accountable. It’s a crucial part of what church should be, but it is only a small piece of the puzzle. And only when it’s done right.

7.) The Church isn’t watching sermons on YouTube. We live in a weird time where it would appear church has been reduced to watching a sermon on YouTube or Facebook. For the last 5-7 years, this has been greatly increasing prior to the pandemic. I get it, there are some great communicators out there. I like them too. There’s a reason they’re famous. But because

I taught on this through our whole series in Hebrews last fall at SixEight Church. Watching a sermon on Youtube is not a replacement for your own devotional life. Jesus’s death on the cross made it possible for us ALL to go into the Holy of holies. Too many Christians are experiencing vicariously what they were meant to experience personally.

What is the church?

When we come to Christ we put our identity as an individual to death and receive a new identity of family. Yes, there is still a me, but it’s definition changes. I go from being all about me to me being all about we.

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

1 Cor 12:12-14 (NIV)

Yet, somehow we have managed to flip this upside down and make the body about us.

This, I believe, is the reason so many people are dissatisfied with their “church experience.” Their premise is wrong. Going to church to get your needs met is like going to the Disneyland because you like talking to people while waiting in line. That’s not why you go to Disneyland. You don’t even go to Disneyland to ride the rides, many do. But the true, Disneyphiles go to Disneyland because they’re a part of the Disney family, they’re a part of the Disney movement. They go to experience the magic and be around others who feel the same way they do.

Too many people are going to church to “ride the rides” instead of going because they’re a “part of the family.”

An overly simplified definition of church is this: Church is a covenantal community of believers led by qualified elders who share in communion, worship, teaching, prayer and edification and who maintain corporate holiness through biblical discipleship.

In a later post, we’ll dig in and deepen our understanding of what the church IS.

For now, what are some other things you see in the church today that the church isn’t? (Don’t be negative, be evaluative.)

The post Seven Things the Church isn’t and what the church is. first appeared on David Lindner.

I’m trying to root for the Seahawks because we live in Washington. I grew up in Ohio and have already brainwashed my family into rooting for the Buckeyes. They had no choice in that one. And that one is easier because the Buckeyes have generally been a good team for a long time.

But, because of my brother, I also grew up rooting for the Cincinnati Bengals. For a brief moment of my childhood they were good. The made it to that 89 superbowl where the evil Joe Montana stole the ring from them. But two years after that they plummeted. They haven’t won a playoff game since Jan 6 of 1991 against the Houston Oilers, (a team that doesn’t exist anymore) the longest streak in the NFL. Even longer than the Cleveland browns who have managed to have their team move to Baltimore then start up a new team in the meantime back in Cleveland. It just doesn’t seem fair to force my kids to root for a losing team. I suppose there could be value in that.

However, though rooting for the Seahawks is getting easier every year, I can’t stop rooting for the Bengals. I can safely say I’m not a bandwagoner, because I’ve been a Bengals fan this whole, awful time. I can’t tell you the amount of ridicule I’ve taken over the years for it.

It’s how things used to be. You had your team. And no matter how bad they were, they were your team and you would be cheering them on even if they didn’t win a single game that season. I mean, people are still fans of -ichigan even though it’s been 3,000 days since they beat Ohio State.

It’s not that way anymore. People love to root for winning teams. I get it. I root for the Buckeyes. It’s fun when your team makes it to the playoffs and wins the National Championship game with their third string quarterback. But somewhere along the way winning became more important than unconditional love.

The same is true in almost every facet of our society. We love when it’s easy, but when the cost gets too high, the lure of the winning team overtakes us.

Here’s the thing, It’s not love if we only do it when it’s easy. Unconditional love only exists when there aren’t conditions put on that love. “Of course, don’t talk down me Mr. I know that.” And I agree, we intellectually know that. But practically speaking, we know very little of unconditional love anymore.

We have believed the lie of modern society that says love is about getting our own needs met. We’ve replaced unconditional love for a contractual love. We enter into relationships and make unwritten agreements with others. We agree to be in relationship as long as the other person or entity holds up their end of the agreement. But if they fail to do so, the contract is null and void and we are justified to leave.

In 1 Cor 13, Paul shared with the church what Love is supposed to look like. Though we use this passage at weddings (and rightly so), the original intent Paul had with this verse was for the church at Corinth. He has just talked about the body and talks about worship services immediately after. This is what love is supposed to look like in the church. This is what love is supposed to look like for Christians.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. 

1 Cor 13:4-8

You’ve probably heard the exercise to put your name in the place of love. “David is patient, David is kind. David does not envy…” It’s a great practice, and a great way to see where we can improve.

Look right there right in the middle of the text. Love is not self-seeking, not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. That is the opposite of contractual love. Contractual love is in it only for me. Once I have accumulated a long enough list of contractual violations, I am justified to move on.

Jesus disagrees.

John 13:1 “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” The apostle John wrote that. I love that line. He loved them to the end. John, when he looked back on what Jesus did, He said that Jesus love him to the end. “[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Jesus did not fail in loving us. He showed us his great love for us by laying down his very life for us. (John 15:13)

It’s not love if you only do it when it’s easy.

Going to the cross wasn’t easy for Jesus. In fact the author of Hebrews makes it clear that the greatest temptation Jesus faced in his life was that temptation in the garden to not go through with the cross. Jesus loved us to the end, even when it would mean taking the sins of all humanity on himself on the cross.

I get it. There have been plenty of people God has put in my life that I’d love to punch in the throat in the name of Jesus. And, if I’m being honest. There are people I’ve cut out of my life in the past because it was too hard to love them. I had plenty of reasons and felt very justified in my decision. They were too difficult. They only wanted something from me. They weren’t interested in growing. Those are a few of the reasons I’ve used in my own life to justify not loving someone.

It’s fun to be friends with someone when it’s easy. It’s like rooting for a winning team. And it’s much easier to stop being friends with someone when it gets too hard. It’s easier to find a new team than to keep dealing with defeat.

But Jesus didn’t love us that way. His disciples never got who He was until after the resurrection. I mean on the night before his crucifixion they were arguing in the upper room about which of them was the greatest. When He got arrested they scattered. Did that stop Jesus from going through with the cross?

In fact, it was the very reason He went to the cross. He went to the cross to begin the process of restoring love in mankind. In the garden we didn’t just rebel against God’s authority, we rebelled against His love. From that moment on, we have perverted love, making it all about us.

Like I said a couple of years ago in my Christmas novel, “The Christmas Setup,” Love isn’t love until you give it away.

Since the garden, we’ve been busy making love all about ourselves. Especially today, love is all about how someone or something makes us feel. When that feeling goes away (By the way, that “feeling” is just dopamine in your brain, that’s why it goes away. You’re not “in love” you’re high on dopamine.) we feel justified to move on because that thing isn’t making feel like it used to.

That’s not love, that’s lust. Simply put, lust is desire. When you’re hungry, you lust food. Lust is about getting your desires fulfilled. When that desires is fulfilled, we’re ‘satisfied’, but when it’s not, we say “the love is gone.”

True love doesn’t mystically disappear. Love is a decision, not a feeling. In fact, you could argue that love is only love WHEN it’s hard. You don’t need unconditional love when everything is easy. It’s when it’s difficult that you need love.

So, how are you doing at love? Have you only been doing it when it’s easy?

(After all that, I guess I have to keep rooting for the Bengals don’t I. I guess didn’t think that through.)

The post If we only do it when it’s easy, it’s not love. first appeared on David Lindner.

What’s up with that? What’s with our incessant need to make everyone a villain?

It’s a pretty basic story element. Most stories need a villain. Sometimes they’re blatantly bad, other times they seem to be doing what they think is best, it just so happens that what they think is best contradicts with the common good. In a story, the villains actions are important to move the plot along. Oftentimes without a villain, the story can get stuck.

A villain is by definition malicious and cruel. Their alliance is to evil not good. Their intentions are at best malicious at worst destructive.

Truth be told, there are villains. Throughout history there have been actual villains whose intentions were destructive and whose actions were cruel. But, truth be told, the number of actual villains differs greatly from the number of perceived villains.

You wouldn’t think that is true, however, by looking around us today. We have celebrity villains and personal villains. Why? Well, I think there are two reasons. Money & Excuses.

It should be noted that we are wired for story and good stories have villains. By design, villains are supposed to be things that go against God’s design. But, as with everything else in creation, the way God designed story to work has been hijacked by the rebellion.

1.) Money.

How is money a reason for villains? The media uses the idea of defeating an evil villain as a reason to get you to tune in to their programming. For CNN the villain is President trump and the Republican party. For Fox News, the villain is Joe Biden (And President Obama) and the Democratic party. Even the local news stations have to create a good guy and a bad guy in the smallest of stories.

Like I said earlier, stories that don’t have a villain are hard to keep moving. So the media makes villains, (some big, some small) to keep the story going and to keep people tuning in. If you don’t tune in they don’t get paid. The more you tune in, the more they can charge for advertising dollars. Just like the media has been using fear to get us to tune in, they use villains to line their pockets at the expense of our sanity.

Of course this is an oversimplification. There are value systems at work behind every major media outlet that drive the organization. But, those value systems only serve as the scope through which they select their target villain.

2.) Excuses

Money (in part) explains our national obsession with villains. But what about our need to create villains out of people in our lives? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen it. Not only have I seen it, I’ve experienced. I’ve made people to be a villain and I’ve also been made out to be a villain. Why do we do that?

This one goes a little bit deeper. And while I don’t have any real solid research, I do have a pretty solid theory. We need villains so we can be victims.

“Hold on, I’m not a victim. I don’t make myself out to be a victim!”

We may say we aren’t victims and that we don’t have a victim mindset, but most of us play the victim card in some way.

Sure, we all have things in our life that happened to us, things that were out of our control. In those cases, we’re victims. But, that doesn’t mean we’re victims in everything.

Here’s the kicker: if we’re victims, we have someone to blame. And if we can blame someone else, we don’t have to take responsibility for our own actions. Which means we never have to do the hard work of changing ourselves, admitting our failures and seeking forgiveness for the mistakes we’ve made. It’s far easier to find a villain to blame for our mistake or to justify our decisions than it is to admit we were wrong.

Let me explain. As a culture, we’re particularly drawn to new, shiny, enticing things. I would say we’re addicted to it, because we get hits of dopamine in the anticipation of something new and when we acquire it. And like any good addict, we also experience the let down when the high wears off.

So, we see something new that we either want to acquire or that we want to experience. We want to buy something or do something. Common sense and even rational friends will help us see that we don’t really need that thing. In fact, there may be good, logical and even theological reasons why the pursuit of this new thing would actually be bad for us.

But, we really want it. I mean, I want the Oompa Loompa now! We obsess over it. We find a thousand justifications for why we should buy it, why we should try it. Then we go back to those friends with our new justifications. Except they don’t get on board. What do we do?

We’re left with only two options. Follow their guidance or vilify them. Sometimes we listen but most of the time, we start to vilify them. It doesn’t happen overnight, but over time, we find more and more ways to not only justify why what we want is right – we find ways to justify why the people who disagree with us are not only wrong, they’re actually evil.

“I want an oompa loompa now!” and anyone who doesn’t agree with me must not love me because they don’t want me to be happy and having the oompa loompa is what will make me happy.

What do we do about this?

Well, first, recognition is a pretty important piece of the puzzle. We need to recognize when we’re vilifying someone because they don’t agree with us. Notice when you’re doing it and don’t let yourself go down that road.

LOOK! We have got to remember how to love and be in relationship with people who don’t agree with us! I have people in my life that I disagree with strongly and they disagree with me strongly about something. But I refuse to let that become a wedge between us. I didn’t used to operate this way. I used to drive wedges, not regularly. But there are a couple of places I can see where I did that unnecessarily. I will not do that anymore.

Second is: Love ≠ agreement. We can love people without agreeing with them on everything, even on major things. We can love people who disagree with us. We don’t have to vilify or make opponents out of people who think differently.

Third (& last), refuse to participate in vilification of others. Vilification is essentially a form of gossip. When someone we love doesn’t agree with us, instead of talking with that person about it, we talk to everyone else about them not agreeing with us, making them out to be the villain. We share the well manicured version of our side of the story, and shape their side of the story through our justifications. Making a villain out of someone simply because they disagreed with us.

I’ve talked a lot about Gossip over the years (here, here and here), but I recently heard a pastor describe it this way.

“…gossip is a form of pornography, because when you gossip you are essentially “undressing” a person, exposing things about them which are intimate, vulnerable and private — in order to get a cheap thrill out of them, and to gratify yourself by feasting upon them in your mind.“

“…when we gossip, we are objectifying a person — turning them into a thing in order to gratify yourself at their expense, without making a commitment to them.“

When I first heard that definition, I thought it was too harsh. But when you understand the way your brain responds to gossip and that your brain actually changes the way you physically see a person you’ve gossiped about (Read here)

But that’s not all, the University of Pravia conducted research on gossip and discovered that your brain releases Oxytocin when you hear or share gossip. Oxytocin is often referred to as the “cuddle” hormone. It’s the one that helps build intimacy between you and another person. But there’s a problem, it builds intimacy between you and the person you are gossipping with while changing the way you see the person you’re gossipping about.

Not only does vilification give us an excuse for our own action or inaction, when we share about the villain with others we get a nice little oxytocin boost in our brain to make us feel even better about it.

Recognize when you’re vilifying someone, understand it is possible to unconditionally love someone you don’t agree with (seems like the term unconditional should make that pretty clear, but you know…) and lastly, refuse to participate in the vilification of someone else.

The post What’s With Our Incessant Need to make everyone a Villain? first appeared on David Lindner.

My wife and I were working with a young married couple. The husband had been unfaithful and we were working with them to try to bring about reconciliation. For a few months we seemed to be making progress. But then I hit a particularly busy season and we went two weeks without meeting.

When we got back together, everything had changed. Reconciliation was out the window. It was over.

It was frustrating, not because my goal of reconciling the relationship was finished…not because there wasn’t a justifiable reason for the decision. It was frustrating because we were making progress towards a common goal and that was shattered by two things: ideas and isolation.

Since then I have seen the same thing happen so many times. I was talking with someone recently about this and it’s connection to the pandemic. It’s not just in one issue. In fact, I would guess that in 9 out of 10 problems that have crept up as a result of the pandemic, this is at the heart of it.

Things were going fine until the pandemic. But then we got isolated. The relationships we relied on suddenly changed. When we were seeing people weekly or more, we stopped seeing them. The people we were in relationship with who were helping us stay on the “straight and narrow” were harder to get in touch with. They couldn’t pray with us, encourage us, correct us or help us when we needed it most.

Of course, we didn’t help ourselves. We were proud. We thought we didn’t need anyone to help us. We thought we could get through it on our own. But we were fools for thinking so. We found ourselves isolated. Which made us sitting ducks for tactic number two, ideas.

It’s amazing how one itsy bitsy teenie weenie idea can grow like a midwestern farm boy. In a normal setting, we can manage the lies that creep in. We chew on a lie for a few days, but then we see someone who lovingly corrects that lie and it dies. But without that interaction, the mistruths and half truths grow uncontrollably. Like Clarence says to George in “It’s a wonderful life”: “Harry wasn’t there to save them, because you weren’t there to save Harry.”

It’s so obvious to me now after all these years in ministry. The Devil’s tactics are simple, but incredibly effective. I’ve seen relationships ruined because people let an idea creep into their thinking. I’ve seen people fall back into sin because a tiny idea crept back in. Over the years there wasn’t a good excuse. Often times people will stop coming to church when they’re struggling with something. Partly because they like the thing and don’t want to be corrected, partly because they don’t want to appear as though they don’t have it all together and partly because they think they can fix it on their own.

They can’t. And the devil gets em, time and time again. If the Devil can get you all alone, thinking about a half-truth, He’s gonna getcha. Every time.

What do we do about this?

First, we need to learn to recognize when the Devil is using one of these tactics on us. We need to learn to spot it like a thunderstorm on the radar. If we see it coming, we can get out of the path of the storm.

Second, we need to humble ourselves and recognize that no single human is strong enough to do this Jesus thing on our own. We weren’t created for isolation. God said in the garden, “It’s not good for many to be alone.” We need one another. We need to sacrifice our “me time” for “we time.” Maybe the reason we feel like we’re barely hanging on is because we’re trying to do alone what we were made to do in community.

Third, we have to learn to go to the source. Often times this will mean going to God’s word or someone we know who knows God’s word to get God’s perspective on the thing we’re wrestling with. Other times we will have to go to the person about whom we are believing the half-truth. Lies lose their power when juxtaposed with the truth.

Right now our world is more divided than it’s ever been. It’s no coincidence. We’re divided because we’ve been isolated for months, mulling over idea after idea in isolation. We haven’t had to face the hard truth that this idea we have embraced withers when a real person I know holds a different idea. We think our idea is the only right idea and that it’s impossible to for people who disagree to live together in unity. But, that my friends, is a lie.

The only thing we have to agree on is unconditional, sacrificial love for one another. The primary thing we have to do right is laying down our lives for one another like Jesus laid down his life for us. All that other stuff, when compared to this kind of love, is rubbish.

The question is, are we going to keep letting the Devil win and get the best of us?

The post The Devil’s Two Primary Tactics first appeared on David Lindner.

Are you with me so far?

Well, when you’re afraid, there are a few chemicals that get released into your bloodstream. Adrenaline and cortisol which also set about the release of other things like glucose, giving your blood a sugar rush to help you escape the danger or take it on.

In my non-scientific explanation, fear short-circuits the brain and your body. This is by God’s design for our protection. When you’re in a forest and it’s windy enough to cause a trees to start falling near you, you don’t need the rational part of your brain to kick in to try to evaluate whether or not you are in danger. You don’t need to stop and do math related to distance, wind velocity and your rate of speed. You just need to run for your life. The chemicals released into your bloodstream increase blood flow to your heart, lungs and muscles and away from less immediate needs like your digestive system.

These chemicals have a purpose, but they also have some negative aspects. For example, they can make you intolerant, irritable, uncreative, critical, impair your memory and cause you to make bad decisions.

We see this at play in the world around us to the nth degree. People are afraid. For many different reasons. Some fear because of the virus, others for their jobs, others for racism and damage that has been done throughout history to people of color, others for the tension and in many cases, trauma that is being caused by protests and riots. There is fear about when/if school is going to start up and what that’s going to look like, fear about the division in our country, fear about the coming election, fear that our preferred candidate won’t get elected. Fear that you might read this article and get mad at me for something I said. Basically, every where you turn, fear.

We were living in a state of fear prior to the pandemic. But the pandemic escalated our sense of fear. Consequently for the past 4-5 months, we have been making decisions with fear chemicals coursing through our veins and brains.

Remember when all this started, how there were a couple of weeks of solidarity? “We’re all in this together” was our mantra. People were looking out for their neighbors and we had this esprit de corp for going through an historic event together. Lots of people were afraid. But many of our leaders and the media were doing their best to keep us positive.

But, and this is what really bothers me, that all changed. We stopped working the problem together and leaders and the media got back into their fear-mongering ways. (No, they never really stopped for that brief tim, but it was less.) Political leaders, media giants, basically anyone with a platform started using fear to get us to agree that their stance was right. That’s what gets me. The majority of humanity was already living in some state of fear and uncertainty and they added to it in abundance. And still are.

But why? Because fear short circuits the brain. You don’t think rationally when you’re afraid. And most of our leaders don’t want us to make a rational decision, they want us to make their decision. Consequently our world is full of extremely intolerant, irritable, critical, impulsive uncreative, memory impaired individuals. People making decisions without the benefit of the slower, more thoughtful part of their brain.

We literally have millions of people running around jacked up on adrenaline, cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine. Some have been in hiding for months, others have had their sleeves rolled up and ready for a fight.

[begin soap box] I get that you might be angry. I have been. But, maybe instead of being angry at one another and anyone who doesn’t agree with us, maybe we should redirect our anger. Maybe we should be upset at the media giants who propagate the message of fear. The people on all sides who use their platforms for harm instead of good. If you’re reading this an you have a platform, why not devote the majority of your airtime to the good in the world? Well, I know why, because fear sells. When people are afraid they make impaired financial decisions too. So you get wealthy at the expense of our mental health. (By the way, this is why I was working on a show called about good news a few years ago. This was long before John Krasinsky did his “Some Good News” show and I can prove it. (People who know me are probably rolling their eyes at another one of my ideas that I had but never acted on, then someone else did and it went viral.)) 🙂 [/end soap box]

So, what do we do about this? Fortunately there are a few things.

1.) Filter: About a month ago I stopped taking in any news. As in none. We haven’t had the news channels for a while. But, I stopped watching local news. I unsubscribed from them on Facebook. As a pastor, I’ve always felt I needed to know what was going on, so when people ask me about it, I’ll have had time to think about it. But, it was too much. Too much hate. Too much negativity. Too must disrespect. There’s been no such thing as human decency on the airwaves for a long time. But recently, it’s been friggin’ ridiculous. Shut that trash off. Seriously. You don’t need that kind of rubbish in your mind. If I wasn’t a pastor I would use much stronger language to describe it. Maybe I should. That stuff is just some frumpy horse pucky.

“But what about Facebook? What about people who are my friends who are sharing too much of that?” Snooze them for 30 days. I have. People on both sides. To be honest, I’ve snoozed way more people whom I would probably agree with than those with whom I disagree. Some people share things because they don’t have the courage to say those things in real life. Others share things to get likes and attention like some kind of a hot-topics bandwagon you can jump on to stroke your ego. If you miss out on something that actually happened to them in real life and they ask about it, muster up a little courage and say, “I’m sorry I missed that. You were were just sharing too much negative stuff and I needed a break.” No, I’m not advocating creating an echo chamber. But, I am advocating, turning off the fear faucet. Start filtering it out of your life for the sake of your mental well-being.

“Isn’t that selfish, to cut others out of your life for your own mental health?” Like the oxygen mask scenario on a plane, what good are you to rationally help a friend going through a crisis if your mind is in a constant state of crisis? We need to unplug from the crisis if we’re going to find peace. We have to turn off the pandemic faucet if we’re going to stop the flood of chemicals that is destroying our house.

2.) Evaluate. Once you’ve started to turn off the flow of negative, fear inducing information and you literally start to balance out, evaluate your life. I’m guessing you’ll look back and see some damage. Some that you caused, some others caused and some for whom there is no one to blame. Own as much as you possibly can and then some. Refuse to blame shift and make yourself the victim. Seek to restore whatever was damaged. Forgive. Recognize everyone is maxed out and literally not thinking clearly. Determine to be a part of the solution, not the problem.

3.) Stories. Stories release chemicals in our brain like Dopamine, Oxytocin and in some cases, Endorphins. Dopamine which helps with focus, motivation & memory is released in any story, especially stories with cliffhangers. Oxytocin which makes us more generous, trusting and likely to bond with others is released when we empathize with another person. Endorphins which helps people relax and become more creative and focused are released when we laugh.

So, read a good book. Watch a good movie. Tell a story and ask others to share their stories. Retell old stories that you love. Work on telling a new story that you’ve never told.

This, by the way, is why I’m trying to get some traction with the hashtag #overwhelmthenegative. We have a ridiculous amount of power if we choose to wield it. We can bring an end to the major negative news organizations by simply refusing to support them and supporting other, more positive sources of good news. Then we can flood social media with good news. We take away their power and replace it with good.

4.) Community. Many of these good chemicals are also released in the context of good community. I know many of us are afraid of the virus, but our church has taken a lot of precautions as have many other organizations. No, we can’t guarantee your safety. We never could. People have gotten sick at our church many times. I’ve gotten sick from our church many times. Our kids have gotten sick from kids clubs. We will be as safe as we can, but we were designed by God to be in community.

I’m not trying to pressure you to do something you’re not comfortable with. But I do want to challenge whatever has created this new standard of safety. We will never be completely safe from everything. We live in a broken and fallen world. The only true safety will be found when God restores everything.

From where I sit, the potential danger to our society from our isolation is much more dangerous. I’ll write more soon, but when we’re isolated and obsessing about an idea, bad things happen. That’s how the devil wins.

Maybe it’s not big groups or even small groups. But there has to be someone you can see in person. Someone you can hug. Someone you can tell stories to. Someone who can make you laugh. The State of Washington says groups of 5 are okay. Maybe start there? Maybe get a few people from church together outside?

So, my question is this. Are you going keep letting yourself be taken advantage of? Are you going to keep letting yourself be a pawn in someone else’s agenda? That’s essentially what’s happening. We’re letting ourselves be controlled by the fear tactics at play.

But there is only one fear that’s supposed to dominate our mind, that’s the fear of the Lord. When we have a proper understanding of who God is, everything else fits better in the place it was designed for. And God has never not been in control. God is not freaking out. God is not scared about what’s going on.

(For more reading: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323492#Triggering-the-response)

The post What Fear Is Doing To You first appeared on David Lindner.

Getting our church through the pandemic in some kind of connected manner was consuming.

In the process, I think I’ve started to get caught up in the monster that is social media. I’ve walked into the trap.

Now, I’m trying to fight my way back out.

No, I don’t want to give up social media. I don’t think I can. I don’t think I have that option. I also don’t think that simply dropping something is always the right answer. There has to be a different way.

But, right now I’m feeling pretty stuck in a negative mindset. Which isn’t surprising, because it’s nearly impossible to get away from it. (Which by the way is one reason I’m not walking away from the monster. I want to help fill it with positive and overwhelm the negative of it all.)

Has our church come through the pandemic? Not entirely, no church has yet. But, I’m definitely feeling like it’s time to get back to who I was before all this happened.

Anyone with me?

There is a lot of good about social media. For instance, that’s probably how you saw this post. But, there is a lot of bad. It’s easy to share something without thinking about how it’s going to affect someone. It’s easy to comment harshly without worrying about how others will receive it. It’s easy to say something you would never say face to face.

A lot of people I know have quit social media altogether, or drop off from time to time. But, how do you stay connected during a pandemic? Before the pandemic, we were still super busy and didn’t seem to have much time to be in people’s lives face to face, so how do we stay connected?

I guess we can just hide all the negative people. And I have hidden quite a few. And no, not just people I disagree with. People on both sides. Probably equally, maybe even more hiding of people I agree with.

But, I know it is possible to remain positive even when surrounded by a tidal wave of negativity.

I just can’t do it alone. Will you help me? Will you share more positive things? Will you share more real life pictures and memories? At the same time, can we help encourage one another? Can we seek to build one another up? And instead of instantly assuming the worst about someone, work our hardest to assume the best?

I started using a hashtag the other day called #overwhelmthenegative.

There are a lot more of us people than there are new organizations that are pumping out the negativity. The reason they pump it out is because we click on it and they make money. But, what if we just overwhelmed social media with positivity, so much so that what got lost was all the negative junk?

You know what would happen, is they would have to pay more money in advertising to be heard. What if we so overwhelmed their negativity that they ended up spending so much money trying to get our attention that they either left the platform or even went bankrupt? Wouldn’t that be amazing! I think so.

What if we refused to click on their links and at the same time shared an abundance of positive, happy things?

I can tell you, it would really encourage me. I think it would help us all.

The post Overwhelm The Negative first appeared on David Lindner.

Before we get too far, let me define grace. I mean this: unmerited favor. The disposition of love, kindness and goodwill to benefit or serve someone. That practice that exemplifies what we have received from God in his divine favor towards us, showing us kindness and forgiveness when we do not deserve it. Also, something beautiful and elegant.

Every election year gets billed as the most important election in recent history. Which I’m pretty sure is just a way of excusing horrible behavior. It’s a way of saying: “I probably shouldn’t be saying this or sharing this, but this is an important year and it needs to be said.” Maybe not. But maybe.

This year has been the most divisive years of my life. I’m not talking about any single issue. In fact, it’s the same in every issue from many on both sides of the debate. I’m talking about our response to them and the response of the media and our leaders. I have never heard or seen such vitreal on a constant basis.

But that’s not really even the point. At this moment in our culture, we seem to have any sense of grace. No matter the good someone may have done, if they make one misstep, they are going to get slaughtered. This is especially true for our leaders. We expect them to live perfectly at times in all situations. We expect them to live to every expectation of every person. And when they don’t, we take them to the curb and give them a pretty good lashing along the way.

Here’s the thing: There is no perfect leader. There is no perfect person. You are not perfect, I am not perfect. We are a bunch of imperfect people doing our best with the skill set and knowledge that we have acquired up to this point in our lives.

In fact, intuition is really only acquired by making mistakes. The reason a 14 year old doesn’t have any intuition about life is because they haven’t made enough mistakes to be able to start sensing when something bad is coming. The more mistakes we make that cause us pain in one way or another, the more developed our intuition will become.

That’s a problem when you’re not allowed to make mistakes. If there is no grace for mistakes, we will never be able to learn from them. There is an expectation of living to a standard that we haven’t been able to learn how to live yet. 

“But, they should know better!” People will say. Maybe. Have you ever done something with good intentions that had a bad result? I have. Several times. My intent was to help, but people received it the wrong way. Whether it was a poorly worded sentence I said in person or in an email/letter or if it was a decision I made.

We have completely lost any concept of grace. Unmerited favor. The disposition of love, kindness and goodwill to benefit or serve someone.

It’s what the church is built on. The Grace of God poured out on us because of the cross of Christ. It’s the foundation of the commandment Jesus gave in the upper room to love one another as He has loved us. How did He love us? He gave his life for us? How do we love one another? Well, we’re supposed to lay down our lives for one another. Except, there’s not a whole lot of that happening anymore.

The community of Christ is supposed to be marked by selflessness, serving one another out of love. But, it’s hard to lay down your life when you’re fighting for your own rights.

My question is: How has an institution built on grace moved so far from it?

I get it. The church has made mistakes. Leaders have made mistakes. Some leaders have done awful things. But, what makes those leaders less deserving of Grace than ourselves?

What’s really challenging is that not only have we stopped giving grace to people and leaders within the church, we seem to have lost all ability to show grace to people and leaders outside the church.

We didn’t do anything to earn Jesus’ death on that cross. Our ability to have a right standing with God is purely a gift. Not, even 1/1000th of a percent of it has been earned. God didn’t give it because we deserved it. He gave it because he wants us to be his people. He gave it because He loves his created ones. He made us in His image and He wants us to experience the fullness of that image inside and out.

And he has us here on this planet for the purpose of shining his light. How are we to shine his light if we don’t give grace.

I’m not concerned about those outside the church being graceless. I’m concerned that we inside the church seem to have lost touch with our founding value. Ironically we seem to be reverting to some form of Justice driven religion. We sing out, overwhelmed with God’s grace for ourselves. But where is the grace coming out of our lives to the people around us?

Jesus was being crucified and while he was hanging on the cross he was interceding for the people who were killing him. Would we do that? Or would we be like the other criminal who joined in hurling insults, hanging on the cross for our own sins, needing a mountain of grace for ourselves and still incapable of expressing grace for another?

Jesus said to His disciples that the world would know we are Jesus’ disciples by the way we love one another. A key component of love is grace. When you love someone, they’re going to need grace at some time. Even though they may doing the exact opposite, we give them grace. Could the world tell that we are Jesus’ disciples by the way we love one another and show grace to one another? If non-believers watched your social media feed, would they know you’re a Christian by your love? Or would they assume you’re a Christian because of all the judgmental posts?

Should we just let everything go? No. That’s not grace either. But some of us run so quick to judge that you’d think the ice cream truck was coming.

What if we were first overly gracious? What if we were as gracious as we could possibly be with one another in the church and with our leaders? What if we gave our governmental leaders grace, understanding they have an incredibly difficult job, that they live in the age of a 24 hour news cycle, where every move gets dissected before you’ve even finished the sentence.

What if we were known for being gracious? What if we gave people favor long before they could do anything to earn it? What if we had a general disposition of love instead of hate? What if our default position was kindness? What if we sought to be perpetrators of good will for the benefit of others, serving people no matter who they are, what they look like or if they believe something totally different than we do?

What if I told you that you’re ability to be a gracious person wasn’t dependant on someone else’s belief system lining up with your own? The belief system of the Jews or the Romans didn’t line up with what Jesus taught. But that didn’t stop Him from showing grace.

Maybe we could be more like that?

The post What Happened To Grace? first appeared on David Lindner.

Daniel has gotten a lot of attention. He knew about the virus before he started his retreat, but had no idea how extensive things got.

Two days later he tweeted: “People at the grocery store seem more anxious than I remember.”

I’ve been thinking over the past 75 or so days of my life to try to remember what all has happened. To me, the last 75 days feels about like a good solid year or so. When I try to think back to a specific date, like Easter, or the first Sunday of the pandemic, in my mind it’s not that much closer than last summer’s family vacation. They’re about equidistant.

He came back before the murder of George Floyd and the start of the protests and people were already feel like this:

And now, people are like this:

But, what do we do about it?

Well, I have a few ideas. And I thought I’d illustrate them using GIFs.

First, we should get our sense of humor back. One of the reasons I decided to add a monologue into our service was because I felt like people needed to laugh. That’s more true now.

Second, we should spend less time watching the news and scrolling and trolling. Fear based news and social media articles are addictive. So, we’re a bunch of adrenaline junkies right now. And the fear is short-circuiting our brains. Not only are we addicted, but our addiction is causing us to be less rational beings. If that’s you, consider this your…

Third, we should look for ways to do something kind for someone. Remember how, at the start of the pandemic we were “all in this together”? And you heard stories about people helping their neighbors? Yeah, we should do that again.

Fourth, we should work at being peacemakers in the world. Both the political parties and the media are working to divide us. That’s no secret. But, we don’t have to fall for it. We could actually choose not to fall into the trap.

Fifth, we should work harder to be gracious with people who disagree with us. I’m sure people won’t like this one, because we’re kind of living in an all or nothing moment. But, it is possible to disagree with someone and still love that person and even have a good relationship with them. Nobody agrees on absolutely everything. So let’s just…

Sixth, we should stop spending so much time on social media. Go outside, get some sunlight and fresh air. Or if you’re in the Northwest where we’re having the second wettest June on record, go stand in the rain.

Seventh, we should be a little more humble. During the pandemic, everyone became expert epidemiologists. Everyone held their point of view with absolute confidence. At least until their point of view was determined to be wrong. The news got a lot of stuff wrong. Remember how we were supposed to leave packages outside for 24 hours and sanitize your groceries when you brought them home. Then they learned that the virus is primarily transmitted through the air.

So, look. I’m not an expert epidemiologist. I’m not an expert at race relations and reconciliation. But, I do think this could help us in this moment. Might be good advice for Daniel too.

What would your advice be to Daniel?

The post Did I Miss Anything? 7 GIF Tips For This Moment In Time first appeared on David Lindner.

It’s a gift right? I mean, whether you’re a Christ-follower or not, we think of life as a gift. From my vantage point, life is a gift because God has breathed the breath of life into every human that has ever existed. But it’s more than that.

Every human being is made in God’s image. (Gen 1:26-27) What does it mean to be made in God’s image? Well, God is Father, Son & Spirit. God has an invisible quality, a physical quality and a spiritual quality. To be made in God’s image is not simply an issue of form, it’s an issue of essence. At our very essence, we human beings are made in God’s image.

Also, the word human comes from the word humus which means dirt. (Which is why I don’t eat humus, I’m worried I might be eating someone I used to know.) But, the word human is in itself a reminder that God created us from the dirt. We have value because he made dirt valuable.

When choosing David as the future King of Israel, the prophet Samuel said: “The lord sees not as man sees: man looks at outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. (1 Sam 16:7)

Being made in the image of God is about way more than what our outward appearance conveys. The way I think of it, God is so massive, so incredible, so amazing that even with 8 billion different looking people on the planet, we still only see Him in part. But when you add into that the entire essence of the person, the mind and the spirit, God truly becomes an incredible being.

And yet somehow we are made in His image, in his likeness and similarity.

Still, I don’t doubt that some reading this post may have an issue with what I have said on the basis that they don’t believe in God. But, that’s where the actual root of the problem is. The root of our problem is not in our American History, that’s a symptom. The root is not in the oppressors that have existed throughout human history, whether that’s Hitler, stalin, Herod or Pharaoh. People have mistreated other people since one particular moment in our history – the rebellion in the garden.

As soon as Adam & Eve chose to eat the fruit and rebel against the one rule God had given, everything was ruined. Why? Because we wanted to be our own gods. It’s that simple.

When you aren’t worshipping something higher than yourself and instead are worshipping yourself as the supreme being who determines what is good and evil, what is right and wrong, you are going to mistreat and murder people. Just look at Cain, Adam & Eve’s kid.

Our problem is not that we think to little of one another. Our problem is that we think to highly of ourselves.

As the prophet Jeremiah said: “They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.” (Jer. 2:5, 2 Kings 17:5)

We become like what we worship. If we are worshipping our maker and creator, we exist in an ever-increasing and uplifting state. The more you worship God, the more you become like God. The more you worship other things or yourself, the more you become like those things. And, consequently, the more you devalue yourself and others.

When you’re the supreme being, then it is necessary that others be beneath you. It takes a lot of humility to lift someone up above yourself, something that is nearly impossible if you are worshipping yourself. But when you understand you are made in the image of the almighty creator of the universe and you worship Him, your attention turns from how great you are to how great God is. When your focus is on your great God, it’s much easier to see every other blessed created thing as valuable. Because your focus isn’t on elevating yourself. Your focus is on elevating your make, creator and sustainer.

This is one reason mistreating anyone on the basis of their physical form is such an injustice. Not only is it an affront against another human being treating them on the basis of one third of who they actually are, it’s a mistreatment of God himself.

If someone were to attack one of my kids, it would take every ounce of self-control I had not to retaliate. Because they are my kids, they look like me and in some ways talk, think and act like me. (Sorry guys.)

God feels the exact same way about every one of his precious creations. And, by the way, he feels that way about all of them regardless of the state of their heart. He wants every single one of us to come to repentance, to turn away from our rebellion and turn to Him and be His people.

Yes, God is a just God. He will not let evil go unpunished. He will deal with it. His desire is that we put our faith in His Son, so that our rebellion can be dealt with by Christ on the cross. But, those who choose not to put their faith in Christ, God will still deal with their evil.

I reached out to someone in my wife’s family for help and perspective on what’s happening. And he shared some excellent thoughts with me. One of those being along these lines, that God is a God of justice. God rewards people who do justice. He also said, as much as God is about Justice, he’s a God of peace and love. There will always be evil in the world, there will always be rebellion.

But, as he said, God is also a God of redemption. God wants to see people rebel against their rebelious hearts and turn to him.

God is the only being who can truly bring about actual justice anyway. He’s the only one that exists outside of the situation. He’s the creator of all things, including the moral code that he put in each of our hearts to tell us that killing someone is wrong.

That’s necessary when it’s comes to being a good judge. You have to be outside the situation. We’ve heard too many times in the last couple of decades about judges making decisions based on their personal bias instead of on the facts.

This is why we need to turn to God in moments like this (and at all times). We cannot bring about true justice for George Floyd. We can work to change the system, to change broken policies and corrupt protections for people in power. And we should. But, as long as there are people in the world, there will be evil in the world.

And as long as that remains the case, we will continue to try to seek justice in unjust ways. We do not correct an injustice with another injustice. This isn’t math, two negatives do not make a positive.

As my friend said:

We have to hold people in power accountable. But, we also have to be accountable for our actions. If we’re going to hold someone else to a standard, we have to hold ourselves to that same standard.

Write your congressman, local political leaders to let them know you are in support of reform. Participate in activities that allow you to express your frustration without causing harm. Find another way to get out the emotions in a helpful way.

Think of it this way:

This is a moment in time. This is one chapter in a much larger story. And that story is one story in a library of stories that make up human history. In the same way we have been living in a story that will be told for decades to come with the coronavirus, we’re living through the George Floyd story that will also be told for decades.

But, being in the story gives us one major advantage, we have the ability to influence the arc of this story in real-time. We don’t have to, we can choose to be bystanders who observe the players in the story. Or we can be those who become one of the players, one of the characters.

As any story goes, we’ve had the inciting incident. There have been too many of these same inciting incidents. There have been too many times where the precious gift of a life has been recklessly taken. But, this incident will just set the arc of the story that is going to unfold in the weeks and months ahead.

Will this be a story of division and destruction or will this be a story about finally coming together across as the human race across the span of differences that have unnecessarily divided us?

The choice is up to us.

What is ringing in my mind are the words of Jesus:

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”

And the words of James, his little brother: “Peacemakers who so in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

And Jesus: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” And Jesus interceding to the Father on behalf of the Roman soldiers who were executing Him: “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Is this a time to sit by and be quiet? Probably not. But neither should we criticize people who don’t know what to say or how to say it. Is this a time to just hope that things change without getting involved to change them? Probably not. But neither should we judge people who choose not to get involved in that way.

As my friend said:

A moment in time, when one group of people based on their color can be brutalized in this way without others stepping in who were watching. Until you know people and know their stories, we don’t know the context of what they’re going through.

Then show them God’s love right where they are.

Just like this story is a part of a bigger story, every single person is living a different story. Pretty much every human on the planet right now has just gone through a majorly disrupting season of life. This may be causing some people to want to respond to this situation by burning buildings, but it may cause others to respond with quiet. But, if we judge people’s over or under reaction to this situation, we going to find ourselves stuck in the same loop of rebellion we’ve always been in. As we need to love people who may be reacting in ways we disapprove of, we need to love others whom we think are reacting enough.

Government is not the answer (though we should seek change). Policies are not the answer (though we should seek change there as well). Systems need changed, paradigms and assumptions need to be dealt with, but they will not bring about the change we need to see.

Only God can do that through His people who are choosing to worship Him with everything they have so that by that worship they may be able to see all of God’s creation as precious in His sight.

The post Human Life first appeared on David Lindner.

Being the solo-pastor of a small church, when our services were forced online, that pretty much left me to figure out how to make that happen. I knew that it was important to several in our church to do a live service. And seeing our people interacting with one another on Facebook was a great thing during this time. (Ironically, 2 weeks before the lockdown I told our people we were going to stop streaming our services on Facebook. Ha!)

Since we’re a small church, we haven’t invested much (actually nothing) in the way of technology in several years. The live streaming we had been doing was one stationary camera and someone might try to work on the audio mix if they had time.

This last Sunday we had our 12th online service. And no, we still don’t have the bugs worked out. In fact, this made the 2nd week in a row my computer crashed before the service (and it’s a new computer!).

My weeks haven’t been my own since this started. Most of my time at the church building has been spent solving tech issues from the previous week or getting ready for the next live stream. Leaving most of my sermon and service preparation for my days off at home.

To be honest, I’ve been kind of jealous of many who have been able to stay home a lot during this time. I know that’s been hard on so many too, but I’ve really longed for that kind of a break. A forced break to just binge watch shows and put together puzzles.

Leading a small church is challenging in a normal season. Comparison is so prevalent in our world today and pastors and churches aren’t immune to the comparison game. I’ve been feeling the pressure of comparison for years, but perhaps never more than in the past 3 months. I was reading about a piece of gear that would really make streaming a live service so much simpler that a much larger church uses. The price of this one item was more than our entire A/V system for the whole church. Yeah, that’s not happening.

Then there’s all the other stuff of being a pastor. How do you care for people you can’t see face to face? How do you stay in touch with people who are adverse to technology? I saw someone last week I hadn’t seen or heard from in months. Wanting to help people grow in their faith but not really having a good idea about how to accomplish that virtually.

Not to mention the fact that our internet at home is rather insufficient for video. I saw one story about people like us who don’t have access to good, high-speed internet. We pay about 4 times the cost for about 1 tenth of the service most get. Then trying to figure out how to do music remotely, staying up until 2am to mixdown a worship song, lead choir practices over zoom, having parents get mad at you because they can’t find the link to the zoom meeting.

But, we’re getting there. We now have synchronization between audio and video now, so that helps. 🙂 It’s been a lot of problem solving. We’ve come a long way in a pretty short period of time. There’s a lot more I would love to do (in case anyone has a spare 100k sitting around they want to donate to a small church), but we’re getting there.

I finally got our garden in at home this week. Not too far behind schedule. Got caught up on mowing last week too. Even spent some time with my wife for our 17th anniversary this weekend.

I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m not trying to make myself out to be a hero. There are real heroes who have worked and given a lot more during this crisis. I’m not putting down or minimizing the experience of anyone who was locked in their house this whole time. I know that was hard too. (That was my wife’s story for the Coronavirus Crisis.

So, what is my point? Oh, I don’t know. Didn’t really have one when I started writing. I really just wanted to write something so I could get my mind working that way again.

But since you asked, we’ve all been going through something that will be written about and dissected for the next couple of decades. Some of us have visible scars, others emotional scars. Some of us have soft-skinned hands that are ready to get busy again. Others have calluses that may never go away.

We’re kind of like the Marvel universe. All these different stories going on at the same time, but one big overarching story uniting us all. It ended up working out for the good in the marvel universe. How this all pans out in the end for us is up to us.

Of course God has written the overarching story and we know He wins in the end. But, how we respond and react to this time, how we tell our story, how we move forward is as much up to us as it is anyone else.

Aside from my wife and kids, only a few people really know the time this season has consumed from my life. Truly, only my wife and kids really know. Others know in part, but not the whole. It would be easy for you to look at our church Facebook page and say, “there’s not much to see here” and by comparison, you’d be right. And, in some ways, it’s true. There’s a lot you don’t see there. You never will. But if you tried to judge my efficacy as a pastor based on what you saw there, I’m certain I wouldn’t measure up. If you judge me by my writing for this season, again I’d be a failure.

But there’s a lot I’ve had to do that you’ll never see. The same is true for you. There’s a lot you’ve had to figure out, a lot you’ve gone through, a lot you’re wrestling with that I’ll never see. That’s because even though we’ve all gone through the same pandemic, we haven’t all gone through the same story.

Maybe if we can all see that there is a lot of behind the scenes going on in everyone’s life right now, we might be able to find a little more grace for one another.

That’s a small taste of my Covid-19 story. (I have a lot more to say, but I’m trying to get home ontime for the first time in months.)That’s my story, what’s yours?

The post A long 75 days. (A different Covid-19 experience) first appeared on David Lindner.

Yes, I said B B B B Billion.

As of March 16th, there have been 2.1 Billion mentions of the word Corona Virus. That’s up 1 BILLION uses in a little over a week. Yes, the Coronavirus is deadly and dangerous. But there’s a bigger virus spreading right now at the speed of light, and that’s fear.

I am not saying we shouldn’t be taking this problem seriously. In fact, as a church we are seeking to make sure that we are leading by example in following the recommendations of health and government officials. This is a highly contagious, sneaky virus that can have lasting effects for some. We need to be careful. Plus, when government leaders agree on something, we should probably pay attention.

But, in the midst of that, it’s so easy to get afraid. When I get a tickle in my throat, it’s easy to start wondering if I’ve caught it. Then I start worrying about if I might have given it to my wife and kids. Then the snowball starts rolling. Before long, I can be caught up in an avalanche of fear. If we’re being honest, we all have those moments.

It’s not just the virus. We worry about how the slow down in the economy is going to affect our families, communities, businesses and churches. We worry about our Easter plans, summer plans, retirement plans and toilet paper plans.

The Coronavirus spreads quickly, but there’s a virus spreading amongst us at the speed of light. It’s travelling around the globe millions of times per second. It’s side effects are panic, fear-mongering, profiteering, obsessive hand washing and toilet paper stockpiling.

Last week, I shared three ways to deal with the fear in this post. And, they remain true. But, there’s something else we need. Hope.

We need to be ambassadors of hope.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans 5:1-5

Hope does not disappoint.

A crisis has a way of revealing a lot of things about a person. The biggest revelation may be where we have put our hope or our trust.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

Psalm 27:7

When our trust is in anything other than God and a crisis hits that we don’t know how to deal with, the very foundations of our lives are shattered. This is what’s been happening right now. Our lives have been built on our belief in ourselves. Our lives have been built on the lies of secular society thinking we can have it all. Our lives have been built on the myth that the government has everything under control. (Okay, maybe not that last one so much.)

When we go through a crisis and our hope is shattered, it’s a wake up call.

But, when our hope is in the right place it actually shapes the entire way we perceive the crisis. “but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” When our hope is in the Lord, in the maker of heaven and earth, the creator and sustainer of all things, we know that God is going to use this for our Good and His glory.

In other words, we know the outcome. We know how the story ends. We don’t know the “long middle”, but we know that in the end God works all things for our good and His glory. All things. Not some things all things. So, while we may not understand what’s happening right now, we can be confident of this, “That he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion.” (Phil 2:6) And we can be sure that this season will work to bring the completion God desires for us.

This is not “The End”. It’s the beginning or the middle, but not the end. The end is, God wins. The end is Love wins. The end for the believe is that God will rescue, redeem and restore all things. All things will be made new. New heavens and a new earth. New you and a new me. The fragility of our current circumstances will replace with absolute completion and perfection in the presence of God himself.

In fact, I fully believe this is something that God is going to use to bring about spiritual awakening in the church and the salvation of many lost souls. People are being confronted right now with their crumbling foundations. People’s lives have been and are being shaken to the core. And people are starting to realize that they aren’t enough to sustain themselves. People are starting to realize their lives have been built upon lies that have been sold to them that offer nothing when real life smacks you in the face.

This may be the work of the Devil himself, trying to seclude the move of God that has already started. But God can’t be contained. God is greater than this virus. God is greater than the fear surrounding the virus. All we have to do is get on His side and we win.

So be filled with hope. Be a purveyor of hope. Don’t allow yourself to pass on and stir up the fear that is all around us. Stop the flow of fear and start the flow of hope.

The post Hope: This Is Not The End (The Bigger Pandemic Happening right now is…) first appeared on David Lindner.

Is it a serious situation? Absolutely. Especially for the vulnerable. There are those who need to take significant precautions. But, as the CDC has suggested, how we deal with it is to 1.) Wash your hands (and stop touching your face) 2.) Cover your cough and 3.) Stay home if you’re sick.

That’s good, sound advice. Simple. It’s something we can all do. I’ve been washing my hands a lot more. Probably just a good environmental cue to help me be more cognizant of doing that.

But why the freakout? Why are we losing our ever-loving minds right now? I think the answer is simple. Our Digital Environment. What do we do about the freakout? Well, I’m actually going to share 3 simple steps to help deal with the panic being caused by the pandemic.

Every single piece of technology I have has been lit up in one way or another with warnings, memes, statistics and panic about the Coronavirus.

This should serve as a wakeup call for all of us. The power of our digital environment is massive. I’ve been saying it for years. We need to be much more conscientious about mindlessly consuming 11 hours of media content per day. I don’t think we need any more evidence to prove that we are being manipulated by media outlets. Nor do we need any more evidence to see the level of influence they have over our thinking and our living. Not only should we reduce our intake of CVTV (Coronavirus Television), we should reduce our intake of echo-chamber rhetoric about politics and one-sided, dehumanizing speech about those who are different than us. The division in our country has been produced by the same sources that are causing mass histeria.

What else does this tell us? We’re too addicted to technology. We need to go outside and get some sunshine and fresh air. The coronavirus is not going to bring about the end of civilization. It just isn’t. Again, yes it’s dangerous. Yes it’s bad. But this isn’t a zombie apocalypse. On the flipside, we are are the one capable of bringing an end to life as we know it if we don’t change our response. In other words, the problem isn’t the virus, the problem is us.

So, the CDC gave 3 steps to deal with the virus, how do we deal with the panic being created by the virus. Here are my 3 simple steps.

1.) Turn of the CVTV

We just need to turn off the news. Turn off the local news, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Yahoo, Google and so on. Every single one of these sources are broadcasting this information in overdrive right now. The only way to get away from it is to get out of the flow of information. You may not shut off the Fire Hydrant, but that doesn’t mean you have to keep standing right in front of it. You may need to stop checking your email so much too.

The currency of the media is fear. And right now they’ve doubled down on fear to get us to tune in to their programming. They’re capitalizing on the crisis and making megabucks on advertising. Look, this is your life. Don’t let some greedy, multi-billion dollar organization mess with your life just so they can get richer. Turn off the CVTV!

2.) Refuse to spread the fear through incessant conversations. Spread Hope!

Chances are, even if you never hear another story or read another article about CVTV, you still won’t be able to get away from it. I tried that hard last week. I didn’t take in much information, but every conversation I had with people somehow ended up there. I would just respond with “Wash you hands, cover your cough, stay home if you’re sick.” I said that to every concern and questions.

But, that’s not going to be enough anymore. We’re going to be proactive in passing out hope to one another. We’re going to have to intentionally talk about good things and hopeful things. Get some new pictures of your family or grandkids to share. Talk about your favorite things. Talk about Easter and what your church is planning to do to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Learn a new optimistic quote, a funny joke, bible verse, read a good book with a good moral and a good ending and talk about that. Talk about your favorite restaurant, favorite coffee place or your favorite second hand store.

“But, how do I change the topic?” Find something good about the situation, then say, speaking of good things… For instance, when someone is talking about CV, say, “yeah, but look how quickly they’re getting things under control. And I appreciate how serious they’re taking the concern. Isn’t that a good thing? Speaking of good things, you’ll never believe this picture I just got of my grandkids with their adorable new puppy.

3.) Look for opportunities to be loving and kind.

When bad things like this happen, we can either retreat into our own world and wait for the storm to pass, or we can look for chances to be loving and kind. There may be some vulnerable people in your neighborhood who can’t go out. Offer to buy them some groceries, and deliver them wearing gloves. (Don’t do this if you’re sick!)

Do some random acts of kindness. Just for anyone. Buy the person’s drink behind you in the coffee line. Send an encouraging note to the first 3 people that come to mind. Get some sidewalk chalk and draw pictures of unicorns and rainbows in front of a hospital. Just go do some good and nice things anywhere.

My point is simple, we don’t need to be freaking out at this level. The reason we are is because we’re taking in too much digital content. Our environment has a massive amount of influence over our lives, and that has never been more evident than now. We need to get out from under its influence. Turn off the CVTV!

The post Coronavirus and the Power of our Digital Environment first appeared on David Lindner.

I don’t have a great answer, but it seems that the more technologically advanced our culture gets, the more selfish and immature we become as individuals and as a whole. We have continuously embraced technology without thinking of the consequences.

This is one reason I respect the Amish. We tend to belittle the Amish for their rejection of industrial and technological advancements, but I’m not so sure we should. For instance, when their leadership decided not to embrace the automobile, it wasn’t because the vehicle itself was inherently sinful. They determined that having their people more mobile would decrease their interdependence as a community and would lead to separation and independence. Unfortunately, it seems that even the Amish are now starting to loosen their stance on some of these issues.

One thing is clear, as our use of TV, computers and smartphones has increased so has our selfishness, division and even hate ant vitriol.

And it’s not just in the political realm, the chasms between different groups of Christians are also increasing. This is nothing new. Years and years ago (there were these people called the Maccabees – sorry, Friends reference) I wrote an article called “Preference Not Prescription” that was dealing with the division in the church between traditional & contemporary worship.

Though many traditional churches are simply dying out, the separation in the church is taking many other forms. One person wants traditional or liturgical worship, others wants contemporary or acoustic worship. One person wants charismatic worship, another wants contemplative. But it’s not just worship style. One person wants topical preaching another wants expository teaching. One person wants to run AWANA another wants to just play games. One person thinks we should be serving the poor, another thinks we shouldn’t be enabling the poor. One person thinks the church should be involved in political issues, the other thinks the church should condemn politics.

And the list goes on and on and on. (And on.)

A part of our church reading yesterday and today has been Romans 13-14. Paul’s teaching in chapter 14 in particular has really been standing out to me. Especially these two verses:

⁵ One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.

Rom 14:5

So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 

Rom 14:22

Yes, there are some things that we must be in absolute agreement on. The creation, the fall of man, Jesus coming in the flesh as the Messiah, His full humanity and full deity, His sacrificial death, His glorious resurrection, His ascension, Sending the Holy Spirit and that He will return. We also need to agree on the authority of Scripture and God’s truth, the Trinity, Justification by Faith and probably righteous living. There may be a one or two others that are absolutely crucial. Albert Mohler shares “These first-order doctrines represent the most fundamental truths of the Christian faith, and a denial of these doctrines represents nothing less than an eventual denial of Christianity itself. (https://albertmohler.com/2005/07/12/a-call-for-theological-triage-and-christian-maturity) Then he describes second and third order issues.

But, I might argue differently. There are many denominations in the Christian church today. Having grown up in one of them, I’m well aware of the tendency within a denomination to think your denomination is right on everything and others are wrong, even to the point of questioning the salvation of those in other denominations. As a pastor, I have actually had this happen to me when people have left our church for another denomination, doing so because they questioned their salvation if they stayed.

If you haven’t read much of my writing, I’m PASSIONATE about the unity of the church. Jesus made it clear that our unity as His followers is supposed to be a major part of our testimony to the unbelieving world. That being the case, we should not be surprised the unity of the church has been under a full-on assault for generations.

And with the rise of technology, the ease of access of information from people who agree with us, the divisions are getting worse. As Ed Stetzer talks about in “Christians in the Age of Outrage”, now more than ever we’re locking ourselves in the echo-chamber of people who agree with us. All this is producing is deeper entrenchment in our previously held notions and further separation between us and those who think differently than we do.

But, what if what Paul was teaching should apply to more than eating food sacrificed to idols and “sacred days.” What if he was teaching a principle of “lay down you life for another” kind of love?

In the upper room, Jesus gave his one command that his followers were to follow:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34-35

Could it be that Paul was giving us a principle to help us love one another in this way? Maybe these specific examples are simply examples that were the primary issues of their day and if he were to write such a letter to us, he might possibly use other examples. He might say:

“One of you wants to speak in tongues but another wants to worship God with their intellect, each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind, whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.”

“One of you wants to _________________ but another wants to ______________, each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind, whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.”

“What’s so wrong with finding people we agree with and enjoying sharing with them?” Well…

It probably can be done in a non-divisive way. Technically, it’s possible to be with a group of people who think like you do without putting down people who don’t. It’s probably possible, but history and our present day setting tells us that it’s not very probable.

Maybe we should feel absolutely no guilt for being fully convinced in our own mind, but at the same time, maybe we should keep such things between ourselves and God.

Unity is what the gospel is all about. Jesus died to bring that which was far away near by His own blood. The nature of the church should be unity. The fruit of the gospel is unity amongst brothers and sisters in Christ.

But since unity is what Jesus said is supposed to be the testimony to the non-believing world around us, unity is also constantly under attack by the enemy. It only takes the tiniest seed of division to grow into a briar patch between two groups that have been brought together by the blood of Christ.

I (and probably you) have a tendency to argue for what I think is right. I (and probably you do this too) think that I have studied an issue enough to have a proper understanding of it. And (probably like you) tend to think that my way is right and others need to adapt to my point of view.

But I (and probably you) can think of times when I caused division by fighting for my point of view over someone else’s. And I (and probably you) can think of times when I held an opinion that caused division at one point in time and have since come to a different understanding of that opinion.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we just found people we agreed with?” To be honest, I don’t really think so. Ravi Zacharias talks about how the difference between unity and uniformity. We don’t have to be clones, we have to be united. I think there is actually a danger in only being around people who agree with you, you stop experiencing love.

According to Jesus, love is a sacrifice. Love isn’t a feeling you get from being with people you like and who like you. Love is laying your life down. When we insulate ourselves from people who disagree with us, we are also insulating ourselves from the opportunity to lay ourselves down. So our ability to love is weakened. I don’t believe that individual churches are supposed to be full of people who all think and act the same way. I think there is supposed to be a diversity of people, personality, ideas, practices and so on. And when we all love one another sacrificially, Jesus gets the glory because, it shouldn’t work. There should be division and separation when we’re not operating out of love. The body of Christ shouldn’t work, but it does when it’s done out of love.

We shouldn’t argue for our point of view within our own congregations or between other congregations. We should love. I have not done this perfectly, and there have been many times in my life when I have not done it well. I want to do it better. I want us all to.

What if we just sought to affirm one another in the core aspects of the gospel narrative? What if, for now, Christians across America made a decision to stop elevating their views and belittling the views of others who think differently? And what if, we just laid down our lives for one another in the same way Christ laid down His life for us? What if we just encouraged the Jesus we see in one another? What if we just celebrated the fact that people are reading Scripture, even if they’re coming to different conclusions? And what if, instead of finding echo-chambers and creating division in the body, we enjoyed those aspects of our relationship with God that differ from others with God alone?

What if, the next time you opened your mouth to disagree with someone you work with who goes to a different church, you found something to affirm about Jesus in them? What if the next time you saw that Christian who is radically different than you on political of economical views, you found something to affirm in them about Jesus in your mind? What if we all just sought to see other believers as God sees them – clothed in Jesus? I mean, how would you treat that person you disagree with if they were clothed in Jesus?

The same for those who don’t believe. What if we saw those who don’t believe through God’s glasses? What if instead of feeling the need to condemn them, judge them and argue with them to prove they are idiots and we are geniuses, what if saw them as someone Jesus died for? And what if we realized that our laying down our lives for them might be what they need to realize Jesus gave His life for their life?

What if we were each fully convinced in our own minds and whatever we believe about these things we keep between ourselves and God?

The post Keep It Between Yourself And God first appeared on David Lindner.

The more I study scripture the more convinced I am that unity is not just a part of the gospel or the fruit of the gospel, it is the gospel. We were separated from God by our sin. Because Jesus laid down his life on the cross, we are reunified with our maker. All of us who are in Christ are one. That is the gospel.

And that unity has been under attack for hundreds if not thousands of years. But, that’s not the point I wanted to share with you today.

I shared from Romans 11:16b-21

“…if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. “

Rom 11:16b-21

In this passage Paul is talking to the gentiles who, before Christ, were outsiders. But, because of Jesus they had been grafted into the family of God. There are some important things to note that particularly need to be heard in the church today.

1.) If the root is holy, so are the branches.

It is God who makes us holy. It is God who gives life to our mortal bodies and gives us the ability to live a life worthy of His name. Yes, we have a role to play, but it is not to make ourselves holy. Our job is to create the space in our lives for God’s holiness to flow through us to produce His fruit on our branches.

I don’t know how familiar you are with how trees work, especially fruit trees, but if the sap doesn’t flow the fruit won’t grow. The same is true in our walk with Christ. If we don’t make space in our live for the life-giving sap of God’s holiness to flow through us, we will never see His fruit on our branches.

2.) Remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

Wait, isn’t that saying pretty much the same thing? Yes. But it’s coming in a different context. Paul is telling the gentiles who have been grafted into the tree not to become arrogant towards the Jewish branches that have been broken off. He goes on to say that they were broken off because of their unbelief and that we were grafted in because of faith.

Even though Paul is talking about God’s chosen people, they are unbelievers. Paul is telling the gentiles not to become arrogant towards the unbelieving jews over their status on the tree. And the reason they’re not to become arrogant is very important.

Because, “They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.“

While not explicitly saying that pride leads to unbelief, Paul definitely makes a connection betwixt the two. (“Betwixt?” Yeah, it just felt right to use it there.) Especially the kind of pride that looks down from a higher status on unbelievers.

This is very much a word we believers need to hear today. Especially my brothers and sisters in Christ who are extremely into politics on either side of the aisle.

Without getting into the debate, Christians on both political sides believe they are on the “right” side. There are conservative Christians who believe they are right and that most if not all of their party’s ideology lines up with scripture. Likewise, there are liberal Christians who believe they are right and that most if not all of their party’s ideology lines up with scripture.

Too many believers have placed too much faith in politicians and government and spend far too much time reading, watching and listening to political rhetoric that only serves to entrench the lines of division.

What’s worse is, too many believes hold their political views so tightly that it causes them to look down on the people who don’t agree with them.

Let me ask you a question. How much have you talked about politics this last week? And by contrast how much have you talked about what you’ve been learning in Scripture and your walk with God?

Likewise, how much of your time, the most precious treasure God has given you, have you spent reading, watching and listening to politicians and reporters sharing their views? By contrast how much time have you spent in the word, praying, serving, being generous, etc?

We spend so much time today consuming political arguments that we actually feel justified in belittling at best and dehumanizing at worst those who don’t agree with us.

We’ve become so arrogant in our positions that aren’t even gospel-centric that we don’t realize the jeopardy we are causing our very selves. I firmly believe many believers are at great risk of suffering the same fate as the Jews who didn’t believe. I know that’s a bold statement. But, from what I observe it’s true.

Too many believers have given so much influence to the party and so little influence to the presence of God. And it’s showing.

Am I saying that we shouldn’t care? No. Am I saying we shouldn’t get involved? Maybe. If being involved puts our witness at risk, then I don’t think we should do it. That may not sit well with you. That’s fine. I’d love to talk with you more about it. I do think we should do our “civic duty”. But outside of that, let’s be more concerned about the gospel than we are about the government. No one is going to change your mind. You’re probably not going to change someone else’s mind. Spend your time on what matters most – Jesus.

And it’s not just politics. We should never look down on those who don’t believe. In all situations we need to remember we have been grafted into the tree by an act of God’s grace. If we boast, we boast in God’s grace and in the cross of Christ.

Because, there will come a day when we are standing face to face with our creator. On that day, your politics won’t matter. All that will matter is if He knows you and you know Him. Imagine yourself in that moment. Look around you. Who do you see? There won’t be anyone there because of your political viewpoint. There will only be people there because you loved them enough to live and share the gospel with them. They will be there because the sap of God’s holiness was flowing through your life and they experienced it. Because of you, God grafted them into His tree. Not the party’s tree. His tree.

And I don’t think we should do anything to jeopardize that.

The post The Root Supports You first appeared on David Lindner.

Specifically as it applies to the news and advertising.

I’m not opposed to free speech. But, when your free speech is influencing millions of people, I don’t think it makes sense to allow profit margin to influence that free speech.

I’m 40 years old, so I didn’t really hear Walter Cronkite report the news. But, I’ve heard that he actually reported the news more than he shaped it by his political point of view. Of course, it’s impossible to be a truly unbiased person. No matter how hard you try, what you see will be shaped by your worldview.

For example, I’m a musician. Because I have spent about 3/4ths of my life playing music, I hear things about music that others pay no attention to. When someone plays an instrument or sings, I hear it through my training. Someone who isn’t trained may listen to a song and thoroughly enjoy it while I had a hard time sitting through it. And vice versa, I often enjoy music that others don’t care for because of its complexity. My point is, it would be impossible for me to listen to music without being a musician. The same is true for everyone. It’s impossible for us to truly see beyond our “training.” Our whole lives we have been shaped by this or that worldview. No matter how unbiased we try to be, we are still bent our own direction.

And, to be honest, I don’t really have a problem with that. As long as people are honest and forthright about it.

But, when you add profit margin into a news report that’s already being shaped by a point of view, not only are you dealing with a bias, you’re being driven by ratings and advertising dollars. (This is why I don’t think news agencies should be allowed to make profit. But, that’s just my point of view.) Add to that the internet, web stats, social media following, etc., you’ve got a freight train of agenda driving what’s supposed to be free speech. It’s definitely not free. It’s highly profitable.

As a pastor, if people discovered that I was being paid by some random agency who had an opponent, and I came out against that same opponent, there would be an immediate assumption that I was using my platform to vilify the opponent of my financial supporter. (Just to ease your mind, I do not have any such funding.) But, when news agencies use their platform which are supported by advertising dollars which is determined by view ratings to create villains, somehow that still falls within the boundaries of free speech. Shouldn’t free speech be free of such manipulations? And yes, I’m talking about all news media. Liberal and conservative.

That was a bit of a rant, but it supports my point. News agencies create villains. They create villains because of how our brains work. We are wired for story. A key component in nearly any story is a good villain. We identify with the hero and root against the bad guy. We feel a since of victory when the bad guy is defeated by the hero. The same parts of our brain light up when we read or watch about a villain being destroyed as if we had destroyed them ourselves.

Right now, the news media in full on production mode weaving the narrative of the story that’s going to generate the highest ratings and in return the greatest profits. The more villains there are, the more hooks into more people that create more opportunities to get someone to watch, click or share.

The problem is, we’re starting to treat our neighbors as villains. Maybe not our actual neighbors, though that’s certainly a possibility. But, the people we’re supposed to be treating as our neighbors, which Jesus made pretty clear is anyone. (Luke 10:25-37) We are supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves. (Mark 12:30-31) Your neighbor, as crazy as their ideas may seem to you, is not your enemy. That guy at work who’s political views are radically different than yours is not your enemy. The people holding signs on an overpass for “the other guy” are not your enemy.

Our job with our neighbors is to love them, not make them out to be enemies because their beliefs are different than ours. So many of us are caught up in being right that we’ve forgotten to do the right thing: treat others as we want to be treated. (Matt 7:12)

And it’s not just the people we see in real life. It applies to people online as well. Just because you’re sitting safe behind your screen doesn’t mean there isn’t a real, flesh and blood human being made in the image of God sitting on the other side of the internet. We’re supposed to love them and treat them well too. In fact, with the loss of human contact and all the communication that is lost when we communicate virtually, we should probably work even harder to be loving online than in real life.

The news media creates enemies because it makes it easier for them to make a profit. But this is simply manipulation. We are being manipulated so some rich guy can buy another jet.

The fact that we disagree does not make us enemies. It makes us human. Your neighbor is not a villain.

There is something more important than being right: love. Even if we were actual enemies, Jesus said we are supposed to love our enemy. (Matt 5:44) So, there really isn’t any way around it. For believers, our primary job is not to right for what we think the correct side is. Do your civic duty and vote your conscience. Outside of that, treat everyone in your life as though you were either entertaining angels or interacting with someone made in the image of the God you say you’re fighting for. If you’re fighting for your creator, then you’re fighting for the well-being of your enemy too. And when you’re loving your enemy, you’re loving God and your neighbor.

The post Your Neighbor Is Not A Villain first appeared on David Lindner.

But if you’re like me, you’re probably a little concerned about what the climate of our country is going to be like as we get closer to the presidential election.

I mean, we’ve been hearing hate, spite, bitterness and all out rage for the past several years. With the advancement of technology we’ve been able to tailor our news feeds to primarily listen to the people we agree with and ignore those “on the other side.” The result has been greater entrenchment of our previously held beliefs and deeper dislike if not flat out hatred for those who don’t agree with us.

We’ve all become Matt Lauer. Prior to Christmas I wrote a spoof interview of myself with Matt Flower, based on the real Matt Lauer who was notorious for only listening enough to his interviewee so he could respond and say what he wanted. It was neither an interview or an interrogation. It was a speech prompt. (Sorry if you’re a big Matt Lauer fan, but I figure with his scandal he’s probably safe to poke at.)

But, what I mean is, if we actually talk to or listen to someone we disagree with, like Matt, we’re only listening to respond. We only listen enough to be able to make our point and prove why we are right.

So, what do we do? It would seem we have two options. 1.) Retreat further into the echo chamber and only talk with people who agree with us. 2.) We have to learn how to have gracious disagreements.

Option 1 will only widen the divide that separates us. If we want to see anything change, we have to start changing.

Somewhere along the way, we have lost the art of gracious disagreement. Instead of being able to separate the idea from the person, we hate combine the two in our minds and end up hating them both.

There are some ideas I will always hate. But I will never hate the person that holds those ideas. Now, there is a reason we have a hard time disagreeing with others. It’s because we’ve bought into the lie that truth is relative and that everyone can have their own truth. If I believe in “my truth” then someone isn’t just disagreeing with my idea, they’re actually devaluing me as a person. This makes gracious conversations more challenging.

But not impossible.

So, below are my 5 suggestions for helping to have more gracious disagreements.

1.) Stop listening, reading, watching, liking and sharing so many angry posts.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it. You don’t need to watch Fox News or CNN all day long. You don’t need to spend 3-4 hours a day reading articles about loving Trump or hating him. Think about it…

Chances are, if you’re watching those shows, you have already made up your mind how you’re going to vote. What good is going to come from watching 20 hours of liberal or conservative media? Your mind is already made up. And, you’re not going to convince someone who disagrees with you that you’re right based on your favorite news anchor’s opinion. That’s just going to make it worse.

So shut off the news channels on your TV, turn off the radio, unsubscribe from the podcasts and listen to something positive and encouraging like Mr. Rogers reruns.

Another note on this. Please stop sharing so many political posts on social media. They don’t help anything. The people who like and share them already agree with you and the people who don’t stop paying attention to you. I’ve hidden quite a few people on social media who share too many political posts.

2.) Humble yourself, realize you might actually be wrong.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been wrong before. There are opinions that I held that I don’t hold anymore. Of course, when it comes to the core tenets of my faith, I haven’t compromised on anything and I won’t. But my opinion about politics has changed over my lifetime.

Then what makes it fun is when someone calls you out on it. “Hey you used to think this way and now you think that way. What’s up with that, hypocrite?” I changed my mind.

You see, politics isn’t always black and white. Most of the issues we argue about in this country are argued about because there are good, legitimate points on BOTH sides of the argument.

Just because you or I hold to an ideal does make it right. And just because someone else holds an ideal doesn’t make them wrong. You might both be idiots.

3.) Ask Questions, seek to understand the other person’s point of view. (And let the person answer)

Too often, when someone we disagree with starts talking about one of their beliefs, we stop listening. We stop trying to understand. But, what if instead, you asked questions to try to understand why this belief is so important to this person?

You know what you might discover. Either, this person holds this belief because of something person that happened to them or a decision they made in the past. Or…

Carey Niewhoff has made a comment about how we live in the era of deeply help poorly formed beliefs. That’s not an exact quote but close. We live in a world where people read a well written article, a polished YouTube video or a well done documentary and buy into the beliefs being sold without much consideration. Which leads me to my next point about questions.

What I have learned is that, there are a lot of opinions people have that they haven’t thought through. They strongly hold to an ideal but don’t really know why they do. Asking questions might actually help this person realize they haven’t thought something through and they have in fact simply bought into the talking points of their side.

4.) Share fewer of your own opinions than you ask of the other person. (And don’t talk over the other person.)

Last night, my wife and I went to see Fiddler on the Roof in Portland. I usually go home over one bridge, but decided to go back a different way. I followed the signs to get to the free way. One sign said, “I-5 North, second left.” So, we passed one street and then came to the second left. There was an I-5 sign with an arrow pointing left. So I turned. It was a one way street and I was going the wrong way. There were no signs that I saw that said do not enter, but all the arrows painted on the street were pointed at me. So, I turned on the next street. And it was a street only for the Portland street car, not regular traffic. Then we slammed face-first into a street car. Not really. I turned again the wrong way onto another one way street until I finally ended up on a two-way street. And a copy pulled up right next to us. Of course, we were worried he was going to turn on his lights. I looked at him and he smiled and drove on.

A good conversation is a two-way street. That’s just as important when you’re having a disagreement in a conversation. The point of the disagreement is not to win. You’re not on a debate team. There is no score to be kept. You win if you are still in a good relationship with the person at the end of the conversation.

Too often, we turn the wrong way. We decide we want to go face-first into the battle. Likewise, too often, that’s all that’s coming at us – one way traffic. Then we try to take the first out we find in the conversation, whether it’s for us or street cars.

Be as generous in letting the other person share their thoughts as you want them to be with. And don’t talk over the other person, that just adds to the tension.

5.) Remember every person is someone made in the image of God and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

Just because someone holds to a different set of beliefs than you doesn’t make them less human. It’s lamentable that so much of our culture does the opposite. When someone disagrees with us, we look down our noses at them, belittle their existence for holding to such elementary beliefs and write them off entirely. We devalue the people who don’t agree with us, and no matter which side of an issue you are on, that is actually wrong. That is as sin. That is the great atrocity of the echo-chambers we live in.

This is going to sound a little bit preachy, but I am a preacher so, here goes: No human on the planet is of any less value than any other. And you or I have no right to belittle someone’s value or existence based on a philosophical disagreement. Even if you are absolutely convinced the other person is wrong and you’re right, you still don’t have the right to think of or treat another human being as less-human, less valuable, less dignified, less worthy than yourself.

Our media and our political leaders are setting a horrible example in this. (Another reason for not consuming so much of their propaganda.) Both sides ridicule and belittle the leaders of the other side on a constant basis. No matter how much I may disagree with their policies, they don’t deserve to be dehumanized. They are people made in the image of God and they ALL deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. The same kind of respect you would give God himself.

Well, there you have it. I’m sure it’s not a perfect solution, but hopefully it’s a start. We need to be able to graciously disagree with one another. I have been blessed to have people in my life, with whom I strongly disagree on various issues. We have had disagreements, every once in a while they get passionate. But, for the most part, we are able to stay calm, acknowledge the validity of the other person’s point of view, share our own point of view and carry on with life. Usually, I can see more of the weaknesses in my understanding and I can do a little more research. It’s almost as if there is something more important than our own ideals.

You can do it too. And I hope you will. Feel free to share this post instead of one of those angry political posts you love sharing. Maybe this will start a discussion between you and someone else that will actually lead to the sharpening of your own ideas.

The post The Lost Art of Gracious Disagreement And 5 Keys to Getting it Back first appeared on David Lindner.

²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

We’ve covered a lot of territory this week about the shepherds. We talked about how Jesus’ coming offers joy for all people, how the shepherds were obedient and that they told everyone about what they had seen and heard.

The story arc for the shepherds role in the story ends with them returning to their flocks. They had to get back to business as usual. But there was nothing usual about what they had just experienced.

They go back to business us usual but with an unusual added element: worship. Of course they had to get back to the sheep, but they had been changed. When you’ve been changed, when you go back to life as usual things seem different.

It’s like when you get married. You get engaged. While you’re engaged you’re probably working a job or doing some kind of normal life activity. You know something big is coming, but you don’t really have anyway to mentally prepare for it. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.

Then the big day comes, you go on the honeymoon. You come back to the same life you left, except nothing is really the same. Your whole life has changed. You live with someone different. Your routines start to change. Your thinking starts to change. Everything’s the same, but everything has changed.

The same must have been true for the Shepherds, but on a much larger scale. This was something the people had been hoping would happen for hundreds of years. They’d heard the prophecies their whole lives. And now, it was here.

So they go back to their same old life, but nothing is the same. They have been changed, everything has changed. And so they worshipped. They went back to their work, but they did so in worship.

How long did their worship last? I don’t know. I like to think that from this point forward the mundane activity of tending the sheep had been supernaturally altered forever, and now they did their work as though they were working for the Messiah himself. Maybe not. But, I know they were changed.

And for any who may have survived to see Jesus’ ministry and his death on the cross, everything they knew about the work they gave their lives to would change as well.

We have an amazing opportunity to bring God into our ordinary lives the same way the Shepherds did. And there’s no better time to start, than Christmas.

The post Advent Family Devotionals, Week 3, Day 5 (Shepherds Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

As a Christ-follower, Christmas is an amazing time of the year. And it’s not just because we get to celebrate Christ’s birth, the word becoming flesh, God becoming Human. Yes, that’s amazing. But, it’s amazing for another reason.

I know a lot of people hate the commercialization of Christmas. They hate that stores put out Christmas merchandise in August and September. People hate the Christmas sales, the Christmas rush and the associated pressures. I get that. I don’t care for that part of Christmas either.

But, there is something good to be found there if we look for it. A few weeks ago my family went to zoo lights at the Oregon zoo. Of course we got stuck in traffic on the way, and parking was a nightmare. But, while we were walking around the Oregon Zoo, I kept hearing Jesus and Christ. And not in the way you might think. They were playing in the lyrics of the Christmas music the zoo had playing. Christ the savior is born. Jesus Lord at thy birth.

I suppose the day may come when that’s no longer allowed. But for now, it’s an opportunity to be like the Shepherds.

When they had witnessed the birth of the savior, they didn’t just go back to their day to day operations. They couldn’t keep the news to themselves. “They spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.” And the people were amazed.

I wonder why we don’t tell anymore. I know that society isn’t that open to people sharing their faith. But, I wonder if Christmas might be a great opportunity to use all the Christmas setting that is all around us this time of year to have some conversations with people about Jesus?

And, this time of year people tend to be more open to participating in Christmas traditions, such as candlelight Christmas Eve services and other Christmas events.

What if we followed in the Shepherds footsteps and spread the word about what we know to be true about this child everyone is singing about this time of year? And what if we invited them to come and see for themselves. No, they can’t see the baby in a manger. But they can see Jesus. They can see Him in the body of Christ that exists in every church.

You never know, next Christmas you might just find them telling people about this Jesus they met last Christmas. And there’s no one more special to give your heart to this Christmas than Jesus. He’ll never give it away.

The post Advent Family Devotionals, Week 3, Day 4 (Shepherds Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

Writing these devotionals for this Advent journey we are on has really caused me to look in more detail at the Christmas story. As with any part of Scripture, the more you read it and look at it, the more you discover. That holds true for the Shepherds part in the story as well.

Now, I want to ask you a question. Think of a usual day in your life. Whether that’s working at the office, eating dinner with your family, caring for kids or on your commute to work. Now, if you will, imagine that an angel appears to you as you’re going about your usual routine. And this angel tells you some crazy news. Then thousands more angels show up. And they told you to go see something that has happened.

Do you go?

Or do you get on Google and start looking up symptoms of brain tumors, think of whatever food you’ve eaten recently, discover there’s been another recall on Romaine lettuce and see if one of the side effects of e coli is hallucinations? You probably assume you’re under too much stress, that it was a dream and you set a reminder to schedule an appointment with your doctor.

The shepherds just obeyed. We can only observe two reactions from the Shepherds in this story. First, fear – which the angel address right away. The second was obedience. They didn’t question the angels. It doesn’t appear that they debated with one another about whether they should go or stay. They just said to one another: “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

Because they obeyed, they got to see the baby Messiah. Because they obeyed they are forever a part of the story of Christmas. I mean, they even have willow tree statues that are set up in homes around the world.

In fact, obedience is a big part of the Christmas story. One that we often overlook. The shepherds, the wisemen, Elizabeth, Zecharias (albeit some coercion was required), Mary and on multiple occasions, Joseph obeyed.

As unpopular as it may be to say this, if we want to be used in God’s story, obedience is required. Sure, we may feel fear when He asks us to do something. But, like Peter in the boat when Jesus told him to cast the net on the other side, our response should be, “Because you say so, I will.”

The post Advent Family Devotionals, Week 3, Day 3 (Shepherds Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 

I’ve been quite interested in the fact that the first people to hear about Jesus’ birth were Shepherds. This is the biggest news the world has ever heard. But this message wasn’t entrusted to royal officials, kings, or anyone you would think would be trusted with such a message.

As you know, I’m the why guy. I’ve always wanted to know why we do something, why things are the way they are and why God would announce the birth of His son, the Messiah to Shepherds. Unfortunately, every answer we can give about this is conjecture. There’s nothing I’ve come across in scripture that makes a definitive statement. But, I have some ideas.

For today I think it’s worth noting that Jesus’ coming offers Joy for all people. All. As in everyone on the planet, if they choose.

Up until now, God has been solely focused on the Israelite community. He hoped they would be His people and He would be their God. They were elite. But they never fully embraced this incredible gift. There were seasons in their history where they would live according to God’s ways and where they saw Him move on their behalf with incredible power. But they ended up going with idolatry instead of only worshipping God alone.

Even God’s chosen people had the choice not to be chosen.

People who weren’t born into the family could come in, but that was generally the exception and not the rule.

But with Jesus’ arrival, things changed. Yes, the angels announcement was made to Jewish shepherds. But, the announcement that was made to shepherds was:

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

Luke 2:10b-11

Joy for all people. The savior, the Messiah, the Lord was the savior for all people. In fact, John would summarize this best in the most beloved verse of our faith: “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.”

God so loved the whole world that he gave his son. Whoever believes in the son has eternal life.

My theory is, If God had announced his coming to kings and rulers, they would have used it as an opportunity to manipulate and acquire more power for themselves. Or, like we saw Herod, they would have tried to do away with the threat to their own rule.

But the shepherds weren’t concerned with any of that. They just wanted to see Him. They didn’t want to use him for their own purposes, they just wanted to see.

And that’s exactly what they did. (And so should we…)

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 3, Day 2 (Shepherds Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

Like we said in the video on Sunday (Click to watch the video), the candle isn’t pink because the doctor misread the ultrasound. The candle is pink because historically, the color pink represents joy. That is, within the church. Of course, when we think of pink and babies, we tend to think of girls. And I usually remember that episode of the office where Hannah dressed her baby boy in pink and got offended when people assumed she was a girl.

The third candle is pink to remind us that there is joy in the journey. For us, the month leading up to Christmas goes by pretty fast because we’re so busy. But imagine a time without electricity, technology or cars. The winter months could be long and dreary. And as you approach the darkest time of the year, even the month-long journey of Advent could seem like it was droning on without end. Is there any hope that this journey will come to an end?

Throughout church history, different colors have been used to signify different themes. Purple was a color of royalty and in the church represents anticipation, expectation and hope. White and gold were used during Christmas and Easter to symbolize purity, joy and truth as well as celebration and triumph. Green was used for ordinary time, the times between significant holidays. Red would represent Holy week and the blood of Christ and the martyrs.

Okay, so why all this talk about colors and meaning? Well, just like so many things, the deeper significance and meaning that used to be well-known has been undermined by pop-culture. Do we allow richness and depth of our faith to be subverted by an overwhelming popular meaning or can we still find our roots in a society that is seeking to deconstruct everything? This isn’t just true for the color pink, it’s true for Advent, for church, for the rainbow and nearly every element of our faith.

Finding joy in the journey is so crucial to persevering. Once again it comes back to where our focus is. Who/what do we allow to define reality for us. Christmas is about that as much as it is about anything. God had defined reality, but God did much more than that. He became reality. The truth became flesh. Another concept society would like to do away with. Jesus was a good guy, but He wasn’t God.

So, it turns out the pink candle is pretty important. As are the purple candles and the white candle. As is communion, as is fellowship, as is Scripture, as is our faith. I don’t have a problem with pink being associated with little girls clothing. But we also shouldn’t have a problem with pink being associated with Jesus and our journey as followers of Him.

Because there is joy in the journey. Jesus’ birth doesn’t just secure our salvation but it brings God’s redemption into this life as well. And the more of His life and reality I embrace, the more I enjoy the life I was designed for. The more of societies “reality” I embrace the less I joy I find.

So, embrace the pink candle. That’s where the Joy is.

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 3, Day 1 (Shepherds Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

But that’s not really the big thing coming in 2020. And no I’m not talking about the presidential election, though we should certainly brace ourselves for that. Maybe we should all just turn off our TV’s and refuse to play a part in the infectious spread of slander that’s coming over the airwaves. Here’s a radical thought, if you don’t share that negative post on Facebook, your friends might actually see something you post about your life instead of the Agenda machine’s talking points. But, that’s not my point either.

What’s my point? It’s a new year which is a great chance to make a change to your life. It’s also the start of a new decade, which makes it an even greater opportunity. Are you ready to make the most of this opportunity.

It is just that, an opportunity. Of course, every day is an opportunity if we choose to see it that way. I struggle to see every day that way, but I’m growing in that. But, what better time to make an intentional change in your live than the start of a new year and decade?

With the days we have left in 2019 being the last few of this decade, we have a great opportunity to deeply inspect our lives. Are things the way you want them to be? What have you wanted to change for years, but have neglected? What do you really need to work on? What are the biggest areas of disappointment that you have the ability to change?

Most importantly, what is the state of your soul? If you were to rank your relationship with God on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being an exact replica of Christ and 1 being rebellion, where would you put yourself?

Maybe you’re good. If you are, that’s awesome. I’m proud of you and I’d love to talk with you about how you got to that point. But, if you’re not…if there is room for improvement…now is the time to start preparing for what you’re going to do differently starting in 2020.

There is a problem, unfortunately. We want to change, but we don’t want to do what’s necessary to change. We like the idea of being more like Christ, but we don’t like the idea of expending any effort along the way. We want God to do all the work for us.

Somewhere along the way we have believed the lie that working hard at becoming like Christ means something is wrong. We think it should just happen, it should be easy. We should just wake up some Monday morning with an entirely different motivation for life. But, that’s not how God works.

There is a process. Becoming like Christ is a journey. Transformation is never finished, at least this side of Heaven. Sadly, it’s a journey too many Christians have yet to embark on. Too many think going to church once in a while is good enough.

Which is why I’m writing this article. In a few weeks I’m going to be releasing a book entitled “Like Christ.” I’m wondering if you’ll consider it as you think about starting this new decade? Can you imagine what could happen in your life, your world and our world if followers of Jesus spent the first part of 2020 intentionally trying to become more like Christ? It’s what we need, so desperately.

You might be asking, “How is a book going to help me become more like Christ?” And I’d be asking the same question. We live in the self-help era. But for all our reading, not much has changed. Why is that? Because content isn’t what we need most.

Content is important, but so is context. Context is, “the conditions and circumstances that are relevant to an event, fact, etc.” So, if the event we are after is spiritual transformation, we need not only to focus on content but also to the conditions and circumstances that are relevant to spiritual transformation.

So, “Like Christ” isn’t just a book. It is a book, but the book is one piece of the whole. There will also be daily devotionals, Bible reading, habit development and more.

2020 is coming. It will be here before we know it. Are we prepared to make the most of this incredible, once in a decade opportunity?

The post A New Year, New Decade. Are you prepared? first appeared on David Lindner.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 

 ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

Matthew 1:19, 24

Joseph was a good guy. He was faithful to the law, the Torah, what we call the pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Old Testament. He was a good guy because he could have had Mary stoned to death, but he was going to divorce her quietly so she wouldn’t be disgraced. He was faithful to the law, but also showed compassion. Compassion was also a part of the law that had been forgotten. It’s easy when you live by the letter of the law to lose sight of the heart behind it.

Joseph was a good guy who was faithful to the law. Not just to the Torah, but to the authority of Caesar. The Jews despised Rome and their oppressive rule. Many had chosen to rebel and revolt. Not Joseph. He was obedient to the Torah and to the governing authorities of their land.

Joseph took Mary with Him to Bethlehem to register for the census. He was committed. Maybe he could have chosen to hide her in a family member’s house, maybe she could have stayed with Elizabeth. But, It’s also quite possible that he and Mary may have been ostracized by their family because of her unexpected pregnancy. It’s not in the text, so we don’t know, but it wouldn’t have been unlikely.

We know Joseph took Mary with Him to Bethlehem, but have we thought about the responsibility that put on Joseph’s shoulders? He knew exactly who the baby was. “What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit…you are to give him the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.”

That means Joseph was responsible for the protection and safekeeping of the savior. He was responsible on that 90 mile journey. He was responsible while they were staying in Bethlehem. He was responsible when they had to make the 400 mile journey to Egypt. He was responsible when they came back to Nazareth. How could someone accept such a huge responsibility?

Because Joseph wasn’t just obedient to the Torah and the governing authority of Rome, Joseph was obedient to the Lord. It was the Angel of the Lord who told Joseph not to be afraid to marry Mary. An angel appeared to him in a dream telling them to go to Egypt.

If Joseph hadn’t been obedient, Mary probably wouldn’t have ended up in Bethlehem. Jesus wouldn’t have been born according to the prophecy. The Magi would have gone to the wrong place. Who knows what could have happened. But we don’t have to worry about that, because Joseph obeyed.

The question for us as we think about Joseph’s role in the story of Jesus’ birth is, would we respond the same way? Maybe Joseph was chosen for this task by God because He was obedient to the Torah and Caesar. Would we even be up for consideration based on our obedience to God’s word and the rulers of the land?

Would you take the easy out or would you accept the massive responsibility of raising the savior of the world? Would you obey even if the cost was high?

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 2, Day 5 (Bethlehem Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² …³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

Growing up, there were some years we would go to Columbus when Christmas time came around. If you know me, (or read the devotionals earlier this week), you know that I grew up in Jackson, Ohio. When we were younger we didn’t have much in town to choose from for shopping. Before we had the Walmart, it was the Big Wheel and after that, Odd Lots, (Big Lots’ cousin.) and some locally owned stores that we generally couldn’t afford.

Usually, we would go to Chillicothe to do our Christmas shopping. It was about 30 minutes away and had a Sears and JC Penny. But, it wasn’t a huge town either. So a few years we would go to Columbus, about an hour and a half away. It was an all day deal. For me the highlight was going to the Christian Armory. They had so many Bibles and so much Christian stuff.

We had a car. Columbus is about 75 miles from Jackson. But it was far enough that we wouldn’t go very often. With a car.

Can you imagine how Mary & Joseph felt when they got word that they had to travel to Bethlehem?

“Now? Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how pregnant Mary is? The baby could come at any moment, and the last thing I want to do is have the baby out in the middle of nowhere!”

But they had no choice. I’m sure they didn’t want to leave home to go register for a census for Caesar so they could pay taxes a week before Mary was going to have the Baby. But they did. And it wasn’t just an hour and a half car ride, it was a seven day journey. Contrary to popular belief, they probably walked. They may have ridden a donkey, it’s possible. But it’s not recorded in the story that way.

Have you ever taken a 90 mile journey by foot when you were 9 months pregnant. I haven’t. The first Christmas didn’t go according to Mary & Joseph’s plans, so don’t be surprised if yours doesn’t either.

I’m sure there was some frustration, but they did it. And because they did, something amazing happened. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, just as it had been foretold.

Plans change. You get an unexpected letter in the mail, an unexpected phone call or a thousand other potential unexpected things. But just because something is not a part of our plan, doesn’t mean it’s not a part of God’s plan. And his plans are higher than our own.

So, no matter what happens this Christmas season, if all your plans get upended by something unexpected, be on the lookout – God might do something incredible.

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 2, Day 4 (Bethlehem Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Whether or not this was the fulfillment of a prophecy, this is a horrible part of the story. The thought of hundreds if not thousands of kids being murdered because Herod lost his mind is appalling.

This teaching, though, gives us an opportunity to learn some important lessons. The first being that God wasn’t surprised by this. Matthew 1:18 is a quote from Jeremiah 31:15, written hundreds of years before Christ’s birth. God knew what was going to happen. When bad things happen in the world, God is never caught off guard. The worst atrocities, though they break His heart, do not surprise God.

Nor do they scare Him. Besides being evil, what is the other thing the most evil rulers in history have in common? They’re all dead. While their rule was horrible, it was not eternal. God is not just eternal in lifespan, he is infinite in power. God is not caught off guard by the evil of humanity.

But it brings up the question, why does God use evil things? Why is there so much evil in the world? Why does God allow evil?

This is a tough question, and I certainly don’t want to minimize it with a pithy answer, which is what this is going to seem like. But the answer is because of love. “Wait, what, love?”

God created humans with free will. At least in part because He wanted people who chose to love Him and worship Him. The problem with giving people a choice is that they choose. If I ask you whether you believe apples are better than oranges, you are free to choose and the consequences aren’t too devastating. But, If I ask you whether you believe it’s okay to murder a 2 year old boy the consequences of choosing could be devastating.

Unfortunately, those are the consequences of free will. Sometimes people make evil choices. God could have made us so it was impossible for us to choose to murder a child in the same way it’s impossible for us to fly by our own ability, but then we wouldn’t be truly free to choose, would we?

The reason there is evil in the world is because there are people in the world. Our hearts constantly choose selfish things over God things. And the results range from political division to war and annihilation.

Still, the truth remains: “No matter the circumstances, God is never not in charge.” It may seem like things are out of control at the moment, but none of this is a surprise to God in the same way God wasn’t surprised by Herod’s evil actions.

In the end, God used Herod’s evil decision to fulfill other prophecies. All of which made it clear that God was in the process of keeping his promise. He sent the Messiah who – when faced with the option to choose evil made a different choice, one that would change the entire story of humanity – He chose love.

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 2, Day 3 (Bethlehem Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 

I just had a conversation with someone who is also from Ohio. They grew up in the northwest part of the state in a town called Sandusky. I know where Sandusky is. But, when I mentioned where I grew up, (Jackson) this guy wasn’t familiar with it. No one ever knows where Jackson is. Even if they’re from Ohio. I have to start naming bigger towns that are nearby until they recognize one. Then I can tell them, it’s 30 minutes south of Chillicothe or 2 hours east of Cincinnati or an hour and a half south of Columbus. If they don’t know any of those towns, I just say “look it up”.

One of the themes of the Christmas story that seems counter intuitive is humility. It’s one of the reasons the Israelites were caught off guard. They were looking for a grand entrance, a massive victory over their oppressors and experiencing firsthand the promise they had been told about their entire lives.

Bethlehem is a part of that humble beginning. Where exactly is Bethlehem? Do you know? Why wasn’t Jesus born in Jerusalem? That is the capitol of the Kingdom God sought to establish, why wasn’t Jesus born there? Why wasn’t Jesus born in Nazareth, people at least knew where it was from. But, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, about an hour and a half west of Nazareth.

It’s an interesting question that we could simply answer with, “Well, that’s what God said He was going to do, so He did it.” And I guess that should be a sufficient answer. But, I always ask why. It’s gotten me in trouble a time or two.

I don’t have a proof text for my opinion, so it is just that, an opinion. But, I kind of think it was this: Jesus wasn’t here to establish His Kingdom, He was here to Establish His Father’s. The point Jesus’ life wasn’t his own popularity. He was here to accomplish the mission He had been given by the Father.

We tend to overemphasize status. We tend to be enamored with the idea of celebrity. Especially today, everyone wants to be famous. Talk to a group of young people, and you’ll definitely hear people who want to be YouTube stars. People questioned Jesus’ validity because he wasn’t chasing the throne. They tried to make Him king by force.

I think that is one of the reasons the story starts in Bethlehem. If Jesus had started from a position of privilege, how would he resonate with the bulk of humanity who aren’t born with that kind of access? Not only was Jesus going to be humble, everything about His story would be humble – including the place of His birth. As an adult, he wouldn’t have a home or a place to lay his head. The end of his life would be the most humiliating death a person could experience.

Jesus’ life wasn’t about Jesus, it was about the Father. It was about the mission of God. It was about something much bigger than himself.

He was born in that little town no one really knew much about. He was the son of an ordinary woman with a father who was a carpenter. By human standards, he was a nobody.

But, His story isn’t over. His story doesn’t end the way it began. And because of His part in the Father’s story, your story doesn’t have to end the way it began either. It’s not so much about where your story begins. It’s about what you do with your beginning.

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 2, Day 2 (The Bethlehem Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
    from ancient times.”

Coming off the tails of the prophecy candle, it’s worth noting that Bethlehem was also a part of the Messianic prophecy. Like we read in today’s verse, it was predicted approximately 700 years before Jesus was born that the rule over Israel would come out of Bethlehem. This prophecy came a couple hundred years after David’s reign.

David was anointed by Samuel to be king in Bethlehem. It’s where King David was born. It was the place that Jesus spent the first months if not year or more of his life.

What’s so special about Bethlehem? To be honest, apart from the connection to King David, I don’t know. But, there are some interesting connections we can make.

First, the name Bethlehem Means “House of Bread.” The word is actually two words: “beit-lechem”. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus would be born in a town with bread in the name? In his adult years, during his ministry Jesus would actually say this about himself.

³² Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:32-35

Jesus called himself the bread of life, the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Jesus was born in the city named house of bread. This city itself was the place where the bread that came down from heaven first lived.

Something else to think about. The name Ephrathah means: ash heap: place of fruitfulness and comes from the word Parah which means to bear fruit. Now, I don’t have any Biblical support for this, but could it also be that Jesus was born into the ash heap of all failed practices of the Old Covenant? And could it be that fruitfulness would come from Bethlehem because of Jesus?

It certainly did. The promise that God made to Abraham about his descendants being more numerous than the stars is being fulfilled by the children God has adopted into His kingdom. Billions of Christians. The fruit of Christ is abundant.

House of Bread. Place of fruitfulness. Sounds like a pretty good place for Jesus to be born to me. What do you think?

The post Advent Family Devotionals, Week 2, Day 1 (Bethlehem Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

However, (in case you haven’t noticed), that’s becoming increasingly difficult. An hour on Sunday isn’t going to cut it. Seeing someone’s life changed as a result of Sundays alone is about as likely as being surprised by the ending of a Hallmark Christmas movie. It gets worse when the reality is more like 1 or 2 Sundays per month.

In an article on “The Atlantic”, Author & Pastor Timothy Keller said:

“Christians are always more incarnate in the culture—and the danger of that is that they get captured by it. That’s always been a problem,” he said. There’s ever the danger of “cultural and political captivity.”

When I pressed the point further, Keller admitted he believes that “most Christians are just nowhere nearly as deeply immersed in the scripture and in theology as they are in their respective social-media bubbles and News Feed bubbles. To be honest, I think the ‘woke’ evangelicals are just much more influenced by MSNBC and liberal Twitter. The conservative Christians are much more influenced by Fox News and their particular loops. And they’re [both] living in those things eight to 10 hours a day. They go to church once a week, and they’re just not immersed in the kind of biblical theological study that would nuance that stuff.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/timothy-kellers-moral-universe/603001/

I studied several studies earlier this year and discovered that for the above average Christian, we are still consuming secular content at a rate of 32:1. For every 32 minutes of secular content, we’re lucky to consume 1 minute of Christ-minded content.

In my podcast, The Jesus Habit, I illustrated that ratio:

If you save 32 cents per minute for every hour of media you consume during ONE day, that would be $211.20. If you save 32 cents per minute for every minute of Jesus time the ABOVE AVERAGE Christian consumes per day, you would have $6.60. Over the course of one 7 day week, that’s $1,478.40 worth of secular media content versus $46.20 of Jesus content. 
Let’s go just one further. Annually, that’s $76,876.80 worth of secular content compared to $2402.40 of Jesus content. 

What’s my point with all the math. My point is simply this. One of those is a life, the other is a hobby. 

http://thejesushabit.com/tjh-0065-dd-a-living-vs-a-hobby/

Many Christians today are treating Jesus as a hobby. The real center of our lives is us and our love of the modern world we live in.

“But,” you may be asking, “there is just so much to deal with, where do we begin?” Well, that’s exactly why I am doing this. I want to help people become like Christ in a Christ-less society.

Our standard approach isn’t working anymore. The model of church we grew up in is no longer producing disciples. No, I’m not saying we abandon church. Quite the opposite actually. The church plays an irreplaceable role in making disciples.

But it’s not enough.

There are no historical precedents for the reality we face every day. We can’t see how our ancestors dealt with the abundance of technology, world-wide information and communication combined with unrestricted access. Right now, too many of us have been captured by culture. Is technology evil? No. But, neither should we be consuming 11 hours of secular programming a day. Our thoughtless acceptance of technology is destroying us. If we don’t change our approach to technology, it will change us.

It already has.

Every morning we wake up to a world that has changed over night. How do we navigate a world that is constantly changing? How do we become like Christ when we’re surrounded by so much Christlessness?

That’s the right question. That’s why I do what I do. That’s why I do The Jesus Habit Podcast, why I do this blog, by I’m a pastor, why I wrote “The Christmas Setup” and why I’m working on other books (Like Christ, coming soon). I believe there are principles we can learn that will help us be able to navigate a rapidly changing world. But, it’s not a simple, 3 step process. Reading this one article won’t be enough. Reading the verse of the day on your YouVersion Bible app isn’t going to cut it. Going to church when it’s convenient, when there are no better options won’t get you very far.

Unfortunately, the church hasn’t been very focused on discipleship for a long time. The church I grew up in didn’t do much for that. In fact, it hasn’t been a big focus in any of the churches I’ve served or attended. We were really focused on attendance and finances. But discipleship, if it existed, was buried beneath the box of flannel-graphs in the corner closet of the basement.

That’s why, for the past 7 years I’ve been studying discipleship. I’ve been studying spiritual formation, habit development and even dabbled in some neuroscience. Because I’m passionate (maybe even desperate) to help people legitimately become like Christ. This is not just the driving force of our church, it’s the mission statement of my life.

“I want to become like Christ, how do I do it and how can I help?” Good question! And I have an answer, but you’re probably not going to like it. Disciples develop daily, not in a day. It’s not what you do on Sunday, but every day that makes you a disciple. There is no easy button. This isn’t Fixer Upper. The Property Brothers can’t renovate your heart in an hour.

This is why I focus more on habit development than content. Content is important, but not as important as developing the right habits. I know that sounds heretical. Good doctrine is important. But, I’ve known a lot of people who know the right doctrine but who’s lives reflect nothing of Christ. At least not the Jesus of the Bible.

So, my goal isn’t to get you dependent on me as a teacher. My goal is to teach you to follow Jesus for yourself. And to teach you to help others follow Jesus. To follow you as you follow Jesus.

“So, how can I help?” You can like my Facebook page (facebook.com/davidlindnerauthor) and stay up to date with teachings, podcasts, books, etc. Not for my vanity. I’m not trying to get famous. I’m trying to make a difference in what I perceive as the biggest problem facing the church today.

The other way you can help is to invite someone to join you. Maybe just one person. Can you invite someone you know might be interested in growing in their walk with Christ to participate with you? Maybe share the Facebook page, or share this post. Or share the podcast. Or, listen to the podcast with someone and talk about it on your coffee break. Or read the Christmas book (or listen to the audio version on this website for free) with someone and talk about Love, Hope, Peace and Joy.

This isn’t about selling books. It’s about helping people become like Christ. I’ll give you a book for free if you promise to read it with someone.

You never know, the person you invite might be the person who was about to give up. And they might know someone who doesn’t even know Christ at all, but because of your invitation and the way following Christ changed them, someone that doesn’t know Christ was able to see Christ through them, something that wouldn’t have happened.

If we get enough people to look less like Adam (this culture we are immersed in) and more Like Christ, maybe we’ll start to hear more stories about truly lost and hopeless people finding hope because of the life someone lived in their presence.

The post Becoming Like Christ in a Christ-less World: Why I do what I do and how you can help. first appeared on David Lindner.

¹³ “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Perhaps the greatest oversight when it comes to celebrating Advent and Christmas is the fact that we only look back at what has already happen and don’t spend enough time looking forward to what is still yet to come. And no, we’re not just talking about Scrooge.

Yes, it’s amazing that Jesus came to earth as a baby. It’s amazing how all those prophecies were fulfilled about Jesus’ arrival as the Messiah. And no, I don’t think we could ever over-tell that story. But, there’s another story we haven’t told enough either.

Yes, Jesus came as a baby. But, He is also coming again. The first time he came humbly. But the next time He comes, He will be coming with the clouds of heaven. His coming at Christmas is only half of the story. Sure, it’s a very important half. But, it’s just the beginning.

You see, we’re in perpetual advent right now. We’re in a perpetual season of anticipation and expectation. We are supposed to be constantly expecting Jesus’s triumphant return. But, for some reason, we don’t talk much about that anymore. Partly because it’s complicated. Partly because it’s controversial and everyone has a different interpretation about what the prophecies mean.

Here’s the thing, many people missed the first time Jesus came because they were convinced they knew what it was going to look like when the Messiah came. This prophecy in the book of Daniel was written hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth. And it’s one of the reasons people were looking for the Messiah to come and establish his earthly Kingdom.

We run the same risk of not being ready for his second arrival if we focus more on our interpretations of the prophecies than we do on being ready. That’s the point. Be prepared.

³⁶ “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. ³⁷ For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. ⁴² Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Matthew 24:36-44 (NIV)

If Jesus came back today, would you be ready?

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 1, Day 5 (Prophecy Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth…

Todays’ prophecy comes to us through a bit of an unusual journey. Zechariah was a priest who was pretty old. He and his wife had always wanted kids but had never been able to have any. Luke 1 tells us that they had been praying for this, and their prayers were going to be answered.

As often happens in the story of Jesus’ birth, this information came to Zechariah through and angel. At the end of the angels instructions, he says this about the baby what would be John the Baptist: “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17)

Luke also tells us that this baby would be full of the Holy Spirit from before He was born. This is significant because when Mary, who has just gotten pregnant with Jesus comes to see Elizabeth to confirm what the angel said to her, baby John leaps for joy in his mother’s stomach.

Later, in his life when he started his ministry John would actually quote from this prophecy from Isaiah:

³ A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.

Isaiah 40:3

In Revelation 11, we learn of two witnesses who will also prophecy and prepare the way for Christ’s return. There is a lot we don’t understand about Christ’s second coming, but that won’t keep him from doing so. And when we see these men preparing the way it will be yet another reminder that God keeps his promises. (Many people think these two men will be Elijah and Moses, but that’s not made clear in the text. And, in my opinion, it’s not important.)

This is important to remember during Advent because we’re not just looking back to Jesus’ birth, we are also looking forward to His return. He came humbly the first time, but next time he will come with Majesty and the whole world will know He is the Lord of all creation.

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 1, Day 4 (Prophecy) first appeared on David Lindner.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

Today we’re going back even further to the very first prophecy about Jesus. In fact, today’s prophecy is special because it comes from the mouth of God himself.

In the garden, immediately after Adam and Eve had disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God is telling everyone what’s going to happen as a result of their disobedience.

God tells Adam that his work is going to be hard and that the ground is going to produce thorns. God tells Eve that she will have pain in childbirth. But before that, God curses the serpent to the ground and at the end of that curse, says “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

It seems surprising that right here at the beginning of the human race that God would already have a plan for redemption. Because our nature is to react to things, we tend to think God would have to react to this situation and then come up with a plan.

But, Ephesians 1:4 mentions that those who put their faith in Christ were chosen before the foundation of the world. 1 Peter 1:20 mentions that Jesus was also known as the lamb of God before the foundation of the world.

While it seems surprising to us that God had a plan for redemption at the first moment of rebellion, God actually had a plan for it all along. He gave us the freedom to choose his way or our own way. He wanted us to make the right choice, but the choice was truly ours. We were free to choose and we did.

Yet, because God is all knowing, he knew that we would choose to rebel against Him and already had a plan in place to redeem us from our rebellious state. So really, when you think about it, the prophecies about Jesus aren’t bound by time. As amazing as it may be that people had predicted hundreds and even thousands of years before that Jesus would be born, the truth is it was God’s eternal plan of redemption.

Galatians 4:45- says: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Jesus’ coming wasn’t a reaction a few thousand years of people choosing to worship idols instead of the one true God. Jesus’ coming was a part of God’s plan. He came because it was time for Him to come.

The same will be true when he returns. It won’t be because we have finally ticked God off enough that he’s had enough and has to do something about it. He will come because it’s the time God established before time that He was going to come.

We are a part of God’s, eternal story. It’s all planned out. It’s all under God’s control. Nothing that is happening is a surprise to God. So, we can rest in the peace that no matter how strange the times may be, God is always in control.

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 1, Day 3 (Prophecy Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

⁷ I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;
    today I have become your father.”

Today’s prophecy comes in a bit of a weird shape, it’s actually in the middle of a psalm. The psalms were generally a part of the songbook for the Israelites. Like we used to have hymnals, they would have known and used the psalms as a part of worship in the temple.

This particular psalm was also used as a part of the coronation ceremony for those who were heirs to the throne of David. Meaning, when a new king took the throne who was a descendant of David, one of David’s son’s sons, they would read this psalm during the ceremony when that son of a son officially took the throne.

We know this is a prophecy about Jesus because it’s used three times in reference to Jesus in the New Testament. Once in Acts 13:33 and twice in the book of Hebrews. But, what’s the significance of this passage as it relates to Christ’s birth?

Well, let’s see if we can quickly make some sense of it. In John 1, we learn that Jesus has existed with the Father for all time. He is eternal the same way God the Father and God the Spirit are eternal. They have always been and will never not be. But then in John 1:14, we learn that “the word [a reference to Jesus] became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

This was part of the surprise about Jesus’ birth. He didn’t come with majesty and triumph, the way a king would make his entrance. He came as a baby. Jesus has always existed as the son, but at one moment in history he became a human.

This psalm was written around the year 1044 BC. Over 1,000 years before Jesus was born, tucked away in neatly in a psalm there is a prophecy about our savior. The savior who, because He was a baby had to be tucked in as a child by his mom and step-dad.

Sometimes, God plants the seed of something greater to come a thousand years before it will sprout. But, no matter how long it has been since the promise, God always keeps it.

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 1, Day 2 (Prophecy Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 1:20-25 (NIV)

As we begin this journey through advent, we started yesterday by lighting the prophecy candle. All this week, as we gather in our homes around the table as families, we will be thinking about some of the prophecies surrounding the arrival of Christ the Messiah.

Matthew 1:22 reminds us that all these things happened for a reason. No other birth has been accompanied by so many specific prophecies. There are other prophecies about children being born in Scripture, but none are detailed like this. This birth is special.

Matthew includes the struggle Joseph had surrounding his wife’s mysterious pregnancy. The choice to stay with Mary would undoubtedly mean ridicule and being ostracized by society. Life as he knew it would be over. And this wasn’t even his child. But, Joseph knew these weren’t ordinary circumstances. How many times has an angel appeared to you?

Jesus was born in the way God said he would be born. Hundreds of years before Mary got pregnant, Isaiah predicted it would be through a virgin that the Messiah would come. “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said…”

The prophecy candle is an important starting point for our journey through Advent because it reminds us that God always keeps his promises. The prophecies surrounding Christ’s birth were fulfilled exactly as they had been spoken. Because we can observe the precision of God’s ability to keep his promises in the past, we can have confidence He will keep his promises in the future.

“Hope is focusing the present and the future through the lens of God’s faithfulness in the past.” (The Christmas Setup)

NOTES:

For a fun introduction to the prophecy candle, here’s video we showed at SixEight Church yesterday:

The post Advent Family Devotional, Week 1, Day 1 (Prophecy Candle) first appeared on David Lindner.

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor– and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be– That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks–for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation–for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war–for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed–for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted–for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions– to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually–to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed–to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord–To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us–and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

That pretty much says it all. No commentary needed.

The post Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789 first appeared on David Lindner.

9.) If the book becomes popular, you can brag about having the first edition. If it doesn’t, you’ll still have the only edition.

8.) The book is always better than the movie. Especially if there is never a movie.

7.) You’ve been doing too well at gift-giving in the past and need some tips to disappoint the people you love this year.

6.) You can look for the 54 word long run on sentence. Kind of like a treasure hunt without the treasure.

5.) Let’s be honest, you deserve a new book. And it’s a Christmas book. Why not start the gift-giving early. To yourself.

4.) Reading is said to reduce stress and improve memory and imagination. So why not read a story about someone else who’s stressed out?

3.) You can get an ebook version of it so you have something interesting to read in the bathroom.

2.) You can stick it to the man and buy a book that isn’t being backed by a multi-million dollar marketing machine.

1.) You’ll have something to do when your uncle starts talking politics at Thanksgiving.

The post Top 10 reasons to buy & read “The Christmas Setup.” first appeared on David Lindner.

Matt: Mr. Lindler, great to have you on today to talk about your new book “The Christmas Setup.”

Me: Thanks Matt and feel free to call me David.

Matt: Okay Davey.

Me: David

Matt: Right, now Daveed, if I’m correct, you wrote this book for Advent at your church, uh, Sixty Eight church, last year?

Me: Yes, that’s correct. I wanted to guide our church through the four themes of Advent, Love, Joy, Peace and Hope in a creative way. So, I came up with a fictional story that wrestled with those themes.

Matt: Interesting, so this is based on a true story then?

Me: No, I just said that it was a fictional story. In other words I made it up.

Matt: Right. So, you say you wrestled with the themes of love, joy, peace and hope in the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Venezuela crisis that’s been going on for the last couple of years.

Me: Why? That doesn’t really have anything to do with my book. If it’s okay with you I’d love to talk about the little town of Jonesdale and the mysterious character Wyatt Jack meets at the beginning of the book.

Matt: Oh sure. We weren’t able to get anyone on the show to talk about the PBS documentary when it aired, so that would be great.

Me: Um, there wasn’t a documentary. Again this is a fictional story. Are you thinking of Jonestown and Jim Jones?

Matt: Exactly, just how do you portray the people of Jonestown in your book and what role does Jack play in the corruption?

Me: Matt, I really don’t think you’re listening to me. My book has nothing to do with Jim Jones, Venezuela or any real life people. It’s just a nice little Christmas story where a guy named Jack wants to give his friends a present that will really make a difference in their life. He wants to give them a Christmas they’re remember but it ends up being a Christmas he wishes they’d forget.

Matt: Right Daveed, right.

Me: It’s David.

Matt: Right. Well, we’ve been chatting with Mr. Lindler about his Book “The Christmas Setup” which isn’t about Jim Jones or Jonestown or Venezuela. It’s available today wherever good books are sold.

Me: Actually Matt, it’s only available on Amazon.

Matt: Right, Amazon. Hey, you don’t happen to know of anyone that’s looking for a new anchor do you?

Me: Yeah, about that. I was wondering if you feel any remorse for what you did?

Matt: What did I do? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Me: Right. Well I don’t know of anything at the moment, maybe you should think about doing a documentary on Venezuela?

Matt: What does Venezuela have to do with anything? I’m a news anchor.

Me: Are you?

Well, they say that there’s no such thing as bad press. So, if you’re looking for a good Christmas story to read this coming Christmas season, I’d love for you to check out my book “The Christmas Setup”. It’s got a great message and some really helpful ways to think about love, joy, peace and hope as you go through the Christmas season. A quick note: it’s 31 chapters long so you can read the one chapter a day starting the Monday before Advent (this year that’s Nov. 25), and finish on Christmas Eve. There is also an audio podcast version of the story right here on davidlindner.net.

Here’s a link to purchase a paperback or ebook version of “The Christmas Setup” available anywhere you can buy books on Amazon!

The post My Interview with Matt Flower of the Yesterday Show first appeared on David Lindner.

“But what about being thankful?” you may say. Is it not possible to be thankful whilst doing other things? I’m all for being grateful. I practice gratitude every day, hopefully multiple times a day.

And, by the way, you can trust me. I’m a Christmas expert.

1.) Wonder/Anticipation

Neuroscience has taught us about the power of anticipation. In fact the brain may even enjoy anticipation more than fulfillment. When we were kids, we spent great amounts of time anticipating Christmas. Sears and JC Penny sent out their big catalogs in August or September and we’d spend the next several months worth of bathroom reading time dog-earing the pages we wanted most.

“But, doesn’t starting the music and movies and all that before Thanksgiving take away the anticipation?” Not unless you move up your Christmas celebration!

(On a more serious note, I think the fact the we are hungry for Christmas earlier and earlier in the year, setting up our trees and so forth is a testimony to how hungry we are for wonder. One of the negative effects of living in a time where we think we know everything about everything is the loss of wonder.)

2.) Commercialism is an Opportunity

You’re going to start having Christmas crammed in your face. In general, I say we shouldn’t “go with the flow” of advertising agencies. But, this is Christmas. Instead of raising your fist in the air and saying “It’s barely November!” you could see it as an opportunity. Pretty much our whole society radically embraces Christmas, a Christian Holy Day. You can be the negative person like every other person and complain about it or you can be different and say, “you know what, I kind of like seeing Christmas trees and hearing Christmas music.”

People putting lights up on their houses, going Christmas shopping, being more generous, donating food and so forth are all good things we have the opportunity to celebrate that are connected to Christmas.

3.) Busyness

We are a ridiculously busy society, which is never more true than at Christmas time. We all end up with events, parties, services and programs that fill up our calendars in December. We’re so busy, that before we realize it, it’s Christmas day and we didn’t get to enjoy so many things.

That is, unless you start in November! November is a much less busy month. If you start now, you can get in all those favorites before you’re too busy to be able to do so! Which leads me to #4…

4.) Music/Movies

I mean, there are just too many good Christmas albums and movies to try to cram into one month. We’ve been watching Hallmark and Lifetime movies for about a month now. And we love it!

“But all the movies are the same, and they play the same songs over and over!” Sure. Most Hallmark movies are about as unpredictable as rain in November in the Pacific Northwest. But, who cares?! Hollywood is just reproducing new versions of the exact same thing they released 20 years ago. How is that any different.

Besides, both the movies and the music are positive with a positive message. That’s something we desperately need more of in our time. So, why not watch some hallmark movies and allow yourself to be a little happier? Why not listen to some Christmas music and be nicer to the people around you?

5.) You Get the Opportunity to be “That Guy”

All through the month of November there are those “humbugs” who give me their justifications for why I’m wrong to listen to Christmas music. But, it doesn’t stop me. I still crank it up. And you know what, before long people start singing the same songs. You get to be that guy who whistles “Joy to the World” while the person you’re walking by is upset with their boss. You get to be that guy who sings “Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow” from White Christmas when the first flurries start to fall. You get to be that guy who brings a little bit of Christmas cheer to people who would otherwise be angry or frustrated.

So, there you have it.

I’m sure some of you are going to think I’m crazy. Others will agree. But, none of that is going to change the fact that I love Christmas. I always have. The Spirit of Christmas is something that should affect the way we live our lives all year long.

Jesus came at Christmas, and he had a special name given to him for that event: Emmanuel. “God with us.” Well, now because of Jesus, God is literally always with his children, all year long in the gift of the Holy Spirit. So, when you think about it, every day is Christmas. Because God is always with us.

The post 5 Reasons To Embrace Christmas in November first appeared on David Lindner.

Before you tune out, no this isn’t a post about music or electric guitars or amplifiers. I love all my electric guitar playing friends, but this is merely an illustration.

I’m concerned. We have a major problem in our Christian society today, and it doesn’t appear that we’re addressing it. And no, I’m not talking about the present day moral concessions we have made.

Another illustration to set the stage. I have yet to start saving for retirement. Our church isn’t in a financial position to provide that for us. Maybe some day. But, it also seems so far away. Yeah, I just turned 40 this year, but retirement is still 25-30 years away. In fact, neuroscience tells us that one of the reasons many people don’t save for retirement is that we can’t see ourselves that far out into the future. That person is a fictional character in our minds.

Now, back to the problem. What is it? We are so wrapped up in the pursuits of this life, whatever those may be, that we have completely crowded out our relationship with God.

For many of us, our finances are stretched to the max. Credit cards are maxed out, we’ve got multiple car loans, home mortgage, plus the 20-30 monthly subscriptions to services like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Sock box, mystery box, glam box plus many more.

This causes us to push our work capacity to its limits. We have to work as long and hard as we can to be able to provide for ourselves and our families the lives that they deserve. Which causes us to push our physical health and well being to the max to be able to work as much as we can. We’re sicker now than ever before. This also causes us to push our mental processing capacity to the limits, exhausting our store of will power before we even leave the house for the day. By the time we fight through traffic on the way to work, we start the day in a rage.

Which in turn causes us to cram out important, significant relationships with fellow believers and like minded Christ followers. Which has the side effect of spending less time at church, less time with God and less time talking about what God is doing in our lives. Which we can’t even see because we’re so focused on other things.

We’re living our lives at eleven. We’re being driven my an economic machine fueled by our constant connection and comparison to the lives we see others living on Instagram and Facebook. Heck, we even compare ourselves to who we were 3-8 years ago when Facebook reminds us what we were doing on this day, which creates a sense of longing and desire.

Our marriages are at eleven, our finances are at eleven, our health is at eleven, our emotions and mental state are at eleven. And because it’s all we can do to keep up with all these demands, we’re dropping the spiritual part of our lives on the key shelf when we walk in the door. Where it gets covered with sunglasses, bills, invitations, etc. until it slips down the crack behind the shelf. Where it will stay until the next time we move, or a major crisis knocks us off our feet.

We think we will have time. “I’ll have time to work on that later. If retirement is 25-30 years away, I probably won’t be dead for 35-40 years, maybe longer. So, there will be time to work on that later. I just need to focus on me right now, I need to get what I deserve and build the life I have dreamed of. After I’ve done all that, then I’ll start to focus on the Spiritual stuff.”

We’re living all of life at 11, that is, except for our spiritual life. We’re living every area of life at 11 except the one that matters most. More and more our spiritual life is that knob on the amplifier that we don’t even know what it does. We know how to hurry, hurry, hurry. We are hurried in every facet of our lives except for the one that matters most. We’re hustling at work, with our kids, with our hobbies, with our recreation and all the things the dominant sources are telling us are important right now. While our hearts and spirit are atrophying, drying up and being blown away by the winds of modern society.

I’ve been trying to sound the alarm, but not many are listening.

We don’t have as much time as we think. We think to ourselves, “I just need to ____________ first, then I’ll make God a priority.” I just need to focus on myself for a while. I just need to focus on my family.

James 4:14 “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

We don’t have as much time as we think. We mistakenly think there will be time left someday for the important things while we chase dust bunnies today.

One of the things that is missing in many churches today are the godly, wiser generation. I don’t mean this to be rude, but there aren’t very many in our churches these days who have been walking passionately with the Lord for generations. You know, the ones where it almost feels like you’re in the presence of God just being around them. The ones who if they sin, it’s because they only shared the gospel 5 times this week instead of their usual 10. The ones who speak and their conversation is just peppered with scripture because they know that more than anything else. There just aren’t a lot of those around anymore.

Why do you think that is? I have a theory. It’s because we’ve been living by the “I’m just going to focus on me first” philosophy of life the world lives by. So, we have lots of believers who are older, but their spiritual maturity is what it was 40 years ago.

You may have heard the phrase: “You can’t microwave discipleship.” It’s true. Incredibly true. We live in a have it your way right now world. We don’t value much of anything that requires long periods of time. We especially don’t value them when the payoff is somewhat ethereal and imperceptible. But, that’s not the only thing I know to be true about discipleship. There’s no download button for Christlikeness. It happens over time. Long amounts of time.

Discipleship compounds with age. What I know about my own life with Christ, is this: I’m only learning what I’m learning now because of what I learned last year. I wouldn’t have learned that if it hadn’t been for what I learned the year before that. Likewise, there are things that I wasn’t ready for God to deal with a couple of years ago that God has been working in me this year. If I wasn’t walking regularly with God, much of what I have faced in the last year would have devastated me. While it’s still been difficult, God has gotten me through it. Because discipleship compounds with age.

I want to be that old guy in the church, who is so full of the joy of the Lord and so full of His word and so constantly overwhelmed by His presence that just my life itself is something that encourages younger Christians to want more of Christ.

We can’t live the life of this world at 11 and neglect the life of Christ entirely. We can’t let it slip behind the key rack and pick it up when we’re in a desperate situation with the hope that we’ll have what we need in that moment.

We have got to WAKE UP!

This world has nothing for us. This world wants nothing for us. They only want something from us. We’ve got everything upside down. This world we’re addicted to is the upside down. It’s only Christ that things get made right.

I wish I could sit down with everyone who reads this article and gently ask you questions about why this thing or that is so important to you. I wish I could ask you what belief you are basing your pursuit of this life upon. I wish I could help you figure out what really has control of your heart. If you want to sit down and talk about it, I’d love to. Send me a message and we’ll grab coffee. Seriously. If you don’t live close by, we can connect by video somehow.

Here’s the hard part of what I have to say. No, I’m not being doom and gloom. But, look, our entire culture is living life at 11 right now. We have absolutely no margin for error in any area of our lives. We don’t have financial margin, time margin, relational margin, recreational margin, ambitional margin or any other kind of margin. We’re maxed out, stressed out and wore out. Everyone’s mad at someone. Anxiety is through the roof. We are probably the most volatile people in the most volatile situation ever.

If we don’t figure out how to get back to what really matters and make God the first and utmost priority of our lives, we are setting ourselves up to be pawns in someone else’s war. We may get sucked into the bickering and the argumentative nature of our society and because we’re maxed out on everything, have no remaining reserves of willpower, we’ll enter the war without thinking about what it might cost.

I started to write: “If we’re not careful, we’ll be pawns in someone else’s war.” But, this is no longer a time for being careful. We’ve been careful for too long and it’s cost us too much. So, flat out, it’s time for the people of God to stop trying to balance God among the plethora of spinning plates in our lives. We’ve been careful and tried to be politically correct and tell people they can have it both ways. But you can’t. Jesus said so.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

(Matthew 6:24 NIV)

God is a jealous God and He wants ALL of you. He will not share your heart with the other gods of this modern society that we are choosing to worship. Especially when we give them such precedence over him in our lives. Enough is enough.

Rise up, O church of God. Now! Before it’s too late.

You and I are not guaranteed tomorrow. We’re not even guaranteed this afternoon or tonight. All we have is today, right now. This is the moment we have to give the most important things in our lives the priority they deserve.

What are you going to do?

If you’re ready for more, reach out to me. I’d love to talk to you. If you’re ready for more and you live in the Vancouver, WA area, you should come checkout SixEight Church. (68church.com) This is what we’re all about.

The post Living Life At 11 first appeared on David Lindner.

Backstory. I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh and watched a lot of Fox News. When I was finishing up my Bible/Theology degree, I would often listen to Sean Hannity on the way home, Mark Levin and whomever else would be on when I was in the car.

Then we’d have Fox News on in the house before I left and often time before bed. If there wasn’t anything else on we wanted to watch we’d watch Hannity, Greta, and (in my opinion) the worst contributors to the problem I’m speaking of today, Tucker Carlson.

Why was I listening? Because I wanted to hear a different viewpoint from the mainstream media who all seem to not only say the same thing but pretty much share the exact same stories. I live in the Pacific Northwest, so I’m surrounded by one sided arguments. And I wanted to know “the other side”. That, and I grew up and tend to agree with “the other side” on a lot (but definitely not all) of the issues.

Starting to change: A few years ago, I (and my wife) noticed the effect listening to Rush was having on me. I’ll never forget getting into a car to go to lunch with someone from the church and they asked if I liked Rush. I said, yeah, listen all the time. Only to be disappointed by the fact that what they mean was the band and not the angry talk radio show. Go ahead and laugh at me. I deserved it.

But, probably 4-5 years ago, I noticed it was making me more negative. At that time, I was really working hard to become a more positive person. Still am. So, I decided to cut it out, cold turkey.

We had also cut out most of Fox News, except on election day. All except for OutNumbered. Which I watched most mornings. Then this blessed thing happened. I wanted cut back our dish bill before we were going to be gone for a few weeks, and other than Fox News, we didn’t watch any of the channels in that bundle. So, I turned it off. And haven’t turned it back on.

The why: The way God wired our brains is information we should really know. We have what are called “mirror neurons.” According to NCBI

These are a variety of visuospatial neurons which indicate fundamentally about human social interaction. Essentially, mirror neurons respond to actions that we observe in others. The interesting part is that mirror neurons fire in the same way when we actually recreate that action ourselves. Apart from imitation, they are responsible for myriad of other sophisticated human behavior and thought processes.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3510904/)

In other words, these are incredibly important parts of our brains. They are responsible for feeling empathy for those around us. They are responsible for so much of our interactions.

How are our mirror neurons shaped? By our input and influences in our lives. Mostly by other humans. We literally become like the people we spend time with, the people we listen to and the information we take in. It all affects us, not only on an ideological level, but on a much deeper formational level.

What had happened to me was, I had become like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. I was consuming enough content of people who were always angry about something, and I was becoming more and more angry. Not only that, but it was affecting how I interacted with others and worse how I thought about people in pain and suffering. It had rewired how empathy worked in my brain.

PAUSE: I’m aware there are probably some reading this post who may never listen to Conservative news or radio. But don’t be fooled. This is the air we breath. It doesn’t matter what “side of the aisle” you are on, nearly every news site and agency, every politically driven resources is driven by anger against the people who think differently than they do and are trying to undermine “their country”. (At the writing of this post there is a big story circulating about Ellen Degeneres & former president George W. Bush sitting together at a football game. The photo caused an uproar from Ellen supporters who wanted to know why she was sitting next to the enemy. Her response was perfect, a tremendously good response that so many need to hear today.)

Carrying on: So, I’ve been pretty much news free for the last 3-4 months. I still watch some local news, but my tolerance for that is decreasing. It’s all negative, all bad news, all problems and no solutions. Very few stories about good things. I like to watch the weather.

The Problem: Because of how God wired our brains to work, I was literally becoming like those angry sources. My brain was mirroring what I had been feeding it. What’s scary is that, even the way I saw the world around me had been shaped by these angry sources. It came up in conversations. This can affect the way we see loved ones, neighbors and it can even affect our view of God.

The solution: Stop listening to mad people. I believe, with my whole mind and heart, that the reason our country is in a rage right now is because there are too many influencers who are in a rage. And we love them. The negativity actually feeds something in our brain and we can become addicted to it, and then it shapes the way our brain organizes information.

The Echo Chamber: Much has been said about the echo chamber. (Read “Christians in the Age of Outrage” by Ed Stetzer.) Because we can tailor our new preferences to our preconceived beliefs, we are simply getting more entrenched in our opposing viewpoints instead of looking for ways to cooperate with people. All you have to do is look at the political climate and see that nearly no one in politics has a desire to work together for the common good, and instead are simply fighting for their own positions. There are some, but they seem to be the exception not the standard.

Then, we the people, subscribe to all their feeds and let them continue to fill our minds and shape our viewpoints to be more and more in line with their negative, pessimistic, angry at the opposition viewpoint. So, we end up hating one another more deeply.

The Sad Truth: Too many of us are being manipulated without our knowledge. We don’t realize how this is and has affected us. As conspiracy theorist as it sounds, I do believe the media giants know what they’re doing. They have invested billions in research. They make bank off of our fears. The problem, we are the victims. And too many of us mindlessly go along with their scheme. We’re addicted to their content, regardless of what it’s doing to us…regardless of how it’s affecting our view of others…regardless of how it’s destroying our country.

The solution: TURN IT OFF! Stop listening to people who are angry all the time. Stop watching people who yell all the time. Unfollow those Facebook pages that are always spewing hatred for the opposition. The more you consume, the more it changes the way you think. The more you let these sources change your brain, the less likely any of us will be to seek unity in our time. Neither President Trump nor Joe Biden are the answer for the divide in our country. We are. But only if we stop allowing these divisive forces to manipulate us to fight against one another.

The counterargument: “But, I need to know how to vote. I need to be informed on the issues.” Bull Crap. Most of us already know where we stand on issues. Most of us are already cemented in the way we’re going to vote. You don’t need to listen to someone yelling in a rage something you already agree with.

It’s not too late: We’re already in another election cycle. We’ve already had presidential debates and the 24 hours news machines churning out unparalleled amounts of massively opposed content. If we aren’t mindful about it, we’ll let them drive us into deeper levels of hatred and division.

But, we can decide not to let ourselves be victims and pawns in the manipulative profiteering schemes of major corporations who care nothing for us as people except to get us to beef up their bottom line. We are being taken advantage of as a society. We are being used. These corporations aren’t on our side, they’re on the side of their profits. They’re on the side of whatever benefits the shareholders. The only reason they are in business is because we buy their services. We subscribe to their channels. We follow them on Facebook. We share their content.

What if we all just stopped? What if we just started unfollowing, unliking, unsubscribing from their feeds? What if, instead of going out to look for more reasons to hate the people I disagree with, we invited them over for dinner and got to know them as fellow humans? What if, instead of being offended because some talking head told us we should be, we got offended at the fact that the talking heads have been using us to get rich? What if we got offended at the fact that we’ve been manipulated to hate our fellow citizens? What if we stopped sharing posts about how this/that politician is the devil, we started sharing posts about the good any civil leader is doing.

What if, instead of always looking for what’s wrong with the world, what’s wrong with the other side and what’s wrong the “opposing” side – what if we just started looking for ways to support one another, encourage one another, stand alongside one another?

What if we stopped taking sides and walked alongside each other in humility?

Post image Photo by James Lindsay on Unsplash

The post Mirror Neurons: And why I stopped watching the news and listening to talk radio. first appeared on David Lindner.

Almost every church has one. Many of them (like mine) have tended to be quite lengthy. Some of them are quite good, even inspiring. In fact, after I listen to a good sermon, I will really want to change.

But then, if you’re anything like me, somewhere between the end of the sermon and the time you get home from church, that desire to change is pretty much gone as well as whatever the sermon was about.

We live in the information age.

• 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute!
• Almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day.
• There are over 700,000 podcasts and 29 million podcast episodes in 100 different languages.
• Weekly podcast listeners listen to 6hrs & 37min of podcasts per week.
• Between 600,000 & 1,000,000 books are published in the US every year.

If you want to learn anything about anything you can do that today. And all that power is sitting in the pocket of most people. 2.5 billion people on the planet are using smartphones.

With all that available content, you would think our churches would be full of people who can walk on water. But that’s simply not the case. At a time when we have access to more knowledge, information and wisdom about following Jesus, fewer people look like him. I can’t recall the name of the study, but the findings were essentially that most Christians think, speak and act like non-Christians. We may verbally express different moral beliefs. But, we watch the same movies, TV shows, and practice moral living quite similarly to the those who don’t believe.

wledge, information and wisdom about following Jesus, fewer people look like him. I can’t recall the name of the study, but the findings were essentially that most Christians think, speak and act like non-Christians. We may verbally express different moral beliefs. But, we watch the same movies, TV shows, and practice moral living quite similarly to the those who don’t believe.

We have more content about being a Christian available than ever before…and it hasn’t changed a thing.

That’s because being a Christ follower isn’t just about content. Content is important. Knowing what and why you believe matter. But only if your life coincides with that belief.

Discipleship isn’t just about the right content, it’s about the right context. Specifically, we have to create the right context in our lives for God to shape and transform us.

This is why I have been obsessed with the idea of spiritual formation, habit formation and what it takes to really change.

Self-help books are a 10 billion dollar a year industry, the most popular focus being weight loss, nutrition and exercise. And yet, as a society, obesity is on the rise, along with diabetes and other health related problems. Why? Because reading a self help book only helps if you apply the principles to your life.

And most people want to apply healthy living principles to their lives. Just like most Christians want to live good Christian lives. But desire and information alone aren’t enough. If you want to get healthy physically, you have to start change the way you live. It’s not just applying the principles, but going through the process to make those principles a part of your day to day life that will change you waistline.

So, we have been working on creating a different approach to becoming like Christ. I call it the Jesus Habit. Using Scripture and science to make your new nature in Christ, second nature.

It’s not what you do on Sunday, but what you do every day that makes you a disciple of Jesus. And our approach with the Jesus habit is to help you build the habits into your life that create the context for God to transform your heart, mind, soul and being.

Do you want to change, but keep hitting the same limits and walls? I would almost bet the problem isn’t informational. I bet the problem is the context of your life is competing with and consuming any space for God to work.

We would love to help you.

Simply go to The Jesus Habit to get more information.

The post Context, Not Simply Content first appeared on David Lindner.

Before that though, I should talk about the resistance to the word discipleship and the phrase making disciples. For some reason, when we hear that word/phrase, it strikes panic in our minds and heart. It’s one of those words that we have so over-mystified that even the mention of the word gets our heart racing. Why is that? The main reason is simple misunderstanding. We just don’t know what it means. Secondary reasons are misuses of the word. Often times, when I talk to pastors, there is no clear definition of what it means to make disciples, yet we talk about it all the time. We probably shouldn’t overuse a word we don’t understand.

Back to today’s myth:

The easy myth: We think that when something doesn’t come naturally or easily, that must not be our thing. 

This, by the way, doesn’t only apply to making disciples. But, we definitely use this as an excuse.

For some reason we have believed that lie that we should only ever do things that come naturally to us. If something is difficult for me to figure out, pick up, learn or master, then I’m probably not supposed to do that thing.

The truth is: We learn best when things don’t come naturally. 

Sure, as a general principle, I understand the idea of focusing on your strengths. And, I would agree that there are some times in our lives when we should do that. But, focusing on your strengths is not really an either/or paradigm. I think we would all agree (well, maybe not…) that if being a good spouse isn’t one of your strengths you should still work at it. If it doesn’t come natural, you should work at it.

We forget that struggle is a key component to change.  In fact, it is through the struggle that we change. If fact, walking with others through the struggle of changing from who they were before Christ to who they are becoming in Christ is the work of discipleship.

Talk about lies we have believed as a society. We MUST get over the false notion that we should only do things that come easy or naturally.

Hear me: until it becomes second nature, there is nothing natural about following Jesus. Our nature apart from Christ is actually opposed to Christ. Our nature before Christ is for ourselves. And that’s exactly the point of Christianity: “Anyone who would come after me must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.” What part of that sounds easy? What part of that sounds like something some people are built to do?

The truth about making disciples is that it will never be easy. Why? Because it involves people. Specifically other people. People who are not us. It is NEVER easy to lead someone to die to themselves who has spent their whole life living only for themselves.

The point isn’t that it’s easy. If it was easy, everyone would be fully discipled. The reason we don’t know how to make disciples and be disciples is because it’s challenging.

So, our only legitimate option is to embrace the difficulty

Embrace Difficulty:

There are studies that actually show that we are less likely to learn something well when it comes easy. Conversely, we are more likely to learn something thoroughly when it’s difficult to learn.

So, the sooner we embrace the challenge, the sooner we will begin to advance in our pursuit of making disciples. The sooner we stop believing the lie that we shouldn’t do things that don’t come naturally, the sooner we will be able to help others become more like Christ.

Oh, and we’ll become more like Christ in the process. As we walk through struggles with others; as we, like Paul said, “carry one another’s burdens,” the transformation doesn’t just take place in the disciple but also in the mentor.

Reference links:

https://fortune.com/2016/10/12/to-learn-more-get-uncomfortable/

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/17/5-hacks-to-help-you-learn-anything-from-a-stanford-professor.html

How has the easy myth kept you from making disciples?

The post Lies We Believe About Making Disciples: #2 first appeared on David Lindner.

So then, what we believe is very important. Especially when it comes to making disciples. I think we all (myself included) have some beliefs that undermine our approach to making disciples, even keeping us from attempting to do so at all.

So, let’s get into some of our misshapen beliefs and see if we can replace them with truth.

Lie #1: The perfection myth: I can’t disciple anyone until I’m a perfect disciple. 

We make the mistake of thinking we can’t disciple someone until we’ve got it all down cold. We think, “I don’t know enough and I’m certainly not mature enough. I’ll do it when I feel like I’m ready.” So, we never do.

Along the same lines, we mistakenly think: “I can’t disciple someone because I’ve never been discipled. If no one ever did it to me, how am I supposed to know how to do that for someone else?”

These are valid concerns. Concerns I have had about myself being a discipler of others.

But the truth is, this is a lie. You will probably never arrive at perfection.  While the case can be made that it is possible to be like Christ in every way, I’m probably not going to be perfect any time soon.

Truth: Perfection is not a requirement for teaching someone else what you know.  You don’t have to know everything perfectly to teach someone what you have learned. You don’t have to know all the ins and outs to effectively teach someone what you’ve learned about following Jesus.

In fact, humility goes a long way in discipleship. I would argue that a humble mentor is even preferable to a “know it all” mentor. The person you’re teaching will be in a better posture to learn if you’re also in a learning posture. 

Another truth – you will never feel qualified to make disciples.  I have been fortunate to disciple people on several different occasions. And, while I feel like I understand the process more each time, I still don’t feel qualified to do it. If you’re waiting to feel ready, you’ll never start.

Pushback #1: I can hear and feel the pushback on this. Am I saying that everyone is fully discipled from the moment they turn to Christ? No. Am I saying that anyone can mentor anyone? No, not really. (Although, I do think a good mentor is always in a learning position, ready to learn from anyone along the way.)

Response: We will never have it all figured out, so we shouldn’t let that keep us from starting. You may not be a ninja-level follower of Jesus, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help someone younger in the faith than you.

Pushback #2: “But this isn’t the way Jesus made disciples.”

Response: It is and it isn’t. We have to start to see beyond Jesus’ method and look to his intent. I love Jesus’ method. In fact, I would love to be a student to Jesus in this way. Spending a few years following Jesus around, mimicking His every move sounds awesome. But, I also have a wife and four kids, a full-time job and live in the 21st century. That’s just not going to happen. And I’m a pastor. If I’m willing to go to that extreme, I can all but guarantee that’s going to prevent 99.9% of people from becoming a disciple.

So, we can be “purists” and use this as an excuse for not making disciples. “People just are truly committed to following Jesus anymore. I want to make disciples, but no one will come live with me for three years.” Or, we look to the intent of disciple-making and seek to discover different methods. Maybe they won’t be as effective as Jesus, but if the end result is being more like Christ than when we started, that’s a good thing.

Responsibility: You are merely responsible to teach others what you know about following Jesus. If you are both a mentor (teacher) and learner (student), then you will always be in the process of learning more about following Jesus and teaching those behind you to follow Jesus. No one is responsible for the transformation of another. But we are responsible to pass on what we know to those who don’t know it yet. And this is the very essence of making disciples – Teaching others how to obey. We do this by teaching others how WE obey Jesus’ commands.

How has the perfection myth kept you from making disciples?

The post Lies We Believe About Making Disciples first appeared on David Lindner.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research over the last couple of years on how we really learn and change. If you’re outside our 6:8 church circle, you may not realize my obsession, although, many of you have probably had to endure a passionate rant or two. As a church (and the pastor of that church), we are sold out on transformation. So, I’ve been trying to learn how to best help lead people in that process.

I came across this quote from John Maxwell, which is true, but doesn’t quite paint the whole picture:

There’s definitely truth there. Most people would are way more comfortable with familiar problems than they are with unfamiliar solutions. While that may be true, there’s some brain science behind it that can help us change.

So, I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned and condensed in the hopes that it helps you in your journey as well.

One of those things being this: When it comes to change, your brain is fighting you.

A primary purpose of your brain is to steward the use of energy (calories) in your body. Because of this, your brain is constantly at work to do things more efficiently. We were designed by God to work in the garden. Which, even in the perfect and ideal scenario before the fall, required a lot of energy in the form of calories. So, if your body needs 5,000+ calories per day to work in the garden (Prior to machines, it was not uncommon for farmers to burn 15,000 calories a day working the land), and you can only consume a 3-4k calories, you literally don’t have the energy to waste on other mental tasks which also require energy.

So, If your dad worked a hard, manual labor job where he burned massive amounts of calories per day, came home exhausted and lost it because the remote control was in the wrong spot, this is why. His brain relied on the routine of having the remote in the right place, and literally didn’t have the energy to try to track it down.

So, the way God has designed our brains is to automatize the most important functions. Those things we have to do every day become automatic. Why? So our brain doesn’t have to waste energy on it. The most popular modern example is brushing your teeth. For most of us, that’s automatic. We don’t expend a lot of mental energy on the task of brushing our teeth whilst we brush our teeth. We daydream and plan our day and think about purple elephants and what not. Automaticity. Also known as habits.

Your brain will turn anything you do on a regular basis, over a long period of time into a habit for this very reason. Your brain doesn’t wants to use less and less energy doing the same things.

Here’s the kicker: It doesn’t matter whether or not the habit is good or bad for you.

(I’m trying to think of a non-politicized/hot-button topic habit to use as an example without offending someone, but there aren’t very many…)

So, let’s just say that negative thinking is bad for you. Being a pessimist has a lot of negative effects on your brain and even your DNA. It makes you less enjoyable to be around, and even less likely to have good relationships. So, even though pessimism can lead you into isolation, (something that is bad for us all because we were designed for community), if you persist in pessimistic thinking your brain will make it easier and easier for you to do so. Why? So that it doesn’t have to waste as much energy the next time, and even less the next. Until eventually, negative thinking is automatic/habitual for you.

Now comes the fun part! When you then try to change this habit (like I have been working at doing for years), your brain will actually fight against you. You brain has already created the systems and super highways in your brain for thinking negatively. Your brain rewards the negative thought cycle and will work against the implementation of a change to that cycle because that consumes more energy.

So, let’s say that you’ve decided to make a change. And you’re even excited about the change. Maybe you watched an inspiring TED talk about it, and you’re ready to do it. But, shortly after this, your start experiencing things like fears, memories of failed attempts in the past and a whole host of other things that might “sway” you away from the change you want (and probably even need) to make.

Why? Your brain is doing its job. It already expended a lot of effort to adopt the old behavior and doesn’t want to expend energy to adopt the new one. Your brain is fighting you. Josh Assaraf calls this the brain’s “error detection mechanism.” Your brain is saying, “hey, something isn’t right here, so let’s fix it and get back to normal.”

So, if it feels like change is difficult, you’re right. If it feels like every time you try to make a change, it’s way easier to go back to the old way of doing things, you’re right. It is difficult to change old habits.

But, not impossible. And the good news is, once you’ve “installed” a new habit (as Michael Hyatt puts it), your brain will do the same thing to defend this new habit.

So, then how do we “install” a new habit? Well, since this post is already kind of long, I won’t get into to much of the nitty gritty today. Other than to say this: it takes Time, Invariability, Dedication & Effort. T.I.D.E. If you want to turn the tide, that’s that you have to do. And that’s not all. But, that’s for later.

TIME: It takes time to change. It takes a MINIMUM of 21 days to install a new habit. The more sophisticated it is, the longer it takes. And if you’re replacing an old habit, it takes longer. It takes 63 days for form a long-term memory. So, yeah, you have to do it for a while.

INVARIABILITY: In other words, consistency. Do the same thing, every time, over and over again. The same thing in the same way. A routine as Duhigg says in “The Power of Habit”

DEDICATION: You have to be committed to the change. No one can do it for you. If you’r not dedicate, you won’t make it.

EFFORT: It won’t come easy. Especially from the 2nd to 5th-6th weeks. That can be a grind. You will have to expend more effort than you’re used to expending during that time frame. It will take more energy. You will probably be more tired and drained.

If you do these 4 things, you can change the tide and create that new habit you want. Like I said, there’s more to changing than that, but this is a start.

But, the good news is. You can change. Your brain can change all the way up until the day you die. The longer you stay in a bad habit rut, the harder it will be to change, but it’s still possible.

Also along the good news line: If your brain is fighting you, that means it’s working. If it wasn’t fighting you, then you wouldn’t be changing anything. But because it’s working against you, that means you’re working against it.

So, get in the ring with your brain. Don’t let your brain bully you back into that old habit you’re trying to break. You can go the distance with it. You can do it! You can install this new habit and uninstall the old one. It is WELL within the realm of possibility.

At least for a while, turn your brain into the enemy that you need to conquer. And keep fighting the enemy until you make it your slave. Once you do that, your brain will be your biggest accomplice in helping you be the person you know you can be!

Don’t let your brain bully you back into the old broken habits you want to break. Get in the ring. Fight for the life you know you’re capable of.

If I can do it, so can you!

The post Your Brain Is Fighting You first appeared on David Lindner.

The post Turning 40 first appeared on David Lindner.

We live in the Pacific Northwest, about a 4 hour drive away from Bend, OR where the only remaining blockbuster sits. (You can read more about the last Blockbuster here.)

There have been many articles about how the world has changed in the last 15 years. 15 years ago, Blockbuster had 9,000 locations. Today, just one. in 2011, Dish network bought blockbuster for 320 million. Today they have one store that probably nets way less than one million.

“Signs of the times” people say as these changes occur. “That’s the price we pay.” Now many people can stream more movies on Netflix, Hulu and other sources than you could fit in a blockbuster store. (We happen to live in one of the parts of the world that doesn’t have good enough internet to stream, so we’re old fashioned and get Netflix discs in the mail.)

Things have definitely changed. The last time we were in Bend we rented from a Redbox in the Fred Meyer vestibule, not Blockbuster. I still feel guilty about it.

As the pastor of a small (but amazing!) church, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the effects of modern society on God’s precious bride. And while there are serious conversations being had about VR church, that’s not really the direction I’m heading here.

We like new stuff. I do. I’m probably an early adopter, though I usually can’t afford what the new stuff costs. If I could, I’d definitely be one. There’s some cool stuff out there now. Actual, legitimate jet packs. Real flying cars. Drones. Self-driving cars. And that’s just the stuff that we know about. There’s a lot more in development that if we knew what was coming, we’d probably all be trying to live where the internet doesn’t go. I’m thoroughly convinced “they” already have the ability to read our minds. Go ahead, call me crazy, you’ll see soon enough.

But, have we allowed our love for “new” to erode the foundation of our faith?

I have noticed two trends in the last year in our part of the country.

1.) People leaving churches to go to larger, popular, “trending” churches.

2.) People leaving church to go to a startup church.

Please don’t hear me being critical of either kind of church. I love the church, period. There are no doubts in my mind that it is the most glorious thing on the planet. I am friends with local pastors of larger/trendy churches as well as local startup churches. They are a blessing to me and we regularly try to support one another and partner together.

Neither am I being critical of those who have left our church or other churches. They are just as much a part of the bride of Christ as are all believers. I will say, though, that much as been said about the tenure of senior pastors and youth pastors, (Lifeway research did a study showing Senior pastors move every 3.6 yrs, and youth pastors every 17 months) not much has been studied (to my knowledge) about the average time people stay at a church. That would be good information to have.

Also, I’m not saying every church has this problem. There are some on extreme and some on the other. And, as is always the case, there is the faithful middle who don’t get enough attention.

Lastly don’t hear me as being fearful. Jesus is building His church. He will not let it be destroyed.

With my caveats out of the way, here is my point. I fear we have allowed our love of the “new” to affect our approach to church. I’m guessing it’s unwitting to many, but it would appear that the need for something new has affected our paradigm for church.

So, just like Blockbuster, faithfulness to a church body through thick and thin appears to be a thing of the past. This is not to say there aren’t many who are faithful and have remained faithful for generations. But, it would seem they are more and more the exception.

There is an unfair assumption that is made of small churches. Being, if a church is small it’s because it’s outdated and old fashioned. While there are certainly some who have remained the same, there are MANY small churches who have sought to stay effective in the midst of a rapidly changing world that still stay small.

I know all of this from first hand experience. Being the senior pastor of a small church for 6 years, I know what it’s like to be the trending church. I know what its like to lose people you love to other churches. And while God has been good through it all and I would never want to write in a way to denigrate the faithful in our church, myself and the faithful have endured a lot of heartache as a result of the search for the next new thing.

Remember the days when you’d scan through radio stations and hear drastically different styles of music? You had oldies, country, pop, rock, jazz, classical. Now, you can be listening to a country station but have to look at the dial to see if this is in fact a country song. (If anyone actually listens to the radio anymore instead of Spotify or podcasts.)

I see the church as this beautifully complex representation of Christ on earth. Just as there are billions of different people who are all distinct, there are tens of thousands of churches that are distinct. Together, we all make up the bride of Christ.

But, has our desire to have what’s new combined with our desire to be relevant amputated the very thing that distinguished us in the first place? For parishioners, have we allowed our desire to want the new thing we heard other churches doing become an idol? For church leaders, have we allowed our desire to keep people from leaving our church drive us to change who we are to be more like other churches?

“Get to the point, man. This is why people leave churches, because the pastors are too long winded.”

Okay, here’s my point. The world has been changing so fast around us the past 5-10 years that we’re all just doing our best to keep our head above the water. We’ve been in survival mode. And when you’re in survival mode, you’re not thinking longterm about what’s best.

Maybe for a moment, things have slowed down in our technological advancement that the church can stop and think about what it’s doing. Maybe for a moment, we as the parishioners of a church can stop to think about what we’re doing to the churches we join and then leave? Church leaders can we think about the changes we’re making to the church to try to keep up.

Have we been following Jesus’ leading in the church in the past decade, or have we been following the winds of culture as it changes around us?

Maybe we need to sound the alarm and get everyone’s attention before we go the way of blockbuster. Then CEO, Jim Keyes, wasn’t all that concerned: “Neither RedBox nor Netflix are even on the radar screen in terms of competition.” Only, our mistake is not our refusal to adapt to the times. Our mistake is chasing them.

We, the church, have been chasing new things for several generations now. With all the water under the bridge, all the mistakes I’ve made in my ministry years and all the mistakes we’ve all observed in recent history, I’m pretty sure we’ve been chasing the wrong things.

I think some of us have followed in Keyes steps, refusing to let God mold and shape His church for His purposes. I think others have gone the opposite route and, not wanting to be a “Keyes” who missed the boat, have embraced everything that has come along.

Maybe we thought chasing strategies was easier than pursuing personal transformation? Maybe our arrogance led us to think we could do it better and we were determined to do so regardless of the toll it took on the body of Christ? Maybe we had the blinding light of massive numbers in people and square footage shining in our face, keeping us from being focused on Christ.

What I’m asking is, wherever you are, will you take a minute and breathe. Stop chasing new and chase Jesus. Seek His face. Seek his face for yourself. Seek to be transformed by him for yourself. Seek to let his transforming power work through you in the lives of others in your church community. And instead of seeing that other church and coveting (I think that’s a sin, if I’m not mistaken) what they do, look at the people God has put around you and ask God, “what can I do to love them like you loved me?”

In the literal end, Jesus isn’t going to care about whether you attended a cool church or not. Jesus isn’t going to care if you were able to run a cool church. Jesus won’t care if you stood your ground and kept your church the same for your whole life. He won’t care if you didn’t bend to the will of the people.

Jesus’ only agenda for the church is to transform us into his image. To transform us from one degree of glory to another. To reconcile people who have been enemies of God into friends of God. The only thing that matters is Jesus and becoming more like Him.

Let’s forget about Blockbuster and Netflix. Forget about Apple, Google, Amazon, Tesla, and all of it. Can we learn from them? Sure. But, I think what we need most is more of Jesus. The Church of Jesus needs more of Jesus. If we can just get more of Jesus in the church, all the unnecessary peripherals will fade because the appeal of Christ transcends all cultural trends.

You are where you are for a reason. God put you there. He has chosen to work through you. If you’re a church leader, God has you where you are by design. If you’re a parishioner, God has you there by design as well. Maybe he wanted you there to help the church be more effective at making disciples. Maybe he wants you there to encourage someone. Maybe he has you there because there’s something He wants to do in you through this church. Maybe you’re not as mature as you think you are and God has someone in your church right now that He has tapped on the shoulder to walk with you in an unconditional way. And if you leave, you’ll miss out on that.

Church leaders: Can we just stay put for a while? Can we just stay focused on Jesus from now on? If we can’t be trusted to direct the attention of our people to Jesus, then maybe we should go the way of Blockbuster. Don’t be stubborn and refuse to change just because it’s hard work and you’ve never done it that way before. At the same time, don’t constantly change just because it’s easier than sticking with something for the long haul.

Church Parishioners: Can you stay put for a while too? Can you just love God and others right where you are? If there are problems, can you go about the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5) and seek to do the harder work of loyal love mentioned in 1 Cor. 13?

God has put the church of the 21st century in our hands. We are the stewards of his mission at this moment in History. What are we going to do with it? What will they say about us?

The post The Last Blockbuster (church) first appeared on David Lindner.

Seriously. I was cynical & negative. I was a pessimist. In fact, I still think of myself as a recovering pessimist. My wife deserves a trip to Disneyland as compensation for dealing with my pessimism.

But, a few years ago I wanted to change. I wanted to be the kind of person other people wanted to be around. Not the kind of person people can’t wait to get away from. I’ve wanted to change for a long time. But desire in and of itself wasn’t enough.

So, I set out on a journey. I just decided that I was going to become a more positive person. I made the choice.

“Really?” I can hear the cynic retort, “You just decided?”

Well, yeah. That’s what I did. I made a new year’s resolution in January of 2017 that I was going to be a more positive person. And ever since that moment, I’ve been more positive.

Well, maybe not exactly. I guess that’s kind of true. But the truth is, it’s been a challenge. It’s been a struggle. It’s taken a lot of effort. It’s taken a lot of discipline. It’s taken the formation of new habits and the refusal of old ones.

I wish I could tell you that I had just prayed and asked God to make me more positive (something I prayed for years) and it happened magically. But, it didn’t happen that way.

In fact, when it comes to any kind of change, that’s just not how God works. God does not work in a way that takes away our agency. God does not force His will on our lives. God will empower us to act His way, but he will not overpower us. If that was how God worked, he wouldn’t have given us free will.

Whilst I have made progress, neither have I arrived at any kind of final destination. Yes I said whilst. It sounded more fun and positive. But, I have grown, I have learned. And what I have learned I want to share with you.

I am not an expert. I do not have a degree is positivity. I am not perfectly positive all day every day or even over the course of a week. But I have learned, I have grown. And there are some things I know.

One of those being this: It’s culturally popular even praised to be cynical and negative and pessimistic. We think it makes us sound smart and sophisticated to be able to nit pick. We put ourselves on a pedestal by being able to tell you why this idea or that historically held opinion is foolish.

I know because that’s what I did. That’s what I thought. But, the truth was, it just made me a jerk. It made me that pain in the rear that you couldn’t wait to get away from. People weren’t drawn to me, they were repelled from me. Sure I could support my argument, but people didn’t want to argue.

Our world doesn’t need any more cynics and pessimists. What we need now, more than ever are optimists. People who have hope. People who have God’s eternal perspective on every situation and are able to see that it is in fact going to work out for the good. Especially now. When there is a radically negative spin to everything, no matter which side of the issue you land on, now is when we need people with hope.

And, if you’re a leader of any kind and if you want to make any kind of impact, this is doubly true for you. If you want people to follow you (kind of the point of leadership), you have to be the kind of person people want to follow. (One book that has helped me in my journey to become a more positive leader was [#afflink] “The Power of Positive Leadership” by Jon Gordon.) And if you’re a pastor (like me), and you’re negative and pessimistic about life and the church (like I was), I’d challenge you to take a hard look inside yourself and see why.

You may think this is all petty. You may think this is superficial. “If you’re a positive person, you don’t have to try, you just are.” That’s fine. Some people are wired in a more naturally positive way. But in case you’re not. In case you’re like me and have struggled with being optimistic your whole life, this isn’t superficial. It’s incredibly deep and significant.

And I want you to know. You can change. I know this because I have. I even had someone say I was “so optimistic.”

And if you know me, that says a lot.

Hi, my name is David. And I’m a recovering pessimist.

The post My Positivity Journey… first appeared on David Lindner.

But, one thing I wanted to share with you as I’ve gone on this journey is this: We see what we’re looking for.

I’m a fan of the National Treasure movies. Especially the first one. I love Ben Franklin’s glasses. I love the idea that there was something hidden on the declaration of independence all along, and they could have seen it, if they just had the right glasses.

Last year, here in the PNW, we experienced a total solar eclipse (where we live it was about 95%, I wasn’t insane enough to drive to where it would be totality.) I remember how dark it got. I remember how cold and windy it got. That was weird.

To view the eclipse, you had to have special glasses. If you stare at the sun, you go blind. But, with the right glasses you can see the sun safely.

However, when you look at anything else you can’t see anything. The only thing you can see is the sun. Everything else gets blocked out.

What I know about life, is that I see what I want to see. Problems are always there. But, in every problem there’s something good too. Every day has enough problems of it’s own, but every day has good that I can see too, if I choose to.

Like those Ben Franklin glasses, I can can choose to flip down the blue lens and see everything through the lens of depression and sadness. I can color the world blue and everything I see will have a slightly depressed tint to it. Like Meredith Grey from Grey’s anatomy, (No, I don’t watch that show, but my wife does while I’m sitting on the couch with her.) everything is dark and twisty.

I can choose to flip down the red lens and be ticked off and angry at the world and see everything through the lens of how it upsets me and affects me negatively. I can see all the problems that I can’t do anything about, that are outside my control and flip out about them and flip off everyone because of them.

I can choose to flip down the green lens and see the world only through the lens of how everything can benefit me, to see everyone for what good they bring me, what benefit they offer me. I can see the world through how I can profit from it, how everyone and everything can make my life better.

I can choose to not color the world at all and see all everything for what it is. I can be a realist. I can see the world for all its positives and negatives. I can wrestle with the good, the bad and the ugly. I can not hide what I can’t fix and I can see the hurt and have hope.

But, there’s a fifth way to see the world. I can choose to see the world only through the lens of the Son. (I know it’s cheesy, but hang with me.)

The sun, in our physical world is the source of light. Light is what illuminates everything. Light gives us energy. Light brings life. Without light, everything would die. By the light, we can see around us. At night, we turn on lights so we can still see, because when it’s dark, we still want the light. Unless we’re sleeping, then we want it dark.

Similarly, if we choose to let the Son of God illuminate how we see everything in this life, it changes how we see it. Just like Jesus saw humanity and was moved with incredible compassion, we can see humanity with the same lens. Just like Jesus saw the brokenness of the world and died for it, we can see the world in the same way. Just like Jesus forgave the very people who were murdering him, forgave the disciples who betrayed him, even while he was hanging on the cross for them, we can see betray and hatred through the same lens.

Like I said, we see what we want to see. It’s all about how we’re looking at the world.

What kind of glasses are you wearing?

The post We See What We’re Looking For first appeared on David Lindner.

I mean light is something you see, not something you hear right? Other places, we’ve read Jesus’s words and he says: “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” (Lk 8:21)

So, why would Jesus make a comparison between hearing and the light? 

“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”

Luke 8:16-18

As I was studying this passage, I really wanted to understand what Jesus was getting at here. So, I kept on reading. I went back and read more before and more after looking for more references to hearing. I discovered that hearing wasn’t only referenced in Jesus’ illustration about light and his mother and brothers, but essentially the rest of chapter 8 is about hearing. 
If you read the chapter, you’ll read about how Jesus commands the winds and waves and they listen to him. 

Jesus commands thousands of demons to go into a herd of pigs and they go. 
Jesus commands a dead girl to come back to life and she sits right up. 
That’s when he connection stood out to me. Jesus said that his family are those who listen and obey. Those who listen to his words and put them into practice are his mother and brothers. 

In all of creation, God speaks and it is. In the beginning, God spoke and it was: light, dark, land, sea, sky, animals, people. etc. God spoke and it was. In the boat with the disciples, Jesus spoke and the wind and waves instantly obeyed. The demons went into the pigs (though not quite instantly). The girl sat up. In all of creation, God speaks and it is. 

Except for with us. We hear God’s word but often times before we get to the point of putting it into practice it dies the death of a thousand qualifications. “Is that what Jesus really meant?” “That doesn’t really apply to me.” “That’s not what I take that to mean.” The whole of creation immediately obeys God’s commands, except for his most precious creation. 

So, back to our question. Why would Jesus make a comparison between hearing and the light? Well, I think there are a couple of reasons. 

1.) Hearing the word and not putting it into practice is like lighting a lamp and hiding it with a basket. 

We’re sitting in a dark living room, recognizing the need for light. So, we get up and light a lamp. But instead of letting the light illuminate the room, we cover it with a basket. 

In the same way, we recognize dark areas of our lives that need God’s truth. We go to God’s word to find the truth we need to illuminate that area of darkness. But, we stop short of putting that truth into action in our lives. We use God’s promises as some sort of temporary therapeutic device. But, since we got the immediate hit we needed, we walk away without letting the word change how we live. We light the lamp and put a basket over it. 

Time goes by until we eventually find ourselves struggling with the same problem. We go back to God’s word, sometimes reading the exact same passage, like going back to the lamp and taking the basket off so we can see the light. Maybe we obey this time, maybe we don’t. 

2.) The Echo. 

That little word “has” in Lk 8:18 is the greek word echo. “Whoever has (echo) will be given more. Whoever thinks he has (echo), what he thinks he has (echo) will be taken away.”

That greek word echo doesn’t just mean to have. It’s where we get the idea “to have and to hold”, to possess, to wear, companionship, those joined in the bond of marriage. 

Whoever has will be given more. If you have it, if you possess it, if you are married to it, if you wear it you really have it. You might say that listening to God and not obeying is like getting married, but hiding your marriage from the whole world. 

An echo is pretty much an exact replication of an original sound. Yell hello into a valley, and you hear your voice bouncing off the walls of the valley. There isn’t a battle or argument. Not justifications. No qualifications. Just an echo. What was said is repeated. 

To whomever echoes, more will be given. Whoever doesn’t echo, even what they think they have echoed will be taken away. 

There is no middle ground with listening and obeying. If you’ve heard God, you obey and do what He says. This is why Jesus says, consider carefully how you listen. 

How have we been listening to God lately? Do we listen to accumulate information? Or, do we listen to let the truth transform our lives? 

1 John 1:6 “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

O to be like Thee! blessed Redeemer;
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.   

O to be like Thee! O to be like Thee!
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;  
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

The post Echoing The Light first appeared on David Lindner.

¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

Luke 8:14

I’ve been told this is the one I harp on the most as a pastor. It’s one that presents a lot of challenges for Christians today.

Again, notice the seed springs to life. They hear and receive the seed. And unlike the seed in the rocky soil, they sustain life. But…

As they go on their way they are choked. We still like to go our own way don’t we? Even after coming to Christ, we still like to try to do things our own way. This is a problem as old as Christianity. Several letters in the new testament address this specific problem.

But, there’s more to it than that. We get choked (literally suffocated) by the cares, riches and pleasures of life.

In our garden here at the house, we have a weed seed population problem. It’s an old garden. The garden has been in this spot for decades. 40-50 years. Over that time, there have been times when the weeds have been let go. And they go to seed. As I’ve researched this problem, some of the seeds of these weeds can lie dormant in the soil for 40 years and still come to life.

There are gazillions of weed seeds in my garden. And it’s nearly impossible to deal with, unless I take drastic measures.

What I know from first hand experience is, unless I stay on top of the weeds, they will choke out my plants every time. Some of them, like the corn, if I can stay on top of it long enough, the corn will provide enough shade to keep the weeds from growing. Others, I have to fight all season long.

The last two years, I’ve given up on the weeds around mid-august. I can only weed so much.

This is what happens to God’s truth in our hearts. The problem of this soil is both a lack of focus and a lack of a filter.

1.) Lack of Focus

Michael Hyatt says: “I can do anything but I can’t do everything.” That’s a good quote to memorize. I wrestle with this very issue. I think I can do it all. But, I can’t. And the more I try to take on, the less I can do. I’m ambitious.

It’s easy to make these all bad things, but are they? Are the cares of this life bad? Are all the pleasures of this life bad? They can be. But, inherently, they’re not all evil. But, when our focus is on them, they take over. When we think we can have it all, we end up with nothing. When our focus isn’t on God because we’re distracted by the cares, riches and pleasures of this life, we’re letting a lot of weed seeds get planted in the soil of our hearts. And they choke out the one thing that really matters. We have to keep our focus on the one seed, Jesus – the word of life.

2.) Lack of a filter.

At the same time, our hearts can be too open. The soil is soft and ready to receive the seed, but we don’t filter the seeds before letting them in our hearts.

For some Christians, this has become a major problem as many are now embracing the idea that there are many ways to get to heaven. Sure, Jesus is the way, but all the ways lead to God. (This is a serious epidemic in the church today.) Jesus said he is the only way to the Father. And the Father is the point by the way. Heaven is just the setting, but the Father is eternal life.

But it’s not just the seeds of other religions that we let in our hearts. It’s the seeds of this life, the cares, riches and pleasures. We allow the trending popularity of issues counter and contrary to God’s word to take root in our hearts, and they grow up to suffocate the word of life in us.

We can’t ride two horses with one saddle.

Tomorrow, we’re going to look at the last soil, the good soil.

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

The post 3 Ways We Keep Ourselves From Growing (Part 3) first appeared on David Lindner.

Today, I want to take a look at the second type of soil:

¹³ And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 

Luke 8:13

(I should mention, that aside from the first soil, all the seeds do come to life. There is argument about what this means, but when I read it without imposing my theology on it, 3 out of the 4 come to life.)

One initial difference to point out is the reception. The first soil didn’t receive the seed. But this soil received the seed with joy. With joy! This isn’t arm-twisting. That never works. They receive it with joy!

There is a lot we can learn from this soil for our lives as believers. As a pastor, I experience this a lot. You probably do too. And, if we’re being honest you probably frustrate your pastor in this way.

We’ve all done it. We all do it all the time.

We go to church, and while we’re there God teaches us something. Maybe we have an aha moment. Maybe God reminds us of something we’ve heard before – but we see it in a new light. And while we’re sitting there, we’re excited about it. We’re going to remember it this time. We’re going to change this time. We even feel different. This isn’t just intellectual, but we feel this truth in our hearts.

It might even last through lunch and into the afternoon. If we’re lucky, we go to bed thinking about it. If we’re lucky.

But, most of the time, that’s about it. Because Monday comes. Then Tuesday. Which is always followed by hump day. By the time we get to the weekend, whatever it was is long gone. Maybe we remember it when the pastor reviews the sermon. Maybe we briefly feel guilty about it.

Have you ever experienced that? I have. I experience it personally and second-hand as a pastor. I have experienced this from things I’ve taught and forgot. That’s the worst. Grade A hypocrisy at it’s finest, sitting right here typing these words.

What happened? There was no root. So, when the sun came up the next day the plant withered. But practically speaking, what’s happening here?

I think it’s a combination of things. First, let’s look at the condition of the soil. It’s rocky. Roots don’t grow through rocks. If they survive at all, they have to grow around the rocks. And young plants don’t have the root system to be able to do that.

To me, this scenario has everything to do with patience, perseverance and proximity. Yes, they all start with P. I am a pastor after all.

1.) Patience.

We’re just not patient enough. We want it to grow now. We want the fruit now. So, we plant the seed where it will grow fast instead of where it will grow right. And it does. It springs to life. But, because we were impatient, it dies with the same expediency.

Our impatience leads us to shortchange the preparation. The soil isn’t ready, there are too many rocks in the way. We want it now. Instead of doing the work to be ready, we cut corners and take shortcuts. All of which come at a price. And that price is death. “The seed must not have taken root.” No, it took root. We just weren’t ready for the roots.

2.) Perseverance

Not unlike patience, we tend to also lack perseverance. Where lack of patience leads us to take shortcuts, lack of perseverance leads us to give up too soon. When we don’t see the results we want right away, we give up. “It must not be working.”

What God wants to do in us happens over time, not all at one time. Disciples develop daily, not in a day. It’s the daily growing, the daily dwelling in God’s presence. The kind of fruit that lasts takes time to develop. Plants do grow in rocky soil, but it takes time for their roots to get deep enough that they reach dirt.

3. Proximity.

The seed fell next to the path. Not in the prepared soil. This is in the rocky soil along the path. There’s some dirt, but mostly rocks. There is enough dirt to cause something to come to life, but there are too many rocks/obstacles to overcome.

I’m not saying this is what the rocks represent, but from my experience one thing that kills truth is when it’s surrounded by the wrong kind of influences. You might have just a teeny tiny little bit of dirt for that seed, but you’re surrounded by a lot of rocks, a lot of hard-hearted, unbelieving people.

You’re still next to the hard path of pride and far away from the soft soil. The conditions aren’t right for you to grow. God might be trying to grow kindness in your heart, but you’re around a lot of cruel and insensitive people. God’s trying to grow joy in your heart, but you’re around a lot of negative people.

We need to be close to like-minded people. We become like who we spend the most time with. If you want to become more like Christ, you’re going to have to be in closer proximity to people who are also becoming more like Christ.

Tomorrow we’re going to take a look at the last type of soil that presents challenges, the thorns.

Photo by Marissa Lewis on Unsplash

The post 3 Ways We Keep Ourselves From Growing (Part 2) first appeared on David Lindner.

In the past, we’ve always approached it from the major emphasis in the passage which is, Jesus talking about how people will receive him/the gospel. But, like you’ve probably heard while every passage has only one interpretation, that same passage can also have may applications.

So, I asked a different question this time as I studied that text. “Given that the majority of people who are hearing this sermon have already received the gospel, what can we learn from this text for our walk with God?”

That’s when I started to see the parable in an entirely different light.

I’m not saying this is the major thrust of this passage, and yes, we have to be careful when extrapolating meaning from a passage outside the direct intent of the author. But, what I saw this time was useful for all believers. Ways we keep ourselves from growing. Want to know what they are? If you don’t, I’m going to keep writing anyway.

1.) The hard path.

This is how Jesus explains the path:

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”

Luke 8:11-12 (NIV)

We get this one. One translation says, the devil snatches it away. I like that word, snatches. Satan comes and takes it right off the surface. Why? Because the path is hard, it’s likely all rock and packed down from walking. The soil can’t receive the seed, so it just sits there waiting for a bird to come take it. If you needed proof that some birds are possessed by the devil, look no farther than this story.

But, don’t miss it. The devil takes the word away from their hearts. The hard path represents their hearts. In other words, their hearts were hard. It was easy for Satan to take the seed away because of the condition of their heart.

There are a few places in scripture that directly correlate pride with the hardening of the heart. For example, in Daniel 5 with Nebuchadnezzar:

²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. ²¹ He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.

Dan. 5:20-21

The proverb: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” is quoted several times throughout the old and new testaments.

Pride isn’t simply something that keeps us from receiving the gospel to begin with. Pride keeps us from receiving all the fruit God wants to plant and grow up in our lives.

God isn’t only interested in our salvation. He’s equally passionate about our transformation. He wants us to be transformed into the likeness of his son. To do that, He will have to bring some new things to life in us. And the starting place for that new life is in our hearts. If we’re going to bear the fruit of the Spirit, it has to be sown into the depths of our heart by God himself.

But, our pride convinces us that we can do it on our own. “I can be loving on my own. I can find my own joy. I don’t need anyone’s help being kind.” We harden our hearts to the only true source of love and joy and kindness by believing we can do it on our own.

And so God drops the seeds of joy, but because our hearts are hard, satan comes and snatches them. Could it be that God has been trying to grow truth in you and me, but we haven’t yet received the seed he wants to grow up in us?

I know from first hand experience(s) that there have been seeds God has been planting in my life for extended periods of time. But, I was too busy trying to prove that I could do it on my own and that I didn’t need God’s help. I could be the good Christian. I could be loving. I could be patient. And it was my own pride that kept me from being able to receive the truth only God could grow in me.

It all starts here. If we want to grow up into Christ, we have to humble ourselves. If it was possible for us to do it, we’d have done it by now. If it was possible for us to be loving, truly loving, on our own – God wouldn’t have needed to send his son. But he did. And the only want to receive the fullness of life He died to bring us is to die and keep on dying to that old life.

And the ruler of that old life is our pride.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the second soil.

Image credit: Photo by Pop & Zebra on Unsplash

The post 3 Ways We Keep Ourselves From Growing (Part 1) first appeared on David Lindner.

But, I just want to share one simple idea with you, give you an example and encourage you to read your Bibles. Even though I have a degree in Bible/Theology, I have a lot (a lot!) to still learn about the Bible.

I’m not writing this article to give you a silver bullet. (although, if there is a silver bullet it’s this: read it every day) Instead, I just want to come alongside you in the simplest, yet most effective way possible.

So, how are we reading the Bible wrong? I do it all the time. Much of the time, it’s not a big deal, but sometimes it can be devastating.

Are you ready for it? We can’t read the Bible through the filter of our assumptions about God. We all read with assumptions, I get that. But, if we don’t learn to recognize them, we’ll never realize how our assumptions are skewing the text. And that’s the problem.

Let me give you an example:

¹² And God said, “This is the guarantee of the covenant I am making with you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all subsequent generations: ¹³ I will place my rainbow in the clouds, and it will become a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ then I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures of all kinds. Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy all living things. ¹⁶ When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

Genesis 9:12-16 (NET)

There is a troublesome phrase in this text: “then I will remember”. At first sight, a question come to mind: “Does God forget the promises he makes?” “And if he forgets that he made this promise, what about all the other promises he has made? What about the promises I cling to, the ones that give me hope, has he forgotten those too? If there isn’t a rainbow attached to the promise, then how is God going to remember?”

I’m sure I’m the only one to ask such ridiculous questions about promises that God makes. But, just in case you have done the same thing, receive this reassurance. You’re not alone. I’ve done/I do it too.

But, when I step back just a little bit something changes. That’s when it hits me, I’m reading this passage from the assumption of skepticism. Which, by the way, is a huge presupposition with which many Christians are reading. This assumption comes from my perspective and forces it on God who is not restricted by my limitations.

How many times have you hear: “You don’t really believe that, do you?” when it comes to the flood and the ark and Noah? What is this? Skepticism. We’re all a bunch of skeptics. I tend towards being one, though I’ve been working hard not to be. I think we think it makes us sound more intelligent, because we’re smart enough to be able to come poke holes.

But, when I read the Bible from my standpoint of skepticism, I impose my finite limitations and understanding on an infinite God. Which, is kind of backwards. That’s what leads me to all those questions. “God doesn’t remember his promises? Are you kidding me? I knew he didn’t care, and here’s the proof that he never did.”

So then, if it’s not that God forgets, what is actually happening here?

Well, we need to slow down and get into the story a little more. Imagine yourself in their shoes. You’ve just lived for months on a boat you helped build. You’ve witnessed the end of civilization. You’ve just experience rain for the first time, oh and when it rained the whole earth flooded and everyone died. And now it’s just your family starting from scratch.

What do you think would happen the next time it rained? Probably PTSD, right? Your heart would start pounding and you’d probably be filled with worry and dread.

And then it happens. A huge storm comes along, the wind is howling the thunder is rolling and the rain is pouring. You’re hunkered down in your shelter, hanging on for dear life, literally scared to death. The circumstances are so overwhelming, all you can do is fear for your life.

But, then out of the corner of your eye you catch a glimpse of something you’ve only seen once before. A rainbow. And then you remember the promise. God’s never going to flood the whole earth again. And right there in the midst of the storm, you find a sense of peace.

Does God forget? No. But we do. And when the circumstances of the storm are so overwhelming, it can be nearly impossible to rise above the waves and remember the promise.

You see, in the midst of the storm, it’s going to FEEL LIKE God’ has forgotten. And when it feels like he’s forgotten, it’s easy to make assumptions that he did. But, how gracious and loving was it of God to create the rainbow? Think about it, when Noah and his family would likely be terrified that it’s happening again, when the circumstances would seem so overwhelming that you’re sure God was lying to you all along, then…right there in that moment…at the greatest point of despair, God gives you a rainbow. And not only do you remember the promise, but you see the promise over you.

God doesn’t forget, we do. God doesn’t forget, but sometimes from our finite vantage point it feels like he does. But he doesn’t. He remembers. He always remembers.

Next time you see a rainbow, remember that God always remembers his promises to you. See God’s promise over you, protecting you. Dwell there, safe under the rainbow.

“The promise still stands, great is his faithfulness,
I’m still in his hands, this is my confidence, He’s never failed me yet.”

“Do It Again” by Elevation Worship.

The post How NOT to read the Bible first appeared on David Lindner.

Much has been made about the regrets people share at the end of their lives. And many books, articles and sermons have been written about how them. But, because it’s so far away, death doesn’t really give us the perspective it should. Not only that, but we’ve gone to greater and greater lengths to insulate ourselves from the sting of death.

1.) Never try anything new/Stop growing

I’m not a huge risk taker, but I will try just about anything once. I’m a picky eater, but I’ll still try new foods. I just reserve the right not to like said food. But, if you never try anything new, you’ll have missed out a lot.

Along those lines, if you never try anything new you’ll also stop growing. And this is an even greater problem. People think that as they get older, people should just accept them for who they are. It gets harder to change so we stop making the effort. Unfortunately, many people with tremendous potential to influence a younger generation lose their right to do so because they stopped growing.

2.) Blame everything on other people/Never forgive.

This coincides with #1 pretty well. People who never change often blame everything bad or wrong in their life on other and circumstances out of their control. What a horrible way to live. As long as everything is always someone else’s fault, you’re helpless. There’s nothing you can do to make things better. You destined for a life of victimhood.

Are there victims? Sure. But most aren’t nearly as victimized as they make themselves out to be. But, even if you are a victim, you have a lot of control in the situation. You can control your response, how you let the offense affect you and change you and whether or not you’re going to become a better or worse person because of it.

Are you truly a victim? I have been a victim of pain in my life. And what I know is that when I refuse to forgive the people that have caused me pain it changes me and not for the better. Forgive people, don’t die with unforgiveness in your heart.

3.) Make everything about you.

To be honest, this one may not leave you with much regret, depending on your personality type. The more narcissistic you are, the less this is going to affect you. The more narcissistic people I’ve known in my life have a great way at making their world revolve around them and not caring how that negatively impacts others.

But, if you’re clinically narcissistic, this is a way to get to the end of the journey and realize what a waste it was. The world is so small when you make it all about yourself. The world opens up to vast new horizons when you start sharing and contributing to the others around you.

The people who have the longest sharing times at funerals aren’t these people. The ones where you have to cut the sharing time off because it’s never going to stop are the ones who invest their lives into the lives around them. Do you want people at your death bed? Do you want people to miss you when you’re gone? Invest your life in others.

4.) Put spending time with your family off until tomorrow.

I’m guilty of this one. It’s easy to do. And, to be honest I already have regrets because of the ways I’ve done this. My oldest daughter is turning 13 this year. I don’t have a lot of time left with her under my roof.

Andy Stanley says something to the effect of “your greatest accomplishment in life might not be something you do, but someone you raise.” If you’re so busy with your stuff today that you’re putting your family off until tomorrow, you not only miss the opportunity with your family for today, you limit your families opportunities for tomorrow.

Is work really that important? Can work wait until tomorrow so your kids and spouse don’t have to wait again tonight?

5.) Think about money all the time.

Not that dissimilar from #4, but deserving of its own heading is money. We tend to be obsessed with it. We are either scheming ways to make more of it, ways to save it, ways to spend it and so on or we’re thinking about how we need it for this or that.

When you are obsessed with money you tend to make everything in your life about it. All your relationships are built around it. It determines what you will and won’t do with your family because you can’t spend it. You can’t be generous because you need it for yourself.

But, if your whole life was about money, at the end of your life all you’ll have is a stockpile of cash but no one to give it to. So the state will get it, or people who should be sad you’re gone will get it. It’s temporary. People are eternal.

6.) Worry about tomorrow.

I’ve seen so many people waste so much of their lives worrying about things they can’t control about tomorrow. It’s such a waste. Worry ruins today with problems that probably won’t happen tomorrow. And even if they do, all you’ve done by worrying about them is ruin two days instead of one.

If you make your life a habit of worrying about tomorrow, you’ll never enjoy today and the people around you right now. You’ll miss out on so much. Will some of the things you worry about happen? Sure. But, they’ll happen whether you worry about them or not. Don’t waste today with tomorrows worries!

7.) Care too much about what other people think about you and let it control you.

This is hard for a lot of people. I tend not to be too terribly driven by how others think of me. Perhaps it’s because I have usually been the last kid chosen for most things. But for some reading this, it dominates your thinking. You are paralyzed because you’ve given too much control over to other people’s thoughts of you.

The truth is, you’re not really sure they’re actually their thoughts about you. They’re assumptions you’ve made about their thoughts about you. You’re worried about what they’re thinking about you and they’re thinking about themselves. Why do we let what other people think have so much influence on our lives?

Should we receive input from people who love us and care about us? Should we trust others around us and ask for their input? Absolutely. But we shouldn’t let the opinion of too many people, especially those who aren’t really in our lives have an affect on how we live.

8.) Ask for forgiveness instead of permission.

This one is kind of a pet peeve to me. Mainly because it puts yourself and your agenda first and your relationship second. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but I promise you that you have weakened relationships by doing this.

We say “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission” and it can be easier, for us. Sometimes it works out okay. Other times it’s devastating. If you don’t have the courage to ask for permission to do something for or with or in place of someone in your life, don’t do it. Focus on building the relationship first. Don’t destroy the relationship by putting your agenda first.

9.) Just live life as it comes to you

Don’t be intentional. Just go with the flow. Don’t make plans. React to every circumstance. That’s a way to get some good regret in your life. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be flexible. I’m not saying we shouldn’t go with the flow sometimes.

But, too many people waste their lives by just bouncing from reaction to reaction. You’ve been given a great gift, don’t let it slip by. Don’t let it slide through your fingers. Make the most of every opportunity. Use your strengths and gifts as best you can. Do everything you can do. Don’t stress about it and worry about it. Trust God all along the way. But don’t miss the opportunity!

10.) Waste too much time watching/playing

I’m as guilty of this as anyone. Not video games. I never really got into that, thankfully. But, I’ve watched a lot of TV in my life. Watched movies many times over. I pretty much have “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Hoosiers” memorized.

But, watching too much and playing too much is allowing ourselves to be unintentionally discipled by people who have an agenda for our lives that doesn’t have anything to do with purpose. They just want to use you for their own purposes.

At the end of your life, you’re not going to wish you’d played more video games. You’re going to wish you had met and developed relationships with more people.

11.) Treat people poorly, be isolated, never get outside yourself.

So much of legacy has to do with people other than yourself. I tend to be an introvert, though not as bad as some I know. But I’d generally prefer to sit at home on the couch and watch reruns of The Office more than I would like to put myself out there and get to know new people.

But, what I know is that the things in my life that are more precious to me than my laying around time have come as a direct result of being willing to get outside myself.

And people won’t always come to you on your terms, sometimes you have to go to them on theirs. But, often the end result is a relationship that will change the rest of your life. And if the relationship never grows because the other person is to inside themselves, too narcissistic, too self-absorbed – then it’s probably okay to keep pouring yourself out there. Find someone else who’s willing to be reciprocal.

Like I said, there are more than this, but I want to leave you with one final thought:

I’ve spent a lot of time at funerals and memorial services in my ministry. I’ve been at services where there were more stories to share than there was time. And I’ve been at services where there were very few who wanted to say anything. The main difference was this, people who cared for others, loved others and invested in others are the ones people can’t stop talking about.

It’s counterintuitive, but the way to be remembered and have an impact in life isn’t to make everything about you, it’s to spend your life investing in others.

What are some things you’ve noticed that lead to regret?

Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash

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I’ve asked the question many times, why did God choose a manger for his grand entrance? Now, I’m not about to argue about whether it was a stable, a cave or an attached garage where they kept the family animals. That’s neither here nor there. Because, regardless of which of the three it was, it was not the kind of entrance a king should make. Especially the king of kings.

I mean, this is the king of the universe. He spoke the grass into existence that he was laying on. He created the very idea of a tree (or rock) make the feeding trough/manger. So, if any king ever should have made a grand entrance, you’d have thought it would be this one. I mean fireworks, fanfare, red carpet-the works.

But he didn’t. He chose the lowliest place to enter. Pretty much the opposite of a king’s entrance. But, why?

Well, it struck me. Two ideas in particular came together in my mind. The incarnation and the great shepherd.

Jesus is the great shepherd. 

John 10:11

¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

The whole first part of John 10 talks about Jesus being the good shepherd. This is a very common metaphor for people who care for God’s people. We still call the people who care for us in churches today, shepherds. Jesus is the good shepherd. He comes in among the sheep and the sheep know his voice.

Think about it, sheep only know the voice of the shepherd. They don’t know the voice of the local authorities. They don’t know the voice of the king. The king of their country could come and command them to follow him, but they wouldn’t. Why? Because they don’t know his voice. But Jesus, the good shepherd is among the sheep and they know his voice so they follow him. Sheep couldn’t relate to a king. But they could relate to a shepherd.

Is it any coincidence the first to know that the savior was born were shepherds?

But that’s not all.

God in the flesh

John 1:14a

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…

We understand the idea of Jesus being a shepherd. The son of God was the good shepherd. But that’s not the whole picture of Christmas. Jesus didn’t just come to be a good shepherd. Jesus became a sheep. This is the picture of Jesus being placed in the manger. This is where shepherds would often put the newly born sheep. And here, Jesus-the good shepherd-is born and where do they put him? Not only the same place they would put a newborn lamb. But also, the same place those sheep would eat.

Here, the son of God became a man. God in flesh – A.K.A. the incarnation. The God who spoke the universe into existence became a man. Not just a shepherd to care for and protect the sheep. He actually became one of the sheep. He was placed in that manger, and all at once it became clear.

He is one of us. Not just God with us; ethereal, transcendent, intangible. But, one OF us; present, immanent, tangible. Relatable. Speaking the same language. Using the same expressions. Raised in the same culture. He knew exactly what it meant and felt like to be a sheep, a human.

Who is better to care for the sheep? The king who only knows the palace life or a shepherd who knows the sheep life?

One final thought:

The manger was also the place they fed the animals.

John 6:35

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

Not only did the king become both shepherd and sheep. He became that which gives us life. He is the bread of life. When we come to the manger, there we will find the bread of life that leaves us perfectly satisfied. The word became flesh. This word, lying in a feeding trough would become the very life for our souls.

It’s pretty amazing, really, when you think about it, as absurd as it seems for the king of kings to come in such an outlandish way. But, then it’s only outlandish by our way of thinking. By human standards, this was a foolish way to begin the story. It would have been more believable that Jesus was a king if he’d been born like one. But, that wasn’t the point of this entrance. That entrance is coming. There will be a grand entrance, one like you might expect for the king of all creation, trumpets, choirs, clouds being rolled back like a scroll and what not. But, that’s not yet.

This entrance was perfect. For what Jesus came to do. Who Jesus came to be, God in the flesh, the good shepherd laying down his life for the sheep, the perfect spotless lamb, the bread of life, well, this was the best entrance he could have made.

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 31 (Click the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 31)

Thanks so much for going with us on this journey with Jack this Christmas season. We truly hope you’ve learned about the significance of love, peace, joy and hope!

If you’d like to explore with us more, we’d love to have you join us at SixEight Church!

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 30

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 29 (Click the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 30.)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 28 (Click on the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 28)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 27 (Click on the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 27.)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 26 (Click the link to the left to read a PDF version of chapter 26)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 25 (Click on the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 25!)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 24 (Click on the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 24.)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 23 (Click on the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 23)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 22 (Click on the link to the left to read a PDF of Chapter 22)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 21 (Click on the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 21)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 20 (Click the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 20.

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 19 (Click the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 19)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 18  (Click the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 18.)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 17  (Click on the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 17.)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 16 (Click the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 16.)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 15 (Click the link to the left to read a PDF of chapter 15)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 14 (Click on the link to the left to download a PDF of chapter 14 to read for yourself!)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 13 (Click the link to read a PDF of chapter 13)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 12 (Click on the link to view a PDF of chapter 12)

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Make sure to check back tomorrow for Chapter 12!

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 11 (Click on the link to view a PDF of Chapter 11)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 10 (Click to download chapter 10 to read for yourself!)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 9 (Click on the link to open a .PDF of chapter 9 to read on your own.)

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Thanks for listening to chapter 8, be sure to check back tomorrow to listen to chapter 9!

Click here to download a .PDF copy of chapter 8 to follow along or read it for yourself. 

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 5 (Click the link to download a .PDF of chapter 5)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 1 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 2 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 3 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 4 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 5 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 6 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 7 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 8 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 9 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 10 (PDF)

The Christmas Set up, Chapter 11 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 12 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 13 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 14 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 15 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 16 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 17 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 18 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 19 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 20 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 21 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 22 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 23 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 24 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 25 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 26 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 27 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 28 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 29 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 30 (PDF)

The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 31 (PDF)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 4 (Click on the link to download a .PDF of chapter 4)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 3 (Click on the link to view a .PDF of chapter 3)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 2 (Click the link to view a .PDF of chapter 2)

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The Christmas Set Up, Chapter 1

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“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving is.” William Arthur Ward

I don’t assume that people aren’t thankful. I probably used to. Maybe some aren’t. But, in general, I think most of us are thankful. We understand the blessings we have received. For the majority, I’d say we are thankful to be living in a heated house, having heat and more than we can eat, having a bed and a pillow for our head.

Sure, there are things we all want, things we all wish we had. Everything in our lives is not perfect, nor will it ever be. But, we’re thankful for where we are and that where we are is not where we were. For many of us, where we are today is quite a bit better than this time last year. Not for all, I know of several who are going through tremendous pain right at this moment. For them, thanksgiving may be something that brings frustration and discouragement. But, even in the greatest pain, many of us can find things to be thankful for.

But, do we express it? Do we verbalize it? Do we tell our friends, either in person or virtually?

I mean, we are pretty quick to vent our frustrations. When things aren’t going our way, when we don’t get what we want, when life kicks us in the gut – we don’t hesitate then to verbally express our internal state.

But, for some reason, we’re reluctant to share that we’re thankful. We don’t vent our thanks.

What if, we just need to put a cork in the complaint bottle and uncork the thanks bottle? What if the reason it’s so easy to express thanks is because that’s the bottle that’s uncorked and it’s the one we shake, it’s the one the world around us shakes the most? What if we stopped letting outside influences keep our complaint bottle stirred up and bubbling over, and instead we just put a cork in it? What if we uncorked that thanks bottle, and grabbed it by the neck and just started vigorously shaking it?

We have a plethora of abundance to be thankful for. The bottle is full, the gratitude is there, we just need to start letting it out.

Let’s start letting it flow!

The post Popping The Cork On Thanksgiving first appeared on David Lindner.

Last week, I talked about how technology has added a lot of this pressure, simply by means of visibility. We can see a lot more than we ever used to be able to see. In response to that, she wrote:

It’s not just the internet and smart phones. Our lives and culture have changed dramatically even since my parents were children. It used to be that you could raise a family on one income. Not anymore. Now we have two working parents. Or worse, one parent working two (or three!) jobs.

We have split or distant families that toggle our time.

We have access to travel that has become immediate and accessible. Our parents and grandparents used to vacation at the beach or the lake, whatever was nearby. Now we can go anywhere, anytime. And when you open your scope and ability to go farther, you will. We’re human. We’re curious.

Somehow we used to grow our own food and hang clothes on the line. Now I struggle to get groceries and laundry done every week, even with fancy machines that do it for me in a fraction of the time.

It used to be you could build your own house. Now you need two incomes and a mountain of debt to even consider putting a roof over your head.

The things we used to make, grow and build ourselves now have to be purchased. We are constantly running around to obtain essentials, like toothpaste, food, clothing, school supplies, etc. (most of us all weekend…. Costco, gas, groceries, sound familiar?) Did people drive 5 or 10 or 30 miles one way to get to their school? Office? Church? No. They probably walked because it was so close. Think about how much time you spend commuting.

What about the pressure that’s put on kids to be “well-rounded”? Sure you might have a 4.0, but if you don’t participate in sports and Honor Society, good luck getting that scholarship. My cousin (a teacher in Eastern Washington) told me that kids going INTO Kindergarten should already have certain skills like reading, numbers, colors. If not they will be behind. While this can be a good thing, it also puts added pressure on parents to constantly be thinking ahead and doing more for things you wouldn’t normally address until you got there.

On top of all of this is consumerism and capitalism, and simply just the idea of credit. Buy now pay later.

Our whole economy and culture has shaped us to be busier and busier. This is a matter of putting the frog in boiling water vs putting him in cold water and slowly turning up the heat. It’s frightening to watch as the effects compound over each generation. If that’s all we know and see and learn, it’s going to take a major shift to break that cycle.

So yes, technology plays a role, but the problem of busyness began long before the internet.

Would you agree?

I also asked this follow up question: “Is there any one area that you mentioned that adds more stress than another?”

I think it’s just the multitude of demands. If it was just one thing I would be able to manage it. But with multiple demands it just feels like I’m keeping plates spinning in the air and by the time I get one balanced, I’m running to catch another

Unfortunately, she is far from alone in this struggle. This is an ever-increasing reality in our time. The more I learn about it, the more compassion I have for us all. My sharing last week and this week, is out of a desire to help point us in the direction of God’s best for our lives, myself included. And yet, the struggle is real, isn’t it? Especially for those of us in the middle class, (and especially in the pacific northwest where rent has been on an epic increase, in 2015, Vancouver had the nations highest-rising rents – where the wage for a one bedroom is up 58% since 2012, and you need to earn $23.88/hr to be able to afford a 2 bedroom apartment) it’s safe to say, the burden of simple living has increased to a point, that more energy is spent trying to stay afloat, as she said, just trying to keep the plates spinning. That’s one thing, when the plates are optional and you’re choosing to add them, but when they’re the plates that just keep you on your feet, that’s frustrating, disheartening if not infuriating.

So, the question becomes, what are we to do? Where do we go from here? How do we keep ourselves from being consumed with worry and anxiety about keeping every plate on the stick?

To be honest, the answers aren’t easy. There are the financial answers, ensuring that we’re living within our means, that we’re not chasing a lifestyle we can’t afford simply because culture tells us we should. But, nobody wants to hear that, myself included. But, I’d say that most of us aren’t even trying to do that. Most are mindful with money. Not all, but many. So, do we just need to make more money? It’s not just rent that’s rising, nearly everything is getting more expensive, except for Gold apparently, (sorry William Devane), according to the PNC 12 days of Christmas Core Index.

But, seriously, what’s the answer? Again, I want to point to the significance of putting God at the center of everything. That has to be the starting point. I was stuck by Haggai 1:1-11, where the people seem to be struggling and God responds by saying the reason they are struggling and suffering is because they were so busy with their own houses, they hadn’t rebuilt the temple – God’s house. And while things are different because God doesn’t dwell in a temple built by human hands (Acts 7:48), he lives in the temple he built and is building (us and his gathered church), the principle remains. Are we so consumed with building our own houses that we neglect God’s house?

It has to start there. That must be the beginning. But, isn’t there a more satisfying answer? I’d point you to Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

We were never designed to be unequally yoked with a society who’s value system is built on the foundation of self-satisfaction and personal fulfillment. And, though it’s not an answer to the baseline budget issues most of us struggle with, I think it’s a starting point. And it’s a question I think we can ask ourselves.

What is the genesis of the burden? 

When I’m feeling weighed down with a load of care, as the old song says (lyrics at the end of this post), who put it there? Where did it come from? Where did it begin?

For instance, and these are just examples – not condemnations, most of us in my generation would probably argue that we “need” things like Netflix, Spotify, Hulu among other entertainment channels and devices. And we argue that we’re saving money because we don’t have to pay for cable. But, if the stress is financial stress, then what we need is margin. And the pressure to stay up to date with the latest episodes of shows that are discipling us towards more cultural burden is probably not the best use of our time or money. I know it sounds ridiculous, but maybe what need is a good book, or a walk in a park, or to just be still and rest. What is the genesis of that burden to stay in the loop? We are moving towards less and less TV and screen time in our family, so far we haven’t been excommunicated from our community. We’re not up to date on Stranger Things or The Walking Dead. I’m sure those are probably old news by now anyway. But, while they may be enjoyable to watch, are they taking up time my life and mind need me to spend in other, more actually restful ways?

Or, the stuff. The stuff is a burden on most of us. I confess, I like stuff. Stuff of all kinds. Especially in the area of tools and technology. All of which require electricity. Which makes our bill go up, which takes up more margin, not counting the margin I used to get the T&T in the first place. Why do I feel like I need this stuff? Where did that burden originate? Sure, most of us like stuff, but could it be there’s an unrealistic pressure to get more stuff. We’re exposed to thousands of ads a day, all telling us our lives suck and the only way to fix them is to buy their product. Which we do, and we still end up dissatisfied.

Or the ambition. One thing I notice more and more in myself and in many, many people around me is the toll ambition is taking on our lives. Especially in my generation and younger. We want to leave a legacy. How did that movie put it? Right, Oblivion. We’re terrified we won’t leave our mark on this planet. Well, I say go carve your name in a rock somewhere and be done with it. We feel like we were made for more and we sell our souls in the pursuit of it. Should we pursue more? Should we chase our dreams? Maybe there’s nothing wrong with it. But, is the burden it’s putting on our lives worth it? Is it worth it at the expense of all else? I’m not saying we shouldn’t chase our dreams, but for too many the pursuit of dreams turns our present into a nightmare.

Or, well, this post is getting really long. Truth be told, there are thousands of ways our present reality has burdened us. We’re not just unequally yoked with a society that has an entirely different set of mores than we do. We’ve got a hundred  yokes around our neck. And if they all but gently tug, we feel as though our necks will snap.

What’s the answer? Uneasy as it may be, we must begin to identify the yokes we wear, and either take them off, or take them to our Father who has a much better burden for us. Having removed them from our neck, from having the position in our lies where they control us, restrict us and force us to be at the work of plowing their fields, then and only then can we evaluate them for what they are. Some that are acceptable, I’m certain God will allow us to throw into the wagon behind us. He will allow us to have them as long as they don’t have us.

The rest, well, I just think when we’ve got the only burden right, everything else will start fall into place. “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.”

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.

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.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion
For more than conqu’rors we are!

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.

His Word shall not fail you, He promised;
Believe Him and all will be well;
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

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.

Do you have thoughts on how we can live a life free of the burdens of society? We’d love to hear them!

The post Too Busy For Fruit – Part 2 (Too Busy For Everything) first appeared on David Lindner.

Today, we are so busy we don’t even talk about it anymore. We’re too busy to take time to read about being too busy. I remember some of the discussions 17 years ago about the ways we were too busy. It mainly had to do with sports activities whose schedules were becoming more and more demanding of families’ time.

Why are we so busy? I think I know a good portion of why. The internet and social media. Don’t get offended. Yet. Because I’m not trashing it.

While there are some of us who are competitive by nature, and when we see our friends doing something for their families we feel as though we must prove we are as good of a family as they are by doing the same thing or more. But, I don’t think that’s everyone. Kind of an epic keeping up with the Jones’.

I think most of us are much more well-intentioned than that. But, that does not mean we have not suffered under the same effects of the internet and social media. Can I explain? (You know I’m going to, I guess I should be asking, will you continue to read on?)

There are a few ways the internet has contributed to our busyness:

1.) We didn’t used to know about everything. The only way we heard about things was through word of mouth. 

We had the yellow pages and the newspaper. That was about it. Marketing to massive audiences was too cost prohibitive for most businesses and organizations. That’s no longer the case. Even most mom and pop shops have a web presence today.

If you wanted to send your kids to a camp, you probably just sent them to the one the church sponsored. Now, there are thousands of camps. Many were already there, some are new. But, we didn’t know about them before. Now we do, and now we want to send our kids to all of them. We didn’t used to know about everything. Now we do, and it’s all at our fingertips.

2.) We didn’t used to see pictures on a daily basis of the awesome lives others are living. 

It used to be that the only way to see pictures of someone else’s grand adventure was to be sitting on their couch flipping through a photo album. And even then, when someone shared pictures of their big adventure, we felt compelled to do the same thing. Or we coveted what they were lucky enough to do.

Today, we see pictures on a daily basis of the adventures others are living. On Facebook and Instagram, there is always someone doing something more fun than what I’m currently doing. Maybe it’s a vacation, maybe it’s just a weekend trip. Maybe it’s a family activity, maybe it’s personal retreat. Every day we willing submit to the assault of coveting others’ lives.

And, no matter how un-covetous you are, it affects us all. It’s a constant drip in our conscious and subconscious that there are people who are having more fun, doing more things and experiencing more out of life than we are. And we continue to scroll and subject ourselves to it all. There are people who are more successful, more fruitful and more influential than we will ever be and we can’t measure up.

3.) We didn’t have sophisticated technology that is marketing to us non-stop. 

Not only can we find information about every activity under the sun and see our ‘friends’ enjoying them all, now we hold in our hands a device that is designed to market to us non-stop. I heard someone on a podcast this week (that I was listening to on my iphone) say this device is designed by the smartest minds on the planet for the purpose of getting us to buy more stuff. Not only that, they’re consciously trying to affect who we are internally to get their desired result.

And they know how to target their advertising at us with such precision that it feels like they can read our minds, which I’m convinced they can already do. (I know, I’m the crazy one.) So, not only are we choosing to subject ourselves to areas 1 and 2, but by being in those areas we are receiving massive doses of area three.

4.) There are more causes than ever. 

Every day it seems like there’s a new cause. Whether it’s about people or animals or food, or about the environment, pharmaceuticals, health and nutrition, the homeless, the hungry, human trafficking, mental health, kids, foster kids, adoption. I’m pretty sure the list is endless.

And they’re not bad things. For the most part, I think the intention is good. But, we’re constantly being accosted with appeals to help, donate, participate and proselytize for all these causes we believe in, others believe in, etc.

What’s the end result? 

We find ourselves in the midst of the busiest generation of people to have ever existed. This level of busyness has never existed, as far we know in human history. I don’t even think those four areas are all the areas that have greatly affected our lives, but they’re the big ones. But, we have found ourselves so drawn to all these options, that we have lulled ourselves into a drone-like state simply going through the motions trying to keep up with everything we feel compelled to do.

We’re too busy for everything.

What do we do about it? 

Over the last 3-4 years I have been learning about fruit trees. I’ve been studying things like grafting and pruning and practicing them for the past few years. This year, with the cooperation of the weather, we enjoyed some of the best fruit so far. But, it comes at a cost.

It doesn’t come about by accident, just letting the tree grow and produce branch after branch. If you’ve ever seen old fruit trees, you see the difference. The fruit is small, like the fruit you buy in the store. The branches might be loaded, like this year, but it’s not good fruit. Of course the reason the fruit in the store is small, though for different reasons has everything to do with our current culture too.

But, you don’t get good fruit without pruning. You get small fruit in a good growing season. You get tiny, if any fruit, in a bad growing season.

Pruning seems counterintuitive. You have to cut out a lot of water sprouts and suckers. You have to know what to take and what to leave. You have to know what’s a strong crotch and a weak one (It’s a tree thing, not it’s not dirty). You have to cut a lot out of a tree every year to keep it producing good fruit. And when you let it go for a few years, it takes several years to get it back. But, you have to cut out a lot of living material. Every year I get more aggressive, and every year, I feel like I could have cut more out.

Right now, the way things are in our society, we are compelled to be unpruned trees. Not only that, but to graft branches into our tree that we never desired to be a part of our lives in the first place. To a point where now, our tree is overloaded with water sprouts and suckers – literally sucking the life out of us. And it takes everything we have to just keep it all going. The idea of fruit is far from our minds as we are consumed with keeping up.

We don’t even realize it. What’s worse is, we don’t even realize how detrimental it can be. A few seasons ago, after years of not being pruned, a prune tree was loaded with prunes. But, because it hadn’t been pruned, the weight of the fruit was too much for the tree and it split down the middle. Not only are we unable to keep up with the demands of this lifestyle, but truthfully, one of the worst things that could happen to us would be if all these areas started producing fruit. We would find ourselves split down the middle.

It’s Time To Prune Back

We can’t do it all. We wish we could, I wish I could. I heard this from Michael Hyatt, “I can do anything, but I can’t do everything.” The possibilities are limitless, but I am limited.

Where do we start? 

For Christians, it’s really simple. Not easy, but simple. God first, Others second, I’m third. If we don’t get our lives in God’s order for our lives, things get out of balance really quickly. Even if we start with others, that can run us into the ground. If we aren’t rooted and established in God’s love, we won’t be able to withstand the storms let alone the trials and challenges of bearing fruit.

Many of us have started with ourselves, and our personal desires. Instead of starting with God and letting him grow desires in us, we graft our own desires into our trees and ask God to bless them. We then get mad at God when they don’t produce fruit, or we get mad when they do produce fruit but it’s too much for us to handle. Like Jesus says, we’ve let the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke out the tree.

The only starting place is God. Building everything on Him. Letting him establish our priorities. Putting our relationship with him first in every single area of our lives. And letting him not only grow us up in Himself, but letting him prune out what doesn’t need to be there.

Some of us may have a lot that God needs to prune out, and it’s going to be painful. Others among us, maybe have a lot of ivy growing around and up the tree, choking us. And it’s rooted in well. It’s going to have to go so we can breath again.

None of this will happen by accident. It will all only happen with intentionality. Not only that, but we will have to remain intentional as the world around us continues to increase its demands for our time and attention.

But, in the end, it comes down to this. Do you want God to produce fruit in your life? Or do you want to stay too busy for everything?

The post Too Busy For Fruit first appeared on David Lindner.

Why do I raise my hands in worship? 1 Cor. 11:1, Paul says, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” One of the reasons I do it is because one of the best example I’ve had in my life in a pastor, Mike Wilde at Laurelwood Baptist Church did it. My guess is this is still true, but when I was there leading worship, he was always – always, down in the front row, setting an example for the church, raising his hands in worship. I want to be like Mike.

But, the more I think about it, the more there is to it. Can I make a biblical case for raising your hands, clapping and being expressive in worship? Sure I can. I will in a minute, but first, the underlying issue.

Jesus said in John 4, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

It’s a very familiar passage, used by all to justify their positions. My simple point in it is this, your spirit. And be honest with yourself. When you’re standing there, maybe feeling prompted to clap or raise your hands or sing out loud or stand or kneel, or whatever the case may be, what’s in your spirit? If I’m being honest and blunt, based on what’s been in my spirit, it’s rebellion. There have been plenty of occasions in worship in my life where I felt God leading me to raise my hands, and I just stood there and sang. If your Spirit is full of awe and humility before God, and he’s not prompting you to respond in any other way, I have no problems with that. But, be honest, is that true?

Which leads me to the question, Who are you singing for, standing for, raising your hands for? In essence, who are you worshipping? Conversely, who are you refusing to sing, raise your hands, stand for, etc.” The problem is, I think most of us think worship is about us. “God won’t ask me to do anything I’m not comfortable with.” Really? ‘Cuz, I’m pretty sure that’s about all he does.

I’m not a hand-raiser. I am a clapper, but not a hand-raiser. But, when God pressed me on who I was/wasn’t raising my hands for, I realized something. It’s not about me. There are two things worship is about. God & The Body.

Worship is first and foremost about God. 

I know you’re shaking your head at me right now. It’s okay. I deserve it. But, worship is about God. It’s about ministering to God. Numbers 18:2 – “Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of the covenant law.” But you say, we’re not under the old covenant. Well then, what did they do in the New Testament Church? Acts 13:2 “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” I guess I should stop before we get to fasting, or you’ll stop reading all together.

Have you read 1 Chron. 23-25 lately? They took worship pretty seriously. There were 4,000 levites set aside for musical worship. And I know, we don’t have the same approach because we are the temple. But, we are the temple, there is something special about the gathering of believers who are the temple of God, build on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2). God’s presence is there, literally in our midst. What has your posture and response in worship been communicating to God?

Worship is about the body. 

Because we are the temple, the dwelling place for God, worship plays a special role in the life of the body of Christ. And if worship is about the body, then worship is about doing what’s best for the rest, not what’s best for me. We should not seek to conform worship styles to our personal preferences, we should seek to do what will better serve the others in our body. I’ve said for years the worship wars should have never happened in our churches, we should have all been willing to do what’s best for the rest.

But, have you considered that what’s best for the rest might require you to raise your hands, clap, sing, respond in someway that shows you are alive in Christ? Especially to the men who might read this post. We think men don’t do that. Men don’t respond that way. If only that wasn’t a lie, then we could accept it. But, have you seen how men act at football games. You want to set a good example and freak your worship leader out? Show up to church this Sunday with your face painted. Maybe the reason men don’t respond in church like they do at football games is because there haven’t been other men haven’t set an example for them. Have you though about those who are following your example in worship? Or are you even following Christ in worship and not just your own preferences?

Worship is not about me. 

^{1 Peter 5:5}All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

We tend to think that I should only worship God how I think I should worship God. And while I would agree and even argue that we were all created by God to worship God in different ways, and I would go farther to say that we all should worship God in those ways he designed us to worship him on a daily if not hourly basis, things are different when we’re gathered together.

When we’re gathered together, it’s not about me, my preferences or personal style of worship. Life in the body is not about a bunch of individuals gathering together to consume christiany things in a way that best suits our own needs so that I feel better about myself as an individual. There is something entirely different happening.

Worship as a body is about dying to myself and exalting Christ. Worship as a body is not about the individuals, but the sum of the individuals God has assembled as His Body. It’s about all the parts of the body, of which we are all a part, (1 Cor. 12, Rom 12) coming together as one body and lifting up the name of Christ, ministering to God. It’s not about me, it’s about we. And we are all about Him.

So, should you raise your hands? Men, specifically are commanded to raise their hands during prayer. Another awesome example I had of this was Dr. Friesen at Multnomah, who always raised his hands during prayer. Men, raise your hands during your pastor’s prayer this week. And do it without anger or disputing. (1 Tim. 2:8 – “Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.”)

Should you clap your hands? Psalm 47:1 – “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.” You want to really freak your worship leader out, shout out to God this Sunday. 

What else? Read Psalm 95 and see what I’m talking about. Because, I worry that we’ve fallen into the same trap as the Israelites, we’ve hardened our hearts. And my desire is that we would hear his voice.

How would you act if God — that actual real and living God, the only God who rules all of creation, the God who sent his Son to Save you, the God who loves you and adopted you and calls you His child — how would you act if he showed up in your church this Sunday?

I bet your response wouldn’t be to sit there and refuse to acknowledge His presence. If it would, then there is probably a bigger issue of pride that God wants to deal with in your life. But, I believe, with all my heart, if God’s presence was there like it was in the tabernacle and like it was on pentecost, you’d respond entirely differently. Do that. Whatever that is, however you imagine yourself responding in that situation, do that. However you see yourself responding to God’s presence being in your midst, do that. Why? Because that’s what it is.

Anyway, that’s why I do it, because of others who have set an example for me. What kind of example are you setting for others?

Psalm 95

The post Worship: Why I Raise My Hands And Clap (Even though I don’t feel like it.) first appeared on David Lindner.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Except for when politics are involved. Then you can hate people who disagree with you. Except for when we disagree with people on any issue. Then we are free to hate, destroy, tear down ruin. Except when our political agenda is on the line, then we must demolish.

Are we not supposed to love those who hate us? Do we even know what the Love of God is? I mean, seriously, really?

Did not God love those who hated him by sending his son? Is this not the whole ministry given to believers – the ministry of reconciliation?

Can we not remember how to disagree without needing to destroy those with whom we disagree?

What toxic lies have we swallowed, hook, line and sinker that have led us to believe we are justified to vilify those who disagree with us?

Has not the gospel of Jesus suffered because we have placed political agendas ahead of the agenda of the mission of God’s kingdom?

Have we forgotten where our loyalties lie? We are not citizens of a country with human rulers. We are citizens of heaven with a divine ruler.

Do we not see the distraction politics have become to the mission of the kingdom? Do you not feel the tainting of your own heart and soul the more you read and digest and internalize the lies seething with hatred fro those who disagree with your point of view?

We have got to wake up and not only get ourselves out of the mud, but starting lifting other brothers and sisters out.

If there is something we must no longer tolerate, it must be the belittling of one another based on political ideologies. Instead, let us all seek to elevate Christ and his worldview above all others.

What was his worldview? Love.

Did not Jesus give his life for those who crucified Him?

Did not Jesus forgive his murders while suffering their murder?

Though He was God, He did not use his position as God for his own advantage. He made himself nothing.

We are not God, and yet, somehow we use our position in Christ for our own advantage, seeking to make others nothing for not agreeing with us.

There is no argument that can defeat this kind of love. You can argue til you’re blue in the face about politics, but if someone loves you sacrificially, there is no argument for that.

What if we just stopped engaging in political arguments? What if we stopped ingesting politically skewed reports about the others side? You may say, “I am able to sift through the agenda and find the truth.” Are you? I’d be willing to be there are people around you who hear the skewed agenda come out in your life. Is that really what you want to come out of your life? Wouldn’t you rather have Christ be what people recognized about you?

I would. I do. I have nearly completely given up any talk of politics, nearly any consumption of politically driven agendas. Why? Because I don’t care? Absolutely not. But because I understand the most important difference I can make is in the relationships I have with real people in my life. I have little/no control over Washington DC or Washington State. I do my civic duty and vote. Beyond that, what is there for me to do? Love my neighbor as Jesus loved me.

I have this crazy suspicion that, were we all to do this, there would be no need for political disagreements at all.

But then again, with all that we consume, chances are we’ll just go on to the next clickbait. You may even share this article, but will you think before you share that next slamming him or her post? I hope so. I hope we all will.

This is not something that will be changed by politicians. It will only be changed if we, one at a time choose to engage in the greatest pursuit – Love. Agape, Unconditional Love. Love in the midst of disagreements. This is truly the most excellent way.

It’s time for a change. And not from our politicians. From us. What are we sacrificing for our political view? In the end, I have a feeling it won’t be worth it. Is it worth losing relationships over politics? Maybe not even politics, but strongly held beliefs? What have we lost? How do not only get it back, but move forward in a more civilized fashion?

The post Having Swallowed the Toxicity of Politics. Hook. Line. Sinker. first appeared on David Lindner.

When I was growing up, being the over-confident Christian teenager that I was, I remember a very specific conversation. I don’t quite remember who we were discussing, but I had said something judgemental about someone and my dad asked, “are you supposed to be judging them?” I retorted back, “We’re not supposed to judge, but we are supposed to judge the fruit of someone’s life.”

I had been taught this somewhere along the way. I think it was at youth group. I can’t remember. The teaching came from Jesus’ sermon on the mount which can be found in Matthew 5-7 as well as a smaller portion in Luke.

Luke 6:43-45

⁴³ “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,⁴⁴ for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵ The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Honestly, what I had learned isn’t that far off. However, there is one critical distinction that I needed to make.

There is a difference between critique and condemnation. And it has to do with intent. What is my intent when I’m looking at the fruit of someone’s life? Is it to put them down so that I may elevate myself in the process? Or am I trying to love and encourage them as a brother or sister in Christ? Do I even have a relationship with the person I’m critiquing? Christian community should not be condemning. However, neither should we ignore things that aren’t consistent with God’s commands for us. But, far too often our critique exceeds our relationship.

If we are doing what we do out of love, the end result will be more fruit. If we’re doing so out of insecurity, the end result will be division.

All that said, I want to talk about fruit. What is fruit? Should we even be concerned with fruit?

First, what is the fruit of the Christ-centered life? 

To really answer this question, we have to take a step back. One problem I think we have made is trying to force fruit before we are established in Christ. Fruit has to come from a relationship with God. If it doesn’t, then it’s not fruit, it’s works. You can’t force fruit.

Fruit must come from our relationship with Christ. Jesus makes this clear in John 15

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Every branch in Christ bears fruit. Not only does it bear fruit, but the Father will prune us so that we can produce more fruit. That means things will have to be cut out of our lives to make room for more fruit.

We cannot bear fruit by ourselves. When we try to produce fruit on our own, we are trying to live out our own righteousness and earn our own salvation. Our fruit must be produced as a result of/come out of our relationship with Christ. He is the vine supplying what we need for life and godliness. (2 Pet. 1:3)

It is through that supply from the vine that the fruit will come in our lives. Whoever abides, some translations say remain. Whoever are present in Christ and Christ is present in them. Whoever is held by Christ, holds on to Christ.

Notice it is both. It’s not just Christ in us, though that is the biggest part. But, we are also the abiders. Christ abides in us, and we must abide in Him. When we’re attached to the vine Christ will flow through us, but we must be about abiding as well. We must be present in Christ. As Christ holds us, we must also hold on to him. As Paul said, we must press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us. (Phil. 4:13)

It is only through this mutual abiding that fruit will be produced in our lives.

This is also how we bring glory to God. 

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

By bearing fruit we prove that we are his disciples. And by doing this, we bring glory to God.

How do we produce fruit? 

By keeping His commandments. Keeping his commandments is how we produce fruit. But don’t miss it. Keeping his commandments is also how we abide!!! Doing the things that Christ has commanded us to do keeps us abiding, present in the vine. These are the words of Jesus Himself speaking to His disciples on the night before He would be crucified. These are very important words to us.

A life in the vine must do what Christ has commanded. If we claim to be in Christ we must be about the work of keeping Christ’s commands. This is crucial to abiding.

Perhaps an illustration will help.

Imagine with me that you are playing on a basketball team. (Don’t worry, this isn’t going to get real technical.) You have a good relationship with your coach. S/he are just great. You love being around them all the time. They make you feel good about yourself, the team and life in general.

Now, your coach’s job is to teach you basketball. They teach you the fundamentals of the game. They teach you how pass the ball around and drive the ball in towards the goal. They teach you how to be a team, teach you the plays. And if you do as they teach, you’re going to win games.

It’s game time. The coach wants you to go in the game. But you resist. You like being next to coach. You like talking and listening. You’ve gotten quite comfortable where you are, sitting on the bench next to coach.

So you stay on the bench all season long. You go through your entire basketball career on the bench.

Question, were you a basketball player? You knew all the plays, you knew the fundamentals, you knew what you were supposed to do. But, you never actually played in a game. Remember the movie “Rudy”? He would only go down as someone who played for Notre Dame if he got on the field during a game. All those practices, all the pain and suffering would mean nothing if he didn’t get on the field.

Of course you probably know the story, he did get on the field and he is recorded as a player for Notre Dame.

The only way for us to be true disciples of Christ is by keeping His commands. It is by putting these commands into practice that we become disciples. It’s getting in the game.

What are the commands of Christ? 

Contrary to popular belief, Christ did give us specifics for how we should be living our lives as His disciples. You can boil it all down to love. Jesus told us to love one another like He loved us. To love our neighbor as ourself. It’s all about love. And while that is the truth, how it gets played out shows that we don’t understand God’s love. God’s love for us does not give us permission to do whatever we please. Instead, god’s love transforms us. And as it transforms who we are, our lives start to look different. As Bob Goff says, “Love Does.”

There are two big commands Christ gave. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself (Love one another as I have loved you). These are massively important and serve as the umbrella for which every other Christlike action will come under.

But, there are many other do/don’t statements Christ made.

• Let Your Light Shine
• Follow me
• Love your enemies
• Repent
• Lay up treasures in Heaven
• Pray
• Take My yoke
• And about at least 40 more.

What’s my point? 

Abiding in Christ is the only way to produce fruit. The way we abide in Christ is to do what He commands. As we actually put into practice what he commands, we grow in our relationship with Him. We don’t grow in our relationship with God by simply learning more information. We must actually put that information into action in our lives. This is what a true relationship with God looks like.

So, what’s the fruit? 

Fruit is the product of a life abiding in Christ. What is produced in and through our lives as a result of doing what Christ has commanded us?

Transformation.

The fruit of Christ flowing through us is transformation. As we are in the vine and the vine flows through us, God’s love will transform us into lives that produce fruit. In fact, it cannot not transform us. Imagine a branch of a fruit tree, refusing the life-giving sap. Ridiculous. It must flow through. When it does, it will produce fruit.

Fruit in keeping with repentance. In other words, fruit that turns away from our individualistic pursuits, agendas and desires and turns towards God’s love and commands for our lives.

The more we do this, more our lives will be transformed. Our lives will look less and less like our old selves and more and more like the image Christ is shaping us into.

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Instead of Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, godly love will be produced in our lives.

Instead of idolatry and witchcraft our lives will produce joy.

Instead of hatred, discord, jealousy – peace.

Instead of fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy – forbearance, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness.

Instead of drunkenness and orgies – self control.

The fruit of being in Christ is a transformed life.

I think we can see this all throughout the New Testament.

Christ did not die so you could sleep better at night. Christ died, rose from the dead, ascended and sent the Holy Spirit so that we would live transformed lives. He died for our justification, redemption and transformation.

Fruit Abides Too

John 15:16-17

¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another.