the merge

Blessed* with Enough

2013-05-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

In our current message series title Blessed* we have been looking at what the Bible means when it says that God wants to bless us, and we have also looked at some things that get in the way of our ability to fully receive God’s blessing.

This series was birthed out of a desire to understand what we mean by blessing. We throw that word around a lot. We get a raise, we get a new car, something rather fortunate happens to us, and we say, “I was blessed with...”

The problem arises when we look around the world at so many other people who are whole-heartedly seeking after God, and they have none of the comforts we would call blessings in the United States. Yet Christians everywhere would talk about being blessed by God. We must be careful in how we define and use the word “blessed.” We can make it seem like millions of people who suffer from war, famine, poverty, and sickness are not as loved or blessed by God simply because they were not born in America.

So I started digging, and I have come to the conclusion that it is not so much God’s goodness or blessing that is in question, but how we measure it that is causing all the problems. His blessing is so much deeper than our material possessions, though those are included.

The problem comes when enough is not enough...

Relevant Online recently ran an article titled, “The Socially Acceptable Sin.” It names gluttony as the church’s and America’s most acceptable sin. The author writes, “There’s one sin in particular that has pervaded our society and churches so silently we hardly give it a second thought, and that is the constant hunt for more over what is enough. Or, in an uglier terminology, what is known as gluttony. And gluttony has never been merely an addiction to food. If we look its original definition and context, gluttony hits closer to home than we’d like to admit...At its simplest, gluttony is the soul’s addiction to excess. It occurs when taste overrules hunger, when want outweighs need.”

Have you seen the AT&T Commercial where the guy interviews the children, and the one girl says, "I want more! I want more! I want more!" That commercial says it all...doesn’t it. It describes what could be the most overlooked sin of our culture and one of the biggest blocks to our ability to receive God’s blessing...the sin of never enough.

We want more...we want more...we want more...Every television, newspaper, and billboard ad is designed to encourage a desire for more than we have and more than we need. And we have obliged...

We live in a very wealthy country. Even our poor, globally, are better off. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the poverty line for an individual in United States was $10,830 in 2010, but our poverty line places them in the top 14% of income earners globally.

And no matter how little or how much we make we see a desire to get and consume more...

The U.S. represents 4.5% of global population and consumes 30% of the total GDP.

U.S. household consumer debt profile:
Average credit card debt: $15,204

One of the major contributors to the housing bust was when people who were not making as much as they should have been were given credit for home that cost way more than they could or should afford.

I am not a subscriber that all debt is bad...most of us would be uneducated, walking and homeless if we didn’t have some debt. Many business owners couldn’t operate if they didn’t carry some debt...but I think we would all agree that too often we have taken on debt and trouble in our lives because of our desire to get and have more. We wanted more than was necessary or adequate...and it got us into trouble...or is getting us in trouble.

But over and over again, the Bible reminds us...

Our desire for more causes us to miss the blessings of God.

So often we miss out on God’s blessings because we suffer from the sin of never enough when God is in the business of blessing us with enough.

As I studied for this message, I was struck by how often the Bible talks about God’s ability and desire to satisfy or to make us full. The problem often comes when what God provides does not satisfy because we are not content with enough...

Ecclesiastes 5:10, discussing money, says, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.”

You see that desire for more than what is necessary causes dissatisfaction with what God provides. When John D. Rockefeller was asked “how much would be enough?” he answered “just a little bit more.” At that time he personally controlled 2% of the wealth of America.

That author of Proverbs 27:20 says it like this, “Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes.”

Have you ever been window shopping? Maybe you were watching one of those Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous type of shows?

I have a bad habit of window shopping, and there are times when my desire for more creates such a dissatisfaction with what I have that I cannot enjoy the blessings God has already given me. What the desire for more creeps in it doesn’t matter how much good stuff is going on in our lives...it just isn’t enough.

That is what greed, lust, and gluttony do...they plant dissatisfaction in our lives, and what we already have is not enough. That car isn’t good enough...we need the new one. Our house isn’t good enough...we need that house. Our job isn’t good enough...we need another one. And more than likely...they were good enough...until we saw the better one...and the desire for more crept in and took root.

Another thing that happens is...

Our desire for more keeps us from being a blessing to others.

We are going to spend more time on this idea next week from a different angle, but listen to James 4:1-3,

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 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. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

“You do not have receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures...”

Every time the Bible talks about God giving us more than we need...it immediately connects it with God’s call for us to live open-handedly toward others. When God gives us more than we need it is meant as an opportunity to extend that blessing to others...and receive more blessing in the process.

God’s blessing is so deeply connected to our willingness to bless others, and when we allow our desire to have and consume and keep more than what satisfies and what is necessary we cannot fully enjoying the blessings of God. It causes us to hold on to what we have and not let it go, and we miss out on the extended blessing of giving.

But, you might say, I know a lot of stingy people who have plenty of money and want for nothing in this world...and seem to have a lot of blessings from God. You are right. They have a lot in the way of finances, but remember God’s blessing is more than just the number of dollars in our bank account.

God’s blessing is first found in a deep satisfaction with He has provided...with what is enough. And secondly, it is found in the blessing of giving generously from how God has blessed us.

When we learn to live within the bounds of enough, the Bible says that so many things are taken care of...

God’s ultimate goal is to satisfy.
The Bible often uses the word Saba to mean to satisfy or to fill up, and the Bible is full of examples of God’s desire to fill us up...to satisfy our deepest longings.

For many in the Bible it included food and shelter because they needed their basic needs met, but it meant so much more...

Isaiah 55:2 is a good example of this, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.”

Isaiah is talking about more than just food. He is talking about God’s desire to meet our deepest needs...those things that cause our hearts to ache and cause us to stay awake worrying at night. His desire is to satisfy.

John 10:10 says this, “The Thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy, but I have come that you may have life to the full!”

Psalm 145:16, “You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”

Psalm 107:9, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

These are the promises of God...that He will give us what we need. He will satisfy and fill us. God is in the business of giving us enough, and when the sin of gluttony, lust, and greed creep in...we lose the blessings of God because we begin thinking that enough is not enough.

Conclusion
To close, I want to give you a few starter steps for learning to live with enough...

Look at what you have not what you don’t have. Make the most of it. Learn to be content with what you own.

Don’t make comparisons. The minute you compare yourself to someone else or what someone else has...that is the minute greed and lust and gluttony all slip in. You find yourself comparing your worst to their best and feel insecure. You feel as though you are not enough.
Accept your imperfections. No one is perfect. No one has it all together. Accept them and work on them.

Blessed* with a Purpose

2013-05-20T11:15:00.001-04:00

I love to meet people who are passionate about what they are doing. It isn’t always their money-earning job, but it is something they do on a regular basis.

Amy Rees Anderson is an entrepreneur who recently wrote an article for Forbes.com. She tells how when speaking on leadership and business at a university she will often ask the students, “What career do you want to pursue,” or, “What business do you plan to begin?” After listening to their answers she will then ask, “Suppose I gave you a check for $10 million dollars today and told you that you could pursue any career path or start any business you wanted to, with no expectation that you would ever pay me back or generate a return on my investment – in fact, I couldn’t care less if the business never makes a dime. Now tell me what career you would pursue or what business would you want to begin.”

The answers, she says, are always different. The students choose the perceived safest way to steady income, and the area they are most passionate about does not provide that security or that income.

Marketing and business guru Seth Godin does something very similar. He first asks, “If you could do anything at all with your life and money wasn’t an issue, what would you do?” Then he asks, “Why aren’t you doing that now?”

Sometimes we are lucky enough for those two things to coincide...being able to do something we are passionate about and making enough money with our passion to support ourselves and our families.

Sometimes they don’t coincide. Einstein’s Miracle Year where he wrote four groundbreaking works including his most recognized Theory of Relativity took place while working as a file clerk for the Swiss Patent Office. He did physics as a side project. In fact, when he finally got a full-time academic position he simply worked out the implications of the work done in the boredom of the patent office.

Franz Kafka is regarded as on the most influential authors of the 20th Century who influenced the work of writers like Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. Throughout his life, his passionate pursuit of writing was squeezed into spare time left over after he working for an insurance company.

I would say that most people live in that realm...squeezing their passion into the spare moments of their lives; while a few people are lucky enough to make a living while pursuing their passion.

We are currently in a series called Blessed*. We have been looking at some of the unexpected ways of viewing God’s blessing in our lives. God’s blessing is not always what we expect! Who would ever consider that the point of our deepest need is the point where God’s largest blessings happen? It is not a common thing to hear that our biggest blessings come when we obediently and generously give.

We can also make the mistake of spiritualizing things to the point where we see our passions as something completely separate from God’s desire to bless us and those around us.

We might have a passion for art, and wonder how God could ever use such a passion for Him.
We might have a passion for business and leadership and never see them as possibilities of blessing.
We often have a love for something that leaves us asking how God could ever use it to bless us and those around.

But God gives us our passions as a way of blessing us with a purpose.

Moses
Moses is one of the greatest leaders known to Israel. When relaying their history Abraham, Moses, David and Elijah take primacy over all others. And of them, Moses is most associated with all that God wanted to do in the salvation of Israel and the giving of the Law.

They revered Moses. Years after his death someone wrote in Deuteronomy 34:10-12, “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”

To say that Moses is important to Jewish history, Jewish religious history, and to the heritage of our Christian faith can not be understated.

Most of us are aware of the story of Moses, the burning bush, and God’s call for him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. As a shepherd, Moses was out with the sheep when he saw a burning bush and went to explore. There is always something about guys and fire! When he got there, he saw that while the bush was on fire it was not being consumed by the flames. A voice, the voice of God, spoke to him out of the bush, and called him to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.

Most of us see this as the beginning of Moses’ call to do something for his people...to free them from slavery. But Moses’ passion for his people started way earlier than this.

In Exodus 2:11-12 it says,

“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”

Moses’ passion to free his people started as a young man. He had grown up in Pharaoh’s household, and watched as his people were beaten and abused. He wanted to do something, but we often make the same mistake Moses made.

Our Passions Require Patience
We can get our photographs in an hour; even less if we simply print them at home. We can use the express lane at Walmart for 20 items or less...and, if you are like me, you start counting the items in everyone else’s carts and fuming if they have more than 20! You can get up-to-the-minute stock quotes, sports score, and breaking news on your smartphone. We can get full meals in a matter of minutes at MOST drive thrus.

We live in an impatient society. We want what we want and we want it now! And that attitude can slip into our relationship with God.

Just because we have a desire to see something come about. Just because God gives us a passion to see something happen. Just because we have a gifting in a certain area doesn’t mean we have the go ahead to see it become a reality...when we think it should.

Moses had a desire to free his people. We know that God later commissions him to lead them out of slavery. But Moses got into trouble by trying to do things outside of God’s timing and outside of God’s methods.

Moses, in an attempt to fulfill this passion, takes a very common tactic still used in modern society...force. He killed an Egyptian.

Exodus 2:13-14 continues,

“The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?”

There is a wrong way to do the right thing. The ends do not justify the means.

So often we are guilty, in our impatience, of attempting to do what God has called us to do...but in our own strength and in our own way. Moses needed time to learn to lead not with force and fear, but with loving and firm guidance. His attempt to do things his way lead to wrong kind of outcome.

Exodus 2:14-15 says,

“Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian...”

When Moses attempted to do God’s will in his way...it lead to fear, shame, and rejection.

So often we attempt to do God’s will...we attempt to fulfill the passions God has placed within us...using means and methods that are not Gods.

Our Passions Require God’s Methods
When we attempt to fulfill God’s call using our own methods we wear ourselves out physically, emotionally, and spiritually by living outside the boundaries He sets for us. It happens all the time...we sense God leading to do something...but when things get busy we neglect to care for ourselves physically. We don’t care for our bodies with enough rest or exercise. We stop nurturing ourselves spiritually and distance ourselves from our time with God and His people. We stop feeding ourselves intellectually because we just don’t have time.

We find ourselves burned out and at wits end because our methods do not work

We find ourselves frustrated because our expectations are not being met.

Moses believed his show of force would be welcomed and accepted by the people...but they weren’t. Learning to use God’s method required an educational process. He had to learn HOW to lead the people with wisdom with the power of God. There was no better place than living the life of a shepherd in the household of a priest.

Exodus 2:16-21,

“Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

The Biblical ideal for leadership is rooted in the shepherd. Before Moses was given permission to lead and guide God’s people he had to LEARN to lead.

There is an educational, learning process to all our gifting. When I received the call to ministry I started making plans to attend college with thoughts of Seminary. Someone in the church said, “I don’t know why you need to get schooling! If God has called you that should be enough!”

That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard in the church.

Our passions often require a training and learning process. Spiritual gifts and passions are given in seed form...they need care, they need training, they need work. Just because God gives us a passion to see something does not mean it will happen automatically. It doesn’t mean you won’t need training because we are so tempted to do things our way and not God’s...even after the training...there were time when Moses needed to relearn that lesson.

When Moses submitted to the methods of God, only then was he able to see the miraculous. His way was force and violence and murder. God’s methods led to some amazingly miraculous things!

Exodus 2:23 sums the time of waiting, training, and preparation for Moses by saying, “During that long period...”

It was 40 years before God called to Moses from the Burning Bush and commissioned Moses to do what He felt a desire to do so many years before. 40 years!

Our Passions Require Commitment
When Moses finally submitted to the learning, growing, time-consuming process then and only then did He receive God’s call and commission to fulfill the desires he felt as a young man.

Be assured, God will call. God will commission us. God will ask us to use those passions and desires and dreams, and commit ourselves to see them through to the end...and that is the hard part!

We impatiently jump in too soon, but then we are often too quick to bail out.

We may not see the results we thought would come of that passion as soon as we would like. Things are tougher than we planned.

We may have expected to support ourselves using our passion, and we find ourselves working multiple jobs to support our passion instead.

There will be times when we feel there is no use to go on...

Doubt will creep in...

But just as God calls us to start...God calls us to finish. It took Moses 40 years of preparation before God allowed him to assume leadership of Israel, and it took another 40 plus years before Moses was able to lead them to the edge of the Promised Land.

The Israelites complained, whined, attempted a coup of Moses’ leadership, the rejected Him...it was a mess. But Moses hung in to see God fulfill His promises!

We too must hold on. We are called, but if we truly believe that God has placed the passion in our lives then it is our responsibility to submit to the time it takes to train and prepare, we are to be faithful to do it the way God has called us to it, and we are called to finish and see it to completion no matter what challenges we face. Because when we see it through to completion...that is when we see the ultimate blessing of God!

Blessed*- You Can't Outgive God

2013-05-13T09:35:00.004-04:00

We are in a new message series called Blessed* Thinking about that word and the concept of being blessed is something we use a lot, but think of very little. Yesterday was our Food for Huber Outreach and we gave food to more than 120 families in need. We spent time talking and praying with them, and I realized how often my prayers for them were prayers for God to bless them. Bless them with health, bless them financially, bless their relationships.

We use that word a lot in the church, like we do a lot of words, without thinking about what they mean. Today we are looking at a passage that talks about tithing and God blessing us in relationship to our tithing.

Money is a touchy subject. Most people feel the church always has its hand out asking for money, and in trying to create a church that emphasizes God’s grace, His patience, and allow people time we take a very laid back approach to our offering. I truly believe that forcing or guilting people into something may work for a short time, but does not build a healthy, spiritually robust person in the long run. Many of us suffer from the carry-over effect of spiritually abusive or legalistic church backgrounds.

When I was growing up, tithing and giving was never really taught about in a healthy way. Tithing was encouraged with a healthy dose of guilt during the time of offering that would go on and on until they felt like there was enough in the plate. I once suffered through 20 verses of an offeratory, the song played while they collect the offering, and then 20-30 verses of Just As I Am while they waited for someone to come to the altar.

Sometimes they would preach verses like today’s passage with the underlying message of “You are not doing enough!” They would emphasize the harsher sections of the passage...obviously guilt and shame and pressure were part of that.

I believe we need a message on tithing not because I want you to give more money to the church. We have some very generous people here, and God provides the resources for what He wants to accomplish. We need a message on tithing because understanding it is part of a healthy Christian walk.

I have seen how it works in my own life. It is as an act of worship. It is a response to all that God has given and done for us in my life. And when we give it opens us up as a person...I am more generous not just toward God and His church, but toward other people around me who are in need.

Today as we look at this passage, we are not breaking away from our commitment to the 2 Corinthians 9:7 passage where it says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” It isn’t honoring if it is done grudgingly or if it is compelled!

Our goal is to first and foremost help you become better followers of God...not better members of a church. I think part of following God is being part of a church and all that it entails...but first and foremost we are followers of God. So let’s look at our passage today, and see what we can learn...

Malachi 3:7-12,

“Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

The first part of this passage sounds very...mean...It sounds like God is VERY angry...and He is. He is talking to a group of people who proudly announce they are His followers, they act as they though they are on board with all He asks, and really they are only interested in appearing to follow Him. Despite only appearing to be obedient they wanted God to fulfill everything He promised to those who would faithfully obey Him.

Have you ever made a deal with your children, a bribe? If you will clean your room I will take you to get ice cream. After you have been parenting awhile you will use any ploy you can to get some things done. Your child goes into their room for 5-10 minutes, then returns and proudly announces, “My room is clean!”

We are not dumb. There is no way they cleaned up the remnants of the hurricane that hit their room. You walk in, and toys and clothes are stuffed under the bed. You open the closet door and need the help of a search and rescue dog to get out from under the avalanche...but the floor, the middle of the floor is clear...so in their mind the room is clean.

The people of Israel were pretending to be obedient, acting as though they had their act together, and were demanding that God take them for the promised ice cream...so needless to say, God’s tone is a bit stern in this passage.

We have to be careful when using this passage as a teaching passage to look at the principles of tithing that we don’t carry over that tone if it doesn’t fit the situation. We are looking to be better followers of God...to recognize something about tithing out of this passage...we are not looking to misrepresent ourselves to God as His faithful followers while hiding behind unfaithfulness. So we can draw some principles out of this passage without being guilty and receiving the tone of the original.

What we see in this passage is that in tithing...

We recognize God's ownership.
““But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you? In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.”

The Israelites were saying, “We are doing everything right, God! Why aren’t you blessing us?” And God’s response was a stern, “No, you are not doing everything right!”

God calls their refusal to tithe theft. Which brings up the question, “How is it theft?”

Psalm 24:1-2 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.”

You see everything in this world belongs to God, and it is on loan to us. When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden, he told them to care for creation...to tend it...the imagery is that of a steward or care-giver. Someone placed over something for the owner.

I remember the first time I was asked to housesit for someone...I was excited and scared to death all at the same time. I was going to be staying and living on my own with no adult supervision for the first time in my life, and yet I was at someone else’s house and didn’t want to mess that up. So I actually cleaned up after myself. Picked my clothes up off the floor. Put stuff away...unlike how I treated my first apartment.

I was taking care of someone else’s home. It wasn’t mine, but I was responsible for it.

God places us in charge of His stuff here on earth, and gives us the responsibility to care for it. He gives us talents and abilities. He gives us financial resources. He gives us a home, property, relationships...all things that have to be cared for...

What we have been given does not belong to us, ut belongs to Him. When God asks us to return a percentage to His house for Him to use in supporting His work He is simply asking us to relinquish resources that already belong to Him. Refusing to return what rightfully belongs to Him and pretending as though we have given it to Him, he calls theft.

I know those are some strong words, but we use similar metaphors all the time. I will often buy a bag of candy or something for Bri when we are out. I don’t want a whole bag. I just want a couple of bites. She is usually very good about things, but there have been times when I bought something and asked for a bite. She responded by saying, “No! This is mine!” And I have had to remind her that while it is in her possession, that I am the one who bought it.

When we tithe, we are simply acknowledging God as the rightful owner and ourselves as His caretakers. Remember God is speaking to people who claim to follow Him. He is not talking to people who are just beginning to seek after Him, or are not yet following Him. He is laying the weight of this metaphor on people who claim to be following him whole-heartedly, and are rejecting Him by lying and stealing from Him.

The second thing, it that through tithing...

We participate in God's mission.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.”

In those days, tithing was done mostly with grain, wine, livestock, and produce from the fields. This was not a monetary based society. So when the people brought their tithe into the church it was “food”. That food would then be distributed to those who had need, traded for other goods, etc. Gold and other articles were often given too. In the New Testament we see that money was more common so people gave that way.

But the idea behind this verse is that the giving of the people supports the work of God in the church. It was to be the place where priests and Levites led the worship of the people, taught them God’s ways, and helped them understand God’s Word. The tithe of the people supported God’s work.

Our tithes still support the work of God through His church...Over the past year we have served more than 10,000 people with God’s love. We have bought groceries, paid bills, done numerous acts of kindness, and much more in our community. All because of your faithfulness in giving.

Last year a couple of us got together and made a dream list of over 100 ministries that could be part of this church. I dream of being able to do so much more in our community...we are praying for a more permanent location...a place where we can have regular classes, a food pantry, ministry to help in many different situations...There is a lot that God wants to do through us, but the reality is that it requires money and it requires time and leadership.

When we look at all that needs done and the money involved, we often think in terms of giving up...we are giving up money we could use for something else. Instead, we should be thinking in terms of investment. We are not sacrificing anything...we are investing in what God wants to accomplish with the money, time, and talents he has freely given us!

People will be able to have food on their tables because we are investing in a church that is outward focused.

Marriages will be saved because we are building a place that reaches out to them and helps them survive the storms they face.

Children will have a safe place to learn and grow closer to God.

A few years back, my nephew started showing ability to play the piano. He took a couple of lesson through his school, and grew quickly in his ability...beyond just the normal taking lessons. He picked it up rather naturally. When my sister couldn’t afford lessons for him, a longtime family friend stepped in to pay for his lessons. She said, “I see this as an investment in his future that I won’t get to benefit from, but others will!”

What God has called us as a church to do here in this community we may never get to see the end result of it all, but we are making an investment that others will get to benefit from down the road!

The final thing is that through tithing...

We open the doors of God's blessing.
“Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.”

So often this passage is seen as a mean, or guilt driven, or something...When the bulk of this passage is a simple statement about God’s desire to bless His people when they obey! More than 50% of the passage is about God’s desire to do something great for His people, but their lack of obedience and open-handedness keeps Him from being able to bless them.

God wants to open the floodgates and pour out blessing on those who follow Him, but they have shut Him off!

One of the enduring principles of the spiritual life is that God never forces us to take something we are unwilling to take. Closely connected to this is the idea that by refusing to be generous and loving and forgiving we can actually shut ourselves off from receiving generosity, love, and forgiveness. So when it comes to this principle of tithing, when we hoard and assume ownership of something that is not rightly ours we shut ourselves off from the blessings God has for us.

If you do what you are called to do then God will do what only God can do.

Our obedience to God opens the doors to His blessings in our lives. As we mentioned last week, blessings are more than just financial, but they certainly include God’s care and provision for us in financial ways. I have seen God time and again provide for those who follow Him and live in obedience. It may not come in our timing and in the way we want it, but His blessings do come.

Sometimes it our financial needs are met with a better job we didn’t expect! Back in August, I was happily employed as a restaurant manager when the opportunity came for me to work at a school in Fairborn. Little did I know my time at the restaurant was coming to an end. God provided.

Sometimes our blessings come in the form of learning to make wiser choices. We stop spending beyond our budget.

Sometimes our blessings come because the emphasis and direction of our lives change and we are no longer going in this direction. We find fulfillment in another direction.

God brings blessings from some of the most unexpected places!

Conclusion
We serve a God who gives and gives and gives. He leads the way for us. No matter what we give, God gives more. He demonstrated the extent of His giving by giving His Son, Jesus Christ. The ultimate sacrifice of giving!

No matter what we give to God...monetary gifts, talents and abilities, time...we can’t outgive God!

Charles Spurgeon once said, “God has a way of giving by the cartloads to those who give away by shovelfuls.”

Blessed*- I Am Blessed!

2013-04-16T11:37:00.000-04:00

We are starting a new series today called Blessed with a little asterisk mark at the end. I saw this artwork at another church, and liked it so I decided to adapt it a bit and use it.

The idea of the asterisk at the end of the word Blessed is that being “blessed” is not always what we think it is. We all ask God to bless us, and he does bless us, but not always the way we think...or even want.

When you and I start thinking about what it means to be blessed...

we think of financial security...bills paid for, living comfortably, not paycheck to paycheck, savings in the bank for emergencies, some other for retirement...

we think of a comfortable home...Lori and I driving around looking at homes dreaming of a dream home that isn’t a cookie-cutter Huber Home.

we think of cars that run the way they should run...

we think of a nice house, nice neighborhood, and nice schools...

If someone has all of these things in their life we would say...they are blessed.

The reality is that we live in a fallen world, stained by sin, and not everyone gets to live this idyllic life...and yet, if the Bible is true, we can all live a truly blessed life. It will require us to redefine our understanding of being blessed...not in some ostrich-head-in-sand-denial sort of way, but by seeking to understand what the truly blessed life is about.

So over the next few weeks we are going to look at what it means to be blessed in biblical terms, hopefully realizing that we are truly a blessed people, and we are going to look at what some of the responsibilities are that come with being blessed. Because our blessings are not just for our benefit...they come with responsibility.

So let’s begin by looking at what can be the most confusing passage about blessing in the Bible...Matthew 5:1-12

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,  for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,  for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,  for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,  for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,  for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,  for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This is not the list I would put together if I were talking about blessed people!

Poor in Spirit, Mourning, meek, the hungry and thirsty, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted!

This doesn’t even sound like a list most of us would want to even be on!

Every culture has its people, behaviors, and states of being that let signify who the in-crowd really is...who the blessed ones are. In our culture the people on this list are not it. Wealth and fame, or something that looks like wealth and fame is what gives you standing. Our culture values success. It values disposable income. It values big toys. It values beauty and youth.

If we are not careful, those of us who follow Jesus adopt our cultures approach to blessing and attempt to make it our own...we read our ideas into passages like Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” We start thinking this about me on an individual level and God wants to prosper me and give me a hope and future! And we forget He is talking about His plans to bring about salvation and to restore the entire world to its original purpose.

For years I heard the Beatitudes preached as a spiritual to-do list. If you want to be blessed then you should become meek...hungry and thirsty for righteousness...pure in heart...peacemakers. But there are some pretty big interpretive jumps when we start talking about becoming poor in spirit...or mourning...

Rather than another list of things you have to become, Jesus is actually giving us a list of people who are valued by the Kingdom He is establishing. This annoyed the Pharisees of Jesus day because they only invited the wealthy, the powerful, and the influential to their dinners...We too want a list with all the good and nice and beautiful people, but Jesus says the ones he really wants to bless are the ones outside the normal realm of earthly blessings...

Being blessed is rooted in our biggest need.

In Genesis 12 God calls Abraham to leave his family and country and travel to a land God would give him and his descendants...then in verses 2-3 God says,

“I will make you into a great nation,  and I will bless you; I will make your name great,  and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you,  and whoever curses you I will curse;  and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

The problem was God’s blessing was promise required Abraham’s barren wife Sarah to have a child. Barren...she couldn’t have children. She wanted children...desperately wanted them...but couldn’t have a child. She couldn’t force that to happen. Certainly Abraham and Sarah were responsible to do their part...the nice dinner...the roses...the bottle of wine...but there was limit...they were only in control of so much.

Our blessings are rooted in our biggest need because we must recognize our dependence upon God! We can’t do this on our own.

The poor in spirit are dependent upon someone else to give them a Kingdom...the poor are not going to accomplish and conquer on their own. They have no authority. No standing...they have nothing.

Those who mourn are unable to comfort themselves...they need someone else to give them comfort. When someone who is mourning attempts to comfort themselves they become withdrawn and caught in a spiral of depression and sadness.

The merciful are dependent upon someone else to show them mercy. They open themselves up to abuse by others by being merciful...it requires someone else.

The list goes on and on...Our blessings are rooted in our biggest need because we must recognize our dependance on God to meet those needs.

We too often fail to see our blessing because we are trying to doGod’s part. We arrogantly believe we can do it all. God helps those who help themselves! Right? So we tire ourselves out...we get frustrated...we worry...we get depressed...and there is nothing we can do about that part.

That is the problem with worry as a parent. I worry about Brianna. What kind of friends she will make. Her walk home from school by herself most days. What kind of woman she will grow up to be...but my worry accomplishes nothing. I am responsible for my part....and the rest is not up to me,

Being blessed means we know what we can do, we do that, and we leave God to do what only God can do!

Being blessed means receiving what we need most.

There is an older country song by Garth Brooks titled Unanswered Prayers. In the song he tells how he and his wife ran into his high school sweetheart at a football game and how he remembered praying for God to make the relationship last.

Then Garth sings:

And as she walked away and I looked at my wife
Then and there I thanked the good Lord
For the gifts in my life
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.

You see...we are notoriously bad at knowing what we need. We think our problem is one thing, and our very knowledgeable heavenly Father say, “Nope. That’s not your problem...here is your problem.”

We have some financial struggles...so we start looking for a better job that pays more. In reality our financial struggles are not always a result of not making enough money...sometimes the blessing comes by learning to trust and depend on God rather than our ability to make more money. God has often supplied financially for His children from unexpected places and by helping available resources go further than they should.

It might be that our need is not more money, but to confess a greed or lusting after more that has crept into our lives and keeps us from appreciate what we have. We think we need more money because we have bought more than we need.

It might be that our deepest need is to spend what we do have more wisely. God isn’t going to give us more if we are not using what we have appropriately.

You want that relationship to work out...to find healing. The problem may not be with the other person. It may be a lack of forgiveness on your part. Maybe you are not seeing the wrong you are doing. Maybe God wants you to be gracious in the midst of the barrage they leverage at you. The problem may not be what you think it is...maybe the relationship needs to be severed.

So often our blessing comes as we recognize what our need really is...all the other stuff fades away and we gain perspective.

I found this clip a couple of years ago...it is hilarious, but challenging to our perspective...

Louis CK

Being blessed is about our attitude, not our situation.

Being blessed means knowing what we and are not in control of...knowing who is ultimately in control...and trusting that He is working to heal our deepest needs, and that should change our attitude.

Philippians 4:12-13, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Paul was able to look beyond the situation to see that God’s blessings were not simply about security and safety...he wrote from inside of a prison and was ultimately beheaded for the faith...so security and safety were not the standards Paul would use.

Being blessed starts with recognizing that no matter what our situation...we are blessed. The old cliche “There is always someone worse off than you.” Is meant to be a reminder that knowing we are blessed starts with our attitude. There is probably some poor sap for whom there really is no one worse off for him...But our blessing does not rest in the idea that someone is worse off than us. Our blessing rests in the promises and character of who God is.

Conclusion
This morning you may be struggling with something...a fear, a worry, a need that keeps getting in the way of you experiencing the blessings God has for you. Maybe its time you stopped trying to do God’s part for him...you have been working to make things work and it is just more stress and hardship than you can really take...It is time to let go.

Maybe you have been treating symptoms rather than the actual problem. We hate when our doctors do that, but we do it all the time. We would rather make more money than adjust our lust for more. It is time to let that go.

Maybe it is our attitude...we need confidence that God wants to bless us and take care of us...and our attitude or mindset gets in the way.

Jesus: Hope

2013-04-02T07:31:00.003-04:00

Hope can often be in short supply in our world. The news industry thrives on the destruction of our world. Television producers know that stories of heartbreak and tragedy, conflict, tension, anger producing programming will get the ratings! Politicians know that people will listen and believe a lie quicker than the truth if they can tell it well and attach to a deep seated fear we already have or something we already want to believe.

There is a scene in Shawshank Redemption where Andy breaks into the Warden’s office, locks the door and plays music over the loud speaker for the entire prison to hear. The Warden sends him to solitary confinement for his actions, but once he gets out be says it is the easiest time he has ever done in the hole because the music gives hope, and hope is most needed in a place like Shawshank.

We live in a world bereft of hope, and yet that is when we need hope the most! We need hope, in the midst of all that is going on and going wrong around us. We need hope because it brings meaning, purpose, and a confidence that better days are on the horizon.

For those of us here this morning, we must know the hope we really need can only be found in Jesus! When the world going to Hell around us, and there is little reason to believe that things are going to get better...we have hope because we have a Savior who was not defeated by death, but was raised to new life! That is the hope we need most.

Sometimes our church background gets in the way...We believe Jesus rose from the dead, but then talk about it as though it’s only applicable to our spiritual lives. That just doesn’t seem like God! Jesus’ resurrection is meant to give us hope with the everyday things we face; not just some future by and by.

When everything is going wrong...that is when we most need the hope Jesus’ resurrection provides.

We need hope when we are unemployed or under-employed, and there is a stack of bills sitting on the counter and a barrage of collection calls?

We need hope when all the guilt and shame of our past mistakes keep washing over and dragging us below the surface like a surfer being drowned beneath the ocean waves?

We need hope when our most earnest prayers seem unanswered and the one who promised, “till death do us part” walks out the door never to return?

We have access to the hope we need if we just tap into it in the resurrection of Jesus Christ...

Luke 24:1-12

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

It is easy for us to look back, knowing the end of the story, but if we could transport ourselves back to the time of the disciples, and put ourself in their shoes; experiencing what they had experienced over the past week...we too would sense the depth of their despair.

Jesus, the one they believed to be the Messiah entered Jerusalem to a rousing crowd cheering and shouting. He spent the week confronting the religious leaders and teaching about the Kingdom of God. The disciples expected Him to start the Revolution that would overthrow the Roman government and establish the Kingdom of God Jesus had been teaching about.

That is when it all went horribly wrong...Jesus was betrayed, arrested, mocked, beaten, crucified, and buried in a tomb...with a large stone and guards...it was over!

This wasn’t just their teacher. This was the man with whom they had spent 3 years of their lives...studying, preparing, laughing, and caring. They were broken and defeated. Peter, the disciple who said, “I will follow you even if it means death!” was so overwhelmed he denied Jesus 3 times. The rest of the disciples fled fearing for their lives. At one moment they are sure about the future and where it is headed...and the next everything has been taken away.

But here Luke begins...“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning...”

This is a whole new day! Things are about to get real!

1. Hope Heals our Past
By the time Luke writes this passage, the darkness the disciples felt had passed. The three days between the crucifixion and the resurrection were when all the loneliness, sadness, abandonment, and discouragement set in...the realization that there was no Kingdom...there was no revolution...Jesus was “not the Messiah they were looking for.” They left everything to follow Him, and now there was nothing.

But the resurrection changed all of that! Jesus’ resurrection took the pain and despair of those few days and vanquished them and filled them with hope. All of the the hurt and pain the disciples experienced was transformed by the resurrection.

And when we surrender our lives to Jesus, we are given access to the same transforming power that raised Jesus to life!

Romans 6:5-7, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.”

When we surrender our past hurts, sins, disappointments, and failures to God...the Bible tells us in Psalm 103:11-12, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

He does not hold our past against us! He desires to free us from all the baggage we carry!

A pastor received this letter: "I'm 31 years old and divorced, though I fought the divorce bitterly. I feel bad. I have no hope for my future. Often I go home and cry, but there's no one holding me when I cry. Nobody cares. Nothing changes, and I continue to fail. I'm stressed out emotionally, and I feel I'm on the verge of a collapse. Something is very wrong. But I feel so hurt and embittered that I can scarcely react or relate to others anymore. I feel as if I'm going to have to sit out the rest of my life in the penalty box."

The tragedy is many people live life like this. They can't get on with the present and the future because they're stuck in the past. Guilt or regret ties them down. Sometimes they're letting a former relationship mess up their current relationship. They say, "I guess I'll just have to live with this the rest of my life."

The resurrection is God’s way of saying our past doesn’t have to define our present or our future!

No matter what sin you have lurking in your past...

No matter how often you have failed...

No matter what hurts and pains you have experienced...

Jesus’ resurrection gives hope that you can have freedom from your past and start again!

2. Hope helps our Present Problems.
I love football...especially Ohio State football, but I’m usually busy when the games are on so I don’t get to watch it. So that is why God gave me a DVR to record them. I do find it impossible, though, not to peak. But I have found, if I know my team is going to win the game, I don’t get as tense and upset when I’m watching the dvr’d game and they fumble the ball....I already know they win.

When we take the power of Jesus’ resurrection into our lives...it is like knowing our team wins. It puts our current pain into perspective. Jesus declares that nothing will overcome those who place their trust in Him...this gives us a tremendous advantage in handling our current problems

To often we say things like “My life is out of control.”

We say...
I feel powerless to change the situation…
I feel powerless to break that bad habit…
I feel powerless to save a relationship…
I feel powerless to get out of debt…
I feel powerless to manage my schedule...

What we need is a power greater than ourself. You were never meant to live life on your own power...disconnected from God.

Our Present can seem unmanageable because we have not tapped into the power Jesus makes available to us.

Ephesians 1:18-20 says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you...and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead...”

Some of us came crawling in here—you've had a tough week, a tough month, a tough couple of years, and the idea that God can do something about our present circumstances may sound as nonsensical as the women’s description that day to the disciples, but God wants you to hear this: "Don't give up."

No problem is too big for God. No situation is hopeless if you'll turn it over to him.

Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

It does not says, "I am ready for anything through the power of positive thinking"? It doesn't say, "I am ready for anything because I psyched myself up"? It doesn’t say, “I am ready for anything because I can tough it out!” No.

It says, "I am ready for anything because of the strength of Christ who lives in me."

That strength is available for you today!

3. Hope means our future is secure
Jesus’ resurrection means that in the end...He wins. Pain, suffering, death, sin, evil...they don’t win. They don’t get the last word. God has spoken against the injustice in our world...and about the injustice in our lives! Despite everything we see around us screaming to the contrary....the pain, the turmoil, the heartache...even in the death of His only begotten son...something good will come of this.

When we are faced with a hopeless situation...we can rest in the promise of Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Our future is uncertain...not one of us here knows what will happen to us...we can live in fear of that future...we can worry about all the stuff that MIGHT happen...we can allow the pressures to overwhelm us...or we can trust that the same God who raised Jesus from the dead will bring life to our future, and take care of us no matter what the world throws at us.

I love 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14. I use it often when doing funerals. It says, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”

You see, we don’t have to fear the future...least of all do we have to fear death. Because one day, Jesus will raise us from the dead to live in His presence in the Kingdom of God in realm where pain and tears are wiped away, and joy and celebration replace all the heartache. We do not grieve as those who have no hope, because we are certain that God is working everything toward the ultimate goal of His Kingdom.

Your future is not uncertain...God holds it in His hands!

Conclusion
I love this quote, “The Christian gospel [Jesus’ death and resurrection] asserts that...God moves to fix messes he didn’t create, pay debts he didn’t incur, forgive the guilty for wrongs they couldn’t undo and bear burdens humanity piled onto itself.”

God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, shows us a different God than many have come to believe exists. We have a Savior who left heaven, surrendered His God-ness, and took on our humanity...suffered alongside of us...took on our infirmities, as the Bible says, all so He could rescue us.

Today, maybe you walked in here struggling with baggage from your past...that doesn’t have to define your present or your future...If you are willing to surrender it to Jesus, he can give you the strength you need to make it through.

Maybe you are just slammed with all kinds of present problems. You feel your life is unmanageable and out of control. You are struggling just to maintain...You don’t have to do that under your own strength.

Maybe it is the future that frightens you. You live in fear of what might or might not happen...I invite you to place your trust in the God who promises to make everything work out to the good.

Jesus: Ultimate Forgiveness

2013-04-02T07:27:00.000-04:00

Everyone of us in this room, at one time or another, needed someone to forgive us. We said or did the wrong the thing, and hurt someone. Each of us has also had to forgive someone at one time or another. They overstepped their boundaries, said or did the wrong thing, and we needed to forgive them.

But let’s be honest...most of what we mean by forgiveness should maybe just be called forbearance. When you have human beings going through life we are going to bump into each other, and that needs a little forbearance...putting up with each other’s idiosyncrasies.

True forgiveness happens when one person causes us to suffer in such a way that our previous way of relating is impossible now. The suffering creates separation in our relationship because the actions have been damaging. We can’t do that any more, because it hurts too much.

I believe most every person, at least conceptually, understands the power of forgiveness. We understand its need. We understand that not forgiving hurts us more than it hurts them. We know all of this, and yet there always seems to be that one time, that one act, by that person where forgiveness is so much harder. Their action sticks with us. It even seems to have this mystical power over our lives, and we simply can’t break free.

We talk about it constantly.

Our minds wander to it when we are quiet.

We try to get away, but just can’t seem to break its hold.

Lori and I were hanging out with a friend and his wife a long time ago...we had worked for the same hard driving boss, and every time we got together the stories and the time spent together seemed to dwell on what had happened way back then...It was like our relationship was defined by our shared suffering.

One time after a whole evening of this, Lori and I were driving home, and I said, “I don’t want that time in my life to define me. I don’t want to be sitting around with my friend years from now still telling the story of that person over and over again.”

What I really needed was to learn how to forgive.

This morning we looking at a scene from Jesus’ crucifixion. I know it is Palm Sunday, and people traditionally talk about the Triumphal Entry, but we are going to look at a scene from Jesus on the cross and how he continues, even at his deepest and darkest moment to offer forgiveness to those around Him.

Let’s read Luke 23:32-39

32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.
33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Forgiveness can be difficult as it is, but now Jesus raises the bar, so to speak, by forgiving the people who are in the act of crucifying Him. I can’t imagine what it must have been like. I can’t imagine how He was able to accomplish such a thing.

And here we see Jesus offering forgiveness right in the middle of the worst moment of His life. Jesus is able to forgive because

1. Jesus prayed for their forgiveness.

His entire ministry Jesus forgave the sins of others, taught His disciples to forgive, and actively prayed for his people to receive forgiveness. It was to be the hallmark of the Messiah’s ministry.

One of the most powerful teaching passage of Jesus is the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. In Matthew 5:39-48 Jesus teaches about turning the other cheek, and in a passage that speaks directly to this, Jesus talks about loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us.

Long before he actually dealt with a crucifixion, Jesus made the decision to pray for those who were crucifying Him, and that is where it must begin for us...praying for those who hurt, offend, and want to do actual harm to us.

I don’t know about you, but praying for the people who are in the process of killing me does not sound like an easy thing to do. In fact, we live in a culture that says, “I will kill you before you can hurt me!” Our American way of doing things make this seem like the stupidest of responses! How dare he just take it! And then to wimp out and pray for those who are hurting Him? There are all kinds of psychological terms for the damage being done, and yet Jesus does exactly that...he prays for them...he forgives them.

In one church where I youth pastored, there was a lady who seemed determine to undermine my leadership and make me look bad. She went so far as to lie about me to my pastor. Luckily, I had called her to explain the situation from his phone with him standing next to me; so he had witnessed it all. He, however, saw what the strain was doing to me personal, and practically mandated that I begin praying for her...and not just praying she drop over dead or something. He challenged me to pray for God’s blessing on her life...and that act alone transformed my heart toward her, and my ability to respond to her even while it never changed the situation.

What seems like a moment of weakness is actually a moment of strength for Jesus. Jesus is doing this for them. His prayer, here on the cross, is just a verbal expression of what his crucifixion was all about...the forgiveness of those who most need it.

Jesus made a decision to love His enemies and to pray for those who persecuted Him in the same way he calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

2. Jesus sets the example for us to follow.

Luke is the author of our passage today and also the author of the book of Acts. In Acts he records the beginning of the church, and some of the persecution the people faced. In one place he tells the story of Stephen. A young man given leadership in the church who soon faces persecution because of his belief in Jesus.

The people are so angry they beat Stephen; many calling for his death. As the people begin to beat him to death with rocks, Stephen prays, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." (Acts 7:59,60).

Jesus life is meant to be our example, and Stephen understood this. It is our call as well. We are called to love our enemy and to pray for those who persecute us.

We often make excuses for why Jesus’ way simply will not work. Our world is too violent to respond with this kind of approach. If we do it this way, people will walk all over us. We can come up with a million excuses as to why Jesus’ way will not work in our modern world, and yet His call does not waver...there is no exception to the rule.

Bt is as Elizabeth O'Connor said, "Forgiveness is a whole lot harder than any sermon makes it out to be."

When we have to put rubber to the road, responding as Jesus would have us respond is not easy. Often what is harder than the act of forgiving is convincing ourselves we should even forgive in the first place.

But,,,

3. Jesus knows the power of forgiveness.

There are several powerful spiritual principles at work when it comes to forgiveness...even when, maybe especially when, we are forgiving some of the most horrific things in our world.

A. Forgiveness frees us.

This isn’t just about the other person. In fact, the people around Jesus that day, for the most part, wanted nothing to do with His forgiveness. The people stoning Stephen wanted nothing to do with forgiveness. In many ways forgiveness isn’t isn’t about the other person...it is a way of freeing the forgiver from to the damaging effects of the sin done to them.

Philip Yancey says, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.”

I think I like the vividness of Anne Lammott’s statement even more, “Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.”

So often we refuse to forgive because it “will let them off the hook.” But really, we have to let ourselves off the hook. We have to stop nursing that pain. Like the bruise on our arm that we keep touch even though it hurts...we do that with out pain.

Facebook gives us insight into the minds of many people. One of the things I have noticed over and over is how it allows people to wallow and never get past the sharpness of their pain and anger. Not that people will ever get over certain events in their life, but certainly the human spirit is resilient and the pain softens over time...unless we keep nurturing the pain, caring for it, reminding ourselves of the painfulness of the pain...

When we refuse to forgive we remind ourselves over and over again how much we have been hurt and how painful it is and so it continues to cause us pain.

In reality what we need is to forgive because the pain is actually killing us. We have drunk the rat poison and we are waiting around for the rat to die.

B. Forgiveness enables us to receive forgiveness.

In the prayer we call The Lord’s Prayer, we say this line “Forgive us our transgressions as we forgive those who transgress against us.” What we often miss is that this means, “Forgive us in the same way we forgive others.” Our forgiveness is bound to our ability to forgive. We cannot receive the forgiveness God or others offer to us if we are harboring unforgiveness.

C. Forgiveness enables us to release the past and move into the future.

I wrestle with forgiving. My father left before I was born, and I saw him about 5 or 6 times my entire life. A couple of years ago I learned he had terminal cancer and had only a month or so to live. I struggled with whether to even go see him or not, but I so much wanted an apology from him before I could forgive.

So I finally went up, and after some time there we went out on the back porch to talk. He started off with what I thought was going to be an apology for not being part of my life, but instead turned into an apology for it not working out with my mom. It was probably his way of apologizing, but it wasn’t what I wanted...but somewhere in there I realized what I really wanted was a life with a father in it, and it was already too late for that...and no apology was ever going to do anything about it.

Anne Lammott has another great quote on forgiveness, “Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a better past.” And that is what we have to do. Our past hurts will kill our future. They will squeeze the life out of it.

Our ability to forgive enables us to move on...to move forward.

Conclusion

In 1977 “Reaksa” Himm was just 14 years old when the Khmer Rouge invaded his Cambodian village and slaughtered his friends and family. Reaksa, along with his father and brothers were dragged to the edge of a mass grave and slashed with machetes, beaten with clubs, and then tossed into the grave.

Miraculously Reaksa survived. He came to in the pit, and managed to crawl out unseen. As he hid in the nearby jungle, he watched as they dragged his mother and sisters and family members to the pit and murdered them.

Reaksa says, “As the soldiers threw dirt on the people who were my entire life, I swore revenge. I was alone, hungry and scared and in the coming weeks I made my way across the jungle, avoiding soldiers by day and sleeping in trees by night to escape roaming tigers.”

He spent several years living in the squalor of refugee camps before immigrating to Canada. There he was introduced to Jesus Christ. He says, “Through years of Bible study and communion with God, I started a new life in the west but could not release myself from the prison of hatred, anger and vengeance. I discovered that forgiveness truly is divine and that as the years passed, my blood oath and all consuming ire were in direct conflict with my new nature.

“The anger against the killers was as great as the grief for my family and it burned inside me like a great ball of fire. For years I cultivated elaborate fantasies in which I tortured and murdered the killers again and again, projecting all my rage and pain I bottled inside myself in my plans for what I would do to the men when I found then. I realized that I would never know true peace until I had dealt with this as well. I had to find a way of forgiving them, before the bitterness inside destroyed me.

If you’ve been deeply hurt, it isn’t easy to forgive but we can learn a lesson from Jesus, who forgave those who crucified him.”

So often we turn forgiveness into something about the other person, when it is has a significant impact on us, our healing, our freedom, our ability to receive forgiveness from others and especially from God! We want them to pay, but we have place ourselves in the prison thinking that will teach them.

Jesus: Weeping

2013-03-19T07:40:00.003-04:00

St. Patrick once said this about Ireland,

“I grieve for you, how I mourn for you, who are so very dear to me, but again I can rejoice within my heart, not for nothing have I labored, neither has my exile been in vain.”

Long before he was associated with Green Beer, which no self-respecting Irishman would ever drink, or wild celebratory partying, Patrick was a missionary who baptized thousands, ordained many priests, and recruited men and women as monks and nuns. Although he wasn’t martyred, Patrick endured hostility and imprisonment, but sticking it out, his love for Ireland made him synonymous with that country. He loved Ireland so much he endured a great deal to reach them with the love of Christ.

His statement reminds me of today’s passage.

Luke 19:41-44 says,

“As [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

We are in a message series looking at Jesus’ reaction to those who are broken, and sinful, and in need of forgiveness. As people who profess to follow the way of Jesus, our lives and our responses to human sin and the need for forgiveness are to reflect those we see in Jesus. And today we see Jesus so moved with compassion for his people that he wept!

Jesus Wept

There are only two times in Scripture where we see Jesus crying. One in John, where Jesus weeps at the death of his friend Lazarus. The second is here in Luke as Jesus looks at the capital city of His people, and weeps over them.

The Gospel of Matthew uses the word compassion to show Jesus’ emotional response to those who are hurting. But here the emotion is much deeper. Jesus weeps almost uncontrollably.

The word used for weeping here is 'klaio' which means audible weeping. This is more than the typical manly excuse of there is “something in my eye” or “my eyeballs are just sweating!” It is also different from the word John uses when Jesus wept over Lazarus. This is violent weeping that seized him. He lost control and cried out in anguish. It burst through with visible, audible emotion. He was gripped with a pained passion for His people.

This is the opposite reaction most people felt as they looked at Jerusalem.

Last summer Lori, Bri, and I went to the Grand Tetons for vacation. As we came through the mountain pass out of Dubois, Wyoming we saw the Grand Tetons for the first time. I felt such awe and overwhelming joy at their grandeur and beauty. They were gorgeous! I tried to capture it with a picture, but it just didn’t do it justice. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it can’t contain the joy, and awe, and emotion of seeing something like that for the first time!

As the Jewish traveler came over the ridge and Jerusalem came into view, their emotions would have been overwhelming! Emotions similar to what I felt as I saw the Tetons for the first time. Jerusalem was the City of God. It was Abraham’s Mount Moriah, David’s Mount Zion, it was the home of the High Priest Melchizedek and the future home of Israel’s Messiah. At the center of the city, rising above the other buildings, they could see the earthly residence of God, the Temple, and they were here to worship! Their hearts leapt with joy over this place.

If there were tears, it was excitement and joy that caused them...but that is not why Jesus wept over Jerusalem.

Jesus shed tears of anguish; tears of a broken heart. Jesus wept because he could see the deeper reality of things.

Jesus wept because they were blind.

This story follows the Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into the City. He is welcomed with great fanfare. People shout and cheer. They throw palm branches and their cloaks on the ground. But in the midst of all this excitement they are blind.

In our passage Jesus says, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.”

John 1:11 says, “[Jesus] came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

What the Jews had longed for and searched for so long to find was right in front of them...and they just couldn’t see it! They longed for the coming of their Messiah. They longed for the Shalom or peace of God. The very name of their capital city, Jerusalem, had the word Shalom or Peace in it symbolizing that God’s presence was the way to this true shalom. Jesus, the bearer of all they desired, was right there in front of them...and they were blind to it!

How many times does that happen today? The answer is ready and available, and people reject it.

People in need of love and community...reject the church.

People who need help and compassion...reject even speaking with a Christian.

People who need healing and hope in their lives...turn away from God rather than toward him.

The Church has not always done a great job at presenting Jesus well, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Jesus really is the way to true peace and forgiveness and hope in our world. Jesus is what Jerusalem needed, and Jesus is what our world needs today!

Our neighbors who struggle to keep their marriage together can and should be able to find hope in our marriages and in the Lord we serve.

The people who work with us should be able to see a different kind of employee, a different kind of attitude, a different kind of person in us...because we know Jesus is the hope our world needs.

People should be drawn to the hope found in Jesus simply because they come into contact with us, and by watching our lives, their eyes are opened to what Jesus can do for them!

So Jesus wept because of their blindness, but

Jesus wept over the coming destruction.
Our passage says, “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Jerusalem had always been the center of political turmoil. Because it was located on the busiest trade routes in the ancient world, every major world power wanted to control it. The Babylonians had conquered and destroyed the city near the end of the Old Testament. Eventually the Romans had conquered it, but even they couldn’t control the turmoil in the city.

What Jesus saw as the coming destruction would take place about 30 or so years later in AD 70. Jewish factions started to revolt. Titus, who would become Rome’s next Emperor, surrounded the city, destroyed every living tree surrounding Jerusalem to build a siege wall, and allowed no food or water to enter the city for 9 months.

The elderly, the weak, the poor, and the young were some of the first to die from thirst and starvation. Moral declined as the bodies of their neighbors piled up in the streets. Eventually Titus broke through the walls of the city and destroyed almost everyone inside.

The Jewish historian Josephus writes,

“The slaughter within was even more dreadful than the spectacle from without. Men and women, old and young, insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who entreated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on the work of extermination."

In his anger, Titus destroyed the Temple, not leaving one stone on top of another, and sacrificed a pig on the altar, the abomination of desolation spoken of in Matthew.

This is the consequence of Jerusalem’s rejection of their Messiah, and at the heart of Jesus’ weeping that day. Jesus isn’t weeping because of the people have simply committed sin...he is weeping because of the devastation sin causes in the lives of those whom he loves! For Jerusalem, their sin and their rejection of the Messiah was leading to a day of actual destruction.

For many people around us...their sin has consequences that either has brought them into some destructive consequences or it will one day.

Jesus wept because he saw the destruction sin causes.

These are the same tears a parent cries when the son or daughter they love reaps the consequences of their drug use.

These are the same tears shed every time an innocent child is molested or abused and suffers at the hands of someone else’s sin.

These are the tears shed when a marriage is destroyed and innocent children suffer the consequence two adults have thrust upon them.

These are the tears of the spouse who has been betrayed and cheated on.

Sin has devastating consequences.

Jerusalem's rejection of their Messiah means they forfeited peace...the Shalom they so desperately needed and wanted. They just didn’t see it. He still weeps.He looks at the pain and agony, the consequences people suffer due to rebellious sinfulness and weeps.

Some people have this idea that Jesus gets really excited about being people’s judge. He is holy and gets to give them what they deserve, but if this picture of Jesus is correct, Jesus weeps when humans reject the peace and the hope he has to offer.

In Ezekiel 33:11 God says to the Prophet Ezekiel,

“Say to [Israel], ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’”

2 Peter 3:9,

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Jesus wept for this city, and in within the week they executed him. His love compelled Him to attempt over and over and over again to win them...even to the point of sacrificing His own life.

Conclusion
The challenge for us is to be moved with this same passion. As followers of Jesus, as His ambassadors in our world, do we weep for the those who are hurting and struggling with sin? Do we see our family, our friends, our neighbors, our city, as something worth weeping over because of their distance from God?

Often what we have to overcome is something more like indifference.

In 1994 there was a massacre in Rwanda. Hutus massacred somewhere between 500,000-1,000,000 of their Tutsis neighbors in about a month and a half.

Hotel Rwanda is based on a true story about a hotel manager who rescued as many Tutsis refugees as he could. After watching a reporter's video of the atrocities, the manager believes this will cause the world to get involved. The reporter says, “They will say, “Oh my god! That’s horrible!” and then go on eating their dinner.” And that is exactly what the world did in that case...absolutely nothing.

If we are not careful, the church can sit by watching people as they are carried off in the horrific consequences of sin.

For us that means taking seriously out call to be a witness. To live out the Jesus life in front of the people around us. To take each God-given moment to share about the hope we have within us. To speak up. To act and care on behalf of those who are hurting. To feel this same sense of purpose and drive to reach the lost. To weep for those around us who need desperately need the shalom Jesus offers.

Who are you weeping over?

Jesus: Caught in the Act!

2013-03-19T07:36:00.003-04:00

Have you ever been caught doing something wrong? Maybe it was an embarrassing moment you hoped no one would see?

Or maybe you are a celebrity whose most embarrassing moments gets replayed on your own reality television show like Jessica Simpson

Television programs have made millions catching people at their most embarrassing moments even allowing videos of themselves to be shown.

When I was a teenager, a friend of mine had this crush on the girl who lived next to a mutual friend. He would watch from inside the house as she swam in her pool...kind of creepy now that I think about it...he wanted to talk to her, but just couldn’t muster the nerve.

One day I’d had enough of his love sickness and went out to talk to her hoping to drag him with me. Apparently he wasn’t wearing the right clothes...the girl attracting clothes. He wanted his cool outfit...so I went out to start a conversation and he went to change.

I walked up and said hello and started a conversation. As we walked I noticed the ground around her above ground pool was really wet. She said there was a leak and it was causing the grass to be wet and slippery. It was just about then my friend came jogging up with this cool, swagger, strut, run thing...and before I could say anything, about 10 feet out, he hit this patch of wet, slick, and apparently muddy ground.

He slid the 10 feet across the yard slamming into her above ground pool. He was so embarrassed he ran back to the house and never went into the backyard again. If we were leaving the house and she saw us in the front...he would simply duck his head and run for the car.

Embarrassing moments, when they are happening, are not that funny to us, but after awhile we can usually laugh about them. They also do something pretty amazing; they draw us together. It is crazy, but I have spent hours with friends sitting around, laughing, and telling stories about those moments I wish no one had seen.

What happens, though, when we get caught doing something seriously wrong? Something that is more than just embarrassing? We hide, lie about our involvement, and we cover up what we have done wrong. We are like Adam and Eve in Genesis 3...attempting to hide our sin and knowing we can’t get away with it.

We are currently in a series where we are looking at Jesus and how he deals with people who have sinned or failed. And this morning we are looking at a pretty common story...the story of the Woman caught in Adultery. This is probably the most well known story of Jesus dealing with someone who has sinned, but it is also easily misunderstood.

This series is important for us because we are called to follow Jesus which means more than just adding Him to our lives so we get into heaven when we die. Following Jesus means we view Jesus’ actions and attitudes as the example we are to follow in our everyday lives. One of the things we will spend a lot doing is dealing with issues of forgiveness and reconciliation with people who have been caught in sin. This is also an area where we often miss the mark as followers of Jesus in today’s church in dealing with people outside.

So let’s start by reading our passage...John 8:3-11,

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.

Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

This story, I believe really brings out the divisions when we start to talk about sin in a person’s life and what should take place when they are caught.

But let’s be honest...

We like a good train wreck!

The teachers of the law drag this woman who, and the passage emphasizes this point, has been caught in the very act of adultery. They want to make a spectacle of her so they drag her through the streets where everyone can see. They know how to work the crowd. By the time they get to Jesus the people are frenzied and hyped up because they get to see a lynching in the name of obedience to God’s Law!

We get sucked into this too.

How many times have we picked up a tabloid paper, stayed on Jerry Springer a little too long, watched Judge Judy, relished a reality show fiasco, stood outside watching with more than just a passing curiosity while our neighbors were arrested...we like to watch a train wreck. I don’t know if it just touches something deep within us that makes us feel better about ourselves...”At least I’m not that screwed up!” For some of us it might be about the justice. We want to see people get what they deserve.

F. B. Meyer says,

"It is a terrible thing for a sinner to fall into the hands of his fellow sinners.”

But let’s remember we don’t like to be someone else’s train wreck, and people outside the faith don’t like to be the train wreck either. As we look at this story, we see that Jesus isn’t interested in the train wreck either.

Jesus saw a woman. A woman who had, most likely, been set up...because why is she here and the man not? A woman who had obviously made some bad choices...maybe she made those choices because she was a sinner...maybe she made them because life had almost forced her into this role...either way...

Jesus saw a person, a woman, and He treated her with dignity and compassion.

He didn’t get sucked into the hype. He knew a life was literally on the line...both hers and his...and ours. He knew this story would help define hour treatment of people when they are caught in the act of sinfulness. And how often do we see people who have made a train wreck of their own lives and look at them with something other than dignity and compassion?

When our society sees people in poverty, rather than give them dignity or treat them with compassion, they dismiss, ignore, or mistreat them.

When dealing with sin in the church, we so often miss treating the person with dignity and compassion.

Jesus’ reminds us we are to treat people with the dignity and respect deserving of someone made in the Image of God. Which can be hard. People do horrible, horrific things to other people...sometimes so horrible we want to stop thinking of them as human.

Jesus’ response to this angry crowd is a response that shows both compassion toward the woman and serves as pointed criticism of those involved. When everyone is pushing him for a response, Jesus looks at them and says, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

This statement alone has been misunderstood and misused so often it isn’t even funny. Every time someone messes up, someone will use this against people. Well, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” They go into KJV for that one. What they are saying is that if you have sinned you have no right to judge, and that is NOT what Jesus is saying. If that is the case, no one would ever be able to make a make a decision about whether something is right or wrong...we would all have to be quiet.

Jesus is saying, “There is more going on here than meets the eye! This is a set up! God’s law requires we bring no false witness against our brothers...and you have obviously set this woman up to take the fall. Where is the man? If your hands are clean in this woman’s guilt, then by all means go ahead with this!”

Jesus knows...

We like to ignore our own sin.

The Teachers of the Law had most likely set this whole thing up...they were arranging a murder. This wouldn’t be the last time.

So often, though, we are able to smugly look down our nose at others ignoring the fact that we are guilty too. We are good at ignoring our own sins while hating the sins of others. This shouldn’t mean we abstain from calling sin sin and dealing with it, but it certainly means we need to call out our own sin just as often.

Why is it the church is so good at calling out homosexuality while ignoring divorce? Why is it so good at naming abortion sin, but ignoring its neglect of the poor and promotion of war and violence?

Why can we point out the problems of an alcoholic or drug addict while turning a blind eye to our own harmful addictions; just because they are not that bad?

We are so good at pointing out the sin in others and leaving our own sin unmentioned or simply pretending our sin doesn’t separate us from God the way other people’s sins separate them.

So often what people outside the church see and people inside the church miss is that by pointing out the sin in others...

We indict ourselves!

Don’t get me wrong, Jesus isn’t diminishing the woman’s sin, he is putting it in perspective.

As the old cliche goes, when you point the finger at someone you have several fingers pointing back at you!

He treated her sin with brutal honesty...but he also treated her accuser’s sin with that same brutal honesty.

but the point of all this...

Jesus gave grace and hope.

Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

So often we forget that grace is not glossing over the wrong that has been done. When someone falls in today’s world, people will automatically say, “We have to show them grace!” What they often mean is, “Let’s just forget it and move on!” or “We all sin so this is no big deal!” They will point to this passage as proof.

The grace Jesus demonstrated is very different from the often wishy-washy form of grace offered today. Jesus’ grace says, “I have forgiven you. Now let me also change your life.” He forgave the woman’s sin and sent her out to start a brand-new life.

That is what we so desperately need in our world today...a grace that says, “You have done wrong, now let me help you start a brand new life!” That is what Jesus calls us to live out when He forgives our sins, and that is what He wants us to do in relationship with others.

We need to learn Jesus’ kind of forgiveness because many believe we must settle for one extreme or the other. Either a justice oriented approach to sin which relishes justice and judgment, or a “grace” driven approach which takes too lightly sins consequences in our lives and the world we live in.

As we follow Jesus, we are asked to find a way to give dignity to those caught in sin, to live humble lives that recognize and call out our own sin, and to offer Jesus’ style of grace that recognizes the damage sin does, but calls us to a brand new life!

Conclusion

Living this out is tremendously difficult. But it will make a difference in our world. It will allow people to see Jesus in us. I think learning to forgive properly...learning to give true grace is such an important part of our witness, and yet it so often neglected because it is hard. Committing to forgive the way Jesus forgives might put us in a tough situation.

Take a look at this photo by Chris Clark, Grand Rapids Press.

On May 20, 2012, 18 year-old Takunda Mavima was driving home drunk from a party when he lost control and crashed his car into an off-ramp near Grand Rapids, Michigan. Riding in the car were 17 year-old, Tim See, and 15 year-old, Krysta Howell. Both were killed in the accident.

Takunda Mavima lived.

Mavima plead guilty to all charges and was sentenced to between 30 months and 15 years in prison.

Despite their unimaginable grief and anger, both the sister and the father of victim, Tim See, gave a moving address to the court on behalf of Mavima, urging the judge toleniency.

“I am begging you to let Takunda Mavima make something of himself in the real world — don’t send him to prison and get hard and bitter, that boy has learned his lesson a thousand times over and he’ll never make the same mistake again.”

And when the hearing ended, the victim’s family made their way across the courtroom to embrace, console, and publicly forgive Mavima.

That is a Jesus style forgiveness that recognizes the sin, that says, “I have forgiven you, now let’s change your life!”

Identity: Completion

2013-02-28T10:28:00.003-05:00

How many of you have been sidetracked by procrastination?

It seems to get everyone at one time or another. If you have ADD like me...you start working on something and notice something else that needs to be done, that leads to something else...and pretty soon you have spent an hour or more looking at funny cat pictures online or ready inane status updates on Facebook.

It is simply amazing the human race with its ability to procrastinate has accomplished anything! But it is nice to know we serve a God who has promised to get us across the finish line of the faith; a God who has promised to help us bring to completion all the character and sin issues in our lives and lead us to a place where we enjoy the fullness of the Gospel life He has laid out in front of us.

We are looking at one verse today, Philippians 1:6. It is a phrase in a very long sentence. The Apostle Paul was often gifted in his use of the Greek...but sometimes he liked run on sentences that go on for ever and include several different things. So right in the middle of a sentence expressing his thankfulness for the way the Philippians have worked for the Gospel...Paul takes a quick break to express a thought about the personal salvation of the Philippians.

Philippians 1:6 says,

“being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

I believe Paul would say the same thing to many of us...and many us need to hear this...

We are in a message series on Identity and have been looking at what it means to gain our identity and self-worth from God. We looked at what it means to be made in the Image of God, and how that Image through the Fall of Genesis 3 has been marred by sin. It is easy, because it seems so natural, to only think of ourselves in light of Genesis 3. We are familiar with all the pain and evil in our world. We are painfully aware of our faults and sins and how we fall short of what God intended in our world.

Sometimes...we are tempted to believe that this is all there is. That my life with all of its sins and screw-ups will always be full of the faults and struggles I now have. I will always struggle with this. We need so desperately to hear that God has promised to not only forgive those faults and sins, but to work in our lives to root them out and bring healing and freedom from all the sins and struggles that hold us back.

Paul is able to pray with joy because he is confident that God will finish the work of the Gospel in their lives, and, by extension, the work of the Gospel in our lives. For Paul, like it should for us, all discussions about the Christian life and what it means for our identity begins and ends with a discussion of God and his character.

The only way to know who we are and where we are headed is to reevaluate how we view God.

Our Understanding of God is Important.
When we have a faulty understanding of who God is and what He is like it gets in the way of our spiritual growth.

If I believe God is only loving and grace-filled...I can end up with a big squishy God who simply pats us on the head when we sin, and says stuff like, “Boys will be boys!” We know what that kind of parenting does to children, and we know what that thinking does to our spiritual development.

If we view God only through the lens of holiness and justice...we can end up with a vengeful God who has this impossibly high standard we can never attain, and is looking for us to mess up at every turn. Our view of God affects our thinking.

Many of us, because of repeated failures to overcome a particular sin in our lives simply envision a God looking down on us shaking his head, turning his back and walking away. A God who acts very much like we would when we are disappointed in someone.

Paul says we serve and follow a God who is intent on making the fullness of the Gospel a reality in our lives. To free us from our sins, release us from our guilt, heal our woundedness, and restore life within us...and so many of us need to hear that...and not just hear it, but we need to believe it!

We serve a God who is not going to give up on us. In fact, many would describe Him as a pursuing God. Malcolm Muggeridge said, “I had a notion that somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued. Footsteps padding behind me; a following shadow, a Hound of Heaven, so near that I could feel the warm breath on my neck. . . . I was in flight. Chasing and being chased; the pursuing and the pursued...”

This is God at work, challenging, convicting, healing, forgiving, disciplining, and calling us forward so He can bring our salvation to completion.

So often we are like Adam and Eve in the Garden. We have sinned. We know we have sinned. So we run and hide and attempt to cover our nakedness with leaves. God was not surprised by their sin. He is not surprised by our sin either.

God knows we are incomplete.
This God who began a good work in us will bring it to completion...this means He is fully aware that I’m not perfect...that you are not perfect. He knows we are not getting everything right. We do not surprise him with our sin. There is never a time when we mess up that God goes, “I didn’t see that one coming!” He is guiding and shaping and transforming us toward a goal, but He knows we don’t get it right, and I find this comforting.

We can lay all my baggage out in front of Him, and know He loves me with all my stuff. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

You see we didn’t have to clean up before we came to Christ. We didn’t have to get everything lined up and straightened out in our life before He would consider doing anything for us. He knew that if He didn’t do something to bring about our salvation it was never going to happen because there was and is nothing we can do to save ourselves.

And we know that coming into the faith, but sometimes we grow to think He is surprised when we mess it up...that He loves us less when we mess it up...or that we have to do it all ourselves now that we inside the faith.

We also face the issue that none of us really likes to be the beginner. We want to come in and have it all together. We want to be good at praying. We want to be good being good. We want to have it all together. We forget that all of that baggage, the years of nurturing the sinful habits of our lives and the hold our sinful nature has on us, doesn’t just vanish. It takes time. Somethings God heals right away, and other things God heals as we work it because only through the hard work of trying and failing will we actually learn to get over our issue.

We are unfinished. We are not perfect. But we must make a little side note to remind ourselves that

God doesn’t do it alone.
Just as God doesn’t override our will and force us to follow Him...He will not do something in us that we do not allow. He will not force us to grow spiritually. He will not grow us into better people if we resist Him. He still expects us to cooperate.

God’s good work in us requires a response from us, and we have to take responsibility for our actions.

Paul reminds the Philippians in 1:27, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

In Philippians 2:12-13 he says, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

You see it seems contradictory to say, but our spiritual growth is a dance between us and God. God moving and us responding. We cannot earn our salvation, but we are expected to respond to God’s work in our lives.

So the expectation that is laid on us is

We must keep moving forward.
There are things we can do now, and we look forward to the completion of God’s work in our lives on the Day of Christ Jesus.

There is an infatuation in the church with the Rapture and the End Times and Revelation. There seem to be so many ideas about how this whole thing ends that some have simply thrown up their hands and given up on the whole thing. You have what Kirk Cameron and the Left Behind people say on one side, and then you have what the Bible actually says on the other side. It can get confusing.

Paul is reminding us that we are people of the Future. We believe that God is working in our world to bring about a restoration of how things should function, and that we are moving toward a Day when Jesus will return and set everything right.

I found this great quote in one of the commentaries I used to study this passage. It says,
"Believers in Christ are people of the future, a sure future that has already begun in the present. [We] are "citizens of heaven", who live the life of heaven, the life of the future, in the present in whatever circumstances [we] find [ourselves]. To lose this future orientation, and especially to lose the sense of "straining toward what is ahead, toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward," is to lose too much...even in the midst of present difficulties, God has in Christ both guaranteed [our] future and blessed [our] present situation."

We could spend so much time just unpacking this quote. But it boils down to the idea that God has started the power and presence of His Kingdom in our lives right now, and we push toward and live into that day when we and the rest of the world will get to experience the Kingdom in its fullness. Our responsibility is to keep pushing and pressing toward the future.

As Paul says in Philippians 3:12-14, “12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Conclusion
Maybe you have given up or been tempted to give up. You have struggled with a particular sin or character fault for a long time. Maybe you have been tempted to believe God couldn’t possible forgive you one more time. The only thing that keeps God from working in our life is if we decide to give up and walk away.

If can be difficult when it seems to be going so slowly. When it seems like we are having too many problems there are several things that may be at work.
He may be working, but not as fast or as visibly as we would like...and we are just impatient. So we say things like “God isn’t doing anything to help me!”

Sometimes the deepest levels of change happen when we have to work the hardest to overcome something.
We may not be using all of God’s resources

Prayer-we may need to get over ourselves and receive prayer from someone else
Confession-we may not actually have confessed it or really felt sorrow for our sin
Community-small groups, accountability partnerships, etc

Unwillingness to change. We have not made the necessary choices in our lives to see a change.
God is using our struggle in one area to grow another.
He may be building trust in us.

We can rest in the fact that God is at work. He is doing a good work in our lives that will He will ultimately bring to completion.

Psalm 138:8, “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;  your love, O Lord, endures forever—  do not abandon the works of your hands.”

Identity: How God Sees Us

2013-02-19T07:30:00.002-05:00

I don’t know about you, but I’m notorious for talking to myself. I not only talk, but I answer back. Because sometimes, depending on whose company you are in, you have to talk to yourself in order to have intelligent conversation.

Whether you admit it or not, pretty much everyone talks to themselves. We wrestle with problems by talking it out either inside or outside our heads. We think and ruminate on something and weight possibilities. Something outside of us triggers a problem and we start to wrestle with it.

But sometimes the talk turns hateful. In the field of psychology they call it the Inner Critic or Negative Self-Talk.

This happens when someone starts replaying the tapes of just how bad they really are.

What an idiot! You always do that!
I can’t believe you messed up again!
You never get it right!
How could you do that!

Several studies have shown how this negative self talk affects athletes in the heat of competition, and how it affects students in our schools. One young golfer would destroy the competition until the final few holes of the course...then she blow it and lose it! Her coach began watching her and noticed that somewhere around hole 13-14 she would start talking to herself...saying stuff like, “Don’t blow it again!”

When someone is told or tells themselves enough times they are bad or they never get it right or they will fail at this like all the times before...they eventually begin to believe it and internalize it and live it out. And this sort of thing is never what God intended to happen.

And He certainly never intended for it to characterize those who believe in Him. But we have our own form of negative self-talk in the church. It is often found in hymns and more so in the modern choruses we sing. It is found in the slogans and mottos we repeat to ourselves.

We sing songs about how broken and sinful and horrible we are...
I’m just a sinner saved by grace. A sinner...
Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven....I’m not perfect
“We sin everyday in word, thought, and deed.”

As I pointed out a few weeks ago, conviction, confession, and repentance are all part of it. We need to recognize when we are part of a broken world that is not functioning the way God intended. The Holy Spirit works in our lives to reveal our sinfulness and allow God to bring healing to those areas so He can restore our lives...but sometimes we get carried away...and move into a negative self-talk as Christians.

There is a ring of truth when we sing and say these things. Many of us will say, “But it is so true! I falter and fail so much! I am not perfect. I sin all the time!”

It rings true because we are speaking out of what we live rather than what God has called us to live. We speak out of the brokenness we have inherited from out world rather than the new and restored life God has implanted in us.

He has called us to so much more!

We read Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and FALL short of the glory of God.” and know just how true that is, but we neglect to read v 24 which is the last part of the sentenced, “and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

A few weeks ago I listened to a message by Louie Giglio. He pointed out that Paul writes, “To the Saints...” and then talks about the sins they are committing. He doesn’t say you sinners need to be more saintly. He says you Saints need to stop sinning. God has called us to live out of the new creation...to see ourselves the way He sees us...to speak to and about ourselves not from the viewpoint of brokenness, but from the viewpoint of being restored.

As we learn to gain our Identity, our purpose, and our self-worth from God, it is important to see that we are not sinners saved by Grace. We are not broken, pathetic, and horrible people. We are not Sinners who need to find a way to be more saintly.

We are saints who need to live up to our higher calling!

So today, let’s take a closer look at how God views us...and hopefully, how we can begin to see ourselves. So let’s look at one of the Letters of the Apostle Peter...

1 Peter 2:9-10

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

In 1 Peter 2:4-8, Peter compares how some have responded to Jesus versus how those in the church have responded to Jesus. For some Jesus is “rejected by men.” But to those who believe, Peter says, “this stone is precious.” The real separator, though, is our obedience. There are those who disobey the message, and then there are those whom God is at work in their lives...

The first thing we see is...

We are Chosen!
It feels good to be chosen. To know that we have been selected. For some of us, we still carry the scars of not being chosen on the playground. Every other kids gets picked...and you are last.

Here in 1 Peter, the Apostle writes calling us a chosen people, and reminding his original listeners how God chose the people of Israel to represent Him on the earth. In the same way God chooses the Church, and us as part of the church, to represent Him to a desperate who needs Him.

A few years ago, we were at an amusement park with some friends of ours. She was normally a bubbly, happy kind of person, but this day she was...grumpy and angry. Lori and I tried not to say anything, but over lunch we saw her get more angry and turn away. Lori asked, “What’s wrong?” Her husband says, “An old girlfriend of mine is here. She’s over there.” She turned and said, “It wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t so pretty!”

Then he said the stupidest thing I have ever heard someone say. He meant well. I know what he was trying to say, but in typical foot-in-mouth-husband-say-the-wrong-thing fashion...he said, “I don’t know why that is such a big deal. I chose you!”

Her response was something like, “Thanks for taking pity on me! Glad you slummed it for a fat ugly girl like me...” Yeah, it wasn’t good.

I know what he meant. He wanted to be with her because he loved her and had chosen to be with her...not with his ex.

For us, we are chosen by God because He loves us and wants to be with us...not because He has to. Not because he wants to catch us doing all the wrong stuff. But because we are special and loved by Him.

You are loved by God. He died for you. He has chosen you to be part of His church, His family, His Kingdom...You are wanted. That should be the backbone of our relationship with Him.

The second thing we see in this passage is...

We are Royalty!
There is this old story used by preachers for decades. It made its appearance about once a month when I was growing up. It is about an old ditch digger who is sing a song when a rich man pulls up alongside, rolls down the window, and asks, “Do you have any Grey Poupon?” No...the guy asks “What are you singing?”

The old ditch digger replies by singing the old chorus, “I’m a child of the King, a child of the King...”

The rich man interrupts and says, “You are not the child of a king. You are ditch digger.”

The old man simply continues singing. The point was to remind us no matter our station in life...no matter how low...we are children of the True King of Heaven. He has adopted us into His family, and we have the standing of true born children in the family.

In the culture of 1 Peter, adopted sons were given the exact same rights as natural born children. Augustus Caesar, who made a great salad, was succeeded by his adopted son. In fact, an emperor, whether he had children or not, would adopt the person he wanted to succeed him as leader of Rome.

Romans 8:14-17 says,

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ...”

We are adopted and brought into the Royal Family. We are heirs with Christ...which means we inherit a future Kingdom that has present ramifications. In the Vineyard talk a lot about the Kingdom of God. If you would like a quick introduction to what we mean, I highly recommend George Eldon Ladd’s book, The Gospel of the Kingdom.

Part of that is an understanding that like a King, God is taking back control of things here on this earth, and one day He will re-establish His Kingdom here on Earth and set things right. Then we will see things run as they were intended to run...no pain, no tears, no sin.

And we are part of the Royal Family living out of that Kingdom today and bring that Kingdom to be a future reality.

So we are chosen, we are royalty, and

We are Priests!
Priests are hold a special place in the social structure of the Bible. They were necessary middle men standing between God and Man. They represented God to men, and they represented man to God.

In the Old Testament there are 2 important instances of this.

The first example of someone acting in the role of priest was Moses.
Exodus 20:18-19 says,

“When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

So Moses interceded on behalf of the people before God, and Moses also spoke on behalf of God to the people.

Later in Ezekiel 22:30-31

God says, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

God’s wrath came in response to there being no one to stand in the gap...no one to represent God to the people and no one to represent the people to God...no one was willing to stand in the Gap.

We are priests. We have the privilege and the responsibility to represent God to the world and to represent people to God.

When people have problems with the Christian faith and with belief in God...it is often not so much with God as in a bad experience with Christians. They look at us to see how God would treat them. How does God forgive? How does God love? How does God care about me? They look to the church for answers to those questions.

But we also represent people to God.

When people are struggling with sin...our call is to represent them to God, and pray for their forgiveness. We believe in the power of prayer to see God bring physical healing to people. We represent these people’s need to God.

That is one of the most powerful aspect of Intercessory Prayer. At our monthly prayer and worship time we pray for people in our community. At our Prayer Outreach earlier this month, we drove through the neighborhoods praying for our community.

God places you in your neighborhoods and in your jobs not just because you need a place to live with good schools or a career to make money...he places you there as a priest...and intercessor...someone to stand in the gap...to represent your coworkers and neighbors to Him and to represent Him to them.

Everyday we walk among people, and we are called to be their priest. We have the privilege to minister to a world filled with hurt and pain out of God’s love for them when no one else will do it. We have the privilege of interceding for people before God...to seek forgiveness for them...to seek out healing for them...to stand between them and God.

We are chosen, we are royalty, we are priests, and

We are Set Apart!
That’s what being a Holy Nation means. It means we are set apart for God to use.

This has two aspects, first, we are called to live holy lives. Lives reflecting God’s Kingdom and His way of doing things rather than the world around us. He transforms us from sinner to saint so we can be an example of obedient living. As we grow in our discipleship we learn to reflect Christ more and more.

Second, we are set apart for service to the world. The Christian life is not about us getting into heaven, it is about us extending the Kingdom and purpose of God into our world. We are set apart for God to use in accomplishing His purposes in our world.

We are part of something so much bigger than us! There are times when I get discouraged and consider doing something other than planting a church...and then I remember that God has set me apart. I don’t know why He chose me, but He did. And He placed me here in Huber Heights to build a church that reaches lost people, that serves and loves with a radical grace, and that helps people grow closer to Him. And if you call this your church home, God is placing that call on your lives as well.

Church is not a spectator sport. God works through us to accomplish His purposes in the world, and I am afraid that so much get left undone simply because we cannot or will obey the voice of God and act. There is so much to accomplish. There are people who need to know who Jesus is and that He loves them.

There are people to be served and loved...Yesterday I met a man who was so thankful for a few bags of groceries. He eats Ramen noodles, he said, so his kids can have the real food in the house.

We are set apart to extend God’s Kingdom here in Huber Heights...in our neighborhoods...in our families...in our jobs. Many people will experience God’s love when we don’t step up and just do it.

Finally,

We are a Special Possession!
This stresses ownership. We are owned by God. Owning people doesn’t sound like a very pleasant way to describe this...we have a bad history of that in our country, but think of it more like the toys in Toy Story.

Andy wrote his name on the foot of each of his toys...and rather than this being a controlling thing...it was comforting. They were Andy’s toys. It is a great image of God.

We are God’s People. We belong to Him. We are made in His Image, and while it has been damaged, He loves us enough to restore it in our lives. He loves our world enough to redeem all things and eventually restore our world to what He intended it to be back in the Garden. All the sin and the damage and the problems...He is working to heal and forgive that in our lives and in our world.

We are His. That is comforting...not controlling.

The Result:
The result of all of this is..

We Declare His Praises. Our lives are a living testimony...proof positive that God is at work in our world...and that leads us to declare the praises of God. We are privileged to see Him at work. We get to see the miracles of God. We get to hear His voice. We get to experience His presence and that results in praise. 
We become His people! There is no chance most of us would ever have met or developed the friendships we have with each other apart from this church. Our lives would have been less full.
We receive His mercy! There is a whole sermon wrapped up in the idea that we are saved as a people, and not just as individuals. God promises salvation to His church. But now, being part of God’s people, being brought into His family, we receive mercy.

It is time to stop the tapes that are playing inside some of our heads. We are valued, loved, and forgiven by God. We are a chosen people whom He calls to represent Him to a hurting world. Let’s go out and live as the Saints God calls us to be.

Identity: Restoring the Image of God part 3

2013-02-12T12:53:00.001-05:00

We are in a message series called Identity. We have been looking at what it means for us to draw our identity from our relationship with God. We have looked at what it means to be made in God’s Image, how that Image has been broken, and started looking at some ways to restore that Image.

A few weeks ago we talked about how God uses our everyday life to build our spiritual character. We often think we have to add all this stuff to our lives in order to grow spiritually, but really we just have to be open to what God is doing everyday already.

Simply being aware of how God is working in our lives is not the only way to grow spiritually, nor should it be our only way. Today we are going to look at adding some things to our life that will build our spiritual character. Considering our chosen text for today...at first glance it may seem at odds with the idea of adding something to our lives...

It is found in Luke 10:38-42. Let’s take a moment and read it...

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

This story always bothered me a little. I bristle a little just listening to it.

There are probably several reasons for this. The first is I am a doer. I like to keep moving and busy. The busier I stay the more productive I feel. If I take time to sit still for a day...by the end of the day I’m almost angry because I didn’t accomplish anything. I like to rest, but even my rest has busy-ness. I read, watch television, listen to music. It seems there is always something going on.

The second reason may have something to do with what Henri Nouwen says:

“As soon as we are alone,...inner chaos opens up in us. This chaos can be so disturbing and so confusing that we can hardly wait to get busy again. Entering a private room and shutting the door, therefore, does not mean that we immediately shut out all our inner doubts, anxieties, fears, bad memories, unresolved conflicts, angry feelings and impulsive desires. On the contrary, when we have removed our outer distraction, we often find that our inner distraction manifest themselves to us in full force. We often use the outer distractions to shield ourselves from the interior noises. This makes the discipline of solitude all the more important.”

Many of us don’t like to be alone because that is when all our inner voices start to speak. As long as we are busy we can hold them at arms length. We can pretend like they don’t exist.

But notice Nouwen says, “This makes the discipline of solitude all the more important.”

Remember when you were a kid and got sick. The doctor always gave my mother two medicines. The wonderful, heavenly, bubblegum flavored pink stuff and the horrible, nasty, sewer water green stuff. It was like the heaven and hell tour of medicinal treatments. We all liked the pink stuff, but the green stuff was really what helped take away the cough and stuffy head that made us miserable.

This story reminds me how often I miss the point. I get so caught up in busy work and doing stuff and hiding from my inner voices that I forget God wants me to be with Him...and that out of that presence...out of that relationship...then and only then do things get done!

You see...

God wants to spend time with us.
“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.”

In this story we see both Mary and Martha want Jesus’ presence in their lives. He was present and available for both of them, but only Mary truly enjoyed His presence. There was a lot of things that had to be done in preparation for a visiting Rabbi and his disciples...so Martha, wanting Jesus to come to her home, was busy doing all those preparations.

Mary...simply sat with Jesus.

It is so easy to get caught up doing all the stuff to spend time with God that we forget to actually spend time with God.

We are willing to read all the books on prayer and how to study the Bible and the Christian living books and the devotionals...the conferences and the church services...listen to all the latest worship songs, and yet at rarely do we stop, sit quietly with God’s Word open in front of us and speak with Him. We spend more time doing and thinking about spending time with God than we do actually seeking to spend time with Him.

One of the most powerful things about being in the Vineyard movement is how they speak of God...in relational terms that fully expects God to speak to His children...but so often we miss out on hearing him...or we begin believing that he doesn’t really speak to us like that...when we haven’t taken the time to cultivate that relationship and carve out the time to invest.

Have you every been working on a project, reading a book, or watching a show on television...and you were so engrossed in it you never heard the person walk into the room? They may have even spoken to you, and yet you didn’t hear it.

Busyness in our lives is like that. What we need is some buffer zone...some quiet time...some separation from all the stuff that wants our times.

Our time spent in Scripture and prayer and solitude are important because these are disciplines God uses for a growing relationship. He speaks to us through the Scripture and prayers. He uses the solitude so we can hear him; away from the din of our everyday lives.

And this takes time. We cannot build a relationship on flashes and bit prayers and rushed moments. Our earthly relationships suffer when we don’t have time for the relationship. We appease ourselves with things like “Quality time over quantity time,” but we know that quality time only comes with quantity time.

Marriages disintegrate when the couple gets so busy they no longer spend enough time together. Parent-Child relationships suffer when the parents or the child are involved in so many things they spend no time together. Friendship suffer when busyness gets in the way. So too our relationship with God. It requires time.

And the whole time there are some challenges...

First, Necessary things will get in the way.
“Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.”

Martha opened her home to Jesus. He was a guest and a loved friend. But being a guest in someone’s home carried some expectations just like we have today. You needed to have the right foods, the right wines, and plenty of them. You had to have certain arrangements made for guest care...

We have similar expectations. Guests coming over to our home are a Level 1 Cleaning Emergency! I have been scolded, appropriately I must agree, for what was left on the floor where company MIGHT have walked in and seen...

I have this thing with having enough food...I overdo it because the first rule of bad hospitality for me is for anyone to leave hungry or to not have enough on their plate.

Martha was caught up in all the things that had to be done. They were necessary.

I don’t think Jesus was saying that what Martha was doing was unimportant or unnecessary...but what she failed to do was MORE important and MORE necessary.

Our lives are never going to have a shortage of stuff that will vie for our time and require our attention. There is always something that HAS to be done.

Spending time with God, in His Word and in prayer, is an “In Spite Of” activity. We do it in spite of all the other necessary things that have to get done. We have busy lives that include jobs, family, taking care of our homes and our health...we are called that in spite of all these things to spend time with God.

It will always be an “in spite of” thing...because we always have something necessary that needs to be done.

But let’s be honest. We also waste a lot of time. One pastor said, “One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that our lack of prayer was not from lack of time.” A little light on the grace side, but I understand what he is saying. I spend time I should be working on other things Facebook stalking people.

We tend to do whatever it is we really want to do. We want to eat and sleep and watch some TV and we find ways to do that most of the time. God’s presence is something he always wants us to want. He isn’t guilt-tripping. He is waiting.

Probably one of the biggest challenges in this whole thing is...

Being with Jesus seems unproductive.
“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

Martha was focused on the work she knew needed to be done while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus. Sitting there...doing nothing...just listening. If Mary really wanted to make Jesus feel worthy should would get up and do something. Make something happen.

Sometimes it seems like the time we spend praying and reading God’s Word is just so unproductive. It just seems like I am sitting here doing nothing. I may read. I may talk/pray. But I’m just sitting here. Then my ADD kicks in and all the shiny-flashy-computery things in my office start beckoning me.

If every time we read Scripture it was like a lightening bolt from heaven revealing something to us, we would do it all the time. We would pray all the time if we felt God’s imminent presence every every time we prayed. The problem is...we don’t. We don’t always feel that connection...that relationship...that presence. Sometimes there are season of what seems like complete absence.

It seems even more unproductive when I could I just get up and go DO something.

And while we don’t want to substitute prayer when we are faced with immediate need which we can do something about...as we are warned against in James 2:15-17, “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Our prayers must be accompanied by action when appropriate...but we are too often guilty of immediately substituting action for prayer...and completely missing what God is doing.

God uses that time spent together in prayer and in His Word to build our spiritual awareness. It isn’t always noticeable. It isn’t always “productive.” But it is always taking place. It is out of this ongoing relational time with God that we are able to discern the right actions when face with challenges in our lives. Out of this time we grow in our understanding of where God is leading and what He would have us do with our lives. We are better able to sense when He is opening a door for us to share His love with others.

But it all takes those day-in-day-out times where is may appear on the surface that absolutely nothing productive is happening.

In the end...

We have to choose what is better.
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

So many things will clamor for our attention. You will have job and family responsibilities. You will have emergencies. There will be all kinds of things that are absolutely important and necessary. Spending time with God and Praying will seem like the least productive thing you could do with your time...

In the face of all the preparations that had to be made Jesus told Martha, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

In the face of everything in our lives we are constantly making a choice of whether we are moving closer to God or farther away. His invitation is open to each and everyone of us...but our schedules and all the necessary things and all the stuff we can do for God will often challenge us...it can seem like this is just one more thing to add to an already overwhelming schedule...but there is something here...there is something important about this.

It is so important that when faced with whether or not food made it to the table Jesus was able to say that Mary, choosing to sit at His feet and learn and listen and live in relationship with Jesus, was far more important than anything else being done.

Eric Hoffer wrote, “We are warned not to waste time, but we are brought up to waste our lives.” We become slaves to the demands of the immediate and miss out on what is most important.

Henri Nouwen

“Aren't you, like me, hoping that some person, thing, or event will come along to give you that final feeling of inner well-being you desire? Don't you often hope: 'May this book, idea, course, trip, job, country or relationship fulfill my deepest desire.' But as long as you are waiting for that mysterious moment you will go on running helter-skelter, always anxious and restless, always lustful and angry, never fully satisfied. You know that this is the compulsiveness that keeps us going and busy, but at the same time makes us wonder whether we are getting anywhere in the long run. This is the way to spiritual exhaustion and burn-out. This is the way to spiritual death.”

And yet Jesus never offers us death. That is the offer and reward given to us by the enemy. John 10:10 Jesus says “I have come to give you life to the full!”

Identity: Restoring the Image of God Part 2

2013-01-30T19:32:00.001-05:00

Last summer, Lori, Bri, and I were given the opportunity of a lifetime; to vacation in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. The catch was that we had to do so in a 24 foot RV. It is actually larger than it sounds, but still rather close quarters. I assumed by the end of our vacation that Bri would be the only child of a widowed parent and one of us would be buried somewhere in the Yellowstone forest.

I figured I had a fighting chance considering I had been camping and new how to get around quickly in a wooded area...but as they say, “Hell hath no fury...” so it was probably not going to work out in my favor.

Besides I really wanted to see a bear and Lori knew all she had to do was wait for me to do something stupid!

So, we started packing for this vacation. Having very limited space and a small enclosed quarters meant packing for two weeks was a challenge. Many things that felt essential didn’t make the cut because we didn’t have the room. We had to cut so many things out, and there was very little room to add anything.

Whenever the church starts talking about spiritual growth and how to grow, we often talk about things that we need to add to our lives...prayer, bible reading, bible study, small groups, serving, church attendance...there are a million things the church can add to an already overloaded schedule. These things are very good and very useful. In fact, next week we are going to look at some of the classic spiritual disciplines that should be part of a Christian’s life.

If you are like most people your schedules are packed! We are each given 24 hours in a day, no more no less...and yet some people seem better able to get more done than others.

In case you were wondering...The Average American spends:
7.6 hours sleeping
8.8 hours working or in work related activity
2.5 hours in leisure
1.1 hours doing household chores
1.1 hours eating
1.2 hours caring for others
1.7 hours doing various other things: Personal Care, Bathroom time, Purchasing stuff, waiting on hold for customer care...stuff like that.

And don’t forget the average household has a television on for more than 5 hours per day, and about an 1.5 hours on Facebook...all those minutes and notification checks add up!

We are busy people! So when we start about adding a devotional time and time with God it can sound like one more thing in a busy schedule. For today, though, I want us to look at how to add absolutely nothing to our schedule, and still grow spiritually.

The past few weeks, as we have worked our way through this message series on Identity, we have looked at what it means to be made in the Image of God. Genesis 1-2 tells us every human being is profoundly valuable simply because we have been made in the Image of God. Genesis 3 tells us that even though we retain part of that Image it is broken because of sin...Adam and Eve’s first sin and our continued participation in sin.

Last week we started talking about what it takes for that Image to be restored in our lives. It rests on Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross for our salvation. Because of His death we are able to live in the power of Jesus resurrection through the Holy Spirit.

The Foundation that undergirds our growth into Christlikeness is the Holy Spirit working in our lives leading us through the cycle of Conviction... Confession... Repentance... Forgiveness. The Holy Spirit will point out a sin we need to remove from our life or something we have omitted and need to add (conviction)...we come to a place where we genuinely recognize that we have committed a wrong or left something undone and we confess that to God and sometimes to others... then we turn from our wrong doing (repentance)... Turning often has to be done over and over, from the same thing, throughout our lives...but Forgiveness is always the ultimate goal.

God will often be working on several areas at the same time. So while you may be at the conviction stage for one area of your life...you are on the repentance stage for another area...and the forgiveness stage for a different area. And this process will repeat itself over and over.

There is an old saying that still goes around the church...

God loves us where we are...But He love us to much to leave us there.

It is the Lord’s purpose to develop a Christlike character in each one us; to grow us and mature us.

Proverbs 17:3. “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart”. In much the same way a metallurgist uses the refining process to smelt the impurities out of gold, silver, and iron...the Lord will test our hearts and our characters repeatedly throughout our lives in order to remove the impurities from our character.

You see...

God uses the entirety of our lives to develop our character...

So often we think of spiritual growth as something outside or in addition to “normal” life. But God is an active and interested and personal god. He works in our our world which gives all human experience a religious dimension. He is encountered in every experience of our life. Because our character is developed in each and every choice we make...All the Interruptions, hassles, trials, struggles, challenges, and problems....the good times...each and every choice we make...they are all opportunities God gives us to grow in our discipleship.

There are two key Scripture passages that remind us of this approach:

Romans 5:1-4

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. 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.”

James 1:2-5

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

In both of these passage, we are reminded that there is a process, and that through this process, God’s desire is to develop a Christlike character. The authors are writing to congregations that are facing some tough challenges...even physical suffering and martyrdom.

So it sounds strange to say with James, “Consider it pure joy...whenever you face trials of many kinds...” The challenge is to change our perspective...to see that God is using and redeeming even our toughest struggles to develop us in Christlikeness...

There are two quick warnings.

Saying that God works in and through a difficult struggle is not the same as saying He causes the difficulty and struggle to happen to us. We may struggle with God allowing something to happen, but it is certainly not the same as God causing it to happen. This has led many to repeatedly ask, “What have I done?” Stuff happens in life. Human existence is tough from birth till death. We are no more special than the next guy...but God is working and using these situations in our lives to develop character...if we let him. 
Joy is not happiness. The Apostle Paul termed it as having “glory” in our suffering. There are some trials and struggles and difficulties we have to face that we should NEVER say we are happy about...Joy, however, is something much deeper. It is knowing with certainty that God is at work even in the darkest of situation...that gives us joy. It is Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

We may not understand what God is doing or how He is working in a particular situation...But God is at work. And he works in each and every situation and trial and struggle and challenge and good thing we face.

God uses everyday life situations to point areas of weakness in our character, places where we have allowed sin to creep into our lives, practices and qualities we have omitted from our lives, and places where we have really grown. Our lives fit regularly in the cycle.

When we pray for God to give us patience...He doesn’t zap us with patience...No, because he knows that simply giving us patience does not help us understand what it means to be patient. So, he places us in situations where we need to consciously develop our patience muscles.

When God wants us to develop a character of truth-telling...He will place us in situations where it would be far easier to lie than to tell the truth. So we consciously develop the muscles of our truth-telling character.

He regularly places us in relationships that challenge our ability to love others...the coworker...the family member...the inlaws...the spouse...the other person at church...these are relationships where we are challenged to see God’s hand at work shaping and molding us into people who more effectively reflect His character.

The purpose is get our outward life to reflect our inward life...and all of it reflect Christ.

Our outward life is always a reflection of our inward life. The good and the bad...the virtues we have nurtured and developed and the sins we hide and cover up will eventually show up and shine through!

Jesus reminded us of this in Luke 6:43-45,

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

This is why our everyday life is so important. Because character is the sum total of all that we say and think and do...we cannot base it one action...but our actions over time demonstrate the reality of what God is doing in our heart.

As our co-workers, our families, and our friends watch us...there are some who will expect perfection...they are idiots...but for the most part people are looking at the sum total of all our lives, and the reality of God’s presence at work in your life is clearly seen in how you hand the day-to-day trials and struggles and hardships.

The real questions we have to ask is are we aware of it and do we take advantage of it...

Each and every person alive faces challenges and struggles in life...the question is whether they break us or make us stronger.

If it interesting that James places verse 5 right next to his writing about the role of struggles in our lives. We often disconnect James 1:5 from its context of learning through our sufferings. It says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

If we are challenged by a struggle or difficulty in our life, James says, “Pray for wisdom! Pray for God to give you insight!”

So often we would rather whine and complain about the struggles we are going through...we get stuck in the pain of the situation...Some people would rather be known as wounded and let everyone else know about their pain and struggles. But our challenge is to allow God to heal and grow us through the pain and struggles.

So how are you handling to critique of a co-worker or boss? Are you looking for the truth in the comments, standing up under the wrongness of it with, learning to appropriately handle the situation, allowing it to shape your character, or are you complaining about it and allowing it to rob you of an opportunity to grow?

When you are stuck in a long line...are you complaining and looking to jump lines (like me) or are you allowing it to develop some much needed patience in your life?

When temptation hits with that same sin again and again...do we allow God to develop perseverance and do we learn to resist and turn away or do you give in and making it easier to give in the next time?

God uses the situations we face to mold and shape and transform our character to be more like Christ.

Conclusion
One of the great Christian classics in spiritual reading is a book called Practicing the Presence by Brother Lawrence. Brother Lawrence was a monk who realized what it meant to believe God was active and involved in every aspect of life...and He wanted to be aware of God’s presence in every part of his day.

Brother Lawrence says, “Men invent means and methods of coming at God's love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God's presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?”

This is not an easy task. Brother Lawrence continues, “As often as I could, I placed myself as a worshiper before him, fixing my mind upon his holy presence, recalling it when I found it wandering from him. This proved to be an exercise frequently painful, yet I persisted through all difficulties.”

So while he was at work baking bread, changing clothes, working in the garden...whatever it was Brother Lawrence practiced recognizing the presence of God in everything!

Our challenge is to see God at work in the everyday, mundane things...as well as the trials and struggles. We often feel pressured to add all kinds of stuff to our schedules, and there are things we need to add to help us grow, but we should never miss that God is at work in the stuff already going on in our lives.

Identity: Restoring the Image of God Part 1

2013-01-22T09:55:00.003-05:00

We are looking at what it means for us to gain our identity...to take our meaning and purpose in life from God instead of all the things we usually depend on to give us meaning.

So often we depend upon our jobs, our fashion sense, our intelligence, our physical abilities...any number of things to gain our sense of self-worth and our identity. The problem with this approach appears at some key moments in our lives...when someone loses the use of their arms or legs, their physical ability that at one time set them apart, they will often struggle. When someone’s mind begins to go, we say things like, “They aren’t who they used to be anymore.” When retirement hits questions about who we are apart from our jobs and where our life is going come into play.

We are not completely immune from gaining some sense of worth and identity from these things, but they should never form the foundation. In the midst of this, God keeps calling for us to remember that our identity does not depend on things that will be taken away, but rather on His Image stamped upon our lives.

We are Broken
Last week we spent some time looking at what exactly is broken in our reflection of the Image of God.

And not to re-preach last week’s sermon, but we said Our relationship with God is broken. Because of Adam and Eve’s first sin, humankind died spiritually. Eating the fruit of the tree turned a relationship that allowed intimate walks in the Garden into the man and woman cowering in fear and guilt.

Our relationship with Creation is broken. Animals were no longer friendly, they were now food. Though not completely a bad thing if you’ve ever had a good cheeseburger. But what was once a close and symbiotic relationship is now filled with fear. Human beings have turned God’s call for dominion into one of dominance and destruction.

And our relationship with others is broken. It is most evident in our most intimate of human relationships; the marriage. Adam took dominance over Eve and attempted to dictate her role and place and identity by naming her. Eve would struggle with the temptation to either dominate her husband or cower in submissiveness. Neither one living up to the Face-to-Face, prosopon, relationship which God had originally created them to live in.

Restoring the Image

Today we are looking at what it means to restore the Image of God in our lives. We are looking at some of the very practical things that will help us move toward that restoration.

My dream car has always been a 60’s era Ford Mustangs. I bought one when I was 14 for $400, and worked on it for several years to restore it enough to drive. Those who do restore old cars will usually strip everything off the car, take it completely apart, and start over from base of the car. I was not able to do that. My restoration was a little rougher. There was some major work, but it was not a ground up restoration.

I repaired the floors, did some body work, replaced the seats, the carpet, and the dash, and painted it. When I was finished I had a sleek looking 1966 white Mustang. I loved that car. It still had its issues. Because I hadn’t done a restoration from the ground up, after about a year, the suspension caved in. It is a pretty common problem, but I couldn’t afford to repair it. So I parked it my grandmother’s garage until I sold it a few years later.

What can be so frustrating for us as we start this journey to restore the Image of God in our lives is that we so often want to jump right to the beautiful finished product. We see ourselves cruising down the road in our “restored” self. We want to be whole. We want to be healthy. We want a strong relationship with God. We want all of these things, but God says, “Slow down. We have to start from the ground up if we don’t want this breaking down some where along the road.”

God is not content to take cheap and easy shortcuts...because those don’t work. Get-rich-quick schemes never make you rich, except for the person who dupes us into buying in. Lose weight fast programs never really keep the weight off. In spite of all the exceptions paraded across the screen...slow and steady always wins...spending less than you bring in, building a savings account, and investing wisely....equals success...learning to eat healthy and exercising more...accomplishes your goals..

The same thing happens in our spiritual lives. So often we pray things like “Lord, give me patience and give it to me now!” Or, “Lord just make me who you want me to be” and what we mean is right now. Quick transformation. Immediate.

But Slow, steady, consistent growth...that is what is required to truly transform our character and restore the Image of God in our lives. Eugene Peterson, who did The Message...calls it “a long obedience in the same direction.” Whatever we call it, spiritual formation, discipleship, growth in grace...it all means the same thing...God wants to work in our lives restore us into this Image.

God’s Plan to Restore our Brokenness
Near the end we mentioned that God has not left us in our brokenness. From the beginning He has had a plan to rescue fallen humanity from its sin.

Genesis 3:15 gives us a hint of God’s coming plan,

“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.”

One day, a child of this woman will crush the head of the serpent. We know the child is Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:20 says Jesus “was chosen before the creation of the world...” to be our savior.

And then we read Galatians 4:4-6,

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”

What an amazing thought! We who are broken, damaged by sin, alienated from God can have that relationship restored! A relationship the Apostle Paul calls “Sonship.” We are no longer slaves to sin, but now freed children of God!

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul says it another way,

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

You see all that damage and brokenness. The mutilated Image of God...is made new in Christ. We are freed from bondage to our sins, and yet...it doesn’t happen all at once.

In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul says,

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Because of Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection we “are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory.” It is not immediate. It doesn’t happen overnight.

And we are being transformed into the Image of Christ because Jesus now stands as the example of what it looks like for a human being to function fully out of the Imago Dei.

The Process of Restoring the Image
So what is this process? What do we have to do? It is not enough to just say that we are being transformed because it helps to know something about this process.

We work in the power of God’s grace to repair our broken relationship through a cycle of events. If we are consistently growing in Christ this process will repeat over and over again throughout our lives.

Conviction...Confession...Repentance...Forgiveness

This cycle is the foundation of all growth in faith. Most simply speak of it at the beginning of our move toward Jesus. They describe it as the entryway into our Christian faith, but throughout the New Testament we are reminded that it must take place on a regular basis.

Let’s look at each one of these briefly...

Conviction...
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5,

“For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.”

John 16:8,

“When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment...”

Conviction is an word that has been used and abused and misunderstood in the church for a long time. Some have mistakenly seen it as a feeling of guilt. And while it may have some guilt associated with it...its purpose is not to leave us in our guilt, but to prod us on the next step in the cycle.

Conviction is God’s Holy Spirit working in our lives to point out an area where we are either committing a sin willfully or we are omitting a task God has for us to do. This is deeper than just a guilty conscience...this is God’s hand laid upon us in such a way that we know that what we are doing is wrong. No amount of bobbing and weaving will get us out from under the knowledge that we are in the wrong according to God.

You are sitting alone at the computer, and you bring up the pornographic images...God begins to prod your spirit. And deep within you realize that these are more than just images on a screen...you are damaging your relationship with God and your relationship with others.

You begin to curse at the traffic around you, and suddenly a deep sense that you have an anger or a patience problem comes to mind. It isn’t just a guilty feeling...you sense God calling you to change.

You know you should spend time in prayer each week, but you just don’t make the time. And then one day, you sense God expressly telling you that you are suffering spiritually by omitting this discipline from your life.

Conviction is God’s challenge for us to make a change. It happens at the beginning of our spiritual journey when the Holy Spirit reminds us that we have a broken relationship with God. But it happens on a regular basis as we are growing in our faith...because we don’t have everything figured out just yet. But conviction is simply the first step.

If we are to progress, we must move on to

Confession...
1 John 1:9,

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Conviction gives us a deep sense that we are in the wrong, but there is a moment where we have to break down and realize that we truly are in the wrong and admit we are wrong with our words.

Our natural inclination is to do the same thing as Adam and Eve in the Garden. We do something wrong. We know it is wrong. And rather than admit to it we run and hide and evade. We go into self-protection mode to keep ourselves from really being guilty of something serious.

We see this every time a public figure does something wrong...It was wrong, but not really wrong because everyone else was doing it so I can justify it.

I know I shouldn’t have cheated, but I’m only human...

We like to make up excuses for our “mistakes.” We refuse to accept full responsibility for the fact that we have sinned, but before true healing can take place we must confess...we must own up...we have to admit that “I have done wrong.” And often this demands a verbal, outward recognition that we have done wrong.

This should lead us to

Repentance...
In Matthew 3 it says that John the Baptist came preaching, ““Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” and he told those who came to him to “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

Repentance simply means to make an about face. You are doing something...you are convicted that it is wrong for you to do that...you own up to the fact that it is a sin and you have been taking part...and then you turn 180 degrees and stop it!

This is what John the Baptist meant when he told the people following him to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Show by your actions that you are going the opposite direction.

Conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit should lead us to confess our sin...which should lead us to repent or turn from it...and receive

Forgiveness...
In Acts 2:38,

“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

In Matthew 26:28 Jesus tells His disciples,

“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Throughout Scripture, forgiveness is always linked to our ability to receive it. We cannot receive forgiveness for something we won’t admit is wrong. We cannot receive forgiveness if we are unwilling to forgive.

But forgiveness is the ultimate goal. If we stall out anywhere else in the cycle we are left with an overwhelming sense of guilt...or a constant loop of know we are in the wrong...or attempting legalistically to get things right on our own simply by making ourselves do the right things...to turn from the bad things.

It is horrible to be caught in the loop and unable to get out...but so many people have found themselves caught in this cycle and either unable or unwilling to get out because they will not progress to the next stage.

But God wants to grant pardon and freedom from bondage to the old patterns and ways that drag us down.

Conclusion
These four very theological sounding words are the foundation of a very practical day-to-day process in God’s plan to restore His Image in our lives.

Conviction will take place...

God will work in your life to point out the sins and the omissions that need to be taken care of before you can go farther in your spiritual journey.

Confession must take place...

You have to own up to it. You have to see it as a problem, as a sin, as something you have omitted. Whether willfully or accidentally you are guilty of wrongdoing and must own up to it.

Then we must repent...
You know the wrong you are doing...you know the good you are not doing...and you turn from your chosen path and start doing what God calls you to do.

Then we can receive forgiveness...

God’s ultimate goal is not to leave us stuck in the cycle, but to truly free us and forgive us.

Dallas Willard once wrote, “Grace is opposed to earning not effort.” Don’t buy into the wrong belief that we are not meant to do anything...We cannot earn our salvation, but we can, empowered by the God and filled with His grace, put in the effort required of us.

Identity: The Imago Dei part 2

2013-01-18T13:26:00.001-05:00

Last week we started a new series called Identity. We are looking at what it means for us to gain our identity, our worth, or direction, and purpose from God. Last week we started off by talking about how we are made in the Image of God. This means several very important things for us.

First, it means that we are profoundly valuable to God. We are valued not for our race, our economic status, our ability to produce or contribute...we are inherently valuable to God. The Psalmist writes, “I praise you God because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Second, it means that those around us are profoundly valuable to God. And as Jesus followers, understanding this is the foundation of our ethics. It affects how we view other people, and how we treat other people. Genesis 9 reminds us that the prohibition against taking human life is rooted in the fact that all humans are made in the image of God. James 3 reminds us that how we speak to and about others should be rooted in the fact that they are made in the Image of God.

We briefly mentioned that even though human beings are made in the Image of God...that image has been damaged. It doesn’t fulfill or mean everything God originally intended. So today, I want to delve a little deeper into this idea of how the Image of God is broken. It isn’t until we understand how something is broken that we can really see how it needs to be fixed.

That is the way it is with anything. A mechanic cannot fix your car properly until he or she is able to locate the real problem. Usually, if you have my luck, you hope the repair is small, but then it turns out to be an engine or transmission problem. Very rarely does it happen the other way around...where you think it is something big, and it turns out to be a loose hose or something. But I have heard that it happens.

So let’s take a look at how our reflection of God’s Image is broken and the Grand Plan to fix it. So we will start by looking at the first part of Genesis 3:1-7

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

This is a pretty familiar story for most people. The man and the woman are placed in a garden and given dominion over the animals. They are given only a few limitations. They are allowed to eat from any of the trees in the Garden except for two...The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. Sounds easy enough, but just like telling a two year old not to stick their finger in the electrical socket, the man and woman were drawn to it.

So along comes the snake with the temptation, and the woman decides to eat from the tree. We can see that temptation came by way of perfectly reasonable explanation. It was good for food and it was desirable for gaining wisdom.

Now just in case a guy wants to say...see the woman did it! It is all her fault. Make sure you read the last line of verse 6. “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” The man was standing right there. No, you go ahead.

Anyway, God told them in Genesis 2:17, “...for when you eat from [the tree] you will certainly die.” And while physical death was not immediate, Death and Evil entered our world. And as a result of their sin

Our reflection of the Image of God is now broken.

Our passage points us to four different effects of this brokenness caused by sin.

Our relationship with God is broken.

Genesis 3:8-11

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

As a result of their sin, the human-God relationship was damaged. What used to be a close, unobscured relationship has now been tainted and damaged. And this broken relationship has been passed down to each one of us.

In theological terms they call this Original Sin. I have come to the conclusion that the best way to understand Original Sin is in terms of relationship. If your grandparents are close friends with another family. They did everything together. They had dinners together. They played games. They enjoyed each others company. But say one day someone does something to damage that relationship. They each go their own way. They refuse to speak with each other or associate with each other. They even forbid their children to play together. Years later, you will not have a relationship with that family because your grandparents severed the relationship with them.

The man and the woman damaged the human relationship with God that day in the Garden, and put us outside the bounds of relationship with God.

And this broken relationship between human beings and God continues with devastating effects for each one of us. But there are hints in every human being that remind us of this aspect of brokenness. Augustine said every human being has a God-shaped hole, and nothing will satisfy us until we have a restored relationship with God.

We may stuff other things into our life, but if we are to find true meaning and worth in our life...we must restore that relationship with God.

Tim Keller says, “If a soul does not face toward God to receive its worth, then it turns away from God to the world—a career, a marriage, a cause etc.—to obtain value. When this turning away occurs, humanity breaks the image of God in them...”

Our worth comes from being made in the image of God and in learning to have the fullness of that image restored by renewing our relationship with God.

The second effect is...

Our relationship with creation is broken.

There are several examples of this in Genesis 3.

In Genesis 3:14-15 God condemns the Serpent by saying,

““Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.”

In Genesis 3:16 God says,

“To the woman...‘I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.’”

In Genesis 3:17-19, God says to Adam,

““Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Human relationship with the animal kingdom...with all of creation was changed. The self-seeking desires that really are the root of temptation spills over into our relationship with the world around us.

Every year we consume more and more natural resources. Using these finite resources as though they are infinite. Consumption in industrialized nations "has led to overexploitation of the resources of developing countries." In many areas of the world hunters and poachers have decimated animal populations to the point of extinction. It is estimated that deforestation destroys 20,000 square miles of natural rainforest each year in the Amazon Jungle alone.

We have a broken relationship with creation. But there are hints of Image left on us...many organizations work each year to protect the natural resources and reduce the damages done by companies to our natural environments, scientists and wildlife management organizations work to protect endangered species of animals, governments pass laws to protect our environments from the effects of our brokenness.

Creation care is more than just a hippie, liberal agenda issue...it is a stewardship and an Image of God issue. We have been given responsibility for the world we live in, and our brokenness and sinfulness affects everything around us...creation included.

Romans 8:19-21 reminds us,

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”

Creation looks forward to the day when you and I are restored to the Image of God because it should have an affect on how we care for God’s creation around us.

The third effect is...

Our relationship with others is broken.

We go back to Genesis 3 to see this...

Genesis 3:16,

“To the woman [God] said...Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Genesis 3:20

“Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.”

In what is supposed to be the most intimate relationship of which we humans are able to take part...the marriage...this is where the trouble begins. At first glance these might seem like insignificant verses, but they hold way more than you would think.

In Genesis 2:18, when God makes the woman from man’s rib he says, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” The original word used there is prosopone...meaning face to face. God is not making someone subservient to the man...he is making someone who can stand face to face with the man...can go toe to toe as we might say. She would be his equal in image and dominion...though different in all the right ways.

In Genesis 3:16, the Hebrew uses a word to describe this relationship Eve will have to her husband that has a two-fold meaning...it can mean either being subservient to someone or it can mean trying to make someone subservient to you.”

When the relationships between a man and a woman have trouble...when the arguments start to take place between us and or spouse...women will often assume one of these two roles. Either they will become subservient and weak and refuse to assume their God-given role in the relationship...in dysfunctional, abusive relationships you will hear her say things like, “But He loves me!” and yet allow him to beat her. That’s an extreme example.

Or they will try to make the man subservient to them. They will assume a role that attempts to dominate or manipulate or guilt the spouse into doing things their way...they are attempting to dominate their spouse.

For the man, we see an attempt to dominate and control and dictate to the woman her role in life. Genesis 3:20 “Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.” In this culture, those who had power over others took authority and often renamed those under them to remind them of who was in control. King Nebuchadnezzar renamed the young men with Daniel to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Adam took on this role by naming his wife. He was dictating her role and place in life through this act.

As the Image of God is restored to our lives...these techniques should fade away. Manipulation and control and power should give way to seeing each other as equals in the Kingdom of God.

But if our most intimate of relationships is broken...how much more broken are our relationships with others...friends, family...not to mention those with whom we have no real connection or concern at all.

Bob Fryling, director of InterVarsity Press, writes:

“. . . With the advent of sin, humanity has twisted this...into domination of other people and of creation itself. Our world-wide environmental crisis and our deep hostilities to other people are distortions of what God intended. But the appropriate corrective to sinful domination is not irresponsibility but a loving stewardship of what God has generously given to us. We have been given the capacity to be accountable and to do things that are good. The Imago Dei calls us to that understanding and commitment.”

But here is the Good News...

Jesus came to restore the broken Image.

We do not have to continue living within our own brokenness.

Genesis 3:15 gives us a hint of this. While God is speaking to the snake he says,

“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.”

While speaking in a very literal sense of enmity and hatred between a woman the snake...there is also in this a statement about the triumph of God over sin. While the serpent may have struck the heel...God will crush its head.”

God’s plan is to restore or fix His broken Image in us through his son Jesus. It starts with our repentance and forgiveness...but continues with Jesus’ continual transformation of our hearts. When you hear some Christians talk it would seem that Jesus is only effective in getting us to heaven or keeping us from hell. But salvation is meant to start us on a journey of restoring the Image of God in our lives and healing our brokenness in these three relationships.

One of the primary goals of the Gospel is to restore us to true humanity by allowing us to be more truly who we were created to be, and this happens when we grow in Christlikeness. This may sound at strange. How do I become more me by becoming more like Jesus? He does not want to take over our personality or turn us into clones... He wants to transform our character, and ultimately restore us to wholeness...making us more authentically ourselves.

And in so doing He brings healing and wholeness to the brokenness or our relationships with God, with Creation, and with each other.

Identity: Imago Dei part 1

2013-01-07T12:51:00.001-05:00

A few years ago I read Walter Isaacson’s biography of Benjamin Franklin. It is a great book, and offers a lot of insight into a man who was so foundational to our country’s constitution and beginnings. He was a writer, publisher, politician, inventor, scientist..you name, Franklin did it!

One of the things I found interesting is that he practiced good PR before anyone else even knew what it was. He knew that sometimes it is not so much that you actually ARE what people think you are...it is only important what they THINK you are. He knew what image he wanted others to have of him, and worked hard to make it a reality...and at the least to make it a reality in their mind. Isaacson writes "Franklin was America's first great imagemaker. Even after he became successful, he made a display of personally carting the rolls of paper he bought in a wheelbarrow down the street to his shop rather than having a hired hand do it."

It worked marvelously. A fellow merchant said of Franklin: "The industry of that Franklin is superior to anything I ever saw of the kind; I see him still at work when I go home from club, and he is at work again before his neighbors are out of bed.'" He worked hard and he worked hard to make people think he worked hard. He was creating an image of himself in people’s minds.

In economic theory this is called Signaling Theory. Robin Hanson, associate professor of economics at George Mason University, says, “Signaling theory is another way of talking about showing off. Or trying to present your best face. It’s all about what we do to look good. Or at least to not look bad. So more generally, signaling is about managing your image; it’s about keeping in mind that other people are watching you and interpreting you...If you don’t realize that people are trying to manage their image, you miss out on a lot of what’s going on.”1

We are all trying to manage an image. We may call it fake or hypocritical, but we all do it at some time.

It shows itself when we say things like:
What will the neighbors think?
You are not going out looking like that!
I wouldn’t be caught dead in that!

We get good at managing our image.

We do it in church too. We avoid the Bible study because we are afraid people will discover that we don’t read or know our Bibles all that well. We refuse to pray aloud because I don’t have the right words...in others words I don’t want to sound foolish in front of you. We often act like we have everything together because that is what church people do...even though our life is falling apart. We hide sin from those closest to us because we don’t want them to know the real us.

We manage our image here too.

But as most of us know...that image is a false one. It never satisfies. It is never really true or authentic. And it always leaves us empty because there is always a new image we must chase after.

We are starting a new series called Identity. We are asking ourselves what does it mean to gain our identity, our worth, or direction, and purpose from God. Today’s message is foundational because as followers of Christ we are meant for so much more than simply chasing after the expected images others hold of us or the image we want them to hold of us. We are called and expected to live out the image of God.

Genesis 1:26-27 is passage for this morning, and it is a foundational verse for the Christian faith. In the epic poem of Genesis 1:1-2:3, God speaks all of creation into existence, and on this final day of His work, it says, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image,  in the image of God he created them;  male and female he created them.”

After creating everything else...God creates humans. They are the pinnacle of His creative work, an extension of His love and the recipients of His relationship. And apart from all of creation, human beings are the only thing created by God about which he says they are made in His image.

There has been a lot of discussion about what it means to be made in the Image of God. Some look at what separates us from the animals. Intellect and reason, moral reasoning, authority and dominion, spiritual awareness, relationship, love...but one of the things these verses make abundantly clear is...

All people have intrinsic value and dignity.
Because we are made in the Image of God...above all the other creatures of our world...we have value. We have worth. God declares that every person has value simply because he or she has been fashioned in his image. Human life is sacred.

This was a revolutionary concept for the ancient world. In the ancient world infants, the elderly, and especially women were seen as useless to society, so their lives were seen as expendable. In the Spartan society, glorified by the movie 300, when a woman gave birth soldiers came to evaluate the baby. If the child was considered weak it was either left on hillside to die or shipped off to become a slave.

Cultures have always struggled with the role of women; many considering them invaluable. India and Morocco have recently made the news two rape victims were forced to marry their rapists. One committed suicide. One young girl was recently shot in Afghanistan because she dared to speak out in favor of girls receiving an education. At the heart of this is a culture that does not believe that everyone has intrinsic value and worth.

Our culture has certainly made strides, but we are not out of the woods. We place a huge amount of value on how much we produce or contribute. If you are not “contributing” to society...you are considered worthless, useless, and forgotten.

Think of who might be on that list of people who aren’t “contributing” to society:

The disabled.
The poor.
The homeless.
The sick.
The unborn.
The criminal and condemned.
Teenagers
The elderly.

Now think about the response people have toward them...

Get a job you worthless bum...
They suck our system dry with their sense of entitlement...
He has been on life support for so long...
The fetus will complicate my life...
The mentally disabled cannot have a fulfilled life...

Did you know that suicide rates are highest among teenagers and the elderly? And elderly males are at the great risk of all age and gender ranges. One sociologist suggested this is due the value being placed on our contribution in a consumeristic society. They sense that their lack of contribution, their inability to make a difference means they have no value.

I have even jokingly said to Brianna that she should get a job so she can contribute to the family. While she knows it is a joke, I find myself inside a culture that values people primarily for what they contribute rather than who they are intrinsically.

The Bible makes the bold assertion that we are valuable not because of what we produce. Not because we are useful. We are valuable because we have been created by God; in His image. Being made in the image of God means that we are valued for being and not for our doing.

You see...

All people reflect God.
There is an “irreducible glory and significance” inherent in each person, regardless of who they are or what they have done. The Image of God has been distorted by the Fall in Genesis 3, and by our own persistent sinfulness...but it is not lost. Our sin can not remove it. Our pain cannot remove it. Our value to a culture can not remove it. Our crimes... Our diseases... Our mental or physical capabilities... Nothing can take that image of God completely from a person.

That is why, for centuries, Christians have built hospitals to care for the sick. They have have built orphanages and adoption agencies to help orphaned and “unwanted” children.” They have cared for and defended the imprisoned. They have educated, housed, and cared for the poor, the broken, the unwanted, and the elderly. They have helped the physically and mentally disabled. Christians have been at the forefront of civil liberties and the protection of those whom society has rejected and abused.

People representing the church have not always offered the best example of this. Using God’s name they have reflected the anger and abuse of the culture. Even today, in the name of God, many feel it okay to abuse and hurt others. But the essence of the Biblical message is recognizing that value of people who reflect the Image of God.

Because they recognize everyone has value, and everyone reflects the image of God.

This is at the heart of our ethic as Christians.

Because the incredible worth of each human demands respect and reverence in the way we treat each other.

The prohibition of murder is based on the idea that we are made in the Image of God. In Genesis 9:5-6, God speaks to Noah after the flood and says, “From each human being...I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed;  for in the image of God  has God made mankind.”

We are made in the Image of God, and when we murder someone we destroy that Image.

The New Testament extends this based on Jesus teaching which equates our anger with murder. James 3:9, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.”

You see how we treat others, how we speak about others...all who are made in the Image of God...says a lot about how we treat God.

This is the basis of Matthew 22:37-40 where it says, ““‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Conclusion
There are two things I want really want you to get out of today’s message based on the simple but profound idea that we are made in the Image of God:

You are profoundly valuable to God. No matter what you have done in your past. No matter how useful you feel. No matter how wanted by others you do or do not feel...You are valuable to God. You have been made in His image. You can sing or shout with Psalmist, “I praise you God because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Those around you are profoundly valuable to God. As followers of Christ this should affect the way we treat others and speak about them. It affects our ability to forgive them. Because no matter how vile, evil, sinful, worthless, non-contributing a person we think they are...they are someone who has the Image of God stamped upon their life. They are someone for whom Christ has died. They are someone who, though imperceptible to us, God is still wooing and calling and working through His grace.

The Image has been marred by sin in all our lives, but it is not gone. Next week we are going to talk about what God does to restore that Image to its fullness through Jesus Christ. But for this morning...know that you and those around you are made in the Image of God...and this should affect our view of ourselves and affect our view of those around us.

Advent Conspiracy: Spend Less

2012-12-10T18:44:00.001-05:00

This week Lottery Fever struck again! Not as bad as last time, but enough. For just a buck or two or 50 you can buy a whole night of dreaming about what you will do with all those losing tickets!

Chance of Winning the Lottery 1 in 175 million!

Here are some things more likely to happen to you than winning the lottery:

Picking a perfect NCAA Tournament Bracket 13,460,000 to 1
Birthing Identical Quadruplets: 13,000,000 to 1
Becoming an astronaut: 12,100,000 to 1
Becoming President: 10,000,000 to 1
Dying from being left-handed: 4,400,000 to 1
Becoming a movie star: 1,505,000 to 1
Drowning in a bathtub: 840,000 to 1
Getting a Royal Flush in your first hand of poker: 649,740 to 1
Dying in an asteroid apocalypse: 12,500 to 1
Finding a four leaf clover: 10,000 to 1
Losing an appendage to a chainsaw: 4,464 to 1
Writing a New York Times Bestseller: 220 to 1
An amateur golfer making a hole in one on a par-3 hole: 1 in 12,500.
A golfer hitting a hole in one on consecutive par-3 holes: 1 in about 156 million.
Being struck by lightning over an 80-year lifetime: 1 in 10,000.
Being attacked by a shark: 1 in 11.5 million
Dating a supermodel: 88,000 to 1

If you are a guy that last one makes you feel a little bit like Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber as he asks Lauren Holly’s character for a date.

We spend a lot of time thinking about money in our culture. We have budgets to balance, fiscal cliffs to fall off, taxes to argue about, houses to buy, cars to repair, medical bills to pay...As Liza Minelli sings, “Money makes the world go round!”

People seem to struggle more and more to meet their financial obligations each year, and yet Americans seem to spend more and more each year on “extras.” A record 247 million shoppers visited stores and websites in the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday weekend this year, up 9% from last year. Total spending over the four-day weekend reached a record $59.1 billion, a 13% increase from $52.4 billion last year with individual shoppers shelled out more money per person average than last year.

Crown Financial Ministries estimates there are about 2,350 verses that reference how God’s followers deal with money and their possessions. That means 15% of the Bible deals with financial matters and how we relate to them, that is more than any other single topic including Heaven, Hell, faith, prayer, and Bacon!

Why does God spend so much time talking about money and possessions? Because there is very important spiritual principle at work...our orientation toward money and possessions is a reflection of our obedience, our ability to worship, and how we acknowledge Him as the source of all we have.

Over the next few weeks we are working our way through a new series called “Advent Conspiracy.” The basic idea is to re-establish the significance and meaning of Christmas in our lives as Jesus’ followers. We are not in a culture war. We are not taking back Christmas from those pagans who stole it. We are simply working to reclaim the celebration of Christ’s coming in our own lives and homes.

We are focusing on practicing four simple, but powerful, counter-cultural concepts – worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all. They are not easy. Following God has never been easy, but they are rewarding.

At the end of this series, on Sunday, December 23 we will take up a special offering, in addition to our regular tithes and offering, and give it all away. The challenge is for us spend less this Christmas season on those that have too much already so we can give more to others who truly need it.

So as part of our series we are looking at what it means to Spend Less.

1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19,

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Public speaking classes usually tell you to save your main idea for the end, but I think, in this case it helps to put it right out here at the beginning.

The main idea and challenge of this passage is summed up in verse 6, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” Gordon Fee writes in his commentary on the verse, “For Paul, contentment comes from the empowering Christ gives to live above both plenty and poverty.” Whether someone has riches or ruin is not the issue. To be wealthy is not a sin. To be broke is not a virtue. Because our hearts can be filled with greed and discontent no matter how much is in our bank account.

In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul illustrates his own pursuit of this principle, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Them Paul gives us the idea of contentment in its simplest form. Verse 8 says, “if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

So why would Paul want us to know this?

Because there is a conflict between contentment and the desire for more.

In 1 Timothy, Paul leads up to this point by talking about some spiritual charlatans who are using the Gospel as way to extend their financial Kingdom rather than God’s Kingdom. He says, “[they] have been robbed of the truth and...think that godliness is a means to financial gain.”

While most of us aren’t attempting to get rich off the Gospel...Paul’s point is still very applicable. When we attempt to combine a desire to follow God with a pursuit for more...we run into a conflict of interests.

Did you know that 70% of our economy is consumer based? What that means is that for the American Economy to function it needs people to buy things. At the very heart of consumerism is dissatisfaction and discontentment. The very nature of our system is set up to create conflict especially when we read things like verse 6.

Getting more is a focus on me. I want...I need...I’m going to get...I have to have. The Gospel continually turn us outward...to love others...to meet the needs of others...to care about others... When a me-centered approach meets an others-centered approach there will be conflict.

And that conflict is rooted in the fact that a me-centered approach seems way more natural. But the others-centered approach is actually more fulfilling.

One author writes, “We are constantly searching for the one thing that will satisfy us. Yet each time we trust the promises of our possessions, more barriers are raised between our true selves and God’s plain command to love [Him] above all things. It’s not that we necessarily want more – it’s that what we want is something we can’t buy.”

Have you found that to be true in your own life? That a me-centered approach comes into conflict with the others-centered life God is calling us to live? All that stuff we buy never actually completes us or satisfies?

It never really makes us any happier? As soon as we buy that one thing we just have to have...there is the next thing we just have to have. We are a lot like children only with bigger purchases.

Pursuing godliness with contentment will bring us into direct conflict with the world we live in...it will challenge us at the very core of our being.

The second reason Paul wants us to pursue contentment is

Because our discontent has a dark side.

So much pain, suffering, grief, and evil in our world can be directly attributed to the human desire for more...

How much evil have innocent people suffered at the hands of leaders who desire more power? More wealth? More land? More subjects?

How much pain has been caused because a spouse was not content with the woman or man they pledged to marry?

How many children have been left essentially parentless because of a father or mother’s desire for more money and accomplishment in their careers?

Our passage says, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

Money, and what money buys, is the root of all kinds of evil.

The perfectly wonderful grandma will claw out your eyes if you grab the DVD she wants in the mad rush of Black Friday.

The Christian man of integrity will fudge those numbers or overlook a problematic product when his boss demands threatens to take away his job.

So much pain and suffering and evil in our world is caused by the desire for more.

This dark side has two results:

“Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

1. Some...have wandered from the faith.
When conflict happens between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of More...some wander away from the faith.

That is just how the business world works...so we abandon our principles and adopt “good” business practices...and wander away from the faith.

Our economy will fail if we don’t buy stuff...How long can an economy of unlimited consumption really last in a world of finite resources?

We desire more stuff and when we begin to desire something more than we desire God...we drift away. When it becomes more about me and what I can get...that conflict causes separation.

2. Some...have pierced themselves with many griefs.
This seems almost self-explanatory. But as the Notorious B.I.G says, “Mo money, mo problems!”

I was talking with one of my students this week who is getting ready to purchase her first car...and I became that old guy who rains on the parade. Because once you buy that car...you quickly realize all the money it takes to keep that car. Gas, insurance, repairs, tires, alignment, oil changes...

On a grander scale...the more we want...the more we seek to fulfill every want and whim...the bigger our griefs become.

We live in a world that almost forces us to take more than we really need or even want...and it can feel like jail cell. We are trapped. You have to buy this and then buy that, and something else comes along and you have to buy that too. And it compounds grief upon grief.

You have to buy a car in order to get around...but then you have all the added grief and expense of that.

You need a nice house and all this stuff, but then you need electricity to run it all, heat to keep it warm, an alarm to protect it, and insurance to buy it again if it is ever stolen. Grief upon grief.

We never start out discontent. It never seems like it is that big of a deal to get a new TV or that DVD or take part in Black Friday...and it really isn’t in some ways. The challenge is for us to continually look at our lives in light of the Gospel.

Do we really need something else?

Might God want me to use my money differently...in a way that would expand His Kingdom?

Do I control my money or does my money control me?

The best way to combat all these from the very start is focus on being people of contentment. Let me give three quick things to help us become more content:

1. Turn over ownership of everything to God.
“For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” We really don’t own anything anyway. We build it so we give it to the person who follows us. And ultimately God owns it all anyway.

2. Be thankful for the basics.
“But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” A few years ago, Dayton had a horrible wind storm that damaged a lot of houses and tore down power lines. Lori, Bri, and I were without power for a week. Crews were working night and day to repair things...doing everything humanly possible to get things taken care of. I remember reading one of the comments on the DP&L site. The lady basically said, “Don’t they realize that electricity is a necessity and not a luxury?” Guess she needs to travel more because a good portion of our world still lives without the necessity of electricity.

If we bought nothing else except food and clothing for the rest of our lives...we would still be an extremely blessed people.

3. Give generously to others.
Verse 18 says, “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” It’s so easy to forget that God’s blessing are never solely for our own benefit...but so we can be a blessing to others. We are given so we can give. We are blessd so we can bless. The more we hoard and keep...the more we are unable to receive what is truly valuable and worthwhile.

Conclusion
What would happen in our world if we asked the question...how could I spend less so I could give more...more to those who are hurting...to mission work around the world...to changing the quality of life for those who have very little...we could make a difference that would change the world.

Our challenge over the next few weeks is to spend less so we can give more. To buy one less present...to take a few steps back, and then to give that money to others who really need it.

We are actually making a slight course change. We were planning to work with an organization that builds wells. And we will still be helping to build a well, but we are going to keep things a little more connected.

Almost once a year Cyndi goes to Honduras on a mission trip. Just a few months ago, we as a church helped her go down to work with a church in San Pedro Sula. She also sponsors a little girl down there. This week she asked if we would be willing to use some of the money brought in to help the village where she worked...because they do not have access to clean water. They need a well.

So we are going to keep things a little closer to home because we are already invested in Cyndi and in this village through Cyndi. They are looking to raise a total of $14,000 between all the members of the group that went down...so we will be donating to help build a well that will help people we have already helped!

We take for granted the clean-ish water that comes from our tap. Here is an opportunity for us to make a big difference.

Advent Conspiracy: Worship Fully

2012-11-27T07:52:00.000-05:00

We are beginning a new series called, “Advent Conspiracy.” The basic idea is to re-establish the significance and meaning of Christmas in our lives as Jesus’ followers. We are not in a culture war. We are not taking back Christmas from those pagans who stole it, and getting bent out of shape when our cashier responds with Happy Holidays. The problem is not that our culture has forgotten the meaning of Christmas...the problem is that it is so easy for us to get caught up in a different agenda and forget what it is about ourselves.

We want to focus over the next few weeks on practicing four simple, but powerful, counter-cultural concepts – worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all. This video explains more about where we’re headed.

At the end of this series, on Sunday, December 23 we are going to take up a special offering, in addition to our regular tithes and offering, and give it all away. You can put it in before that if you wish, but I am challenging you to spend less this Christmas season so that you can give more to others who truly need it. We will be giving it to an organization that provides wells for undeveloped communities around the world.

This morning we are looking at the first of the four principles and what it means to worship fully!

So let’s take a look at our passage for this morning.

Matthew 2:1-12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

For thousands of years, people have looked at the stars. Some looked for information, some for enjoyment, and some looked to the stars for guidance. Celestial activity has been used to determine planting seasons and mark major religious holidays. The heavenly bodies have also been seen as guides for world events and objects of worship.

The Magi, or Wise Men, were a combination of astrologer and scientist. They studied the heavens to determine seasonal changes, calendar and time, but also looked to the stars for guidance in earthly affairs. They believed heavenly activity foretold and marked major world events, and they offered their insight to the earthly rulers of the Babylonian Empire.

When the star in the East appeared, this was just the sort of event they would have been looking for. These men knew something of great importance was taking place. They packed up their belongings, headed out to find the one who had been born King of the Jews, and in doing so give us one of the best passages on authentic worship we have in the Bible.

The first thing we draw from this passage is...

We worship fully when everyone is welcome...

The Magi were from Babylon-current day Iraq. This was the same area where Israel spent a good bit of their history in captivity. The stories of the Old Testament Prophets, of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego...these are all at the hands of the Babylonians.

Magi were the ones who told the King about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and got them thrown into the fiery furnace. They are also the ones who set Daniel up to be thrown into the lion’s den...and yet here they are...the ones who come searching for Jesus.

In contrast to all the expense and trouble the Magi go through we have Herod and the Jewish leaders. Jesus is their Messiah. The religious leaders know where He is to be born. They live in an age that is expecting His arrival at any moment. And yet they do not even offer to follow along with the Magi. The religious leaders simply ignore the possibility and Herod desires to kill him.

The Bible presents this tension over and over again. The people you would expect to be waiting, eager for the Messiah are the ones who don’t want anything to do with Him. The people who are rejected by “God’s people” and turned away as outsiders are the ones who come flocking to be near Jesus.

It is so easy to do, isn’t it? To think of ourselves better than we are and those people over there as worse? It is easier to see their sin and the reasons why they are not good enough, and so easy to miss our own sin?

People reading Matthew’s Gospel, people very much like you and me, would have been shocked to hear that Magi from Babylon were not only seeking Jesus, but also allowed to worship Him. They would have been shocked at the whole lot...shepherds and Magi and unwed parents...all involved in God’s plan for salvation!?!

In order for us to fully engage in worship, though, we have to be open to anyone who wants to come. We are not able to see the heart. We are not able to determine how far someone has come in their journey to find Jesus. In fact, we have to drop our concerns about those around us and welcome them with love as fellow worshipers.

Everyone is welcome...because God welcomes those who come looking for Him. Matthew understood that often the people we least welcome and want in our presence are the people most wanted by God in His presence.

We worship fully when we come prepared...

Being prepared to worship means understanding how to worship, and the Magi show us three very important worship “actions” that help us understand how to worship...and they are not singing, offering, and a message.

Our passage says, “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”

They come with an attitude of rejoicing...they take a posture of worship...They give their very best gifts...

In order for us to fully engage in worship we also must incorporate these 3 worship actions every time we come to worship. We must come with an attitude of rejoicing, we must take on a posture of worship, and we must offer our very best. So let’s look at each of these.

We must come with an attitude of rejoicing. Our passage says, “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.” That is a very tame interpretation of the original language. If we were to translate it word for word it would say, “They rejoiced exceedingly joyfully greatly great.” There was a lot of excitement. The writer uses two words for joy (one which means rejoicing a lot) and two words for great.

So often joy would not be the word we use to describe our approach to worship. Rushed, distracted, overwhelmed, guilt-ridden...we are angry from the argument with our spouse on the way to church, frustrated at the kids for taking so long, struggling to get everything together so we can get there on time for once, distracted by all the stuff going on in our lives...

How often does joy describe the way you feel about worshipping God? Are we excited to be in God’s presence? Do we really believe that this time we spend together is worshipping God and Do we really expect to sense God’s presence when we get here?

Second, they take a posture of worship. Our passage says, “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.”

The word used to describe their action is the Greek word Proskuneo. It means to fall on the ground in front of someone as a show of honor, respect, and it is the word biblical writers used to describe our posture of worship to God.

In that culture a person bows to demonstrate submission and respect. The lower a person bowed the more respect and honor was meant. When they entered the house these men of great stature fell down on the ground before this child in worship.

To fully engage in worship, you and I must come with this same posture. We can’t come in arrogance, or self-confidence, we come recognizing all God has done and accomplished. How He has cared for us, loved us, and saved us. We enter bowed before the God of heaven—recognizing that He alone is worthy; that is true worship.

If we don’t worship it is not because of the the songs we sing or the style in which we sing them, it is not about how uplifting and engaging my message is, and it is not about whether we have all the latest programs and things for the kids. Because worship is more than just showing up...it is about more than if I am satisfied and fed. Anyone can take part in what we do here on Sunday mornings, but participation does not make it worship.

Worship is about a posture of our heart before God; recognizing that He alone is worthy of our worship.

The final action required for worship is the bringing of gifts. Our passage says, “Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”

It would have been a horrible insult to come before someone in respect and worship and not bring something. It isn’t because the person needed or wanted what was being given, but it was an outward sign of an inward attitude. When the Magi worshipped, they brought the best their land had to offer: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

When we enter the presence of God to worship we should bring him our best. We do it with our tithes and offerings. We do it by offering him our very lives. Not because God needs it, but because it is an outward sign of God’s inward working. In most religions you give to a god to appease him so you can get something back. But when we give to God, we know He has already given us His best—His Son, Jesus Christ. We give out of gratitude.

Over the next few weeks, what would it look like if we worked to use these 3 actions in your worship...we rejoiced at the thought of worshiping God, we came in a posture of humility and obedience, and we brought a gift of some sort every week to the feet of God.

And this leads us to our final point...

We worship fully when we have the right object of worship...

Everyone worships something. Some worship a sports team, some worship a lifestyle, some worship their jobs, fame, money, possessions. Some worship good things like their families...Some even worship the idea of worship.

There are a lot things people worship. But when we fail to worship something that is truly worthy...we quickly become empty again. This creates a hole that must be continually filled. Our sports team needs another win (against Michigan), we need to make more and more money, we need to constantly protect what we have. We worry that something will happen.

It is like our Thanksgiving meal. On Thursday, I ate more than I have eaten in months...and yet I woke up hungry Friday morning. Who am I kidding, I was hungry a few hours later. In a very similar way, worshipping something that is unworthy of our worship will leave us feeling empty and needing more.

The Magi worshipped at the feet of Jesus. So often we worship things that do not deserve our worship. Most of the time we don’t do it on purpose...we simply drift away to other things. We all worship something...is it worth worshipping? What takes up the majority of your thoughts when you don’t have something you have to think about? When you are standing alone...you don’t have to be thinking about anything...what consumes your thoughts...that is most likely the object of your worship.

Conclusion

This morning, as we close, I want to focus on worship...not just singing a closing song. Think about the 3 actions of worship...rejoicing, bowing, and giving...and making the receiver of our worship Jesus.

What would happen to our time together if we began praying and expecting God to show up each week? What if we in spite of all that goes on in our lives we came rejoicing into His presence? What if we bowed humbly before him and made it about Him and not about us? What if we gave our best to Him?

Barriers to Faith: Our Own Worst Barrier

2012-11-19T09:49:00.000-05:00

For the past few weeks, we have been talking about the Barriers that hold us back in our faith journey. Barriers keep us from getting where we want and need to go. We have focused mainly on barriers for people outside the faith. We have looked at doubting God’s existence, doubting God’s goodness in the midst of so much evil, doubting God’s word, and dealing with God’s people the Church.

For some of us, we have stayed in the church, but these are barriers for us as well. Despite it all we hold on. Knowing the reality of the doubts and barriers, but knowing there is something real that while we can’t prove it...is still real nonetheless.

Frank Viola, an author and speaker, recently wrote an article that declared, “I can say without blinking that there is no proof for the existence of God. None. There are several evidences. But even those evidences can be debated, and not everyone finds them compelling.”

People were shocked. Many were angry. How could he make such a statement. This was just admitting defeat and opening the door to all the critics. If what Viola said was true, then how could anyone still hold on to faith in Jesus Christ. At least lie like all the other good Christians and front like we can prove it.

Viola’s second article, Why I Am a Christian, was the response. He listed 12 things lead him to believe he has chosen the Truth. He says, “I am a Christian...

Because life makes no sense to me apart from Christ. Nor does it have any purpose.
Because I’ve tried to not believe in Jesus, and I find that I cannot.
Because I’ve never seen the Gospel narratives refuted successfully.
Because I’ve never seen the resurrection of Jesus refuted successfully. I’ve investigated all the alternative explanations and find them uncompelling.
Because it makes no sense to me that Jesus of Nazareth isn’t who He said He was – the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
Because I can’t help but see the biblical narrative of Creation, Fall, and Redemption echoed in every play, every work of art, every human story, every drama, every movie, and the news I read each day.
Because every time I meet a true follower of Jesus for the first time, I feel like I’ve known him or her all my life.
Because Jesus is the most compelling, intriguing, awe-inspiring, and amazing person I know of who is worthy of the greatest admiration, obedience, love, and (uniquely) worship.
Because I’ve never seen any religion or philosophy deliver people from a life of carnality and bondage to addictions like Jesus has.
Because I have a deep and unshakeable belief that the Lord Jesus Christ is with me and taking care of me . . . and has all of my life.
Because there is no rational explanation for some of the prayers that I (and others I know) have seen answered “in Jesus’ name.”
Because I don’t weep easily, but I readily cry whenever I detect the fingerprints of my Lord or behold His handiwork.

You see, even without definitive, scientifically verifiable “proofs” for God’s existence it is reasonable to believe in God and place our faith in Jesus. Every day of our lives we make decisions and accept things without all intellectual details covered or having definitive proof.

We get on airplanes, without being 100% sure the plane is airworthy. We trust the pilots and ground crews to do their jobs properly. We believe these heavier-than-air contraptions can stay aloft. So we take things on faith.

The issue is not really whether we can answer every question, assuage every doubt, or apologize for every wound. There is no way to do that for everyone. I also don’t believe intellectual questions and doubts are the main barriers that keep us from believing God exists or keep us from growing in our faith.

The real barrier is us.

Mark 9:14-24 tells the story of a man who wrestles with doubt and acknowledges the real issue lies deep inside of him...with brutal honesty. Let’s look at that passage together...

14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Here is a man who has trouble with belief, and is at least honest enough by the end to acknowledge his desire to believe in the midst of every barrier standing in the way. Out of this passage there are several things I want us to see that act as personal barriers to our belief.

These aren’t necessarily intellectual issues. These aren’t things a Christian apologist can provide proofs and answers for. These are things each of us must face within ourselves before we can move forward in our faith. These are interior barriers.

We must overcome Bad Expectations
Jesus returns from the mountain following His transfiguration, and is faced with a hostile crowd. His disciples are locked in a heated exchange with the crowd. When Jesus asked what all the fuss is about a man reply, “I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

This man had expectations that were not met. He expected to bring his son to Jesus and the disciples, that his child would be prayed for, and they would return to a happy, healthy family life. When those expectations were not met the man responded as so many of us respond. He got angry.

So often our anger with God or the Church is a result of our unmet expectations. God does not heal who we think He should heal, he does not give us what we think He should give us, he does not respond the way we think He should respond so we become angry. God’s people, the Church, doesn’t always act Christian. They sin. They say the wrong things and do the wrong things. Our expectations are blown, and we become angry.

Thousands of people who would willing die for the cause of Jesus in their 20’s turn their backs on Him later in life. They expected certain things of God; for Him to act a certain way. When He didn’t, they concluded He wasn’t real, didn’t care, or didn’t matter.

God will let us down. Things will happen that will lead us to believe he doesn’t care, is unfaithful, and doesn’t keep His promises. God will not always be faithful...according to our expectations of faithfulness. That is when we discover whether we are attempting to follow God or attempting to have God follow us.

The problem is not God...the problem is our expectations of who and what God should be. He will not become a dancing monkey for our enjoyment. He is not a puppet on a string. God is God, and will remain so...despite our expectations.

Thousands of people a year leave the church. They are hurt and wounded by something said or done in the name of Christ. Every day the Church faces accusations of hypocrisy and sin. A good bit of what is said...is completely true. The problem, though, is not just that people in the Church act sinfully, but that people often have wrong expectations about people in the church.

Maybe you are facing some expectation issues. You expected God to act a certain way, and He didn’t. He didn’t heal your family member. He didn’t send that proverbial check in the mail. You have been unemployed for a long time, and you expected God to do something by now, and He hasn’t.

Maybe you expected someone who claimed to follow Christ to act a certain way, and they didn’t. They said something hurtful, and should have known better. You caught someone in a lie, and they refused to do something about it. You felt neglected by someone. You are angry and hurt.

Because we rarely evaluate our expectations, God will often have to violate them in order to remind us they are not right. Maybe our anger, is really God’s conviction that our expectations are misplaced and wrong.

We must overcome the influence of our culture.
“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

Everyone of us is a product of our culture. We are born into a family, a country, and a culture, and we are shaped by the thousands of experiences we have in our lifetime. This isn’t necessarily good or bad. In fact, it is a bit of both. Because we are so integrated into our culture, though, it can become almost impossible to see where the good and where the bad begins and ends. If we are not careful our culture can become what one writer describes as the prison of our experiences.

When Jesus confronts the crowd, He knows the role culture plays. He calls them an “unbelieving generation.” The culture of which they belong, as all cultures are, is rooted in sinful human nature, and therefore given to unbelief and doubt and sin.

Our own American culture has elements that run directly contrary to culture of the Kingdom of God. These cultural elements can, if we don’t recognize their influence, become barriers to our growth.

Science, while good and useful, is not the final standard for what is and is not true in our world, and our culture believes that it is. Everything must pass the Scientific Method in order to be declared true.

Individualism gave our forefathers the determination and drivenness to become a nation, and gives us the ability to step out and take risks as entrepreneurs and business leaders. It also destroys our ability to live in community, to understand the perspectives of others, and to get along.

Patriotism is a good thing. But where does patriotism end and an idolatrous worship of America begin?

What about our militarized culture? Do we need a military to protect us? Certainly. Should we respect and care for those who sacrifice their lives on our behalf? Absolutely. But how does the Church find a voice for Peace and reconciliation when statistically they are the first to promote and support war?

Consumerism is a big issue for the America culture. American’s We consume account for 5% of the world’s population and 33% of global consumption. If everyone on earth consumed the way American’s do...we would need two more planet Earth’s to sustain it.

We could go on and on. And I’m not trying to pick on American culture. I just can’t speak for or against other cultures because I am not part of them, but I am part of this culture. While there is so much to be celebrated and applauded about our culture, it doesn’t take long to see there are elements of our that are in direct opposition to God.

Some of the largest and most dangerous barriers to our faith and spiritual growth are the cultural things. They run counter to the values of the Kingdom, and yet we overlook them because they seem so normal. Everyone around us is doing it, so we don’t even question whether it is right or wrong.

Jesus wants to regularly break into our lives and challenge the culturally accepted practices we take for granted. In fact, I believe He is the only one who can do that. We buy and keep on buying...we watch and keep on watching...we go to places and keep on going...until God breaks through and convinces us there must be a change.

We must overcome our inclination for self-protection.
Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

“If you can do anything...” So often we want to hedge our bets and protect ourselves. We build the barriers that keep us from growing because they are keep us safe. They keep us from being hurt. They protect us from disappointment. We don’t want to get our hopes up because that usually doesn’t end well.

It happens every time we are hurt in a relationship. “I will never let anyone hurt me like that again!” And so we put up a barrier that keeps out the bad people who would hurt us. But it also becomes a barrier that keeps out the people who would love us.

It happens when the loved one, sick from cancer, gets some good news. We don’t want to be too happy or hopeful because the doctors get it wrong. So we build the barriers that keep us from hoping and being joyful...but also make us pessimistic and doubtful.

The good Christian way of doing this is by adding, “If it be your will” to our prayers. We hedge our bets because God might not answer our prayer. What many believe to be a statement of trust in God is really just a way to let themselves off the hook when things don’t go well. We are unsure He will answer our prayers...so we don’t pray boldly, we don’t expect God to do anything, and this is our way of putting the blame back on God if things don’t go as we pray...because we said, “If it be your will.”

The example we see in Jesus is one of openness that tore down the barriers. He willing allowed people in who would hurt him, and yet continued to trust and care for people. He believed God would answer prayers and prayed boldly, and yet willing submitted to God’s decision. And when it came time, Jesus refused to protect himself even when it cost Him his life.

The desire for self-protection will interfere with our spiritual growth because it builds the very barriers we are trying to get around. It will keep us from living generously toward those who are hurting for fear of being taken advantage of. It will keep us from following God to certain areas of ministry because we want to protect ourselves from hurt or actual physical harm. It will keep us growing because to grow requires change and adjustments and pain.

Conclusion
I love the man’s response to Jesus because it rings so true, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

In his second admittance to Hazelden for substance abuse treatment, Eric Clapton said this,

"One day, as my visit was drawing to an end, a panic hit me, and I realized that in fact nothing had changed in me, and that I was going back out into the world again completely unprotected. The noise in my head was deafening, and drinking was in my thoughts all the time. It shocked me to realize that here I was in a treatment center, a supposedly safe environment, and I was in serious danger. I was absolutely terrified, in complete despair. At that moment, almost of their own accord, my legs gave way and I fell to my knees. In the privacy of my room I begged for help. I had no notion who I thought I was talking to, I just knew that I had come to the end of my tether, I had nothing to fight with. Then I remembered what I had heard about surrender, something I thought I could never do, my pride just wouldn't allow it, but I knew that on my own I wasn't going to make it, so I asked for help, and, getting down on my knees, I surrendered."

So often we go through life much like Eric Clapton...unchanged and unfazed by our encounter with God because we refuse to surrender and trust that Jesus’ way is the only way to God.

We remain blind to the expectations and cultural things that create barriers to our relationship with God. We seek to protect ourselves and build a wall between us and God. We become our own biggest barrier to God.

My goal in this series has been for us to see some of those barriers that keep us from having all that God wants us to have. His desire is to lavish grace and love and forgiveness on us, and yet so often we are hindered by doubts and fears and barriers we have built with our own hands. It is time to let those barriers go.

The power of the Gospel is not that it can save us from our sins, but that it continues to save us from our sins. It isn’t just a one and done sort of thing. The Gospel, as one pastor put it, is not the door...it is the entire house.

Review of Cross Roads by Wm. Paul Young

2012-11-16T09:50:00.000-05:00

Embedding theology in narrative makes Truth seem less precise, even messy to the Westernized mind. Theological tenets should be listed with bullets points and proof texts; where many falsely believe there is less opportunity for misunderstanding. Often, though, the only way to present the depth and complexity of a truth is to couch it inside story.

Wm. Paul Young, whether you agree with his take or not, seems to have mastered this ability to present the struggle to find God in midst of brokenness through the power of story. Cross Roads is the followup to the bestselling novel The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. Anthony Spencer is a driven, angry, broken businessman who has chased success his entire life. His win at all costs mentality leaves him with no concern for the hurt caused to those around him.

After suffering a cerebral hemorrhage, Anthony enters a purgatorial world and faces the consequences of the ruinous life he has lived. His journey of discovery and transformation is guided by Young’s re-presented God-figures. The power of this story is that it reflects in essence the pain’s we have experiences and the pains we have caused.

The power of a writer is found in his or her ability to draw you into the story and cause you to forget you are just reading a book. While the first few chapters are a bit slow moving and verbally heavy, I found myself, as I did with The Shack, drawn into the story. Things pick up about chapter 3.

Anthony’s interaction with the Godhead challenges us to explore God’s attributes from a different perspective. As with The Shack, there will likely be some backlash to the characters who represent God. Some will once again disagree with aspects of his theological presentation, but I appreciate the narrative form that forces us to rethink our understanding of the Godhead and the human struggle to find healing in a broken world.

One of my favorite lines was a twist on Jonathan Edward’s famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Wm. Young describes the crucifixion as “God in the hands of angry sinners.” That line provoked some thinking and reflection about a loving God who willingly joined our painful, suffering, evil world to bring hope, healing, and salvation.

Anthony’s journey, in the hands of Wm. Young, explores the challenges faced as we attempt to reconcile the hurts that shape us and how those hurts push to hurt others. I recommend reading Cross Roads. It is challenging, but just might inspire a different perspective that enables you to experience God in a new and fresh way.

Here are few videos you might find helpful as you evaluate this book:

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR,Part 255.

Barrier to Faith: The Church

2012-11-14T06:47:00.000-05:00

We are currently in a message series called Barriers to Faith. We have been looking at some things that can be barriers to our spiritual growth...keeping us from getting where we want or need to go in our faith journey.

This week are going to look at what happens when the Church becomes a barriers to our faith.

Let me give you a few statistics:

In 1990, 20.4% of the population attended a Christian church on any given weekend. In 2000, that percentage dropped to 18.7% and to 17.7% by 2004.
Thom Rainer, in study of churches in the United States, says, “94% of our churches are losing ground in the communities they serve.”
One study shows that “while church attendance numbers have stayed about the same from 1990 to 2004, the U.S. population has grown by more than 48 million people. “So even though the number of attendees is the same, our churches are not keeping up with population growth.”
Another article states, “So what is the future of the American Church? Does declining attendance mean declining influence? If present trends continue, the percentage of the population that attends church in 2050 is estimated to be at almost half of 1990’s attendance—a drop from 20.4% to 11.7%.”

These can be difficult statistics to hear because we see people are leaving the church in droves. When people are asked, “Why they don’t go to church? or Why they left the church? It can be even harder to listen.

If you ask just a few people you will get a number of answers: The church is exclusivist, hypocritical, judgmental, unloving, and closed-minded. It is so boring. They only want my money. They don’t care about me.

One online commenter said, “I have given up on God because of Christians who let me down.” Another one said, “I left the church for many of the same reasons but I gave up on the church; not God.”

And it isn’t just those outside the church. Many inside America’s churches have expressed concern. It is easy to be sucked into the arena church hating, or at the least snarling up our noses at the idea of church. Because we understand their feelings, don’t we? Many of us have been hurt or wounded by someone in the church.

I remember the woman who told my wife “I can’t wish you Happy Mother’s Day because your not a mother.” ...as we struggled to have a child. I remember the hurts and pains and things people in the church have said to me as I sat my job evaluation as a young youth pastor...the way I have been treated by “good church people.” Often worse than I have been treated by people outside the church.

Some of You have some serious hurts from your past church experiences. You remember how you were treated when you didn’t quite live up to someone's standards. That condescending look you received. That hateful comment made about you. Your spiritual life may still struggle as you attempt to shake the whisper of legalism from the back of you thoughts. You wrestle with issues of guilt because of something wrongly laid on you. You struggle to really understand God because of the baggage you received at the hands of some church people.

We live in a culture where the Church is seen more as a barrier for people in their faith journey than a help. And whether what they say about the church is true or not, they certainly believe it to be true. So more and more people are leaving the church, but not necessarily leaving God.

And yet there is something about the Church we cannot get away from. No matter how hard we try, we recognize its value, even the necessity of this thing we call the church.

Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Church in Chicago, said, “The local church is the hope of the world.” He isn’t disregarding or belittling the role of Jesus. He is simply reminding us that through the local church Jesus brings hope to our world. While there are many fine organizations in the world...The Red Cross feeds and shelters thousands of people each year. The Bill Gates Foundation gives millions of dollars each year to AIDS research...no other organization can lead people in transforming a heart.

The author of Show Me The Way puts it this way,

“[We live] at a time and in a country where the church is frequently seen more as an ‘obstacle’ in the way rather than as the ‘way’ to Jesus. Nevertheless, I’m profoundly convinced that the greatest spiritual danger for our times is the separation of Jesus from the Church. The Church is the body of the Lord. Without Jesus, there can be no Church; and without the Church, we cannot stay united with Jesus. I’ve yet to meet anyone who has come closer to Jesus by forsaking the Church.”

So we seem to be stuck. On the one hand we recognize the Church has not always lived up to this grand ideal. We have problems and there have been times when we were the problem. And yet, Jesus believed in the power of the church, and the Bible leaves us no option but to be part of a church. Jesus invested everything in the church...literally.

In Matthew 28:16-20, it says,

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus takes this ragtag band of disciples and commissions them to go and make disciples of all nations. Then through baptism and teaching form a community of people who “obey everything I have commanded you.” He doesn’t hang around to make sure everything goes well. He leaves, and leaves the fate of all his work in the hands of these men and women.

Throughout the New Testament the writers use the word ekklesia to describe this ever growing group of disciples. It came from two Greek words. The first means “to call out.” And the second means an assembly. So it was an assembly or gathering of the called out ones.

In classical Greek the word “ekklesia” meant “an assembly of citizens summoned by the crier” for a city meeting. But in the hands of New Testament writers, the idea of the Church was way more than just a gathering. It was the gathering of people called out of the world, out of sin, out of their selfishness, and assembled as a group of people committed to live obediently to Jesus, and to live this life as a witness to others that Jesus’ Kingdom had come.

So let’s break this thing down a bit this morning and look at some of the pieces in order to help us better understand the church and what it is all about.

The church is first and foremost the people.

The Church is not a place where we go. That is one of the things that I like about being a church plant. It makes it really hard for us to talk about going to church. We meet in a sweat-filled aerobic room, and this throws people all the time. Some have felt uncomfortable here because it just doesn’t “feel” like church. But the church is not now and never has been about the place. People have met in homes, in restaurants, taverns and bars, in church buildings of all shapes and sizes, and in cemeteries and burial caves.

The Church is also not a power structure. Anyone who has lived in the real world knows there must be a form of organization and structure to keep things running smoothly. We need someone to take leadership to get things done and stay on track. The organization, the institution, is only a means to an end. It is is not the dominant idea behind “Church”!

When we begin to see the church as a place or a power structure, that is when things begin to go awry. The Church is the people. The Church is you and I. Church happens whenever and wherever God’s people gather. People called out and assembled together under the name of Jesus.

There is something about the assembling of His people that God promises to bless above all others. Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

God blesses the gathering of His people in a way that is not available when you and I sit alone in our rooms to pray and worship and read God’s Word. Not that we can do away with our private times. But our times of private worship enables and inspires our times of worship as a community, and times of community worship inspires and enables out times of worship as individuals.

Since the Church is about the people, we know that people can be a problem. People are flawed and broken. People mess things up. They say the wrong thing at the wrong time. They do the wrong thing. They make mistakes. People allow their personal hurts and prejudices to get in the way. So when you bring people together with all kinds of backgrounds and sin and baggage, all their presuppositions and attitudes, you can have a mess on your hands.

If we simply look at the people Jesus chose as his disciples...we see very quickly that relationships are messy. James and John were constantly jockeying for position. Peter was always opening his mouth. Simon, known as the zealot, was the modern equivalent of a terrorist...so I am sure he added some interesting things into the mix. Especially if you add in Matthew who was considered a traitor by his people because he worked with the occupying Roman government.

So much of the New Testament is written to tell Jesus’ followers how to treat others in the church because relationships are messy. Jesus talks of loving our neighbors, forgiving those who hurt us, praying for those who persecute us. James talks about controlling out tongues, and watching out for our anger. Paul tells how to deal with dissension and spiritual gifts gone awry. These are relational issues because the church is about the people.

The irony of all this is that we can only learn to be obedient to God’s command in community. We cannot learn to love...all by ourselves. We cannot learn to forgive when we are completely alone. We cannot care for each other and pray for each other the way the Bible calls us to do if we are not meeting together regularly as a church.

Someone will inevitably say the wrong thing and offend you. Someone else will do something stupid and hurt your feelings. There will be someone who takes a position you don’t agree with. We will have prejudices and presume things that are completely wrong and will cause us to misunderstand a situation. There will be times of miscommunication. But the power of the Gospel is found in the fact that we become obedient to Christ because of those things.

So, first the church is about the people.

But it is about a People called to experience the Kingdom.

The church is not just a gathering of people. We can gather anywhere else in the world. A country club is a gathering of people. A dinner out is a gathering of people. A night at the bar is a gathering of people. The church is not just a gathering. The church is a gathering of people who have been called out of the world, and into a relationship with God.

2 Corinthians 6 tells believers to not be unevenly bound together with unbelievers because there are two different goals and two different motivations as work, and then in verse 17 it says, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

So often we want all the good things of God without any of the responsibility. We want to get into heaven without ever turning our backs on our sin. We want a deep relationship with God without ever carving time from our schedules to be with Him. We want to live life as we have always lived it without significant connection to other people.

But as the ekklesia, we are call out of the world to gather as a people who have experienced the deep presence of God, and turned our backs on the way things are “normally done” in the world around us.

Acts 2:1-4 tells us that true “church” didn’t start to take place until the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples.

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

The disciples went from cowering in fear to preaching Christ in the streets. The presence of the Holy Spirit changed them.

So often we attempt to make things happen through our own strength. We try to do what is right through guilt, through better education, through programs. We think more Sunday attendance, more outreaches, more stuff will do what needs to be done. That somehow we will do what we are supposed to do...when what we really need is the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.

I love the vision of the church presented in Acts 2:41-47. It says,

“41 Those who accepted [Peter’s] message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Acts 2 gives us a vision that seems impossible. 3,000 people coming to faith in a single day, and more added daily! The followers gathered to learn from the Apostle’s teaching, to fellowship, to break bread as part of communion and in homes, signs and wonders were performed. Believers shared their money and food and goods with those who needed them. They regularly praised God and were viewed favorably by everyone around them.

What a powerful vision of what the church can and should be...But the only way it was possible was through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives. The only way for us to live as Christ would have us live...the only way for us to be the church God desires us to be...is to have the presence of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.

The church assembles to grow, learn, commune, worship, as Acts 2 tells us, but it can never end there.

Because we are a People sent on a mission.

The founder of the "home church" movement in England, Canon Ernest Southcott, said,

"The holiest moment of the church service is the moment when God’s people—strengthened by preaching and sacrament—go out of the church door into the world to be the church. We don’t go to church; we are the church."

The action of the church is two-fold. First, the church gathers to learn and grow and worship, but then the church scatters to witness, love, minister, and extend the Kingdom of God. Matthew 28, which we looked at earlier, is called the Great Commission. In it Jesus tells his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations...” We are called to go because we are bearers of God to the world around us.

The Apostle Paul says it this way:
2 Corinthians 5:20,

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

Ephesians 3:10 says,

“[God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.”

Dan Kimball in "The Emerging Church" describes the church "as a body of people sent on a mission who gather in community for worship, encouragement, and teaching from the Word that supplements what they are feeding themselves throughout the week."

We are only part of the way through when we gather on Sunday morning...it isn’t until we go into our world and live out the mission of Jesus in our everyday lives that the true force of the church is fully experienced.

Conclusion
There is so much more we could discuss. We could spend a couple of weeks just fleshing out what it means to be the church. The Body of Christ. The Bride of Christ. The People of God. There are so many ways used to describe it. But the church becomes a barrier to faith when it becomes more than it is meant to be or less than it is meant to be.

When we become program driven and meeting driven and focused only on what happen on Sunday then we miss all that God has for us. When we settle for quick greetings as a replacement for true friendship. When our understanding of church revolves around a place or a power structure we are settling for far less than what God has in mind for His church. We truly become the Church when we live in the power of the Holy Spirit everyday of the week...and extend God’s Kingdom in our homes, neighborhoods, jobs, and families!

God is not finished working in and through the Church.

Barriers to Faith: Doubting God's Word

2012-11-07T11:08:00.001-05:00

When I was younger, I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house. I wanted to spend the night at her house, but it was very difficult to figure out which night that would be. I didn’t like to spend Friday night there because she didn’t have a television and Saturday morning was reserved for cartoons! There was a day when cartoons only came on one day a week...not on 24 hour cartoon channels.

I didn’t like to spend Saturday night because that meant I had to get dressed up and go to church. They didn’t have children’s church or anything fun like that. We were expected to sit through the Sunday morning service with the adults and remain quiet for the entire time...which I am not capable of doing still to this day.

But one thing I remember about my Grandmother’s house is waking up in the morning...the house would be quiet and dark except for the kitchen light...I would sneak in, trying not to make any noise, because my grandmother was usually at the kitchen table with her cup of coffee reading her Bible and praying. Every morning I can remember has that memory.

There was something about what was happening that I knew, even at my young age, was important and special and holy. She found strength and guidance in those pages. She believed she was reading words written for her and inspired by God.

A recent Pew Forum survey says 37% of Americans say they read the Bible at least once a week. That is a fairly impressive number I think. Almost 40% of people say they read the Bible once a week. For many of those reading the Bible it is the same source of spiritual strength and guidance as it is for my grandmother.

But these statistics also tell us that over 60% or people in America do not read the Bible at all. For them the Bible is a collection of stories with a moral lesson to be learned; much like an Aesop’s Fable or some other uplifting story. For some the Bible is so flawed it cannot be trusted and should not be read. For others the Bible is an outdated book with outdated ideas and standards.

Even Christian can have their doubts. There are some pretty intense things in the Bible...violence...bigamy...rape...slavery...these things can cause us to resist or doubt the Bible’s message. The Barna research group found that “just half of all self-identified Christians firmly believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles (not the facts, just the principles) that it teaches. They also found that “most self-identified Christians are comfortable with the idea that the Bible and the sacred books from non-Christian religions all teach the same truths and principles.”

We are currently in a series called Barriers to Faith, and we have been looking at some of the barriers that keep us from getting where we want or need to go in our spiritual journeys. This morning we are looking what happens when we doubt Scripture because our approach to Scripture dramatically affects our spiritual growth. It can be either a hindrance or help.

Everyone eventually asks questions about the Bible. We have to wrestle with whether or not this collection of books holds the ultimate Truth for which we are searching and whether it should have any authority over our lives and practices.

Those outside the faith have a lot of questions and there are a wide variety of opinions about the truth of the Bible. The questions about the Bible seem to revolve around a few main issues: What about all of the contradictions and inaccuracies in the Bible? Aren’t these just words man wrote down? With so many translations and interpretations, hasn’t the Bible been changed?

Ultimately, what we are asking is Does this book have any authority over my life? If it is a book written by a man...then it is just personal opinion and I can take or leave the parts I don’t like. But if this is a book given to us by God that carries a lot more weight.

There are responses to each objection and question presented. If we take just the question of changes due to translations and interpretations...we see that when it comes to original manuscript support, the Bible has more than any other ancient document. There are more than 24,000 manuscript copies of the Bible, and a significant number of those copies come from within a generation of Jesus life. In fact, there are 5,600 manuscripts of the New Testament from within 100 years of Jesus’ life. Homer’s Illiad only has 653 manuscripts available, and the oldest copy available is over 500 years after Homer’s lifetime.

It can be demonstrated that the Bible has not been significantly altered over the past 2,000 years, and when there have been changes it is only in wording for clarity with no impact on the main tenets and beliefs of our faith. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the idea of tampering and altering persists.

We shouldn’t be surprised when Americans don’t read the Bible, or want to live under its authority. Why would anyone outside of the Christian faith read it? I don’t often sit down and read the Muslim Quran or the Hindu Bhagavad Gita. I don’t consider them Truth so there is no expectation for me to read them.

What I do find surprising is how much of a barrier the Bible is for us as Jesus’ followers simply because we don’t read it.
It is easy for the busyness of life to crowd out our Bible reading. We are busy with school and children and jobs and everyday things that living life requires.

According to a recent survey less than 20% of Christians read their Bibles daily. Most only read it once a week; during the service on Sunday, and 35% of Christians do not read the Bible at all. Of those who read it regularly, most only read short snippets, out of context, and without fully understanding what the passage says only what they “feel” it means.

That same survey found a strong connection between someone’s time in Scripture and their spiritual growth.

Ray C. Stedman, says it this way,

“Here, then, is the divinely designed instrument of growth, the Word of God. It is absolutely impossible to grow up as a Christian or as a real man or woman, unless the Word of God abides in you. This is why the devil fights the whole matter of Bible study, the building of your life around the centrality and the authority of the Scriptures. Though the devil cannot stop us from being Christians, he can certainly keep us from becoming strong Christians.”

And yet, we are all guilty of not reading as much as we should.

This morning I want to take a few moments to remind us of the importance of reading Scripture, and give us some ways to combat some doubts that can creep in from time to time.

Today’s text is 2 Timothy 3:14-17

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Apostle Paul had taken young Timothy under his wing and mentored him toward being a pastor. Eventually Timothy would take over the church Paul started in the city of Ephesus. But from time to time Timothy still needed advice and guidance. So Paul writes two letters to Timothy, 1 and 2 Timothy as we know them, to continue his encouragement training.

This passage we are looking at comes near the end of the second letter, and encourages Timothy to keep rooted in the Scriptures. He is talking about the Old Testament as the New Testament is only just then coming into existence. So Paul gives Timothy some sound principles and advice that will help us as we look at Scripture.

In order for the Bible to be of value and to overcome some of the doubts...

We must understand its purpose.
“... you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Over the past few decades issues of science and history as related to the Bible have come to the forefront of many discussions. And it is easy to get caught up in those discussions and forget the Bible’s main purpose...to lead us closer to God. The Bible is first and foremost a book about God revealing himself and His will to human beings and working to bring us salvation through Jesus Christ.

The Bible certainly has historical and scientific observations in it, but it just is not a book of history and science. So questions about the Bible’s relationship to science and history must be addressed, but they are not the central focus of the Bible. If we are not careful these issues get in the way of hearing what God wants to say to us through Scripture.

It is like trying to gain an understanding of the scientific realm from a poem. If we attempt to understand science through a poet’s writing we up with a skewed view of science and destroy the beauty and artistry of the poem. Many wonderful and valuable parts of Scripture like Genesis 1 and 2 have been turned into nothing more than a scientific discussion, and so much of what God really wants to teach us through those passages is lost or overlooked or ignored.

The problem isn’t just science and history. We can undermine Scripture when we expect to hear nothing more than a good moral story that uplifts or inspires us. We undermine it when are looking to find that right verse that justifies something we believe or gives us ammunition in a biblical/theological discussion. We rob it of its power when we use it as a 5 easy step instruction manual for every area of our lives.

Frederick Buechner said, “When a minister reads out of the Bible, I am sure that at least nine times out of ten the people who happen to be listening at all hear not what is really being said but only what they expect to hear read...most people expect to hear read from the Bible is an edifying story, an uplifting thought, a moral lesson—something elevating, obvious, and boring. So that is exactly what very often they do hear.”

Scripture is meant to make us wise...to give us understanding and guidance...to grow our character...in such a way that we receive salvation through our faith in Jesus Christ. We will talk little more about this in just a minute. But first

We must understand its origin.
“All Scripture is God-breathed...”

One of the common criticisms of the Bible is that it is simply a collection of books written and assembled by men. Men who may have had the best of intentions. They may have wanted to inspire and lead and help people become morally better, but this isn’t a document from God...it is a document written by men who, ultimately, like the power they received from writing such a document.

According to 2 Timothy, the Scriptures is “God-breathed.” I like that word. God-breathed. Both Hebrew and Greek us the same word for breath as they do for Spirit, breath, and wind. What is happening here is the same mental picture we receive from Genesis 1 when God knelt down, formed human beings from the dust of the ground, and then breathed life into him. God is breathing life into the words of a human writer, through the Holy Spirit, in such a way that we are reading God’s words.

Things get muddied, though, when we start looking at all the ways people have attempted to explain what this process actually looks like. Scholars and teachers use words like infallible, inerrant, plenary, inspired...which are all words and concepts we should be familiar with in the long run.

Here is what I know: God has been working in the processes of the Bible to give us what we need from the beginning until now. He started with the writers. He has been guiding those who have copied and worked with the manuscripts. He is present with the translators. He has guided Christian leaders, teachers, and scholars as they have attempt to explain and understand what is being said.

But just as important is His promise to meet each one of us...to lead us and guide us through the Scriptures...when we sit down to read it and try understand by seeking His guidance. John 16:13 says, “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” When you and I pick up the Scriptures we have exactly what God wants needs us to have in order to fulfill the purpose he has for it...which is to make us wise and bring us to salvation.

We must understand its use.
“All Scripture...is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness...”

This is highly connected to our first point. The purpose of Scripture is “to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” But what does it look like to make someone wise? How does that play out in our lives?

Soren Kierkegaard says, “When you read [Scripture], you must constantly be saying to yourself, ‘It is talking to me, and about me.’”

Scripture is useful for teaching us, rebuking us, correcting wrong behavior, and training us to do what is right. If you want to know what God is like or what the goal of our faith is Scripture will teach you. If you want to know if something is sinful and contrary to God’s will, the Scriptures can give you guidance. If you think you have something figured out, Scripture can correct your course and put you on the right track. If you want to know what you should be doing it can lead you. It’s purpose is to make us wise. But wisdom doesn’t happen overnight.

What often happens is we want to know God’s will or we to change a behavior and we want it to happen right now! I want to know God’s will for my life. I have a big decision to make in the next few weeks or few days...so I start praying and reading and trying, but God just seems to be silent. And when we don’t hear anything we eventually just go with it and make the best possible choice!

Scripture does not give us 5 easy steps to know God’s Will for our lives. Scripture tells us the kind of person who knows God’s will...and that something very different. Scripture tells us about the character, the habits, the lifestyle of a person who is able to discern God’s will...and that takes way more time than some are willing to give.

Spiritual transformation is less like a fast food drive thru and more like an all day gourmet dinner. The work is more intense and takes longer, but the results are way more satisfying. Eugene Peterson, who translated The Message, calls it a “Long obedience in the same direction.”

Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

When we spend time allowing Scripture to teach, rebuke, correct, and train us over the long haul...we will discover that understanding God’s will for our lives becomes a lot easier to see.

We must understand its result.
“...so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

The end result of making us wise...of the teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in our lives is to thoroughly equip us for every good work. Scripture’s ultimate result should be to turn us outward...to push us into ministry to others...to push us into loving others more deeply.

James 1:22-24 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

As Christians understanding of our mission in this world is deeply rooted in our understanding of Scripture. If our reading of Scripture doesn’t push us out the door and into a hurting world to minister...we are not reading Scripture properly. God is looking to fill us to overflowing so we can give away what we have been freely given.

It does us no good to just just passively listen to what is being said and then hold on to it...or not allow it to change our actions, attitudes...our character. The more we study the Scripture...the more we should be compelled to serve and love. Through Scripture we are thoroughly equipped for every good work God calls us to do.

Ultimately, We must understand that Jesus is God's final Word.

Hebrews 1:1-3,

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

John 1:1, 14 says,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The Church faces two great temptations when it comes to Scripture. The first is thinking too little of Scripture. It is our guide and the foundation of our faith. The second is to think too highly of Scripture and elevate it to the level of an idol. There are some who completely disregard Scripture either with their words by rejecting it or through their actions by not reading it. And there are some who lift it to almost a god-like status.

And it may seem a bit oxymoronic to say...but Jesus is the ultimate revelation of who God is and what God is like and what God desires of those who follow Him. It is ironic that our only real way to learn about Jesus is through the written word of Scripture, but a distinction must still be made. Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God. When we struggle to understand God as found in the Old Testament...we look through the lens of Jesus Christ. When we struggle to understand how to treat others...what life does God bless...how should we respond to struggle and oppression and persecution...when we have questions about what it means to be a Christian...we look to Jesus.

Conclusion
We might hear a message like this and be tempted to beat ourselves up because we don’t read the Bible more. But that would be putting the cart before the horse.

When Lori and I started dating we only saw each other 2-3 times a week at church. The rest of the time we talked on the phone, went on occasional dates, and wrote letters back and forth (there wasn’t email or texting!). When I got one of those letters I didn’t have to be guilted into reading those letters. I didn’t read them begrudgingly. I couldn’t wait to read them. I read them several times. I still have them in a box at my house. Every one of them! Because I love her it was easy to read them.

If we beat ourselves up over not reading the Bible...we are focused on the wrong thing. My prayer for us is that we fall so in love with Jesus we can’t wait to read His Word. Don’t let me replace reading God’s word with that good book by that author I love. Don’t let me replace it with a sentence or two read in passing. Don’t let me replace it with that worship CD with that great song on it. Let us spend time in the words God gave us because we love Him and desire to know Him more.

Barriers to Faith: Doubting God's Goodness

2012-10-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

Over the past few weeks we have been looking at some Barriers that keep us from getting where we want or need to go in our faith journey. Sometimes we hesitate to go 100% in with God, Jesus, the Christian Faith, so we are taking a look at some of those things that, from time to time, can get in the way. They can distract us, and, if left unchecked, can keep us from growing deeper in our faith.

One of the most common barriers we face is known as the Problem of Evil. St. Thomas Aquinas, a brilliant theologian and thinker from the Middle Ages, called the Problem of Evil a troublesome argument for the Christian Faith. John Stott said, "the fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith."

The Problem of Evil is often stated several different ways.

1. Why do bad things happen to good people?2. Why do bad people get away with their bad things?3. Why do good people do bad things?

The typical, philosophical argument looks something like this:

If God is loving and good.And if God can do anything.How could a loving and good God allow evil and pain in our world.Either God is not good and loving or God can’t anything and therefore isn’t God!

Ultimately it all boils down to an attempt to understand how a God that we call loving, fatherly, all-power, all-knowing...How can this God allow suffering to take place if He has any power whatsoever to stop it?

Imagine you are walking down the street and see a two-year-old child riding their bike in the middle of the street. Car tires squeal at the end of the block, and a car is rushing down the street toward her. Wouldn’t you rush out to either remove the child from danger or wave down the driver and attempt to get them to stop? If you and I would do that for a child, why won’t God stop the horrific evil we have seen over and over throughout the history of the world? Can’t He do something about it?

You see, there are philosophical issues with the Problem of Evil, but most of us don’t have intellectual doubts about God when it comes to this area...we have relational doubts. We are not looking for an air-tight philosophical proof that demonstrates or answers this question...we are looking for something that heals a wound or gives insight into the suffering we or a loved one has to face.

Why do so many people have to suffer and die?
Why is the sex slave industry destroying so many lives?
Why do young children suffer beatings, abuse, and death every day?
Why do I have to wrestle with this chronic pain?
Why did my loved one have to die?
Why can’t I have children?
Why? Why? Why?

When it comes to talking about the problem of evil, it is less about philosophy and theology and more about a personal relationship with a God who would allow such things. Rather than talk about philosophical proofs and reasons, it is like talking to a divorcee who has suffered from a cheating spouse. We feel betrayed by God. Because if God is good and can stop it, but allows this sort of thing then I don’t want anything to do with Him. We are really asking, “How can I trust a God who allows these things to happen?”

Our modern theologies and contemporary church culture often doesn’t help. They create more problems than they solve!

“God never gives us more than we can handle,” some people would say, but they have never had to stare at their child in a hospital bed fighting for their life. They have never had a family members abused or murdered. Maybe it isn’t that severe. We have just been out of work for a while and the bills are more than we can handle. We often get way more than we can handle!

“You reap what you sow!” is another saying we throw around. Certainly is has some truth to it.

If you smoke a pack a day for 35 years you will most likely get emphysema or cancer. If you steal from an employer you will most likely get caught and suffer the consequences. If you treat people around you poorly you will often live a lonely life because no one wants to be around you. If you treat others with respect you will likely have friends. If you take care of your health, you will more than likely have a better standard of living.

We usually receive the consequences of our actions. So if we sow bad things we will reap bad things and if we sow good things then we will receive good things.

But so often it isn’t true. We receive far worse than we sown. Or far better!

We are looking at Psalm 73 today, and the opening line is an example of bad theology that leads to bad thinking. Psalm 73:1 says, “Surely God is good to Israel, those who are pure in heart.”

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart! This sounds like great reasoning. Those who follow God should receive good things from Him. But there are times when we may seriously doubt whether God is good. Our pain is so severe we ask Why? We struggle with the pain, and realize somewhere along the way we have way more than we can handle. We can’t possibly keep going if this is how life is going to be. And we begin to doubt that God is really good.

So we can sympathize with the author who, after quoting what was a common belief in his day, says, “But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.” It just doesn’t seem to be true! His feet are slipping. He is losing his foothold of trust in God, in Yahweh whom he has been trying so diligently to follow. His faith is slipping.

I asked Mary for permission to share just a short snippet of her story. She and Laban tried several times to have children and have had several miscarriages along the way. In the midst of their trials and struggles, Mary’s prayer throughout this was WHY? Why is this happening? Why can’t we have children? And in the midst with all the pain, there were moments when Her feet almost slipped.

There are times when our pain and suffering get so bad that our feet almost slip. We begin to doubt the goodness of God because he doesn’t seem to be upholding his end of the deal.

We find ourselves saying something like the author does a few verses later in Psalm 73:13-14, “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.”

You know God I have prayed on a regular basis. I have read my Bible. I have helped the poor and the broken. I have obeyed everything You asked. It seems perfectly reasonable for You to do good things for those of us who have tried so hard to obey You.

And yet the pain persists. The loved one goes unhealed. The problems keep coming.

It is so easy to slip into this mode isn’t it?

And what is so frustrating to this author, as it can be for us, is he looks around at the people who have spent their lives spurning God’s will, living disobedient, evil lives, doing whatever they please, and they seem to be doing just fine.

Psalm 73:3-12,

3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.5 They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.6 Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits.8 They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.10 Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.11 They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?”12 This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

I read business, leadership books on a regular basis. I want to be a better leader so I try to keep learning in that area. And most leadership books describe leadership and those who succeed in leadership as someone who is caring for their people while leading the company and making the hard decisions that progress the company. They listen to others and bring out their best. They have principles and live with integrity and have a balanced life where they also have a successful family.

But we know that isn’t necessarily true, don’t we? I have worked for several people who have been anything but the leader described in those books. They are selfish and self-serving. Tehy are cut throat and mean. They have sacrificed their family to spend more time at their work. Then they get promoted, they succeed financially, they are doing just fine.

We see the business person whose company has cheated, driven other companies into the ground, put millions out of work, and yet have succeed and become multi-million dollar industries without suffering any consequences. We see dictators and leaders who persecute their own people, most of them living in poverty, while they live it up. Our newspapers and entertainment magazines are filled with people who do whatever they want and spurn God’s will, and yet their lives are successful, they have whatever they need, they are healthy.

The Psalmist is looking at the ungodly who are successful and saying, “What gives God? How is this right? Why do those who try so hard to what is right suffer so much and those who do everything to spite you suffer so little?”

The Psalmist just can’t understand. We so often don’t understand why it happens this way. Psalm 73:16 says, “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply.”

When we suffer pain and face trials in our lives our enemy sees the perfect opportunity to attack. We read Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” So we start asking and seeking and knocking, but nothing happens. Then the enemy comes and says, “You know God said that, but he didn’t mean it for you. God certainly blesses people, but He just doesn’t seem to be doing it for you. This probably means that something is wrong in your life.”

Have you ever felt that way? God blesses and helps and answers prayer for everyone else but me!

Pain has a way of filling up our entire field of vision. It gets so close to our face that we can’t see anything else going on in our lives. The pain and suffering get so close we begin thinking there is nothing else good in our lives, and that God doesn’t want to or can’t or won’t bless us.

Then other people’s joy is exaggerated. Their joy actually causes us more pain because we can’t see around our pain enough to realize we do have some good in our lives.

Those people over there...they have NO problems at all...we hear whispered in our ear. You life is nothing but pain.

Psalm 73:16 says, “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply.” So not only are we frustrated by not being able to understand what is happening, we are troubled by it. One translation says, “it was oppressive to me.” When we stack pain upon pain and when that pain fills our entire vision we will fail to see any joy in our lives...and it will become oppressive.

We have this drive within us to understand everything. It seems like it is just part of being human. And there is something so unreasonable, so completely unable to be understood about pain and suffering and evil...that it is frustrating.

Christopher Wright, in his book titled The God I Don’t Understand, said this about our attempt to make sense of evil:

We finite human beings cannot, indeed, must not “make sense” of evil. For the final truth is that evil does not make sense...Evil has no proper place within creation. It does not intrinsically belong to the creation as God originally made it nor will it belong to creation as God will ultimately redeem it. It cannot and must not be integrated into the universe as a rational, legitimated, justified part of reality. Evil is not there to be understood, but to be resisted and ultimately expelled. Evil was and remains an intruder, an alien presence…evil is beyond our understanding because it is not part of the ultimate reality that God in his perfect wisdom and utter truthfulness intends us to understand.

We are frustrated by our attempts to understand and explain evil and pain because it really has no place in the world God created for us to live. It is an intruder. It is not meant to be here.

But we are not left completely helpless in this regard.

Psalm 73:16-17 says, “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”

It wasn’t until the Psalmist entered the sanctuary of God that he was able to gain some understanding. In his day the Sanctuary of God would have been the Temple where God’s Word was taught, the sacrifices took place, and where God’s presence was. Today it would be understood as the Church where we hear God’s Word preached and read, and we serve each other by using our spiritual gifts, and where God’s presence is sensed in community with others.

It isn’t until we enter the sanctuary, until we enter God’s presence that we are able to catch a glimpse of understanding about the Problem of pain and suffering in our world.

When we enter the Sanctuary we learn something about Sin.

So much of the pain and suffering in our world is not traced back to God, but rather back to sin. How many times have the sins of our past come back to haunt our present? I have a friend who says, “I’m trying to undo in my 30’s what I did in my 20’s!”

But even more than that so much of the suffering in our world can be traced back to sinful human behavior. From the holocaust to abuse to ethnic cleansing and genocide to sex trafficking...these can be traced not to God, but rather to human sinful actions. One person committing a sinful act that affects so many people around them.

Even a good bit of the extensive damage of natural disasters can be traced to human sinfulness. Much of the damage and death in New Orleans was due to poor maintenance of levees, inadequate supplies, and late response to a horrific disaster. Not to mention the brilliant idea of building a near coastal city where most of the people live below sea level.

Even in areas where earthquakes happens, much of the damage is due to poor construction standards and inadequate responses to the dangers. Not to mention how much suffering is increased due to looting and the predatory conduct of those who have “come to help.”

Another things we learn is something about Human Freedom

God has given us the ability to choose. We are not mindless robots. We are not minions who do His bidding. We are given the opportunity to freely choose to love and to worship and to respond. If we did not have this freedom it wouldn’t really be love or worship.

And in giving freedom that comes with some risk. If I didn’t give Lori a choice as to whether or not she could “love” me. In the first place that wouldn’t be love. But in the second place, it would be a form of slavery or control. We have heard about relationships where one person’s insecurities about losing the other have led them to control and dictate the behavior of the other person. And we are able to recognize how wrong that is.

The same holds true for the relationship between humans and God. Our actions are allowed freedom. We are free to choose to love and to worship...but we are also free to walk away from God and reject Him. And this freedom has consequences.

But why, you might ask, doesn’t God intervene to stop some of this?

Imagine you are playing a game where every time the other persons makes a wrong move they are able to simply take it back. I want that rule to apply to me, but not you. Eventually there comes a point where you are no longer playing a game of any real consequence. If everything action is revocable then it is meaningless.

If my free choices and your free choices don’t have real consequences; if God stepped in at every moment, every time we chose wrong - and changed the outcome, then our choices have no meaning at all and there really is no such thing as free choice.

In the Sanctuary we learn about Jesus.

A few weeks ago, I asked on my Facebook page, “If you were sitting across the table from Jesus, what would you ask Him?” I got some funny answers. Marcy here won for funniest. She said, “Was I supposed to make dinner or were you?”

There were several funny answers and then there were the serious answers. One person, with very brutal honesty asked, “Why did you let my father die?”

That is a question about pain and suffering and loss in our lives, and there is no simple answer for it. The philosophical and theological explanation won’t take away the pain or ease the sense of loss in that question.

What I do know is God knows exactly how we feel when we lose someone close to us. He watched as His Son died a horribly painful death. He fully understands what it is like to lose a loved one.

The Problem of Evil creates the biggest challenge to belief in God, but, ironically, God is the only adequate answer to Problem of Evil. Jesus death is a big statement to us that God willingly came down to suffer with us. He did not stand aloof and distance, he came and suffered in this world with us.

And through the death of Jesus, God is working to reverse evil onto itself. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, God uses evil to fight itself. Like the adult who uses a child's own hands to hit him/her self. Jesus death and resurrection tells us that evil will not have the last word. In fact, it won’t have the last word in our lives.

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 says,

55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ death demonstrates that God has come down to suffer with us and resurrection tells us that God will ultimately do something about the problem of pain and suffering and evil in our world. There is coming a day when all pain and sorrow will cease. There is coming a day when suffering and deaht will be a thing of the past, and God’s Kingdom will come on earth as it is in Heaven!

Barriers to Faith: Doubting God's Existence Part 2

2012-10-29T07:32:00.000-04:00

We are currently in a series called Barriers to Faith. We are looking at things that keep us from getting where want or need to go, and for many in our world today, Doubt is a big part of what holds them back. It is their barrier.

And we are not talking about just having a hesitant feeling toward something. There are people with serious doubts even in regards to God’s existence. And it isn’t just for the outsider or the atheist. There are times when those following Jesus struggle with doubt.

Thomas, one of Jesus’ followers, is the Patron Saint of all who doubt. He refused to believe the wild stories about Jesus’ resurrection just because the other disciples said they saw Him. He said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25). Because of his doubt, he has won the title, Doubting Thomas.

Doubting Thomas. How condescending. As someone who never takes something at face value, I find this intolerable. Simply wanting someone to demonstrate some evidence should not cause a person to be labeled for 2,000 years!

Thomas, like me, would have sent every one of those emails back to the other disciples with the appropriate link to Snopes.com.

Put yourselves in Thomas’ shoes for a moment. Have you ever seen a resurrection before? Have you ever heard someone tell a ghost story or story that just seemed too good to be true?

Thomas simply wanted some demonstration that what was being said was true. I can relate to that.

But doubt can be scary. As a child I remember how some questions were not appropriate to be asked in church. Don’t be a Doubting Thomas! Simply take it on faith is what they said; as though faith meant somehow believing something that was unreasonable or unbelievable, but you accepted it anyway!

We even have a term for it...blind faith! If you find something unbelievable you should just step out and believe it because that is what’s expected of you!

But it is my belief that while there is no way to prove God’s existence beyond the shadow of a doubt there are explanations or proofs that add up to reasonably point to God’s existence. Christianity is not just blind faith. You do not need to check your brain at the door. You do not need to set up a battle between faith and reason and doubt.

You can be a thinking, reasonable, intelligent person and find credible reasons to believe in the Christian message.

So what is doubt?It is important to understand what we mean when we talk about doubt. The English word “doubt” comes from the Latin word “dubitare.” It means having a double-mind; to have a divided heart. It standing, undecided between two choices, and being unable to make a commitment to either one.

A great mental picture is of a person attempting to get out of their canoe and on to a dock. The movement of the canoe makes them nervous so they hesitate...and then the they fall into the water. Doubt is having two minds. It is being indecisive about a Truth. It is being indecisive about God or Jesus or the Christian faith.

The danger many Christians fear is that with doubt ALWAYS leads to falling into the water. Everyone of us knows someone or has heard of someone who after years of growing up in the faith or after having accepted a belief in Jesus left the faith due to doubts.

An all-too-familiar story goes like this. A young person has been raised in the church. They have a faith experience with God. They are active in the youth group. Then they go off to college where they are introduced to various other faith systems. Despite all the doom and gloom predictions of their church they discover many people of other faiths and some who have no faith at all who are extremely intelligent and thoughtful and sometimes more moral and caring than those in the church back home.

They sit in on the college classes and hear well-reasoned and thoughtful explanations against faith. They points of view that seem reasonable...especially when compared to the training they received growing up. But they are also alienated from church, and friends, and anything familiar...and their faith begins to suffer...and doubts creep in.

Doubt, though, does not have to have the upper hand. You can have doubt and you can survive. You can make it through to the other side.

I love the story from Mark 9. Jesus is on his way down the mountain having just been transfigured. He arrives to find his disciples and the crowd in a heated exchange because the disciples attempted to free a man’s child from demon possession and were unable to do so. Jesus offers to help the child...

Starting Mark 9:22-24 the boys father says,

“If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

I love this story because it is so true to my experience, and the experience of so many whom I have spoken with who deal with doubt. But it also shows us the proper attitude we should have as we wrestle with doubt.

So often we beat our selves up when we have the times of doubt. We think, “How stupid of you! You are a Christian and you have doubt! You think you can just go to church and ignore this?”

Sometimes we just have to approach God with the honesty of this father, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Don’t beat yourself up when the doubts come. Just because we have some doubts doesn’t mean we don’t have a sincere faith. This isn’t an all or nothing endeavor. I have doubt, therefore I have no faith. That is just not biblical.

Doubt is to faith what fear is to courage. Courage is not facing down danger without fear. Courage is not being controlled by that fear so you can move forward and do what needs to be done. So it is with faith and doubt. Faith is not the absence of doubt. It is understanding our doubts so we can move forward.

So this morning we are going to look at one last passage in our discussion about Doubting God’s existence.

Romans 1:18-22,

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

So are some of the sources of our doubt?

We doubt because of...
Immorality and Self-interest“18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.”

For Paul, a rejection of God’s existence is rooted in the fact of people’s sinfulness. rejection of God’s existence is not rooted in in careful reasoning, but rather in rebellion. People hold Truth down with their sin.

There are some people for whom their doubt is rooted in honest questions and an intellectual search for Truth. But is it so hard to believe that it is beneficial to a person’s lifestyle and chosen beliefs system to reject a belief in God. Let me put it another way, if the God of the Bible is real, wouldn’t the activity and choices and lifestyles of some people be threatened?

Imagine that if I were given the opportunity to speak Larry Flynt, the infamous publisher of Hustler magazine. Let’s say I fly out to his house, and I am given an opportunity to share my faith him and some reasonable proofs for God’s existence. At the end of our time, Larry...I can call him that now because we have a form of a relationship...Larry says to me, “You have convinced me!”

I am excited because Larry is about to accept Jesus.

But he says, “I have one more question for you. If I adopt your Christian belief systems, do I have to stop having sex with anyone I want? And, do I have to stop publishing my magazine which brings in millions of dollars?

“Well of course, Larry,” I would say. “God has called us to live a holy life that respects women as human beings and called us to live by a sexual ethic that holds to a monogamous lifestyle. So yes, these are some things you would need to change.”

Do you think, for just a second, that Larry Flynt might have a vested interest in there being no God?

Can you imagine that so many others in our world might have a vested interest, a bias in their heart for there being no God in existence? Because if the God of the Bible is real we either have to accept what He says as true or we have to reject him.

This is where that verse from the Old Testament comes into play in Psalm 14:1. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

This verse gets quoted by Christians all the time as a response to atheists. They say, “See to deny God is to be a fool. You are a fool!” But the biblical definition of a fool is someone who commits sins and does their own thing believing they will receive no punishment or there will be no judgment.

Because sin has affected us to the very core of our being, we are biased. We want to believe that we are just fine, and that our sin will not separate from God. But only the fool, the one who does whatever they wish, says, “There is no God to hold me accountable! I can do whatever I want.”

Is it so hard to believe that our doubts are often rooted in our desire to hold on to our way of doing things? As way to do as we please? That sometimes we have a prior commitment to doing things our way and if there really is a God then it might just get in the way.

Aldous Huxley in Ends and Means, 1937 famously, and honestly wrote these words, "I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption... The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in metaphysics, he is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do, or why his friends should not seize political power and govern in the way that they find most advantageous to themselves...the philosophy of meaningless was essentially an instrument of liberation..."

The second source of doubt...

Ingratitude“21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Doubt can creep into our lives because we have ingratitude.

So often we say, “If only God would heal my father, help my spouse not leave me, supply my financial need...If only God would do these things then I would always believe in Him!”

But the Bible, especially the Old Testament, shows time and time and time again that no matter how big God’s demonstration we live only in the moment.

The Israelites saw 10 amazing plagues and punishments come upon the Egyptians, and then they saw the Sea opened up before them so they could walk across on dry ground. They saw a pillar of fire at night and a pillar of cloud by day leading and guiding them...and it wasn’t even 2 weeks into the journey when they started to grumble about food and wanting to return to Egypt because they somehow couldn’t muster the faith the believe that God, who had done all of these things, could provide them with food.

How often we forget what God has done. How often we ask for God to move and and work and accomplish some things in our lives...and then when they happen...just move on with our lives without a single word of gratitude to the God who supplied our needs.

Hosea 13:6, says, “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.”

I grew up in an impoverished family. We survived because of the welfare program. That childhood has left me with wounds and scars...especially in regards to money. So when I faced the issue of tithing...it was a difficult issue for me.

But then someone taught me the principle of gratitude as it relates to tithing. Malachi 3:8-10 says, ““Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

God accuses the Israelites of robbing Him because they refuse to bring their tithes to him, but he also points out that it is connected to their level of gratitude. They don’t bring the tithe in because they aren’t grateful and they refuse to recognize that everything they have comes from God’s hand. Then he gives them this promise...If you simply recognize that I give it to you...then blessing upon blessing will overflow your life.

So often we cut ourselves off from God’s blessing because of our ingratitude toward him. We ask and we do not receive from Him because we are not thankful...we forget what He has done for us in the past. Our lack of gratitude gets in the way of our ability to receive.

Another source of doubt...

Inadequate FoundationsDoubt is often the result of knowing what we believe, but not knowing why we believe it. People often have this fear of theology and philosophy and apologetics because they are afraid of big words or something. Building our foundations is one of the sure ways to know not just what we believe, but why we believe it.

Have you ever seen an old house with a bad foundation? Parts of it are leaning. There is nothing plumb in the house at all. It might even be crashing down around us.

It is easy to build our faith on a weak foundation. A foundation of emotion or internal response...that is a good thing to start our faith with, but will not last. We have to build a strong foundation.

I have a friend who has always been a bit of spiritual nomad. He chases after so many different things and questions the Bible and God on so many different aspects...and what I have found is that many things he questions and believes simply because they seem good to him. They fit his biases. But they also answer questions in his mind about the Christian faith...that if he had built solid foundations...would not exist.

How is your foundation? Do you know why you believe what you believe? Do you have a regular time where you study the Scripture to understand what they are saying about God and Jesus and the Christian life? Do you spend time reading and growing in your knowledge of theology and philosophy...not the big words...but growing in your understanding of you faith?

Another source of doubt is

IdentificationThis is a quick and easy point to make. It is easy to allow doubt to creep in because so many people do not want to be associated with other Christians.

It is not that the evidence for God and the Christian faith has been weighed and found wanting. It may not have even been weigh. The problem is that I don’t want to believe because I have had a bad experience with God’s so-called people.

They had a previous religious experience and they were hurt, or had unanswered questions or were rejected or went unloved.

Some do not want to have to listen to our radio stations.

Some believe that the Christian faith requires us to vote a certain way or relate to science in a certain way.

Some have met THOSE kind of Christians that rather than lead people closer God actually push them away because they look nothing like Jesus.

But if this is the source of our doubt...don’t let other stand in the way. I don’t reject marriage because some idiot down the street can’t get his marriage right. No, I work to make my marriage work. The same is true with faith. Just because someone believes they can act like a jerk and still call themselves a Christian does not mean that God is going to allow them to get away with it in the long run.

Another source of doubt...

Ignorance about God“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools...exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

This is a case of mistaken identity. We don’t know what God looks like. We have a mental picture of what we believe God to be like. We assume we know what God will look and act like...so we miss him.

You will often hear people say things like, “I can’t believe in a God who...” or “I can’t believe in a God that would do...or allow...”

The problem is not that they have rejected God. The problem is they don’t know what God is like in the first place.

When someone says, “I don’t believe in God!” I will often ask, “Which God don’t you believe in?” After a few minutes of describing “God” I realize we are not talking about the God as revealed in the Bible.

If you want to know what God is really like...we simply look at Jesus. Hebrews 1:3 in The Message says, “Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature.” Jesus “perfectly mirrors God.” In the NIV it says Jesus is “the exact representation” of God.

If you have question about what God is like...how God would treat people...how God responds to people...how much God loves people...we need only look at Jesus.

The final source of doubt is

IndifferenceThe biggest issue is often not that people are radically opposed to God. It is not that they have some grand intellectual argument against God. They are often not immoral heathens. The simple reason is that they just don’t care.

If you ask many people about God they will have never really thought about it. “I just don’t care. I have never looked into it,” they say. It is not a hardened atheistic position, it just isn’t that important.

Lee Stroebel, the author of a book titled The Case for Christ was one of these people whose doubt was rooted in indifference. Maybe God is there, but big deal. He was an award-winning journalist for the Chicago Tribune. His life was going along great. He had a great job, a beautiful wife, and a great house. He described his life this way.

It was as if I was driving my sports car down the road. One arm was around my wife and the other arm I was waving at people and everyone was saying, “Look at the Strobel’s. Aren’t they amazing? What a beautiful young couple. How successful. That approach to life in which I was utterly indifferent to God really worked when the road in front of me was straight and true. But when my life hit a curve, I needed someone whose hand was on the steering wheel.

My life hit a curve when my father died. I felt like I was spinning out of control.

At some point in our lives we will hit an unexpected curve. We will face a death of a loved one. We will fail in a business. We will succumb to an addiction. Our spouse will divorce or separate from us. We will face an impossible financial crisis in our life....Our life will hit a curve. And it is when our lives hit those curves that God’s existence becomes completely relevant.

Barriers to Faith: Doubting God's Existence Part 1

2012-10-16T11:52:00.000-04:00

Around 1700 a new way of thinking developed that many of us now take for granted. Advances in science, philosophy, and political caused an upheaval in people’s thinking that changed the course of history. Galileo demonstrated that the earth revolves around the sun. Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon revised the scientific method. Isaac Newton, creator of the delicious Fig Newton, revolutionized and created the world of Physics. By the end of the Enlightenment, Science had taken its place as King over all.

Science could now explain so much of what was once thought to be controlled directly by the hand of God or the gods. Rain was determined by different environmental things...not whether you appeased the proper deity or danced the appropriate jig. The earth was round and revolved around a ball of gaseous fire...not the blazing deity Sol.

Because of these changes, many thought religion would simply fade into the background as people became more educated about the world around them. Science would displace the need for our dependence on a god to explain the unknowns of our world. It would, in fact, eventually explain everything removing the need for God completely.

Despite all the doom and gloom predictions...belief in a god has not faded. In a recent study from Rice University, over sixty percent of natural scientists—people in disciplines like physics, chemistry and biology—said they believe in God. A separate study from the University of Chicago revealed that 76 percent of doctors believed in God.

A major part of the problem is that so many people buy into the atheist mantra that only people with double-digit IQ’s believe in God. If you believe in a God or you are religious...you are one step away from sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth, and drooling on yourself.

The logic generally works like this. Intelligent people know that science has or will explain everything. Since science explains everything there is no need for God. Therefore intelligent people don’t believe in God.

Somehow they overlook scientists like Copernicus, Francis Bacon, Kepler, Descartes, Pascal, Newton, Faraday, Mendel, and Planck (the father of quantum theory).

Add in brilliant authors like Dante, Shakespeare, Dafoe, Bronte, Hugo, Longfellow, Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Swift, Wordsworth, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Dorothy Sayers, Flannery O'Connor…and even, uh, John Grisham.

Or artists who believed in God like, DaVinci, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Cezanne, Delacroix, Renoir, Blake, and Matisse.

And brilliant musicians and composers like Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky…not to mention bands like the Fray, Red, Switchfoot, the Civil Wars, Mutemath and Mumford and Sons.

Or brilliant philosophers like Hegel, Kant, Kierkegaard, Spinoza, Wittgenstein, Barth, Platinga and Dallas Willard?

While all of these don’t necessarily hold our particular view of God, they believe that God is not just for the unintelligent. The existence of God make sense to them.

Francis Collins is a very intelligent person. He heads the Human Genome Project which mapped 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA. So when we see that model of DNA that looks like a twisted ladder...that is what he did. Listen to Francis Collins talk about coming to faith in God.

Belief in God is not as sign of being unintelligent or stupid. But that doesn’t mean the proofs for God are beyond a shadow of a doubt. They aren’t. There is no way to prove the existence of God with mathematical certainty.

So doubt can still creep into our thoughts.

Some of you may never have doubted the existence of God. For you, faith comes naturally. There has never been a time when you didn’t believe in God. In fact, you find it difficult to understand how anyone could ever doubt God’s existence.

But there are some for whom doubt creeps into your life on a regular basis. Some are naturally skeptical about things. You want to test and try everything. You take nothing at face value. Others can’t explain where the doubt comes from it just happens.

I am one for whom faith has always required work. I test and evaluate everything. I question and take nothing at face value. I have had many experiences of the presence of God. I have seen the spiritual at work in our world. I have carried on conversations with God, but doubt still creeps in from time to time.

It sometimes feels like watching a football game on television with Lori in the room. Guys, you know what I mean. You are watching the game, she wants to talk, so she stands right in front of the television. You are trying to both listen to her, because you know what happens if you don’t, but also not miss the big play. You have to lean and work to see the game around her.

It is easy for those with honest questions and doubts to be misunderstood. Especially by those for whom faith comes easy. It is hard to understand where someone is coming from that struggles from time to time with doubt. But you will one day meet someone either inside the faith or outside of it that is wrestling with doubt.

"Doubt in and of itself isn’t toxic. It’s unexpressed doubt that becomes toxic."

So people need to be able to talk about it, and we want to be a church where people are safe to ask the tough questions and get honest answers. We want to be people where others feel safe enough to express their doubts and struggles and know they are going to get honest answers.

So what do we do when doubts are present? Since there really is no way to prove God’s existence beyond all shadow of doubt, how do we speak with people outside the faith who are wrestling with God’s existence? How do we, who are inside the faith, remind ourselves that belief in God is reasonable when the doubts come?

While there is no way to prove God’s existence beyond the shadow of a doubt there are explanations or proofs that add up. They demonstrate that God’s existence is the most reasonable explanation of things. Christianity is not just blind faith. You do not need to check your brain at the door. You do not need to set up a battle between faith and science and reason.

You can be a thinking, reasonable, intelligent person and find credible reasons to believe in the Christian message. Philosphers and apologists have dozens upon dozens of proofs to support an understanding of the existence of God. This morning we are going to look at a few of those.

Proof from Creation

Psalm 19:1-4, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

King David asserts in that no matter where you are from there is evidence of God found in creation all around you. Even if you are part of a tribe completely cut off from all civilization, without a Bible or a missionary, you are able to pick up that a personal God exists. “The heavens declare the glory of God!”

Bertrand Russell, the great mathematician, philosopher and atheist, once said, “Man should be understood as a kind of unfortunate accident, a sideshow in the material universe, a curious accident in the backwater of the galaxies.” Over the past few years, many would have us believe that we are simply an accident in this world.

Far from being an accident, the universe we live in seems to be holding out a welcome mat for human beings.

In scientific terms, there is what’s called the Anthropic Principle. The Anthropic Principle says that all the arbitrary and unrelated constants in physics have one thing in common. They are aligned so precisely precisely their values are exactly what is needed to have a universe capable of producing life. All of the many laws of physics have been finely tuned to sustain human life.

Let me give you an example. Isaac Newton, who had the apple fall on his head, calculate a formula for the Gravitational Constant. It determines the amount of force at any given circumstance.

Scientists tell us that gravity has to be so fine-tuned that if we we are just slightly off the entire universe falls apart. If you created a radio dial with 10,000 billion, billion, billion, billion tick marks, you would have to hit a very particular tick mark in order for it all to work. Not the one to the right. Not the one to the left. That is how precise this has to be?

That seems a little too precise to just be an accident.

Let’s look at another one. Scientists say that if the initial explosion of the big bang had differed in strength by as little as one part in ten to the 60th power the universe would have either collapsed back in on itself, or expanded to rapidly for stars to form. If the initial explosion of the big bang had differed in strength by as little as one part in 10 to the 60th power, there would be no stars, no universe, no Planet Earth and no human beings. One scientist said, “You know what 10 to the 60 power is? It could be compared to firing a bullet at a one inch target at the other side of the universe twenty billion light years away and hitting the target.”

That is not all there are several other dials that must be precisely tuned for this all to work. Let’ s imagine there was a universe where the gravity dial was right, but you have the Amino Acid dial off...no life. Let imagine a universe where the gravity dial is right and the amino acid dial is right, but the sun is just fractionally closer or farther away from the earth...no life.

We live in a world that while natural processes dictate how it functions and works...we live in a world that indicates there is a God at work. There is a designer who has put this whole thing together in such a precise way that it works.

And yet many still resist.

Imagine you are hiking through the middle of a wooded area. You are lost. Wandering around. Then you stumble across an open field, and at the other end of the field there is a cabin. But rather than think, “I’m saved! There must be someone around!” You think, “Isn’t that amazing how those trees just happened to fall in that precise way to create a structure that looks like a house! How fortunate and amazing and random that is!”

Romans 1:18 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of human beings who suppress the truth by their wickedness...”

The reason that atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett are able to resist is because they are not unbiased. It is always interesting to note how often past hurts and disillusionments with the church and with Christians have overshadowed and biased the evidence in the minds of those who reject.

So often we allow our biases to get in the way of the evidence. We see only what we want to see because we have already decided what is true. We all do it. It is so easy to do with prayer. We ask God for something, and then when we receive it...we chalk it up to coincidence. It was fortunate for that to happen...and we forget to praise God.

Proof from Morality

Leviticus 19:1-2, “The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”

All the moral commands of the Old and New Testaments are based on one thing...God is holy God and requires that those who follow him demonstrate his character in the world around them. Our morality or call to live a “good, moral life” is rooted in God’s character.

God loves the poor...so we should love the poor.

God loves the widows and orphans...so we should love the widow and orphans.

Our morality is rooted in God. But what happens when there is no God? When all moral requirements of a god are removed? On what basis does morality exists?

The Russian novelist, Dostoyevsky said, “If God does not exist, then everything is permissible.”

Now this is not saying that someone who is atheist or agnostic is not a moral person. There are some atheists who are more loving, forgiving, and moral than some who claim to follow Christ.

What this means is that when God is removed there is no objective grounds on which to base morality. If there is no God then no binding moral law exists.

Why is murder wrong? If there is no God, then there is no universally binding principle that says that murder is wrong.

Why is it wrong to abuse a child? Or rape a woman? Or do away with an “inferior race” of people? Why should we care about those who are hurting and broken?

Some might say because we share a similar human condition. We should put ourselves in their shoes and understand that we would not want it to happen to us. If abused they will grow up and wreak havoc on our society. But there is still nothing, no objective standard by which we can say, “That is wrong!”

The Bible introduces a completely different line of reasoning. The Bible introduced the idea that human beings have inherent worth.

Genesis 1:26-27, “Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

According to the Bible a person’s worth is rooted in the fact that each and every person is created in the image of God. They have worth because each person is someone for whom Christ died. If our world is simply an accident and there is no God then the worth of a human life is based solely on its value to the rest of society. If a person is weak and unproductive then they are of no value ultimately.

But the Bible places worth on an individual based on the fact that they are made in the image of God. Psalm 8:4-5 says, “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.”

Why is it wrong to take someones life? Why is it wrong to assist and elderly person commit suicide? Why is it wrong to take the life of the unborn? Why should we care for the mental challenged, the poor, the broken, the widow, the orphan? Because these are people who infinite worth in the eyes of God. Worth that is not based on what they can do for society. Worth that was worthy of Jesus love and His death.

Proof from Longing

Isaiah 55:1-2 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.

John 7:37-38, “On the last and greatest day of the Festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Within everyone of us is a longing. Some express it as a longing for meaning and purpose. Some have a nagging lack of fulfillment. Some describe it as a need for happiness. But we all seem to have what Plato calls, “a distinctive hunger, or emptiness” that “nothing earthly satisfies...”

So we go searching for something that will fulfill us. Some seek fame and fortune. Some collect things. Some resort to substance abuse...drugs or alcohol. And what happens when we go searching for pleasure and fulfillment outside of God is what drug addicts are particular aware of. The first use of a drug is an amazing experience, but over time you need more and more and more of the drug to get the same level of experience that you had the first time.

But the same is true in many other areas of our lives. We end up needing more success in order to feel good about ourselves. We need more things to feel good about ourselves. We need more sexual experiences...we need more in order to have the same feelings we had at the beginning.

So we have to ask ourselves, “Is there anything out there that will ever satisfy this hunger? That will satisfy my heart and my searching?”

C.S. Lewis said,

“A man’s physical hunger does not prove that man will get any bread; he may die of starvation on a raft in the Atlantic. But surely a man’s hunger does prove that he comes from a race that repairs its body by eating and inhabits a world where edible substances exist. In the same way, though I do not believe (I wish I did) that my desire for Paradise proves that I shall enjoy it, I think it is a pretty good indication that such a thing exists and that some men will.”

There very fact that we have a deep-seated desire, a longing for God should indicate to us that God might exist. We have hunger pangs that are fulfilled by food. We have thirst that is fulfilled by water. We have loneliness that is fulfilled by relationship. If there is no God then this desire for His presence, this longing for the eternal would be the only longing in human experience that doesn’t have a fulfillment.

We search and strive and work to get and have more to fill our longings, and no material thing will ever fulfill it!

Jesus says, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

Maybe you have been searching and striving and trying to fill the void with everything else. You are dissatisfied and what you need in order to fill that voice is to come to Jesus and drink.

Conclusion

All of this begs us to ask What difference does faith make?

You see, you can read every book ever written for and against belief in God. You can even come to the conclusion that yes, God exists...but that will not change anything. It is not enough to simply believe that God exists. It is not enough to believe God is a possibility.

You have to one day ask yourself, “If God exists then what does that mean for my life?”

When we look at the proofs of creation and morality and longing...we realize we have a deeper need than to just accept that God exists. We have been created by God with infinite worth. There is an established morality that we can neither explain away nor bypass. And when we weigh ourselves against God’s expectations we find we are sinful people. When we acknowledge that deep down there is an unfulfilled longing that we have never been able to satisfy...we realize that what we need is not just a knowledge of God existence, we need a Savior.

I found the Bible’s explanation of our world and its problems and its needs was the best explanation around. I didn’t need a self-help improvement class. I didn’t need some goody-too shoes religious program...I was broken and sinful and I needed the presence of God at work in my life through Jesus Christ.

God promises forgiveness to anyone who turns to him, but if we never turn toward Him that knowledge does nothing for us.

In the book God is Good, God is Great: Why Belief in God is Reasonable and Responsible, one of the authors says this:

You can nod your head in agreement that God is great and that God is good and so is Jesus. You can even admit that you’re unlike him, that you fall short of his standards. That’s an important first step. But faith is more than nodding your head, or acknowledging certain truths. It includes those things, we have to understand and agree with right ideas. But then we need to respond to them.

Think of it in terms of flying. It is not enough to just believe in aviation, to spend time in airports, to affirm the skills of airline pilots. No, that will not get you to California. You need to act on those beliefs by actually climbing on board an airplane. That’s real faith, and it alone can get you where you want to go.

There comes a point where you have to get on board and fly. Take into all the proofs, the reasonable explanation, the emptiness and dissatisfaction you have had...spend time in thoughtful reflection and study...and in order for that all to reach its final destination, there comes a point where you have to turn to Jesus and accept his work of forgiveness and surrender your life to Him.

[For this message series I am using messages adapted from the Cincinnati Vineyard and the Columbus Vineyard.]

Barriers to Faith: 10 Barriers that Keep Us from God

2012-10-15T11:46:00.001-04:00

I loved cartoons as a kid. Back when good ‘ole cartoon violence was ok. Looney Tunes was a staple along with Tom and Jerry...both of them having a very similar plot line. One animal, either Wile E Coyote or Tom, attempting to catch and eat another animal, the Road Runner or Jerry, but always coming up short.

Animator Chuck Jones created the Roadrunner cartoons in 1948. In his book Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times Of An Animated Cartoonist, Church Jones says that cartoonists were to follow 11 simple rules when creating the cartoons:

1. The Road Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going "meep, meep."
2. No outside force can harm the Coyote -- only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products. Trains and trucks were the exception from time to time.
3. The Coyote could stop anytime -- if he were not a fanatic.
4. No dialogue ever, except "meep, meep" and yowling in pain.
5. The Road Runner must stay on the road -- for no other reason than that he's a roadrunner.
6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters -- the southwest American desert.
7. All tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.
8. Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote's greatest enemy.
9. The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.
10. The audience's sympathy must remain with the Coyote.
11. The Coyote is not allowed to catch or eat the Road Runner.

I think number 10 is very telling...The audience’s sympathy must remain with the coyote. There comes a point where we WANT to see the Roadrunner eaten because he just seems so arrogant. We begin to feel sorry for the Coyote! The rules for the Road Runner cartoons feel stacked against the Coyote. There are barriers everywhere that the coyote from getting the Road Runner.

We are starting a new message series called Barriers to Faith...that is why we have the State Flower of Ohio up here, but we are looking at things that keep us experiencing all we want to experience as part of our faith journey.

Barriers are really just things that keep us from getting where we want or need to go. We have all faced barriers in our lives. We have that perfect job, things are clicking, bills are finally getting caught up, and then a barrier hits and we are right back where we started.

We have a good life going. We are happy. We have a good relationship. We have children...and then a barrier hits that keeps us from continuing that life...a divorce...a death...a breakup.

We think we are going somewhere and then a brick wall just pops up and keeps us from getting where we want or need to go. Just as we face barriers in our life, we also face barriers in the faith. Barriers that keep some of us from being able to embrace a faith in God or even a belief in His existence. Barriers that keep others of us from growing in our faith and embracing Him fully. Barriers that cause doubt and frustration and sometimes even cause us to abandon the faith altogether.

Sometimes, if we are honest, it feels like there is a storyteller in the sky, who like Chuck Jones, has a list of rules meant to be a barrier to us. I posted a question on my Facebook page a few weeks ago asking people, “If you were sitting across the table from Jesus what would you ask Him?” One person responded, “When does it get easier?”

Today we are going to take a quick look at 10 different barriers, and how Jesus became a barrier breaker for one woman. I think Jesus is really the key in all of this. We tend to blame God for a lot of things, and often there are legitimate questions attached. But sometimes we blame God for things that come from not really understanding His character.

When someone says, “I don’t believe in God!” I will often ask, “Which God don’t you believe in?” After a few minutes of describing “God” I realize we are not talking about the God as revealed in the Bible.

If you want to know what God is really like...we simply look at Jesus. Hebrews 1:3 in The Message says, “Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature.” Jesus “perfectly mirrors God.” In the NIV it says Jesus is “the exact representation” of God.

If you have question about what God is like...how God would treat people...how God responds to people...how much God loves people...we need only look at Jesus.

So let’s look at John 4, and see how Jesus busted down some barriers for a Samaritan woman.

John 4:1-6,

“Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.”

1. Tradition Barrier-
Our Scripture says, “Now he had to go through Samaria.” But that is a bit of an overstatement...Jesus did NOT have to go through Samaria. In Jews hated Samaritans so intensely they would travel an extra day just to go around Samaria. They wanted nothing to do with the Samaritans.

But Jesus was not concerned with traditions that were a barrier to God. He doesn’t say they are wrong, but his ultimately goal is to help people get to God. We all have traditions and it isn’t until we break out of the traditions that we are able to see things in a different light.

Jesus, if he had followed tradition, would have never had the opportunity to meet this woman...and she would never have been able to experience God’s love for her.

Traditions are good. I like traditions. We all have them...especially when it comes to special moments and holidays in our lives. But sometimes traditions can get in the way of genuinely experiencing God.

I came from a very free church background, but when I have worshiped in an Episcopal or Catholic church, I really enjoy the structure. I have experienced God in some profound ways while worshipping in those churches. But others, having grown up in them, found them stifling and the traditions got in the way of their ability to experience the presence of God.

Jesus is willing to break through the traditions when it becomes necessary to help us experience God’s presence.

John 4:7-8

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

2. The Gender Barrier-
Jesus spoke with the woman. A man was not supposed to speak with a woman in public. It was being too forward, and was considered inappropriate. Especially considering that both Jesus and this woman are alone. Men, in this culture, would often not even speak to their mother or sisters in public because it might give the wrong impression.

But Jesus made a habit of not just speaking to women, but also allowing them to sit and listen to his teaching. There is a story in about two sisters, Mary and Martha, and Jesus allows Mary to sit at his feet and listen to Him teach. When Martha complained to Jesus that Mary should be helping, Jesus responded that Mary had chosen the better and most important thing.

For a long time, women have been treated as second-class citizens in the church and in the culture...but whenever we look at Jesus he is welcoming women into his presence, teaching them, allowing them to be His disicples. And women continue to serve a strong role in the Early Church. Throughout the Apostle Paul’s writing it Priscilla who receives mention before her husband Aquila.

When speaking with this woman Jesus is actually busting through another barrier...

John 4:9

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

3. The Race Barrier-
Jesus spoke to the woman who was Samaritan. Our passage even tells us that Jews do not associate with Samaritans. They considered them a mongrel nation of half-breeds. Samaritans took the Jewish religion and worship of Yahweh and mixed it with some other practices. They were unwanted and unwelcome.

Usually an interaction between a Jew and a Samaritan would have resulted in a fight. There would certainly not have been a time when a Jew would ask for help from a Samaritan.

It is hard for us to understand this because today the word Samaritan has good connotations. We have Good Samaritan hospitals all over the United States. When we think of a Good Samaritan we think of someone helping another person in need.

What we often don’t realize is that the story of the Good Samaritan was meant to get under the skin of people. If we were to retell the story of the Good Samaritan in a way that would bring the feelings to life... we would tell the story of someone hurt alongside the road and a Pastor drives on by, then Senator or Judge, then a Cop or Fireman goes past on the other side, but then a member of Al Qaeda stops to help, and empties his pockets of all his money to pay for the person’s care.

That is a difficult way to think about that story, but that is what any story would do in that culture that put the Samaritans in a positive light.

Jesus is breaking down a barrier that says some people are not welcome in God’s presence.

John 4:10-14

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

4. The Ego Barrier-
Are you greater than our father Jacob? What a question! This man was a jerk and a thief his entire life. But notice that Jesus simply ignores the question. He doesn’t take offence at the question. Jesus is a big boy he can take it. This woman doubting or questioning him didn’t cause him to react badly...his ego was not at stake.

There are some in the church who are bullies. They have a lot of knowledge and want to share their faith with people, but what is really at stake is their ego...not the Gospel. If they are questioned or rejected they become angry and defensive.

There have been times when some of us have been hurt, offended or pushed away from God by a religious know-it-all jerk. And we have to get past those who are religious bullies. It can be difficult to do, but we have to separate who Jesus is and what He says...from some of the people who think they represent Him.

Jesus’ ego was not on the line. He didn’t need to take offence and react strongly. He was able to patiently wait for this woman to get to a place in her life where she could hear his message and receive its truth.

John 4:15-18

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

5. The Morality/Sin Barrier.
This woman is a sinner (husbands). The way this is stated implies that this is more than just a woman who has had a string of husbands. She probably had a string of bad luck in her life that has led her to this point, but she knew what she was doing was wrong. People had been putting her down for a long time.

Every time Jesus encounters someone who has done too much bad stuff and wants forgiveness...it is never an issue for him. Sin is not a barrier when people come to Him genuinely seeking to know God. For those who want to follow him and leave their sin behind...Jesus welcomes them with a quickness.

Sin is only a barrier when we refuse to let it go. When you and I hang on to our sins...it becomes a block in our lives that keep us from entering into a full relationship with God. This doesn’t mean that we never sin again. We will wrestle with temptation and sin the rest of our lives, but when we do falter...we must simply turn to Jesus and give it over to him.

Jesus uses the word repent. This simply means to do a 180 degree turn around. We are going in this direction, doing our own thing, fully engaged in our sin...then we do a complete turn around and turn our backs on our sin and follow Jesus. Our sin is not a barrier for Jesus when we are genuinely seeking to know God.

John 4:19-20

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

6. The Religion Barrier.
The woman does what so many of us attempt to do...she tries to distract Jesus with a religious argument. If things get too close we start talking about the different ways to worship, how we talk about God, songs vs hymns, style of dress...people can find so many things to argue about when it comes to practicing religion. It is so easy to let our religious hangups and baggage become a barrier or at least an excuse for us to distance ourselves from God.

Religion and religious practices are not all bad. They can be extremely beneficial. As a Jews, Jesus participated in religious practices like Sabbath worship, Passover, baptism, all kinds of things, but when religious practices became a barrier to God he would knock it over.

Sabbath was and is a wonderful thing that should be practiced. We live in a hurried and harried culture that could use a day of rest and reflection and worship. But the Pharisees allowed their rules of Sabbath keeping to keep them from helping those in need.

One pastor I worked for would say, “You have to pick carefully the hills you are willing to bleed and die on.” There are some things that are worth bleeding and dying for, but sometimes we pick some petty religious things and make them barriers that keep us from truly experiencing God.

John 4:21-24

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

7. The Relationship Barrier-
It is easy to believe that God is distant and unknowable...that he would never care for someone like me. It is interesting to see that Jesus uses the term “Father” three times in this passage. Jesus shows him as close and fatherly.

Sometimes the “Father” language gives people problems because their own fathers do not bring good memories to mind. My own father abandoned us before I was born. What helped me was realizing that God does not deserve my comparing him to my Father. It was my father who was broken and damaged...not God. My father failed because he didn’t reflect God as Father.

The Bible uses other images to demonstrate that God is not out there...somewhere...distant from you and I. It uses motherly references of a mother hen calling her chicks to the safety of her wings. But It is all imagery meant to show God’s closeness...his familial concern for His people.

In fact, Jesus is the first to regularly uses this language to speak of God in relation to his people.

You and I can have a real relationship with God. We can experience God’s closeness and presence. God is not unknowable.

John 4:25-26

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

8. The Expectancy Barrier.
People were expecting a Messiah to come. There were a million swirling expectations for what this Messiah would be and what he would do.

Some today have this expectation that Jesus only came to give eternal life, later, so we can go to heaven. Jesus didn’t just die so we can live in His presence one day in the future. The Message of Jesus is that our Kingdom Life starts now...in this life. He makes a difference here and now...not just in the future.

We can participate in His presence and in His activity here and now. We can be part of His Kingdom here and now. God’s plan is not just for the life after death...but for us to live fully in our life before we die.

John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

What matters is having His life right now!

John 4:27-37

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

9. The Priority Barrier.
What is really important in life? The Disciples return with much needed food after a long day of travel, and Jesus is not interested. Something far more important is taking place. Jesus knew it was more important to help those who were seeking God than it was for him to eat. Not just more important, but somehow he was receiving a nourishment more valuable than food.

So many times we make the wrong decision in terms of our priorities, and they become a barrier between us and God.

Jobs are important. We need them to provide for our families, pay our bills, enable our us to live, but they can take priority in life that becomes a barrier between us and God.

Families are important. They provide relationship and places where we can feel safe. They are important, but they reach a place where they receive more priority in our lives than our relationship with God.

It is not an issue of importance. There are very important and special things in our lives, but when they take priority over God than become a barrier. Jesus understood that not even food was important enough to divert his attention from the work of God going on right in front of him.

John 4:39-42

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.
They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

10. The Political Barrier.
Jews and Samaritans expected the Messiah to save them from the Romans. When the Samaritans proclaim that Jesus was “Savior of the World” they proclaiming this against Caesar who proclaimed himself Son of God and Savior of the World. They were saying Jesus you are a better King and leader than Caesar.

The Church only works when Jesus is King. And in today’s world people attach all kinds of politics to the Gospel message of Jesus. Jesus would vote Republican. Jesus would vote Democrat. We all know that Jesus is Independent!

Being able to worship with those who are diverse from us means recognizing that Jesus is King first and foremost. No political system can accomplish what the Kingdom of God is meant to accomplish.

Conclusion
Over the next few weeks we are going to take a look at some more barriers...look at some barriers a little more in depth. What happens when you doubt God or doubt his goodness? How do faith and reason work?

But today maybe you caught a glimpse of a barrier that keeps you from growing in you faith. I want to pray for you to close our message today.

[For this message series I am using messages adapted from the Cincinnati Vineyard and the Columbus Vineyard.]