When you wonder if you are following Him...

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples - in that you love one another."

~Jesus

Church

There is something to be said for loving churches.  I have been fortunate enough to travel around the country and even some overseas and to see great cathedrals standing tall.  I have seen small buildings of brick and siding and large ones of glass and stone.  I have seen them with spires and bells, steeples and stained-glass.  Some church buildings are in and of themselves impressive, but to me the best churches are the ones who let what happens in them impress you more than the architecture.

These are buildings that house the simple sacredness of worship.  Powerful events like baptisms and communion take place within these walls.  People meet and gather and share and cry and pray and dream here.  Soon we realize that it is not the building that makes a church at all: it is rather the people that come together with one purpose and one vision.  This gathering can take place in an open field, under a summer tent, in a living room, in a jail cell or in a coffee shop.  If Scripture says that God is no respecter of persons, certainly He is no respecter of buildings either.

The next time that you say, "I am going to church," I hope you will be thinking of the people rather than the place.  Where God's people dwell there is a church.  Always remember a Body, not a building, is what Christ died for.

We May Not Have...

We may not have a towering building in a booming part of town.
We may not have ushers with name tags at our doors.
We may not have fancy brochures in our foyer.
We may not have small groups for every age.
We may not have people who can sing all the parts.
We may not have a wonderful sound system and PowerPoint.
We may not have a well-organized youth program.
We may not have a wide variety of ministries.
We may not have a huge missions budget.
We may not have a talented music minister.
We may not have a preacher with a Ph. D.

But what we do have...

We have a faith that people can change for the better.
We have a belief that everyone needs a place to belong.
We have a hope that not even death can steal our joy.
We have a trust that Jesus paid it all and that's enough.
We have an honesty when we speak to one another.
We have a sincerity when we say we've been forgiven.
We have a outlook that our future will be better than our past.
We have a peace that only God can give.
We have an assurance that today is not the end of our story.
We have a desire to see God glorified and people changed.
We have a love that binds us together in good times and bad.

Never think that just because where you are is small that it is unimportant.

The gifts we bring to the family of God matter and are of eternal significance.  

Have a great week.

Sometimes...

Often times we can be guilty of having a smug sense of spiritual superiority.  This is common on all points along the theological spectrum.  The conservative often finds his superiority in observing all the rules and right procedures and readily condemning those who are less perfect than he.  Quite often the more liberal thinker takes great comfort in the fact that he is not so old-fashioned and uptight as his more conservative counterpart.  The liberal thanks the LORD that he is liberated and has gotten past being such a legalist and found the "real" message of the Gospel.  Many people in the theological middle are just thankful they are not caught up in the agendas of either extreme and pride themselves on "balance."

The problem in these situations is often not so much the doctrine as the attitude.  The focus has shifted off of Who God is and onto what I am doing or how I am feeling.  The most appropriate response, regardless of which source the pride comes from, is prayer.  Praying to guard against our own tendencies to glorify ourselves is essential.  Praying that God would work in our lives both through us and in spite of us will foster an attitude of humility.  When we look to exalt God and His will for our lives we cannot help but to realize how small and dependent we truly are.

May God help us to remember that in the upside-down Kingdom the last will be first and the first last.

May God help us to check our personalities and assume His priorities.

May God help His people to be both a reflection of His truth and His humility to the world.

"I never knew you were a Christian!"

"I never knew you were a Christian!"

I went into an unfamiliar bank while I was on my way to Memphis to an appointment this week.  I was handed over my check from the church and the teller looked it over and then looked at me.

"Do you attend this church?" she asked.

"Yes, in fact, I am the minister there," I responded.

"That is wonderful!  I am a member of the church too.  I attend the Jefferson Street congregation here in town," she gushed.

I immediately became conscious of what I was wearing, whether or not I had smiled at the teller, and if I had been friendly.  Have you ever been in a social situation and discovered a coworker, an acquaintance, or a teacher/student was a Christian?  Did this information shock you when you compared the standards of Christianity with this person's behavior, language, or dress?

We probably have all been surprised to learn certain people were Christians, but why not think about that scenario in reverse?  Has anyone ever found out you were a Christian and a look of shock passed across his or her face?

People that know us beyond a passing conversation should be able to recognize that Jesus has played a part in who we are.  We ought to become very comfortable with people knowing where we worship and with them knowing that worship is a priority in our lives.  We ought to have the type actions, speech, and dress that strengthens rather than discredits our claim of being a Christian.  We never know when our conduct in school, business, or recreation will influence someone about Christ.  Let's be sure that the message we send about Jesus is a positive one and that when we tell people that we are Christians they will say,

"That was obvious from the moment we met."

We are God's lips, hands, and feet

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."

-Mother Teresa

Wouldn't it be great if we all viewed our lives in this way?  If we viewed our lives as an instrument of  communication from God to our fellowmen?  We must, of course, realize that we are but a small part of God's message to mankind, but that we still are a significant part of that message.  As the old song says, "We are the only Bible the careless world may read..."  Let us be sure that today and everyday that we are sending out a message that causes people to desire what we have: a relationship with the Father.  Let us let people see our good works, not for our own glory, but to cause them to seek the the One to whom our lives are dedicated.  Let us learn that every erring word, every falsehood, every misspoken phrase is something that has the potential to hinder a fellow sojourner in his or her walk with God.  If we realize this, we will be far more careful with the precious words we speak to others.

Who are we?

I was able to spend all day yesterday with believers talking about the dangers that Christians are experiencing around the world.  Several people present event had themselves been persecuted for the faith. One speaker, whose home had been burned and had been beaten many times, kept saying throughout his presentation, "And I am just like you."  He meant, of course, that he was not special for having suffered persecution.  In his home country, suffering goes hand in hand with being a Christian.

But is this man just like us?  Are we dedicated to the cause of Christ even through discomfort and trials?  I hope that we are and, if true persecution were to arise, we would be faithful.  I believe, however, that if we are not faithful to the cause of Christ now it will be impossible to stand under persecution.  What does our choice of entertainment say about our faithfulness to the Lord?  What about our choice of friends?  Our church attendance?  Our personal Bible study habits?  Our giving?  Our sharing the Gospel with the lost?

I fear sometimes that we do face not persecution not because we are so strong in the faith but because Satan already has us in his power.  Choosing to truly live the Christian life will cost us something and perhaps everything.  Let us be found faithful no matter what comes.

“The righteous are those willing to disadvantage themselves in order to advantage the community.” 

"Christ still needs His witnesses; He needs those who are prepared, not so much to die for Him, as to live for Him.  The Christian struggle and the Christian glory still exist."

-William Barclay on Matthew 5:10-12

"Sympathy is no substitute for action."

-David Livingstone

“I belong to the church of Christ; not a branch or wing of it, or a party in it; but to the church itself.  I propose never to stand associated with one special wing, branch, or party of the church.  My aim is to preach the gospel, to do the work of an evangelist, teach God’s children how to live, and, as long as I do live, to live as nearly an absolutely perfect life as possible.”

– T.B. Larimore.

Book Review: Rumors of God

I recently read Rumors of God by authors Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson.  Both men are pastors/ministers within the community church movement.  One is a teaching pastor at a suburban Chicago megachurch and the other is a church planter at a large NYC congregation.  The book is well laid out with short, compact chapters.  Each chapter covers a different aspect of God's desire for contemporary Christians.

Rumors of God is an attempt to call the modern church and individual Christians to live beyond the ordinary and find the life that God desires for them.  The authors refer to these ideals as "rumors" because while we believe in theory that God is working in our time few of us see His genuine presence in our own lives.  The book is largely a critique of modern/postmodern cultural and how it has negatively impacted the church.  Issues such as competition and consumerism are evaluated and compared to Biblical teaching.  The book uses lots of Scripture references and allusions to make its application to the present day.

Overall, I enjoyed the book.  I felt like the book would appeal to especially to urban Christians in large churches.  Many of the authors personal examples from ministry would occur much more frequently in cities outside the Bible Belt.  The book points us as Christians in a higher direction and more toward what God truly desires of His people.  In discovering the truth of the "rumors" we may find that God is much different than we had previously imagined.  The book prompts personal investigation into who God is and what He desires for His children.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson in exchange for an unbiased review.

"The great tragedy of materialistic America is not financial abundance, but spiritual poverty."

-Rumors of God

Tomorrow

Tomorrow the music video for the Lady GaGa song "Judas" will debut.  I have heard the song and read the lyrics.  Taken one way the song is an alternative telling of the story of Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdalene.  Taken another way the song is dangerously close to blasphemy.  So why does it matter about this one song and this one artist?

As people we are influenced by many different wavelengths everyday.  We often listen to things without really hearing what is being said.  I recently realized the meaning of a hymn I had sung hundreds of times without ever catching the deeper, theological meaning.  You may have had a similar experience of singing lyrics and only later realizing what they implied or meant.  I believe what happens tomorrow is important because Lady GaGa has a massive, extremely devoted fan base.  The "Little Monsters" as they are known (GaGa is Momma Monster) will push for the song to get more radio play and encourage people to watch the video.  Beatles fans were similar in their devotion and as John Lennon stated so famously, the band became "bigger than Jesus" to its fans.  The cult of personality is rampant in our entertainment, sport and political culture.  I believe we need to remember that we (nor anyone else) is beyond getting swept up in the excitement of some new thing.  Remember the people of Athens who Paul addressed in Acts 17.  They were the smartest, most mentally advanced race in the world at the time and yet all they desired was "to hear some new thing."

Let us be people that take our guidance from Scripture and the examples of faithful Christians and not from the latest personality dominating the Internet and television.  When we look to Christ as our ultimate Example, how we live and behave in life falls perfectly into place.

"The early church was married to poverty, prisons and persecutions. Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity."
-Leonard Ravenhill

Ravenhill speaks with such passion...listen in

"Today Jesus Christ is being dispatched as the Figurehead of a Religion, a mere example. He is that, but he is infinitely more; He is salvation itself, He is the Gospel of God."

-Oswald Chambers

From or For?

In Deuteronomy 6:23, God tells the children of Israel to remember that He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt to lead them into the land He had sworn to their fathers.

I think for many of us who are "raised in the church" are saved, but we don't really feel saved from anything. We were often received Christ and were baptized as young teens and perhaps felt we had very little sin in our lives, and were baptized to fulfill an intellectual process that we knew we needed to complete because a Bible class teacher, preacher, youth worker, pastor or our parents had taught us the “sinner’s prayer, plan of salvation, how to receive Christ.”

Israel (though they oft forgot) was instructed time and time again to remember that they were saved FROM something FOR something (see Deuteronomy 6).

In the case of the Jewish nation, they were saved from the land of bondage for the land of promise. I think we need to come to a better realization that as Christians we are saved from something for something as well (Eph. 2-10).

From hell for heaven.

From darkness for light.

From death to life.

From addictions to disciplines.

From possessions to principles.

From physical wealth to spiritual health.

From hate for love.

From self for Savior.

Hosea 4:4-6

5 You stumble day and night,

and the prophets stumble with you.

So I will destroy your mother-

6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.

"Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also reject you as my priests;

because you have ignored the law of your God,

I also will ignore your children.

7 The more the priests increased,

the more they sinned against me;

they exchanged (alternate rendering (I will exchange) their Glory for something disgraceful.