moving plea from john piper

From Ministry to Mission

Depending on the circles that you run in, you probably hear or say the word ministry fairly often. But what does it mean? Look up the word…go ahead, go look it up. Dictionary.com is a great place to go…just open a new window in your internet browser and look it up. I’ll wait…

Almost every definition speaks of professionalism, the formal office of clergy. But that isn’t how we use it. We use it with the definition of service. I hear fellow pastors talking about “my ministry.” I hear people talking about serving as a nursery worker, Sunday school teacher, or usher as their “ministry.” Ministry in itself is great. It is great to follow the call of God to serve those around us. But it becomes a problem when “ministry” is what defines the church. For a long time ministry has been the running of programs at a church for the benefit of its members and with the attempt to reach outsiders. So we put on programs. We have have children’s “ministry” and youth “ministry” and senior adult “ministry.” The music “ministry” puts on Easter and Christmas programs. 

Is this really the ministry that God has called the church to? It that it? Pay your dues in the nursery and you are doing your part in the body of Christ? Greet people at the door on Sunday mornings with a crisp bulletin and a forced smile and you are fulling the call of God on your life? The problem stems from our wrong view of the church. Even those of us who proudly proclaim that the church is people not a building have a tendency to fall into the trap of thinking that what we do on a Sunday morning for an hour is church. We begin to believe that singing songs, hearing a sermon and maybe even serving in a “ministry” is doing church. Until we change our vocabulary, we may never climb out of this trap.

God has given us one ministry. It is much more general and a lot less specific than we might hope. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 says, 

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ…” 

Our ministry is Missio Dei, the sending of God. Our ministry is mission. Our mission is the Gospel. Until we show people the Gospel, that God has done what it takes to reconcile them to Himself, until we model for people the Gospel, until we teach people how to apply the Gospel to every aspect of their lives, we aren’t being the church. The church is the the collective group of sent ones of God. How can we be called the “sent ones” when we only “do church” in the four walls of a building designated for Holy things? We are called to be set apart in lifestyle not in location. We are called to be like yeast, infiltrating the world and slowly changing it from the inside out. We can’t do that by empowering people to do ministry…we have to empower people to be on mission. 

Ministry means once a week.
Mission means every moment of every day.

Ministry compartmentalizes life.
Mission encompasses life.

Ministry tells you to serve.
Mission fills you with passion to serve.

Ministry speaks the Gospel.
Mission is the Gospel.

If people begin to understand the Gospel…that a Holy God has made a way for sinful people to know Him, experience Him and enjoy Him forever…and that we are called to live this out, tell others about it, and let that fact transform the way we exist…ministry will happen. People will begin to serve out of love and not obligation. People will serve because it is the natural reaction to a Gospel-transformed life. Ministry isn’t bad…it’s just not enough. It isn’t the call God has on our lives…it is the overflow of missional living. 

I pray that God would make us missional. That is would be a lifestyle and not just a catch phrase. I pray that our churches would be transformed by the Gospel and in turn, we would serve.

Gospel in the New Year.

It’s January 1st… but don’t worry, I’ll spare you all the New Year’s cliches and personal anecdotes. Much of how we celebrate the coming of a new year in our culture is rather odd. We count down the last minute like time isn’t really just some arbitrary way of measuring the repeating of events. We gather in homes, in bars, concert halls and even in the streets to “ring” in the new year like it won’t come if we don’t welcome it. What’s up with the toast thing anyway? Why do we clink our glasses and drink “to” the new year? What does all of this mean???

Sure, I may be cynical but all of this and more runs through my brain each year as I trudge off to yet another party to hang out way past my bed time to watch a ball drop in New York. (which by the way is an hour ahead of my time zone…so I miss it in real time)

Last night I starting thinking out loud. As we were cleaning up the cups and plates just 2 minutes after midnight, in the anti-climatic glow of 2009, I asked this question: “Why is the celebration of the New Year a big deal in almost every culture?” Because it is! Think about it. Every different form calendaring has an inherent New Year’s celebration. So when the people in the room heard me ask this seemingly outlandish question and responded in awe, I asked it another way. “What is it about a new year that is so captivating to human beings?”

Think about it. No matter one’s religious, political, or cultural slant…we are all enthralled with the celebration of a new start, a brand new year. There is something so mystical about the clock striking midnight on January 1st that we gather by the droves to celebrate together. Why?

Why would people cram themselves into time square to listen to the Jonas Brothers? Why would senior citizens, who go to bed every night at 9:30 on the dot, stay up until 12:01? What could possibly drive the entire world to lay aside work, responsibility and schedule to consider the beginning of a new year some sort of holiday? (holiday = holy + day)

And then it hit me… it’s the Gospel.

Though we are fallen and depraved humanity we still have within us this divine imprint because we were created in the image of God. Because of this, I believe we have innate longings and drives that even sin could only mar yet not remove. This fascination with a new year is only a fascination with the Gospel.

Everybody wants a chance to start over. People love to sit down, look back at the past year, all the mistakes and failures and look to the future with hope that it will get better. And even though it is just a chiming of bells in a clock, somehow we believe the one second that separates December and January can cleanse our sins.

The truth is, it can’t. We prove that each year as millions make “New Year’s resolutions” and within a few weeks millions break them just as easily because we are broken and cannot save ourselves.

People need the Gospel.

People long for it. They run from churches and run from the Holy Spirit and His convicting of sin. Though proud humanity brazenly rejects the Gospel in every “Christianized” form, their actions betray their hearts’ deepest need.

The human condition cries out for redemption. The apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:19 that God has entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation by which God appeals to people, through us, to be reconciled to Him.

May 2009 be a year where we love the Gospel…honor the Gospel….live the Gospel…and preach the Gospel. To do this we must first preach the Gospel to ourselves daily, repent of our own sins and live in the wonderful truth that God saves sinners, even us. With and only with this frame of mind will we begin to live on mission… loving God because of the Gospel, loving people towards the Gospel, and restoring our communities and cities with the Gospel.

“Suffering is a Beautiful Hermeneutic”

I heard this quote by John Piper this past week at a conference in the city. No, all you young, hip Calvinists that are running to your collection of Piper books to look it up won’t find it.  It is a quote from a lunch conversation that was had with one of our conference speakers. According to the story, Piper had just found out he had cancer, but no one else knew.  The man at lunch with him had just gone through cancer.  Piper asked him what he learned and his reply was that besides God and his wife, cancer was the best thing that ever happened to him. At that, Piper, who hadn’t smiled or barely talked all meal, dropped his fork and looked up with the Piper smile and whispered, “Suffering…is a beautiful…hermeneutic.”

The funny thing is, I feel like I am experiencing both right now.  I am finishing my last class of the year and ironically enough its hermeneutics.  Hermeneutics refers to the process, both art and science, of interpreting, exegeting, and “rightly dividing” Scripture. There are all kinds of methodologies out there when it comes to hermeneutics.  People have presuppositions and preunderstanding that causes them to approach Scripture with a bias.  Bias isn’t wrong, its inevitable. All of us approach the Word of God with our experiences, culture, doctrinal and theological slants and desires all in front of our faces. Because of these factors we all view Scripture in certain lights.  So what do I think Piper meant?

I think he meant that when we suffer, when we experience the consequences of the fall in full force, we are then given the opportunity to see God for who He is and read His word to us in a correct light. Its amazing to me that all over the world Christianity is flourishing.  People in areas of China are hiding a page of the Bible at a time in the ground for fear of being found with it.  Only the the Western world are we tearing the Word apart, calling it literary criticism.  Only in the Western world are there churches that call themselves churches yet don’t believe that the Bible is God’s Word.  Everywhere else people trust it, love it, live by it and thrive by it.  What is the difference?

Everywhere else people are suffering.  What do we know about suffering in America?  Honestly, our scale really isn’t even comparable to that of Christians in Asia or the Middle East, but we experience suffering nonetheless.  We suffer because though we are “rich and in need of nothing” nothing escapes from the consequences of the fall: the pain, the tears, the disorder of a creation rebelling against its Creator.

So we suffer.  For some its financially.  With the economy the way it is, some are losing houses, jobs, investments for the future and even their minds.  Some are experiencing sicknesses like cancer, kidney failure, diabetes, and heart disease. Some are struggling to have babies.

As we experience and walk through this suffering we have an amazing opportunity to see God. We have an amazing opportunity to see God for who He is.  Sovereign, gracious, loving, redeeming, powerful, trustworthy, faithful, merciful, and gracious. We have the chance to see a loving Heavenly Father who carries us through the suffering of life.  Sometimes all that suffering does is lead us to a great knowledge of who He is.  And I would say…that is enough.

So as you suffer, suffer well.  Understand that in God’s sovereignty, He knows and allows all. Maybe its time reap the benefits that suffering brings: a greater knowledge of God and His perfect character.

O Praise the Gracious Power

old words new melody great song

The Great Forgiver?

(originally posted December 11th, 2006)

You may be like me and debate within your own mind on issues of the Bible. Sometimes my cognitive dissonance is so great that I spend long periods of time in thought over thinking. One of the areas that I debate myself over on a constant basis is the presentation of the “salvation” message. You know I mean…or…maybe you don’t. I don’t mean that I have a hard time presenting the gospel or preaching God’s word, what I mean is that 5 minute plug that some preachers give at the end of a message or you may understand it better as the 2 hour rant that other preachers give.

And that is debate in my own mind. Because here is what I have found. How can we have true converts, true Christians if we don’t call them to the right or true conversion? If we invite someone to “accept” Jesus, in someone’s mind it might seem that Jesus is standing at the front of the church begging that you would let Him come live in your heart because he is cold and homeless. Nothing could be farther from the truth of the situation, and most of us know this, but our rhetoric to a world that doesn’t understand our “christianese” can often make assumptions based on what we say and how we say it. I know I would.

For a while now I have been on a huge rant about “The Purpose Driven Life” craze that has swept the Christian nation. I have been quoted as saying, “If you need a book other than the Bible to tell you that your life has purpose than I have a hard time believing that you have the Spirit of God living in you and that you have really been freed from all your sin, become a new creation and are living for the Lord.” It may sound harsh but that is really my heart about the issue. Yeah, I own the book…and the journal that comes with it. But I’ve opened neither of them. I received them as a Christmas present one year…”So what are you trying to tell me?” And I have seen non-Christians read it and stay that way and I have heard of people reading it and their perspective on life being radically changed.

But I guess that is one place where the Church as failed. If it takes a trendy new book to sweep the nation for congregants all over the world, let alone our own country, to see that God has a purpose for their life, then I don’t know if we have called them to the right place of salvation.

Don’t misunderstand me here. I am not saying that I want to nor would I ever condone the preaching of “God has a wonderful plan for your life.” I have read Ray Comfort’s books. I think if I did that I would want that 5′1″ fireball of a man to come and kick my butt six ways to Sunday. But the truth of the matter is, God does call us to salvation for a purpose, His purpose. And that purpose is an extremely wonderful plan; a plan devised in the heart of God for the heart of God. God’s plan for every single human being He calls is for them to worship Him. Jesus died so that we may live. Not so that we may live and live for our own desire, pleasures, and purposes. That is what got us lost and hell bound to begin with. Jesus died so that we may live to do nothing else but worship Him.

Whoa, at first this may seem like our God is a narcissist. But we can’t look at it as such. God knows what is best for us. He knows what will satisfy our every longing. He knows what will give us the biggest and most intense rush. He knows what our bodies, souls, and spirits long for and that is Him. God meets our every real need by giving us Him. So its a win-win situation.

But that’s not the end of it. If Jesus died so that we could just raise our hands, sing songs, and occasionally sway to some music for Him, what is life for? Well, I’m glad you asked. Paul explains to us in Romans 12 that giving our bodies to Him is our spiritual act of worship. Worshipping God is doing anything that says, “God, you are in control and I want to follow you and obey you and trust you and listen to you…because you are good.” Yeah, digging a ditch can be worship. Jesus told a group of Jews, God’s people chosen to be a light to the gentiles, that they were the light of the world and shouldn’t hide that light. He told them that if they would live according to the purpose God set our for them (I will be your God and you will by My people) that people would see what they were doing and praise their Father in Heaven. God receives glory when we live out the life He has for us. (Matthew 5)

But back to the central idea here. What is God’s purpose for the convert? Here is what I think is one of the largest fallacies we could preach or teach: Jesus is the Great Forgiver.
At first sound it may sound like I am being totally unorthodox in my message here, but believe me, I’m not.

But once again, let’s examine why Jesus died, what He taught, and what He left us with.

When Jesus came on the scene for the first time an angel told His parents that He would be a king that would save His people from their sins. Remember that. He would “save” His people from their sins. Later in life, John the Baptist sees Jesus and shouts, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Remember that. Later Jesus says that He came to “seek and save that which is lost.” Jesus refers to himself like a medical profession when He says, “It’s the sick who need a doctor, not the healthy.” Read Pauline scripture. You will see a great theme; one that states that Jesus died because reconciliation between men and God had to happen for man to be in right relationship with God again. Sure, Jesus forgave sins while on the earth, He even spoke that to a man that was paralyzed, but to call people to that, the forgiveness of sins, is a falsehood and at best an incomplete image of what He actually wants to do in their life.

If Jesus’ purpose and desire was just to forgive sins and therefore die and make everything better and everyone good to go, then why did He tell His disciples it was vastly important that He go away? Because when Jesus left, He sent the Holy Spirit, whose purpose is to convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. If forgiveness was the end, the what need would there before conviction? If forgiveness was the end then why did God send John the Baptist to lay a foundation of repentance for Jesus’ ministry? If forgiveness is the end then why would tell us that we shouldn’t go on sinning so that grace may abound?

Forgiveness isn’t the end. Forgiveness can’t be the message. The message is one of repentance, reconciliation, freedom, righteousness, wholeness, eternity…and yes, forgiveness of sins. So let’s not tell people that Jesus want to forgive their sins and if they would just put their trust in Him, He will do that. For those with a heart of repentance, that works, its the last element they may need to hear, that while they are separated from God because of their sins, a Loving, merciful, Judging God wants to forgive them of their repented sin and therefore bring them back into perfect communion with Himself. But for those whose fallen conscience even tells them what they have done is bad, all they want is the removal of guilt and approval of freedom. They want the heavenly “get out of jail free” card. And what Jesus did meant more than that. He forgave us all our sins, He cancelled the debt that we owed for our sins, nailing it to the cross and therefore paying it for us. The Word declares to us that we are not our own and pronounces this: “You were bought with a price.”

Jesus Christ did more than forgive our sins. He bought us back. He paid our debt. He died our death. Of all the names the Bible gives Him, ‘the Great Forgiver’ is nowhere to be found. I would ask that we not invent it with our actions. Amen

Wasting Time Being Well-Rounded

(originally posted January 8th, 2007)

Later this month I am going to speak at my Alma mater, McKendree College. Well, I’m not actually speaking at the school, but at an off campus ministry located a block from campus. This is the same ministry that I helped found and run for almost a year of my college career. I am terribly excited to go speak. The drive is long and the crowd pretty small, as some may measure smallness, and the drive back is even longer but still something in me gets excited to speak each time I am asked. Maybe its the sense of “neededness” that I feel when the director emails me, or maybe the dream of revival on campus sparked by one voice is still alive in my heart. Who knows?

As I was brainstorming, which I do regularly before I speak, on what I would speak on, an idea popped in my head. Currently, my ministry involvement is based solely with people 20 years old and under. And as it goes, with most people this age, they are completely entrenched in school life. If they aren’t playing 3 sports, cheerleading, captain of the speech team, student body Representative, and assistant to the principal or dean, they at least attend all the events that allow someone to watch those who are. And so life goes…day after day, week after week, month after month…and yes…year after year.

Now I don’t want anyone to think that I don’t appreciate schooling because I do. I love school. I love it so much that I could only stay away for 2 years. This year I will begin my graduate work at the seminary of my choice…I am totally elated and overjoyed. But one thing I hate and hated and I went through school. There is this mindset with parents and educators that eventually becomes a cancer in the mind of each student that they are to be “well-rounded” individuals.

In high school this means playing sports, attending sporting events, being involved in 34 clubs, going to all the school dances, bonfires, pep rallies and glee club performances… all of that AND have an active social life that is chucked full of text and instant messaging until your fingers (which you just learned the right keys they belong on) grow calloused.

As college comes around the same is true. Every parent and educator will harp on “grades” and “classes” and maybe even call it “studies.” And because this student has gone through a high school career where everyone told him or her to do everything and be “well rounded” they have been mind-bathed to be “well rounded.” And what does THAT mean? Let me tell you what it means as I saw it and am seeing it.

College student A goes to said college and begins to study for his/her prospective degree in which they have devoted hours and days to dreaming out. About 2 weeks into the first semester student A is invited by students X, Y, and Z (the older students) to be well rounded. They begin to stay up late every night “hanging out.” No, this isn’t going to turn into the talk that some may give you about warning against the late nights of booze, sex, and experimental drug use. I am talking about just straight chillin‘.

So student A is diligent in his/her studies, joins a frat/sorority and enjoys the well rounded college life. He/she is learning the ropes of life. Many responsibilities and juggling them all. And when they come home from school for break they “hang out” and “catch up” will all the old high school friends who also gained 20 lbs their first semester and really don’t care about the old stuff they used to.

So what the heck am I saying? (I’m beginning to lose myself) What the heck is our educational life for? I call it that because its almost as if the rest of our world goes into pause mode when its going on. We are expected to focus on who? US! We are indoctrinated to worry about, plan for, care for, dream about, me…self…I. Its talked about and approached like the world will end and someone will turn into a never shaving, forever stinking, social recluse, wackjob if they care about Jesus during this time.

And I don’t mean the “well rounded” caring about Jesus that I saw the other day when I saw a group of 4 girls who are currently drunkards and fornicators praying for their meal. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that one. “Dear Jesus, thank you for this food. We pray that we would not get the clap tonight as we embark on a new journey to see how much hard liquor our stomachs can hold and our livers can process. Let this food give us the energy to bump and grind dance for hours and even have enough energy to get the guy’s number before we fall asleep after yet another one night stand. Amen.” Someone else thought it was funny…funny enough to write a comment about it on their facebook. They girl’s response…”At least I said the prayer!.” Seriously…she said that.

What I am saying is this…because I hope that anyone who reads this will probably fall close to the age where they can be affected by it… have some stinkin‘ sense of mission in your life. If you love Jesus, live like it. Live according to His word, and live for Him. Quit the cussing…it really isn’t as cool as you think it sounds. Quit the social drinking… still not as cool as you think it looks. Idolizing people like Bob Marley and Snoop Dogg was cool in 7th grade, but really won’t and don’t point you to Jesus in any sort of way. Quit caring so much about being well rounded and being involved in everything. Jesus didn’t put a “high school or college clause” in the gospel. He didn’t tell us to serve Him only after we graduate and have lived life to the fullest and experimented enough to know what we like and don’t like.

Mark it down, students will look back on time well wasted. Years and opportunities to share Jesus and live like Jesus, and become more like Jesus wasted…for what?… popularity? fun? entertainment?

My head still isn’t completely straight on what I’m going to share later this month… but I know what it WON’T be on: “How to share Jesus while pumping the keg” or “Greet each other with a holy kiss, back massage, sexual favor” or “Accountability: knowing when to say enough is enough” and definitely not “Jesus’ first miracles: deductive reasoning as to why its OK to throw an orgy.”

Jesus died…start Living

Emerge or Resurrect

(Originally posted December 9th, 2006)

Whether or not someone believes that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, Savior, or coming King, their opinion does not negate the fact that He did what He said He would do. In Matthew 16 Jesus claimed that He would build a church. Not only did Jesus the Nazarene continue to have a small group of adherents even after His public killing, but almost 2000 years later, He is still the most famous human being to walk the earth with millions upon millions of followers. His name has rung and will continue to ring throughout the ages.

And Jesus declared that He would build a church. And He did. And this Church has stood the test of time. Yes, it has had its moments and “dark ages,” but the Church has stood strong in the face of religious wars, enlightenments, scientific theories and other foes that wished to rid the world of her name. The Church is truly that bethel of strength that Jesus claimed even the gates of Hades couldn’t overthrow.

In a general sense, the Church is alive and active, functioning in the purposes of God and inching closer everyday to that Day when her Head and Husband will come to gather and judge. But is this the case in a more specific sense as we look out upon the landscape of Christianity today where we live? For years now, there have been two extremes that have done more damage than good to the image of the Church.

One extreme is dead and dying. Dead in the sense of spiritual fervor; this extreme denies the power of the Holy Spirit by claiming He no longer distributes His gifts. Their ‘worship’ services have a rote script of stand up, sit down, sing in perfect structure, bow, bend, bore. This extreme is dying (probably better than worse) in the sense that many of those who hold to this school of though have grown old in year and therefore are hopefully going to a place much more exciting than where they left. Between losing numbers through death and losing numbers because of discontent many doors to many meeting places have been shutting.

The other extreme has made an oxymoron out of itself. It has come to be defined by jewelry, fancy suits, big, colored hair, and prosperity messages. These plate-passing prosperity pulpiters claim that their religion which was started by a homeless man, deemed a man of sorrows, and whose adherents claim the desire of total conformity to is now somehow about each Christian’s personal comfort and possessions. Accompanying these ideas are those that spirituality is measured by “the power” that you possess to work miracles, heal the sick, speak in a heavenly language or to be the mouthpiece of God Himself. There is an air of a hierarchy they have created in the election of Christ.

Although both of these camps can be labeled as “extremes,” many Christians have been effected by one or both of them and therefore have a bad taste in their spiritual mouths and resist anyone and anything that in the slightest way resembles either one. Amidst all this, almost out of nowhere is a call to reform. It has been labeled the “Emergent Church Movement” or “Emerging Church Movement” and for many has been another option to the headache that has been created in finding a place to corporately worship, find fellowship, sow financially, and grow in one’s walk with Christ. Though this movement has many different “denominations” in a movement that claims no denomination, those who are in this movement have at least one thing in common. They are looking for “new ways” to do church and to reach the unchurched.

I share in many frustrations of much of those who have positioned themselves with this movement. Useless traditions that were never the plans of Christ have become the centerpieces or our worship services and the “weightier issues” that Jesus warned the Pharisees of neglecting have become our stumbling blocks. Extremes have tainted the waters of pure and holy worship and left many jaded and anti-organized religion.

But for those of us who love Jesus with all our hearts, souls, and minds, we must be about His business. We must stay grounded in the Truth of the Scriptures. We must never neglect to speak unapologetically about the “lost” and not the unchurched; even in the face of offending someone. We must pray earnestly to God and ask for the power of the Holy Spirit to come and resurrect what seems lame and lifeless to so many: the body of Christ, His Church.

We cannot let our generation emerge into a message stemming deep from the its roots of postmodern thought rather than the Truth Jesus and His Prophets and apostles gave us in His Word. We must seek to save that which is lost while at the same time viewing ourselves in sober judgment; found only because of God’s grace. We must understand where we stand before a Holy God: depraved and not good, unworthy and hellbent, guilty and not innocent, incapable of becoming good or saving ourselves. It must be from this understanding that our missiology stems: here and only here.

So I pray, let the Church resurrect to her Glorious state prescribed by Jesus her maker and let those of us who desire this resurrection strive to honor our Lord Jesus Christ above all else. Let our hearts’ desire be a movement of purity, righteousness and peace. And may God receive all the Glory. Amen

Trying not to sound unpatriotic

(originally posted June 30th, 2007… and I stand by it today)

I want to do my best to not sound unpatriotic or like some left-wing liberal flag-burning anarchist…but at the same time I want you to know my heart. This week is the Fourth of July. Its a day that we take each year to celebrate the freedom that was found at the expense of the hundreds and thousands of lives sacrificed so that a dream could have a future.

This dream was freedom. This freedom was one that these same brave men and women laid their lives down knowing they would never see. But they held the hope that their sacrifice would be one that would benefit their children and children’s children for generations to come. And it has. And for that I am so grateful. Any and every idiot has studied the years and events that surround our nation’s freedom. We know that the pilgrams came to America to find religious freedom. We hear the stories of the patriots that dreamt of a government that would not regulate their worship and wouldn’t tell them what rote religious rituals to follow. Any and every idiot knows that.

Yeah, so if you have gone to college you have heard the reverse. You have heard some over educated person with letters after their last name tell you that all the founding fathers…yada yada yada… were deists and not Christians…blah blah blah… that they wanted religious freedom so there wouldn’t be any religion not freedom within Christianity… more blahs, more yadas. Both sides have their history books that tell their side, both have websites, periodicals, and even DVD’s that tell history from their perspective. Blah…blah…blah…yada…yada…yada.

That’s just the introduction.

What’s really on my mind is this: tonight we were talking about how the worship service was going to go tomorrow. My pop in law said something about how the worship leader is going to do the pledge to the flag, the christian flag, and the Bible. Now I am totally up for people as a congregation reciting what they believe together. Even though the idea seems a little…uh…VBSish…or elementary as he put it, its still pretty neat I guess.

But here is what I couldn’t shake. Why? Why do the pledge to the flag during a worship service to Jesus? Jesus isn’t American. Nope…He isn’t. Ok, if you didn’t know that and are opening up a new window to go to wikipedia to make sure, let me spare you the trouble. He was Jewish. For some reason in the US we have painted Christianity to look like an American religion. Sure, we were founded on Christian principles and values. Sure, many of the founding fathers were Christians and gave God credit for winning the war and us having freedom. But they also gave God credit for the right to steal the Native Americans’ land and even Constantine…pagan of pagan’s before his supposed “conversion” gave Jesus credit for his victory in war.

Here’s my point: America owes Jesus…not the other way around. The only flag we should ever spiritually fly is that of the cross. Without the cross their would be no salvation. Without Jesus their would be no cross. Jesus doesn’t need to share the spotlight with a nation’s birthday. Of course, I say sing a couple partiotic songs…God Bless America if you want or something like that, but come on…most Christians don’t even know the doxology. Most Christians can’t tell you the Ten Commandments. Most Christians don’t know the books of the Bible. Most Christians don’t know what they believe and if they think they do, they can’t tell you why. Let’s spend our time and our pulpits and our microphones and our worship music singing to Jesus, preaching about Jesus, teaching about Jesus, and honoring Jesus.

Just to let you know, that’s my pop in law’s biggest struggle with tomorrow. “We have to honor Jesus through all the other stuff.” In no way am I saying he is doing something wrong and am I not knocking the church service. It just got me thinking on this subject and all these feelings about stuff rushed to my brain. I am knocking this Americanized idea of Christianity. I bet the average church “lifer” (someone who has gone to church all of their life) would get offended if you took the American flag off the stage…the one that has been there since before they started attending. I am saying that a lot of times in America, we put the stars and stripes above the cross and tomb.

I love my country. I thank Jesus for the freedoms I have. I thank Him that I don’t have to fear for my life when I worship Him. I thank Him that He allowed our nation to be founded on the religion it was so that we aren’t running around blowing each other up in the name of holy war. But every once in a while I am a little envious of those in China and other nations hostile to the gospel and to the church. There is just something so New Testament about the persecutions they face for their faith.

So as Wednesday approaches and you see the flags waving and the fireworks going off, thank Jesus for your freedom. Thank God for America. This peace of land is a nation because of its freedom and because of the cultures that have blended to make what it is. Be patriotic. We owe that to those who came before us and paved the way of freedom. But most of all thank Jesus for the price He paid and the freedom that was found in Him.

If you get some time…check out the song Love or Gain by the band “Lakes.”

Jesus isn’t done with the US. The the resources and freedom He has blessed us with, you better be sure that something is going to be required of us. Christians…be ready, be missional, and be purposeful.

Amen

Mediocre

(originally posted on personal blog September 3rd, 2007)

Don’t we all dream when we are younger that we will wake up one day when we are older and be average? Don’t we all strive in our hopes and dreams to be mediocre? I mean come on, doesn’t every girl get ready for a date or prom or some big event so she can look plain? Don’t we guys hit the gym day after day so we can look “so-so.”

If you didn’t catch the sarcasm in the above paragraph and are thinking, “sure” then you should ring your call button and we’ll have Tommy come back there and hit you in the head with a tack hammer because you are a retard…(Tommy Boy) Oh I love that movie.

But back to the point. Who wants to be average? Who wants to do anything half-hearted? Who wants to “just get by?” Seriously?

Yesterday at church I taught on the Sabbath. There is so much when it comes to teaching about shabbat, but I only had about 25 minutes so I had to give the condensed version and hit the main points. Marc Sikma would have been proud. After I get done teaching I am in a small group with some high school juniors and seniors. We begin to discuss this issue of the sabbath. When all at once it hits me: “What do we expect?”

What do we expect when we get up Sunday morning? What do we expect to happen? What do we expect to see? What do we expect to experience? The answer I believe for so many is “nothing.” Most of us stay up late on Saturdays just to wake up early, and still tired, to put on our Sunday best to go to a building where we put on a fake smile and extend a fake right-hand of fellowship to keep people at a distance. We then tap our foot or keep a beat on the pew in front of us during a few musical numbers, pass this heavy, fairly empty, metal plate to the person next to us only to get settled to fight off sleep for the next 30 minutes while a man who has given his life to Jesus and wants desperately to see a breakthrough in the Church tries his darndest to convince us that our lives need to change.

We have no expectancy! And its a sin! Yeah. It is. Its a grave, ugly, often glossed-over sin. How can we claim to know the Creator of all the Universe? How can we claim to belong to Him, know Him, have His Spirit live in us and through us and not EXPECT anything when we worship Him? How? Because we are mediocre! We are satisfied to, week in and week out, come to the same place, do the same thing and get the same empty results! We are settled in the fact that our lives suck! We are ok with the idea that we are living joyless lives struggling with our own sin and depravity. We are prideful!

But I don’t want to be! I don’t want to care more about my pride and try to save face with the people around me while I fake the smile and fake the gestures. I want encounter God. I want to be changed in His presence. I want to wake up on a Sunday morning, refreshed and ready to learn God’s word, experience His presence and worship with thanksgiving in my heart! I want to be expectant. I am expectant!

People…we were never meant to live mediocre lives in Jesus Christ. John 10:10 is the proof of Christ’s intentions for our lives. “Life to the fullest” isn’t poetic language for boring, same ol‘ – same ol‘, stale, lethargic, hum drum of an existence. So my advice…pray for revival! Pray for revival of your own heart. Repent of the sin of mediocrity and pray that He forgives you. Want it more than anything. And when you wake up each day, expect the Truth that He has already promised; that He came that you make have life to the fullest. Live there.

Jesus Died…Start Living