The Comming Kingdom

We just got done with a political season where the two presidential candidates raised close to two billion dollars between them and here is the thing that not only intrigues me, but makes me sad.  Who gets elected from the President of the United States to local city and state government, people voice their opinion.  It ranges from the elected officials are going to get us back on track and save us, to they are going to ruin this city, state, or country by running it into the ground.  These two opinions and every other one has been voiced since September.  Here’s the thing, not much has changed since the birth of Christ in the first century. 

            The nation of Israel was in an uproar because not only were they trying to follow God through a list of rules and waiting for the Messiah, but they were under Roman rule as well.  Which means that when in Rome, you play by Roman rule, which didn’t sit well with the Nation of Israel.  The Israelites were hoping that their Messiah was going to come and over throw the Roman government and set up God’s Kingdom.  With in this hope, there was a group of Israelites known as Zealots, who took it upon themselves to initiate the coming Messiah by taking on Rome and trying to defeat them.  There was even this thought among Jesus Disciples that He was going to over throw the Roman Empire to set up God’s Kingdom and Jesus rebuked them.  So my question is that what does the Kingdom of God look like and how does it get put into practice on a daily basis. 

            I think there are three ideas that help us usher in God’s Kingdom, and by no means is this list exhaustive and the end all be all of.  The first Kingdom concept  is focus on ones heart and our relationship with Him.  If we are not growing in grace and maturity, are we really participating in God’s Kingdom.  God’s Kingdom requires a focus change from being a me first kingdom, where everything circles around me and my happiness, to putting God first and others second.  It is a realization that doing it our way ends in destruction, not matter how good our intentions our.  The other two kingdom ideas really come out of this idea of putting God first and not only making him our Savior, but the Lord of our life as well.  The second Kingdom is loving God with everything we have and others as ourselves.  It is realization that the world is bigger than my needs and wants and its not always about making sure that I am happy.  It is living that transformed life and maturing in God to who He has created us to be.  The third Kingdom concept is that we act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.  In other words, what does our earthly relationship look like?  Are we showing mercy to those we like and to those we have a hard time of liking.  How about acting justly, are we giving back the extra changed we received at the local store, not for who we claim to be, but it is the right thing to do.  Being a part of God’s kingdom is being in right relationship with God and others and how we interact with them on a daily basis.  With in this, we are not only bringing God’s justice, but we are bringing people into right relationship with us, others, and God.  This means praying for God’s blessing on people, even the ones we don’t like and who may be “out to get us.”  It also means forgiving people and seeking forgiveness, because being in right relationship often requires not only forgiveness, but it can also mean restitution.  So where are you at in God’s Kingdom? 

Worshiping Attitude

  As I have done some pondering lately, especially on the idea of worship and the attitudes that we carry into it.  I am probably not the only one, when I get to church, my mind is often anywhere but there.  Some of it is because I worked late the night before, or that I have to go to work after church, or some other reason.  There are times where I struggle just to pay attention.  There are many times I wish I could just focus in on the worship service and the Worship of God, but there are other distractions.  Through this thought process, I thought of King Saul and his leading of the nation of Israel.  Saul was in the hill country of Bethel with the Israelite army taking on the Philistines.  As the Philistines were gathering, the Israelite's were becoming outnumbered quickly and Saul got scared.  He waited seven days for Samuel to come and provide a burnt offering to God as an act of worship to God, so Saul did it himself.  As he was finishing up, Samuel showed up and Samuel rebuked Saul.  There are two directions we can take with this story, the first one, is validating ordain-able ministry which is another post, or how we worship God, especially in the time of adversity.  I chose the latter because I think it is applicable.

  If we were to go on reading 1 Samuel, we would find out that after Samuel rebukes Saul and that not long after that he cuts off all communication with Saul (with an exception of the Witch of Endsor incident).  This was a sign of God rejecting Saul and his lineage as king, and that Saul's rule did not finish well.  One of the things that got Saul in trouble is that he not only failed to wait for Samuel to perform the sacrifice, but performed the sacrifice himself.  Not only did Saul get nervous, but he got cold feet and took things into his own hands.  I think when we get nervous and cold feet during life circumstances and with God, we tend to do things our way and develop three dangerous attitudes.

   The first one is that we get desperate.  Not only do we try to do anything and everything, we often become irrational. Its the attitude that something has to be done and I am not going to wait.  We make it all about ourselves and what we can do, and we often do what has worked in the past, but the trick is, it God is not there or in it, we will fall flat on our face.  We often are looking at the gathering army and wondering how its going to be defeated and we get scared. We either carry that hero mentality that I am going to save the day and I am hoping and praying that God shows up through my effort and that He ordains it.  We make it all about us and we fail.  We tend to do this in worship, and thinking worship is about what we can bring to God and how well we can do it.  I don't want to diminish this thought, but true worship is more than just bringing sacrifices, but it is living in right relationship with God and others and that takes trust and sometimes patience and trust.

  The second attitude is the one of defiance.  I work at Wal Mart, so I see defiant toddlers quite often where if they don't get something, it is an all out scream fest.  I have seen some epic tantrums in my day.  How often do we get defiant of God, especially with our worship with God.  One of the causes of the worship wars in the church is because of tantrums we are having with God and others.  In other words we are telling God that we want things our way and we aren't budging.  The only way we will worship God is either through particular song, liturgy, or action.  In essence we are wanting God to play by our rules.

  The third attitude is art of distraction.  This is probably the most popular because we try to make the most of our time and multitask, which in the end, we are not being as productive as we could be.  Another reason that we are distracted during worship, is that we are not getting prepared before hand.  How often do we take time to prepare ourselves for worship.  It is usually a rush to get out of the house so we can just to make it to church on time.  When we are rushed, we aren't focused or prepared.  There is a story of a pastor of a small church who tried everything to get the church to grow, but nothing was working and he was at the end of his rope.  One day he was lamenting to God about this and God spoke and asked if he was ready to stop trying so hard and join in with Him.  God challenged the pastor to spend every Saturday night in prayer and preparation, and the pastor agreed.  When the pastor did this, God took over and the church became one of the fastest growing churches in the United States.  We often let things, not matter how good they are distract us, and we need to remember the Lords prayer of They kingdom come Thy will be done.

  Now these attitudes are far from exhaustive, and they are just many of the ways the enemy tries to distract us from doing the will of the Father

Sunday Sermon

     This past week I got to provide pulpit supply for a pastor friend of mine.  He had just started a series out of the book of Numbers, and to keep up with the flow of things and to challenge myself, I continued with the series.  This was the first time I preached out of Numbers 3:1-13 and it was a great experience.  Here are some of the highlights of my sermon.

     The first observation is that God not only called, but also consecrated the tribe of Levi to not only be His representation to the nation of Israel, but also for them to be the voice of Israel back to Him.  Among the tribe of Levi, there was the Levites, who were responsible for the day to day happenings with the Tent of Meeting.  Whether is was moving, the leading Israel in the worship of God, or the general care of the Tent of Meeting, they took care of it.  They were also the "Judge Judy" because they took care of disputes and acted as judges along with the keeping of records.  The Priest were not only the overseers of the Levites, but they were the ones responsible for performing the sacrifices.  Whether it was the sacrifices of the individual families, or the nation of Israel, it was their responsibility to perform these task.  They communed directly with God and God with them.  Not only were they the official voice of God to the nation of Israel, they were interceding for them and helping the Nation of Israel be in right relationship with God.  They were also the moral compass for Israel.  As moral and upright the priest were, so was the nation of Israel.  Or if the priest were immoral and broke God's commandments, so did the Nation of Israel.  God set the Tribe of Levi aside as consecrated for a particular purpose and a calling to be holy.  He has called us to do the same. 

   The second observation I made was this idea of what it means to be consecrated/set apart.  When I think of this, two meanings come to mind.  The first one is that I think of my mom's fine china where we only use it for holiday meals, and the rest of the year it sits in the china cabinet looking all pretty.   The danger with this is that we are set apart and holy, but we are not being that agent of Change that God has called us to be.  The second idea of being consecrated/set apart means that we have a specific purpose to go out and change the world.  I agree with this, but we have to be careful of the extreme that we forget that we are holy and set apart and we come away looking like the world. 

  My third observation and conclusion to this whole idea of being set apart/consecrated means that we are to take the Biblical commands seriously that we are to be holy as God is holy.  Being consecrated means that we are holy.  I tend to see holiness as perfection, not as I have done nothing wrong, but as maturity.  This means that we are living in right relationship not only with God, but with our fellow man.  It means that we are putting away things that hinder our relationship with God and others while continuing to grow in Gods grace and mercy.  In essence, its maturity or growing up and the end result is that we love God with everything we got and we love our neighbors as ourselves.  As the Apostle Paul states that we should not stay on spiritual milk forever, we need to grow up.  One sign of immaturity is that we continue to struggle with the same issues.  A sign of someone who is maturing is the over coming of those issues.Just as we need to grow up from teen to adulthood, we need to mature spiritually.  So how does this look practically.

     Since we are set apart and consecrated, we are called to be God's hands and feet in a very dark and broken world.  With Christ becoming the ultimate High Priest, He is inviting us to be apart of the Priest Hood of all believers.  Just as the priest of the Old Testament were interceding for the nation of Israel, Christ does the same.  If Christ is interceding for us on a daily basis, how can we not do the same for the world in which we live in.  It is being the dispenser of God's grace to this world.  It is more than just getting people saved (which is important), but it is bearing each others burdens, interceding for those who can't, it also is bring justice to a broke world.  Justice is not just bringing punishment, but it is bringing people back into right relationship with not only each other, but God too.  It is the dispensing of forgiveness and reconciliation not only with God and others, but ourselves as well.  As mentioned earlier, we need to put away things that hinder our relationship with God and others.  We can only change the world in ways we are willing to grow up and change.  This isnt meant to be works orientated, but as we grow in grace of the living God, it will change the world we live in. So in closing lets be the presence of God in a broken world interceding and being that agent of Change God called us to be and that Christ is working through us

An hour at the art museum

  I have developed a fascination with photography over the last several years.  I like looking at pictures, especially sport orientated photos.  When I heard that a local art museum (Tweed museum on the UMD Campus) had a new showing of someones photography work, so I went and I checked it out.  The pictures were good, but what caught my attention was a big painting that was on the wall.  The painting was of a person in chains wearing noting but a loin cloth and he has been beaten.  The person is looking towards the sky with a smile on his face.  There is also a solider and other people surrounding him.  As I learned with art, it is open for interpretation.  Five people can look at the same piece of work and get five different meanings.  So, I asked about the painting and a person who works at the museum went and found some information on the piece.  The piece of artwork happened to be a rendition of the martyr of St Blaise, who was a fourth century Christian who liked to spend time out in the woods in prayer and contemplation.  He was also a friend of animals and people often compared him to St Francis.  There is a fokelore has it that he also had the gift of healing. 

 As I did some pondering over the painting, it really had me captivated.  I thought of the Apostle Paul and how this picture could be him.  He had spent much time in prison and he even written several of his epistles from the jail cell.  During these letters, Paul is not only praising God despite of his circumstances, but also encouraging others from his cell.  Paul had a different view of prison than I would if I were ever in prison.  he wrote to the Philippian Church that because of him being in prison that others were coming to know Christ as their Savior (1:12-14).  Or in His letter to the Ephesians is that he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the sake of the Gentiles (3:1).  Or that he is an ambassador in chains and that he must boldly speak the cause of Christ (6:20.  Or to the church in Colossians  that he was rejoicing for suffering for the others and those who have done the same (1:24). 

   I have never been locked up in jail for any amount of time, and I would imagine it wouldn't be a very pleasant stay.  But here is the thing, no matter if we have ever been in jail for a day, week, month, or years, or never, we all have or had life opportunities where we felt like we were in prison.  Could it be the loss of a spouse, a bad health diagnosis, a troubled relationship, a bad job or no job.   In each of these situations, it we are given the opportunity to get out of, make it better, or just make it go away, we would.  Here's the thing, are we grumbling about our current circumstances, or praising God.  God has a bigger purpose than just to keep us happy.  There things that happen because we live in a fallen world and we have to suffer the consequences.  Are we going to let life's circumstances where us down, or are we going to give thanks in all things, no matter how bad they get.  When I give thanks to God for every situation, it is a realization that it is not about me.  It is also realizing that even if we live in a fallen world, we still have a Savior that holds the future.  When giving thanks for the presence circumstances (even though we might not like or enjoy it) to move forward.  Every day we are given the opportunity to grow in grace and maturity, or to do nothing, which usually ends up as regression.

  Having a grateful heart is not the last stop in life, it is what we do with that gratitude is what makes the difference.  Having a grateful heart means action.  It means living at peace with family and friends.  Seeking forgiveness when wrong is done and bestowing forgiveness when wrong is done to you.  It is loving and being patient with people who are just plain hard to be with.  It is having joy in every circumstance, not matter if we just got a batch of homemade cookies or cut off in traffic.  The Apostle Paul was in prison for preaching the Gospeland he had every right to be mean, hateful and bitter, but he chose not too. 

random thoughs

  I was coming home from an arousing game of cards and my grandmas house and I got to thinking on some sermon notes I read through yesterday.  The sermon notes were on how to be a godly parent and training your children in ways that they should go and they wont stray from them.  What got me thinking is what is my role in child rearing?  Just to be clear, I am single and no where close to having the children conversation with anyone.  There are people who do not have children either because of singleness, choice, or life circumstances, and I truly believe that we can come along side the people in our lives and help them in the raising of their children. 

  I may not agree with most of her political positions, but Hilary Clinton said something when her and Bill were in the White House that has not only stuck with me, but I agree with mostly.  She said something to the affect of that it takes a village to raise a child and I agree with her for the most part.  The only part I would add is that, this statement does not take away the responsibility of the parents and the parents need to take the lead in raising their child(ren) and I hope and pray that they are instilling a solid Biblical foundation for their children, both in action and in word.  I also hope and pray that they are modeling Biblical character in their own lives and it is not do as I say and not as I do.  We learn the most (both the good and the bad) from our family or the people who we spend the most time with. 

  Here is a quick rant, parents can teach a Biblical foundation and display what they teach, they child still has to accept that teaching and making it their own.  Sometimes having a free will stinks because we can control what other people do or don't do.  This still doesn't negate the parents responsiblities, to teach, pray for and with our children.  At some point children need to make faith their own and live with the positive and negative consequences of their actions.  Ok I am done with my rant

   So here is my question, how do people who are kidless, whether they are empty nesters or not kids whats so ever, come along side the people in our lives with children and help them raise Godly children?  By no means do I want to overstep boundaries or their authority, but I also don't always want to sit passive and let the parents do all the heavy lifting.  There are two kids that go to my church and they are brother and sister.  They can't be older than 6 and 4 and every time I see them, they want me to throw them in the air and then catch them.  For some reason, they find it fun, and their grandma usually has to drag them home.  How do I go from just being the big teddy bear to coming along side the parents and supporting them in raising the kids.  The Biblical image I get is that Moses lead the Israelite's into battle and he is sitting on top of a hill, and as long as he raises his staff above his head, the Israelites are winning.  As soon as that staff drops, they are losing.  It turns out that two people come along side Moses and help keep his arms up and Israel wins the battle.  So how can us people who are not at the stage of life of children, or who have children that have grown out of that stage come along side parents and aid them in the raising of children?

Contentment

  I will be honest with you all, I have two home churches and the problem for me is that my second home church is ten hours away.  Every summer I make a trip to Kansas for a Roayals game with my friend Russell.  While I am down there I attend his church and I have been there a couple of times and I feel really comfortable there.  Another thing that that makes Lifepoint of Topeka my other home church is that Russell often sends me the sermon notes to my iPhone.  It makes it really nice and when my phone vibrates every Sunday afternoon I know its him.  Well this Sundays sermon was good and the notes were what I needed to hear and here is what I needed to hear. 

  One of the issues that really hit home for me this week was this whole idea of complacency, and it is a very tough thing to get out of and break free from.  Being complacent for me is this whole idea of not caring along with throwing my hands up in the air and doing nothing.  There have been a few times in my life where I have been complacent and it has been a very dry spell for me spiritually.  One of those times for me I was going to grad school full time while working over thirty hours a week and it got to the point of being burnt out.  Luckily for me, I had a friend come along side me and not only did she listen to my rant about not caring, but she also told me to take care of myself.  Luckily, it was at the end of my semester and I was able to take some time off and do some traveling and some well needed rest and baseball.

  Another dangerous area where complacency can affect us is through our obedience, whether to God or others.  We may not me directly disobeying orders, but here is the thing, we are not doing all that we should.  Whether it is avoiding conversations that we need to have, not spending the time with God or the other important people in our lives as we should, or to put it bluntly, we are half-assin things.  We are not doing things to the best of our abilities or like we know how they should be done.  I find myself to be moody and kind of sarcastic when I am in this stage.  I often find myself in this stage when I don't like where I am at or what I am doing.  Whether it is a physical location, the work I am doing, or the stage of life I am at, this is when complacency sets in.

  So whats the cure for complacency and a heart that is rather disobedient.  Outside a trip to the woodshed, here are some more gentler practical ideas that I have been pondering.  In Jeremiah 29 the Prophet Jeremiah wrote a letter to the Israelite who were hauled off into captivity.  I, essence what he is saying in this chapter is that quit praying to God that He will smite the bad guys and that He will let you go home to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.  I am sure at least some of us have prayed that prayer to have the wrath of God come down on someone and for us to get out of a particular situation.  Whether it is being fired from a job and you want the former boss to pay for firing you, or the crazy former spouse or significant other who screwed you over and you want God's wrath to be upon them. What Jeremiah is saying here is not only be content where you are at, but start family, and for your kids to start families.  Not only pray for the city you live in, but actively get involved where you are at.  When we are on our knees for our location and where we are at in our lives, it makes being obedient a whole lot easier, and it also changes things and the circumstances.  Nothing great has ever happened without people spending time praying seeking after God and His direction.  In this chapter, it states that God is willing to be found, but we have to be willing to seek Him.  The big difference between complacency and content in this chapter is that complacency is often a spirit of laziness, distrusting and self reliance.   Contentment is relying on God and having Him be are all in all. 

  Through out Scripture, but especially the Psalms we find that God is to be our all in all and that we can take refuge in God.  Psalms 46 shares with us that even though our world may be crashing in on us, we are to be still and know that God is still God.  Peace isn't the absent of strife, but how we react to it when it is happening.  God does not command us to things and know that He is God, He calls us to be.  Everything we do, is an outpouring of who we are.  Being still allows us to commune with God and for us not only to talk with God, but for us to listen.  How can we be obedient to God when we don;t listen.  Being is more that just about doing and saying the right thing, it is about character change and being in right relationship with God and others. 


   So to wrap things up, being content is more than just being satisfied to where we are at.  It is seeking God where we are at.  Its transforming my thoughts, actions, desires from a me first to others first and that God is not only at the center point of what I do, but the energy and the change agent for doing those things. In essence we are replacing our yoke (or cinder blocks) of burdens and works righteousness with God's yoke of grace, mercy, fellowship and the justice of being in right relationship 

Songs and Fruits

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head for more than a day?  It can be a blessing or a disturbance, depending on the song.  The type of songs we listen too often tell the mood we are in.  If we are in a joyful mood, it is often an upbeat song, or if we are angry, the song is often heart pounding and talks about revenge.  Here is the other cool thing about songs and especially catchy tunes, they can help us remember things.  For me it was a song from kids camp many moons ago that helps me remember the Fruits of The Spirit.  They put the Fruit of the Spirit to the song  “Na Na Na, Hey, Hey, Hey, Kiss Them Good Bye.”  To this day, they only way I can remember the fruits of the Spirit is by singing the Fruits to that tune

In Galatians 5, Paul talks about how we are to have Fruits of the Spirit and we should cloth ourselves in them.  These things are love, joy, peace, patience, self control, forebearance, kindness, gentleness and self control.  We have to make a commitment on a daily basis to cloth ourselves in these things.  When we make a commitment to cloth ourselves in these things, God comes down and meets us there and He provides the grace and endurance for us to be clothed with these things.  These characteristics our not in our natural instincts if we are left to ourselves.  We tend to be impatient, not that loving, self centered, and losing our cool at the most inopportune times.  Clothing ourselves with these things doesn’t mean so much that we give up something, but it is what are we gaining.  If Christianity was truly about giving something up, I don’t think it would be worth it.  Could true Christianity be what we are gaining?  Instead of giving up vindication, retaliation, bitterness, which are all things that lead down a spiral and eventually to death, because we can not just stop and throwing one person under the bus, but its an addictive habit.   When we cloth ourselves with the fruit of the Spirit we are clothing ourselves with very nature of God.  The Fruits of the Spirit doesn’t save us, but they not only show who we belong too, but is also a sign of maturity.  Not only do these things bring us into right relationship with God, but it helps bring us into right relationship with others.  It helps us not only ask for forgiveness, but forgiving others when they have wronged us.  The goal of growing is not to still struggle with the same issues, but when we cloth ourselves with the character of God, we actually but away childish behaviors and move forward.  We are called to grow and to mature and not to be that slob that is so easy to be. 

There are two big theological terms here that we should discuss and they are imputing and imparting.  Imputing is what God does to us and He does to us what we can not do ourselves.  Imputing brings us back into right relationship with God through Christ work.  God imputes the Fruit of the Spirit to us, because it is something we can not do ourselves.  The other term is imparting, which is what God does through us.  In essence, it is the Fruits of the Spirit lived out in our daily lives.  It could be showing and having joy while balancing the checkbook, or having patience when a child is having a tempertantrum.  In essence, God is not only giving us grace, but we are being clothed in His righteousness and His character is becoming our own.  So in closing, are we letting God’s character become our character, and how are we letting it play out in our daily lives.  What is the point if we have God’s character and we do not let affect every part of our daily lives.  To finish up from last months newsletter, God did become one of us, not to be like us, but so we can be like Him and have our character changed. 

What if God was one of Us

            For those of you who are fans of 90’s grundge rock, you would probably recognize the name Alanis Morrissette and her song What if God Was One of Us.  The song ponders just as the title proclaims, what if God really was one of us, what would that be like and would He really be a slob like one of us.  In essence I really think Alanis was down playing the Deity of Christ and is essentially saying that He is not the Son of God.  There is a whole sermon or two of God becoming one of us in the form of Jesus, but as I wanted to share with Alanis and everyone who has ever listened and liked the song, God did not become one of us so that He could be a slob.  God became like us so that we could be like Him.  Its so that we don’t have to continue in our mess that we are in.  What really plays into this God changing us is due to His very nature of righteousness and holiness.

            There is something that we need to remember about God’s righteousness and holiness.  Even though God came and became one of us, He is still the Creator of the Universe and we are the created.  One of the essence of being a Christian and the Christian community is believing and embracing the idea that Jesus is fully God and fully man all at the same time.  One of these heresies is that Christ didn’t become God’s son until He was baptized by John the Baptist.  It is a complete lie because we can read throughout Scripture that Jesus was, is, and will be apart of the Trinity and apart of God’s plan.  Jesus is neither created, but He is of the same substance and is on equal relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. 

            Ok, I am done with my rant, and lets get back to Jesus becoming human.  He didn’t become human so that He could be a slob like one of us, it was so that we can take on the very nature and character of God.  This does not mean we will become God, but God will bestow His image of purity, righteousness and maturity on us as long as we reach out in faith.  In essence, Jesus death and resurrection is a calling for all of us to grow up and to be who God intended for us to be.  So what does this look like?  There are several places throughout Scripture where we are challenged to grow up and to put on the likeness of Christ.  Back when Tiger Woods was at the top of the golf world and winning majors, he would always wear a red polo on Sundays to finish up a golf tournament.  That polo was more than just a polo, when Tiger put on that polo, he was not putting on just another polo, but that polo signified confidence and a killer instinct that he was going to win that day.  When everyone saw Tiger on the golf course with that red polo, they new he was going to win the golf tournament.  Just as Tiger puts that polo on, we need to cloth ourselves with God’s righteousness.

            In Colossians 3, Paul talks about how we are not to be clothed, in which some of these things are; lustful thoughts and actions, rage, anger, impatience, bitterness and gossip.  These things lead us down a road of self destruction and separation from God.  These things often make us bitter and hateful people, and in Alanis song, I really think that she was claiming that God became one of us so that He could embody these things.  If He really did embrace these ideals, it wouldn’t make Him God’s Son and why would He come to save us to slobness when we had already perfected it.  So if we are to put away these things, what are we to cloth ourselves with then? Keep tuned in for the answer.

Actions and Consequences

  Here is a random thought and its something that I have been thinking about this week and these thoughts were engrained into my head by president of the college I attended.  One of his major platforms is that ideas do matter and that actions and words have consequences.  We often learn of these truths early, but need reminding of them on a daily basis. I read an article today from a recent Sports Illustrated about a college student who was a walk on football player for the University of Virginia. (even to be a walk on at a Division 1 program means you are a very talented athlete).  But Joseph Williams has a bigger cause on his plate, not only does he volunteer at several places and mentors a number of people there is one thing that is near and dear to his heart.  He and several students at the University of Virginia went on an eight day hunger strike to bring up awareness about the pay of the service employees at the university were receiving.  A lot of the service employees were receiving minimum or just above minimum wages which resulted in them just scrapping by.  Williams saw it as an injustice because the university was spending millions on athletics and yet they could not afford to give their employees a pay raise.   This news story not only caught the attention of the administration, but also garnished national media attention.  Williams was forced to make a decision to fall in line and give up the protest and remain on the team, or keep on with the protest and not be a member of the football team.  He chose that the latter and thought it was to big of a cause to give up.

  This gives light to issues of social justice and what is worth fighting for and what is important.  It is often standing in the gap for someone else and giving them a voice.  I also know that a lot of us are not willing to go on an eight day hunger strike, but two things still remain.  Who or what are we willing to stand up for and are we wiling to face the consequences of them.  Everything that we do/say or not do/say has consequences either for good or bad.  Our actions, thoughts and words often shows us where we are at with God and the condition of our heart.  Whether it is not getting up and going for that walk in the morning, makes it that much easier not to do it tomorrow morning (not that missing a morning walk will make us lose our salvation).  Or failing to communicate with family members or the tone of communication can have bad consequences and shows how selfish and self centered.  So often we just focus in on the bad consequences and trying our hardest not to do them, that we often forget that there are good consequences.  We teach ourselves and others (especially children) don't do stuff because something bad will happen.  Whether it is drugs, alcohol, or premarital intercourse, we often preach on the evilness of these things and they will lead to bad things.  Instead of always preaching don't do(there is a time and place for this), maybe its preaching on doing good things and reap the good benefits.  Whether it is some more time in the Bible,leaving the cell phone at home, or saying no to that late night ice cream, they do have positive consequences.
  
  In closing are actions and words, both that are said/done and the ones that are not said/done have consequences and they are usually either positive or negative consequences.  The Christian faith is not one of works that will get us into heaven but our works are a response to who we belong to and the grace that has been given.  I think there are very few decisions that are amoral (neither good or bad) because these things often lead to another decision.  So be mindful of what is said and done and that as a Christian, we do have the power of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to make those decisions that will have a positive impact. But here is the kicker, we have to be open and listening for Him.  The Holy Spirit usually that still small voice in our ear or that deep gut feeling telling us what to do or say, or from time to time hits us on the back of the head to get our attention.

obedience

   As I have been wrestling with Romans 6 the last couple of weeks and as I have posted earlier about the issues of kingship and authority.  Obedience or disobedience is how one responds or doesn't respond to the authority figure  Whether it is God's authority, or human authority, it is still authority.  (The idea of whether to and when to obey and when to disobey human authority is a different posting)  Whether it is being obedient to ourselves or to God.  As I have wrestled with this issue of obedience, it is more than just doing something or not doing something for someone.  When one obeys, there is some level of respect for either the person or the authority that the person has giving the directions.  I often do or don't do things because its the right thing to do and there are times that I do the right things for the right reason, or the right thing for the wrong reason and vice versa.  There are times where I throw a tantrum while doing it or and that usually leads to nothing getting done.  When we are being obedient, especially to God and His authority or even earthly authority the intentions of the heart do matter.  I often thing of when I was made to apologize to my siblings for doing something wrong.  I may have apologized, but on the inside I was still kicking and screaming and calling them poopy heads.  So my question to us all is how do we match up this idea of obedience as action, and obedience of the heart.  It is a daily struggle for doing or not doing things for the right reason.  In the end, true obedience is knowing where one stands with others and living out of that which I hope is a position not of ruling but of serving. 

  One of the verses that has kept coming up for me is Malachi 6:8 of loving justice, mercy and walking humbly with God.  With this in mind, when one is walking humbly with God, it is a realization what are place is and living in it.  Its not taking a number and just being a member of the masses.  It is this idea that we are living as a child of God and we are coming under Gods authority.  God does not rule with an iron fist and a septor and kills off anyone who does wrong.  God is a God of mercy and not only does He come along side us and helps us put things back in order but He also bestows His holiness upon us.  To use a Dr Mulholland quote (professor at Asbury Seminary and thanks David Pritchard for sharing me of this quote):

               Unholiness is its own torment ... God enters into the torment to offer redemption and restoration                   To holiness.

   If we are truly walking in obedience, its more than doing the right thing because that gets us no where with God.  It is holy living, is allowing God to Impute His holiness and righteousness on us.  Imputing is God doing for us, what we can not do for ourselves.  Imputing is the act of being made righteous and holy before God through what Christ on the cross.  The other part of holy obedience is this idea of impartation, or what God does through us.  It is being obedient to the work of the Holy Spirit and following that leading.  It is taking part in what God is doing and doing it.  It is being conformed to God's character and holiness.  In closing, I think it is a movement from just bringing the sacrifices and gifts to the alter to moving into a right relationship with God and each other.  What I mean by this is that we are called to bring our gifts and sacrifices to the altar, but if we are not living in right relationship with God or our fellow man or woman, we are instructed to leave the gift and go make that relationship right.  I think the key component to loving justice and mercy is how are we at keeping up our relationship with God, but with others.  One definition of justice is being in right relationship with someone, whether it is with God or people.  Being in right relationship with God and others takes a lot of work, grace, mercy and God.  So maybe being obedient has to deal with being in right relationship and living out that right relationship.  Just some food for thought

Kingship and Authority

            In the American culture, when one dubs themselves as king, or someone else does for them, it often means that they are the best at what they do.  In the past fifty years, we have had the king of rock n roll (Elvis), the king of pop (Michael Jackson), or King James (basketball player).  These people are either considered the best at what they do, or have the most potential to be the best at what they do.  Being king often comes with the expectation of that they are not only the best at what they do, and they have authority, whether self ascribed or ascribed by others.  This type of kingship and authority often leads down a very destructive and painful road.  Having this type of authority, makes us want to be like Eric Cartman and yell respect my authority and when we say this, things never end well.  Looking back on the lives of Michael Jackson and Elvis, the end of their lives were nothing to be followed or desired and lead to their untimely and unfortunate deaths.  We all have someone(s) or something(s) that rule over us and act as authority in our lives, it is just a matter of is it constructive or destructive to our current lifestyle and our eternal one.

            Romans 6 talks about this idea of kingship and authority in our lives and who or what has this authority.  It is more than who serves as our elected leaders on a local, state, and a national level, which is an important discussion for a later time, but it is who rules our heart, action and lives.  In this chapter Paul is sharing with the Roman church the two authorities that are not only trying to grab our attention, but are trying to grab our hearts and our allegiances and these authorities are in contrast with each other.  One authority is sin and sin is anything that takes us out of a right relationship with God.  Sin often manifest itself in being self centered, hedonistic, or self destructive patterns.  I think that Frank Sinatra has a pretty good definition of sin and that’s doing things my way.  Doing things my way often leads us down a self destructive path that if we are responsible for getting ourselves out of, we can’t.  It’s because we have let sin rule over us and we are under its authority and we become servants of this destructive lifestyle.  But here is the good news, we do not have to be under the authority of sin and live this self destructive lifestyle.   

            Paul touches on this idea of should I keep on sinning so that grace may expound.  Essentially Paul is asking the question of, should I keep dishonoring Him to gain His mercy and favor.  Paul emphatically says no way.  To sum it up, we are turning God’s gift into a cheap perfume that doesn’t smell good.  God’s gift to us, which is Jesus death and resurrection, gives us the ability to have power over sin and not to continue in it.  Paul contrast of sinning all the time to get Gods grace with being an instrument of God’s grace to the world we live in.  Being an instrument for God, takes on many forms, but the main constant is this; it is sharing and doing for others what God has done for us.  The question is, are we going to be obedient to Gods grace and work within us and through us, to be instruments of peace and reconciliation to a hurting and broken world.  Or are we going to go and be obedient to our hedonistic selves and be destructive.  We are kind of like bulldozers, they can be useful in building roads and buildings, but also can be very destructive in ripping things apart and causing mayhem.  So what kind of instruments are we going to be today and how are we going to let God use us for His glory.  In the end, it is not about respecting my authority or kingship that I might have, but it is point to the One who has authority over all and is the Creator of the Universe.

The Vindicated Prodical

The story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15 is one of the most popular Bible stories out there and we would probably lose count on how many times it has been preached from different perspectives. To sum up the story, the younger of the two sons gets sick of living at home, so he demands his inheritance and leaves the family. After a time of living it up and reckless abandonment, he is out of money in a far far away place. To he decided to get a job feeding pigs (which for a good Jewish person, that is blasphemy) and after awhile of feeding and eating what the pigs ate, he game to his senses. He would go home and be one of his fathers hired hands, because they had it better than he did. When he almost got home, his father came out runningnot only greeted him, but had a long embrace. The son was restored to full sonship and he was a part of the family. The older brother had a tantrum because the dysfunctional brother not only came home, but was restored member of the family and there was a party.

I just wonder how many of us carry the attitude of the older son. It is the attitude of making sure everyone stays happy and we do not do anything wrong and we stay on the straight and narrow. The problem with the older brother, like a lot of us is that we are not children but slaves. Being a slave has several destructive tendencies that will keep us a slave if we do not over come them. The first one and I think the most important one to over come is vindication. A person who has a slave mentality is that they always have to be proven right and are always justifying what they do. This attitude is that there is always an explanation for what they did or didn't do, or place the blame on someone else. They are willing to do or say anything or nothing as long as they can justify it and it helps them sleep at night. Whether its justifying crappy eating habits because they claim that they don't have time or the money to eat healthy. This type of justification is based on our own standards or our interpretations of certain standards. Other people can do what they want, just as long as people fit things into your standards and justifications.

When we start using our own justifications to live life, we are going down a winding path that often leads to no good. When our own standards and heart are corrupt, it is really hard to come up with healthy ways of living when its coming from a broken person. It is like trying to turn out an award winning apple pie with rotten apples, it just doesn't happen.

Another problem with having the slave mentality is the concept of trying to play catch up or hooking yourself to the latest whim or bright idea. I am not saying that all the latest fades or whims are bad, but trying to play catch up can be exhausting. If and when the idea fails, we often sit in shambles because we don't know how we got there. One of the problems with this mentality, is that we are prone to not having a backbone. Going from whim to whim often shows a lack of planing and a lack of integrity/backbone because we either don't plan things out, or we are to stubborn to change our ways .

One of the biggest areas that I see where a person with a slave mentality comes from is seeking people's approval and wondering if they are making a difference. This often comes from two different sources. The first one is that we are to blind to see the big picture and we have tunnel vision. We just see what is in front of us. The second issue is that we are not willing to grow up and deal with our own issues. We either minimize our problems and say that they are not that bad and that everyone has problems. At least with me, I do enough reflection, but putting into practice to make those changes is hard. A slave does not want to admit that there is a problem or the severity of the problem. Therefore the problem doesn't change, because one does not want to put in the hard work to make it change. We are comfortable in our own little bubble and in all honesty, we enjoy sitting and our own crap where we don't want to change. With this mentality, we often wonder if we are ever making an impact and doing any good and I am comming to realize that the impact one is making is not as big as it could be if at all.

Or its not my problem its everyone else. The blame game often goes back to self justification and it is a terrible circle to get on and one that is very hard to get out of. Hopefully in the near future I can write about what it means to be a child

The Spirit of Adoption

The last two weeks in sports there have been some events that made me want to bang my head against the wall. The first was when the Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen made the horrific comments that he actually admired the dictator Fidel Castro. He later apologized and tried to explain himself. Secondly, if you go and have a motorcycle accident, make sure you tell your boss who was involved, especially if it was a female subordinate who just happened to be your mistress. Don't let him find out when the police report becomes public, and it makes you look like a liar and having something to hide. So now Bobby Pitreno is looking for a new job while trying to mend his broken family and the University of Arkansas is looking for a new head football coach

Bubba Watson happens to be the coolest person in sports right now (his name might have something to do with it :)). Not only has he won one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world (The Masters) without having a golf coach or never taking a golf lesson, he owns the original General Lee. For those of you who watched 1980's tv, The General Lee was the car used on the TV show The Dukes of Hazard. He happens to owns the original car that has the doors welded shut. I was a fan of the show and if it were on today I would still watch it. But the coolest thing about Bubba Watson is that not only he is a Christian, but him and his wife just adopted an infant boy. I heard an interview with him this week and he basically said that winning the Masters was cool and a great accomplishment, but there is more to life than winning a golf tournament. He got home late after winning the Masters and yet he was up two hours later to change a diaper. He has shared a little bit of the struggles that him and his wife went through in adopting and it didn't sound fun.

For those of you who know my family story, my sister and her husband adopted two children, and they are the greatest in the world. It is so fun watching them grow up in pictures and learning new things and doing some of the weirdest and most bizarre things. but they sure do make me smile. Here is an older picture of them When become apart of God's family we become adopted. I am reminded of the old Gospel song that this world is not our home and we are just passin through. When we are adopted into Gods family, this world is not our final destination. We have something better waiting for us and we are apart of something bigger than just ourselves or even our families, but it is global.

Throughout the New Testament, especially in the book of Romans and John's Epistles there is language that states that if we have accepted Christ as our Savior and turn from our ways, God gives us His Spirit and we are called sons (and daughters) of God and co-heirs with Christ. What this means, is that we belong to the Creator of the Universe. Romans 8 gives us several helpful and hopeful meanings to what it means to be adopted.

The first one is the greatest one of all. Since we have God's Spirit, our bodies may die, yet we live. Essentially the grave and separation from God for all eternity is no longer something we have to worry about. Through God's Spirit, we can put to death all of our destructive and bad habits and replace them with Godly ones. It is God's Spirit doing the work in us so that we no longer have to struggle with our earthly nature, but become a child of God and do things that are of God and move away from things that are not of God.

The second one and I think the coolest one is the idea that we no longer have to be slaves again to fear and timidity, but we can call God Daddy. Having a slave mentality often means a person is on the outside looking in and often live in fear. A slave often works to please God and so that He doesn't come down in anger on them. The more the slave can do right and the less they can do wrong, that means the master will like them more and the slave will be in better favor. Adoption moves that slave barrier, and it is not so much what we do, but who we are. (what we do is important, but it flows out of who we are and what we do does not necessarily define us)

Adoption means intimacy with God and that there are no barriers. This means that we know God and God knows us. We do not have to go to God out of shame or hanging our heads, but we not only run to Him with open arms, but we often sit on His lap. When one is adopted and their is that intimacy, their is no weird awkwardness. If you have ever been in same room or in a conversation with someone, and something is not right, or there are unresolved issues that need to be taken care of and they haven't been, that is awkward and I know it makes me cringe inside. Being adopted means that we can go to God with open harms and we also go to God when we have done something wrong and we take care of it and make it right. Being adopted means we get a new lease on life and that we can be called children of the most High God and we can lay claim and participate in the promises that He has given us

head slaps and spiritual milk

Growing up on the farm we had a ritual every fall and it usually happened around Labor Day Weekend. It was usually time to separate the cows from the calves and to lock the steers up to get them ready for butchering. The reason we separated the cows and calves is so the calves would be weaned off of the cows and they wouldn’t be dependant on their moms for milk and nourishment. They often complained for the first few days, but after the realization they were eating better, it usually stopped. Being weaned off of milk also has spiritual terms also.

There are several places in the New Testament where the writers explain that we need to move from spiritual milk to spiritual meat. It is our way of not only growing up, but also maturing in the faith. We can not stay an immature Christian forever. In 1 Corinthians 3 the Apostle Paul is exhorting the church for not growing up. They have gotten the Jesus loves them idea, but growing up just wasn’t happening. They were claiming to be Christians, but were still doing worldly things such as gossip, jealousy, and petty fighting. What Paul was saying to the church at Corinth and can still be said for us today is, its time to knock off the petty stuff and grow up. There has to be a point in our lives that we go from knowing that Jesus loves us no matter what, to putting earthly things away and living a transformed life. Living this transformed life does mean we can put the old or bad things away and then live a holy life by ourselves. If that was the case, Christ death and resurrection would be pointless and His grace would be cheap. The only way I know how not to cheapen God's grace, is by participating in Christ death, so not only that we can be raised up with Him and to be transformed in His image and live in that image of being a child of God

Now we are all at different points in our spiritual maturity and our age does not matter or even how long we have been in the church. Being in the church and growing in maturity are two different things. We can spend all of our time in church and be immature, but if we don't go to church, there is no chance of maturing. We can walk into a auto mechanic shop and spend a lot of time there, learning how to be a mechanic, but that doesn't make us a mechanic. Not until we spend time learning and putting into practice what a mechanic does, this is when we become a mechanic. This is true with our Christian life, we can go to church and learn about God, but until we put into practice and grow, are we really growing in Christ. Our goal is to grow in God’s grace and to have Him change us. We are to reflect God’s character and not anybody else, because God is the author and the perfector of our faith. We all have areas where God is challenging us to grow up. There are times where God challenges us gently, but then there are times where He comes and does the Gibbs head slap. (on the tv show NCIS, one of the character; Gibbs, often gives his subordinates a slap to the back of the head when its time to knock it off and to grow up). It is not easy nor is it even fun at times to grow up, this means that we need to put away old habits and ways of life, but the results of this will be very beneficial. It has been said that we are either growing up and maturing or sliding and becoming immature in our Christian faith. There is no standing still, so with this challenge, I challenge all of us that it is time to grow up.

Spring time resurrection

Spring time is in the air and to be honest with you all, its not my favorite time of the year. Up north spring means plenty of brown, mud and impassible roads at times. Not to mention the work that has been put off because of the winter weather, or the cleanup that comes because of the winter weather, but I digress. It has gotten me thinking about several things though in relation to spring. When most people think of spring, they think of new life, warmer weather and a reason to wear the shorts and shirts. This idea of new life comes in many forms. Whether it is the baby animals being born, the leaves on trees, or even a moment of personal growth/self improvement can and is often started in spring. Spring gives hope, because there is something better to come,. whether it is warmer weather and longer days, or the chance at new life and new relationships. With the chance of longer days and new life, it has gotten me thinking, about two things that are kind of related......maybe and those are resurrection and discipline.
Resurrection means in my book not only something being brought to life, but not having to die again. Essentially, death has been conqured and we do not or will not have to die again. As a Christian, we do have that hope of final resurrection and hope that we will be in heaven when we die or when Christ returns. But there might be another form of resurrection that we can have here on earth. How many of us struggle with things here on earth. Whether it is food, what we watch, how we spend our money, we all struggle with something. That is why most of us make New Years Resolutions, so we can maybe conquer those things and so we can over come those things and be better people. I really think that we want to be resurrected from those things that hinder us is so that we do not have to deal with them again and we be raised up and have new life.
Here is the scary thing about this sort of thing, in order to obtain new life, something has to die. If it doesn't die, we are just making behavior modifications. These modifications may last for awhile, but eventually, they will come back to bite us in the backside. It may not be today, tomorrow or five years from now, but it will come back and bite us. If we are the sole provider of the death and resurrection, were in trouble because we are a pretty messed up people. Trying to get someone who is broken to fix themselves is like asking mud to turn itself into gold. It just doesn't or wont happen. We need someone or something to come and not only fix us, but provide that resurrection. Jesus death and resurrection provides that way for us. Jesus death provided the ultimate sacrifice for us and was more than sufficiant sacrifice for our sin and His resurrection provided victory over death. If we call ourselves Christians, Christ followers or any other name for Christians, we need to participate in Christ death also. Even though Christ sacrifice was and is sufficient, being a Christian means we put on the character of Christ. We are still created in God's image, but are scared with sin and its tendencies. So to replace those tendencies and our bad character, we need to die, so that Christ may live in and through us.
This takes work, but we are not at it alone. It takes both kinds of discipline. The first kind of discipline is the fortitude and actions to go through and do something to get it done. The second kind of discipline is a matter of correction. I am like anybody else, I hate correction and discipline. I don't view it as a chance to get better, but as I have done something wrong and shame. I don't like to think that I do things wrong, and I hope to do everything right the first time, but the likelyhood of this is not that good. With God's discipline, He is looking for more than just for action or attitude change. He is not only looking for us to stop gossiping about other people, but for our character to change and not only to stop it, but not have the desire to gossip and change it when it comes our way. If it was just about action change, it not only cheapens God's grace, but it diminishes who God is. My hope is that we can embrace discipline, so that we can not cheapen God and to be made into His image.
So here is a closing illustration. In the fall, a tree loses most of its leaves quite easily. They just fall off and then they are done. There are a few leaves who hold on tight and it takes a strong wind to knock them off. Then their are the one or two leaves that hang on no matter what. The only reason they fall off is because the new leaves are coming forth. This is the way for our lives to. Some habits are easy to kick, for other habits, it takes plenty of prayer or event to go away. That third leave represents those hangups that just don't go away no matter how hard we try. Until there is new life and God's grace, it isn't going away. So in this time of spring and while we are still in the Lenten Season, lets die to ourselves and cloth ourselves in the righteousness of God and grow more dependent on Him every day