Burning Baskets and Beds

I have always been prone to extremes.  It's something I work on daily.  Pendulum swings.  I'm a passionate kind of guy, I get really excited about things, I have a "jump in with both feet" kind of personality.  I don't see this as a bad quality, just one in need of tempering, balance.

I don't think I'm alone, though.

I think this is a very human kind of trait.  Specifically, a western world human trait.  Even more specifically an American human trait.  We like black and white.  We have a very difficult time with shades of grey.  We get very uneasy with the unknown and so jump to hard and fast assumptions in many areas of life (science, religion, relationships, politics, humanitarian efforts, etc.).

Their is One who called us to a very important extreme in this life though, His name was Jesus.

The extreme He called us to was with two very simple words, "Follow Me."  That's it.  Follow Him.

Interestingly enough we have jumped to all sorts of other extremes as to what He meant by this.  We have spent so much time hammering out and arguing over the meaning of "Follow Me" that for many of us we have failed to actually just do it.

In Matthew chapter 4 the bible begins to tell the story of the start of Jesus' ministry while here among us. We see that Jesus began to call followers, disciples, with those very words, "Follow Me..."  The picture that we get is that He must have been calling everyone that He came into contact with to follow Him, because their was this huge crowd that was doing just that.  In Matthew 5 we see Him address this large crowd of followers, disciples, and begin to share with them the benefits, the troubles, the joys, the pains of following Him.  At one point He says, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Then He immediately goes on to say, "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.  You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

A candle under a basket is a bad idea in any one's book.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you don't but a flame under something flammable...unless you're looking for it to ignite.

Jesus adds to this in Mark 4 when He uses the analogy again, "And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light."  ...made manifest, to come to light.  What did He say again, "...you are the light of the world."

These sayings of Jesus are not just nice sayings.  He wasn't merely a wise sage whom we can listen to a saying and then sit back rubbing our chins saying, "Awww yes....very true, very true..." much like we might the sayings of Confucius or Ghandi.  When Jesus spoke, He intended for us to listen and then to actually act on what He said.  "Whoever hears these words of mine and then does them is like a man who built his house upon the rock...", "Why do you call me Lord and yet do not do what I say?", "Go into all the world and make disciples...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you..."

When we take in the teachings of Jesus, and then argue over what He meant, or how He meant it, or how it does or does not apply to us today, rather than putting His teachings into practice in our lives; then we end up with burning baskets and beds.  When we don't apply Jesus' teachings in our lives in the manner for which they were intended (to bring light and love, and true morality and goodness, transformation of our inner character into His very likeness, to receive and extend forgiveness, and so much more...), then we end up destroying ourselves and others around us.  We end up burning down the house.



Now in the exercise of balance... there must be time spent learning Him in order to put His teachings into practice.  There is as much danger in running ahead of Jesus as there is in not following Him at all.  Peter proved this when he hacked the ear off of the high priest's servant.  Jesus also said, "My sheep know My voice..."  If we do not spend time learning Him, getting to know Him, listening to His voice, we will only start more crusades.  We will only take His name in vain.  But, merely learning of Him is not following Him.  We must hear and do.

Jesus had strong warnings for those who chose not to follow, "And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4)


So, "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.  You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  Amen.

The Trade

...time for a little confessing...

It's been a rough couple of months.

Do you ever have those times when you look at your life and say, "Seriously!  This too???"  I consider myself to be a pretty strong person, I rarely get rattled by life, I generally am able to keep a clear head through most situations and circumstances of life; but every once in a while I hear myself breathe that one word, "Seriously?"

It's been a rough couple of months and I have been trying to be strong for others around me.

It started with an unforseen and unexpected confrontation with some friends whom we loved (love) deeply, and suddenly the friendships were over.  My mind is still trying to wrap itself around what exactly happened.

A close friend of ours went suddenly missing and after much searching her body was found in the river.

Some individuals in our community have taken it upon themselves to expose me and our church as the preachers of a false gospel and purveyors of heresy that we are.  They do this in conversations, blogs, public withdrawals of community events and so on.

We are involved in a major project in our community for the youth that we believe God has been leading us in which suddenly has been hitting brick wall after brick wall...and God has been largely silent on the matter.

An incident which I assumed would just be a matter of clarification exploded in my face with another church in the area which we have a close working relationship with (...well, close relationships with period), that threatened to end the relationship.  Again, still trying to wrap my mind around that one...

We almost lost my mom in a particularly scary and gory reaction to a failing liver (genetic condition, not do to bad lifestyle choices on her part).  Through this we became aware of just how seriously her health is at risk right now.

We went for a family camping trip to just try and relax and regroup...and our dogs ran away.  I know, I know, they're dogs, but tell that to my sobbing daughter.   Another one of those "Seriously!?" moments. (We did find them a few days later, thank you Skip!)

Ok, I can hear some saying "Really?  That's it?"  I know, many people go through much worse things all of the time.  The death of loved ones, children; debillitating and costly illness; personal betrayals of infidelity in marriage; persecutions that could actually cost lives; physical and brutal attack in rapes, murders and assaults of many kinds.  Comparatively the last couple of months pale in comparison.

I think that has been my problem, comparing.

Over the last couple of months I have been evaluating every one of these circumstances as they come and saying to myself, "Well, it could be a lot worse, in fact a lot of people do have it a lot worse!"  Then I would buck myself up, dust myself off, and tell those around me, "God is good, He knows what is going on and He will turn all this for good.  I trust Him."  I have said that many times over the last couple of months.  I have meant it every time.  I believe it.  It is true.  I have also been using all of those sentences as weapons to beat back the sadness of the situations; weapons to beat back the frustrations of being misunderstood, misrepresented, and things not working out the ways in which I really thought they would; weapons to not allow myself to truly grieve and hurt over losses and wounds.

My wife calls it "internalizing".  I have been internalizing, stuffing things down deep that would like to rise up.  I have been refusing to acknowledge the reality of the last couple of months; choosing instead to claim a reality in which things are really not that bad; where things could be much, much worse and so do not deserve to be given place; choosing a reality where my emotions are my enemy.

In reality, to call it as it is, I have been running my own life.  I have been dealing with myself in the only way I know how, because God has bigger things to deal with.  I have not been trusting Him.  I have not been trusting my relationship with Him, that He just might not care about my comparisons to others "worse" problems.  This is sin.  Not the heavy guilt, condemnation, soul wrenching sense of worthlessness kind of sin; just sin at the core of what sin really is kind of sin, I have not been trusting God with my relatively (comparably) insignificant problems.

I think this is a pendulum swing that happens; I go from a place of desiring all that the world can offer (wealth, power, fame, success, sex, immediate and wanton gratification) to desiring all that is available in the Kingdom of God (knowing God, intimate relationship, love, forgiveness of sin, no guilt or condemnation, and so much more), that I become overwhelmed with the big picture of God and His interaction with the entire world and I lose perspective that I have been adopted as His son, and as such, I am intimately and specially known by God (I Cor. 8:3).

Peter sums it up this way in I Peter 5:6-7, "Be humble then, under God's mighty hand, that He may be the one to lift you up in due time, and give to Him all of your anxieties because He cares about You."

So then, this is the trade, I can continue in a form of pride to think that my day to day, comparably insignificant problems are of no concern to God and He should not be bothered with them; or I can humbly recognize that God is not only capable to handle all of life's circumstances and issues and problems, big or small, but that is exactly how He desires to interact with me, His son, because he loves me, He knows me intimately and specially, and He really and truly cares about me.

It's time to trade in my old thought for a new, it's time to repent, it's time to trust again.

Freedom...

I saw this cartoon on another blog the other day.  I thought it very relevant to the world we live in today.


Fear is the lock that imprisons our lives.


Think about it, let's just start with how we raise our kids to follow the American dream:

• You've got to study hard in school.  Why?  Because if you don't you will never get into a good college.  Fear.
• You've got to get into a good college even if it means a hundred thousand dollars (if not more) of debt.  Why?  Because if you don't you have no chance of landing a good paying job.  Fear.
• You've got to get a good paying job.  Why?  Because if you don't you will never be able to live in a safe neighborhood.  Fear.  Because if you don't you will never be able to drive a reliable car and you will get stranded some dark night on a lonely stretch of back road.  Fear.  Because if you don't you will never be able to provide for a family and your wife will run off with a guy with gold chains and a porsche and your kids will become gang bangers and sell weed to buy guns.  Fear.  Because if you don't you will never look successful and when you go back to your 25 year high school reunion everyone will see that your life has been a waste.  Fear.
• You've got to have good insurance.  Why?  Because if you don't then some medical tragedy will come and you will go bankrupt or not be able to afford the right doctors.  Fear.
• You've got to give as much as possible to a good retirement plan.  Why?  Because if you don't you will have to work your good paying, but miserable job, until you keel over at your desk.  Fear.  Because if you don't you won't be able to live your "golden years" driving the coast in your RV collecting various kinds of sea shells, rocks, stamps, ceramic cat figurines, etc.  Fear.  Because if you don't you will find yourself old and having to rely on other people.  Fear.

The padlock of fear has fastened itself to our churches as well:

• You've got to have strong programs in your church.  Why?  Because if you don't then people will be bored and think you don't care about them.  Fear.
• You've got to go easy on people from the pulpit, you can't expect too much of them.  Why?  Because if you don't go easy on them then they will leave and won't hear any good news at all.  Fear.
• You've got to drill your people from the pulpit.  Every week tell them how sinful they are.  In the words of Jonathan Edwards, "The pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive the wicked: the flames do now rage and glow. The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much in the same way as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked..."  Why?  Because if you don't then people will think they can do whatever they want to.  Fear.
• You've got to kick bad people out of your church.  Why?  Because they will infect everyone else and people will think you accept and condone their behavior.  Fear.
• You've got to be careful what books you read, or what preachers you listen to.  Why?  Because people might think you agree with all that.  Fear.

A couple of passages come to mind:

• "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." - I John 4:18
• "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." - Jesus, John 10:10

The key to the fear padlock is love.  It is the love of the Father poured out on us His children.  It is the love of Jesus that caused Him to don a human skin in order to show us the way to the Father.  It is the love of Jesus that drove Him to willfully be hung on a cross for us.  It is the love of a triune God who chooses not to hold this against us but be eager to adopt us as sons and daughters, heirs of His Kingdom, and all that is required is to believe in Him, to place our confidence in Him, to allow Him to deal with the condition of our frail and broken humanity to experience His new life from above.  His abundant life from above.  Life filled with Him.  Life filled with relationship with Him.  Life filled with love.  Eternal life.

All fears have some base in reality.  All fears have some truth in them.  If they weren't even remotely possible then there would be nothing to fear.  But there is something greater than fear, love.  There is someone greater than fear, God.  We must not allow life to be imprisoned by a padlock of fear.  Embrace love, embrace God, trust Him for everything and experience His abundant life from above.

It's All True...

You will need your bible for this one...go ahead...I'll give you a minute to find it.  (You can google passages too fyi.)

Please take some time and read Psalm 103.  This is one of my favorite passages in the bible.

Amazing, right?!

I’ve grown up in church.  I can’t remember a time when my family didn’t attend church.  I’ve been to loud churches, I’ve been to quiet churches, I’ve been to churches that have been everything in between. 

In all of these different church experiences I was taught that God is holy, and I am not.  God is perfect, I am a sinner.  I deserve hell, Jesus suffered and died a brutal and horrible death so that I would not have to spend eternity there. 

I was told that it was my sin who put Jesus on the cross.  If I were the only human being to have ever lived, Jesus would still have had to die for my sins.

These things are very true.

I carried the burden of this reality with me everywhere.  Maybe you do too.  Maybe you are one of those who live with the realization of your sinfulness every single day.  Maybe you are like me who was so crushed beneath the weight of my own guilt that I wanted to hurt myself for my failures.  It is a great burden indeed to know your own heart.

But…there is good news.

Read vs. 2-4 again.  Now vs. 8 & 9.  Now vs. 10, pause on this one for a moment, let it sink deeply into your soul.  Now vs. 11-14,… “He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust.”  Wow…

God, our father, remembering how He formed us out of dust, remembering our frailty, remembering to be patient with us, remembering to shower us with grace and mercy, remembering to not deal with us as we often deserve, remembering to forget our wrongs…

God, our father, love for us as deep as the heavens are from the earth.

Think about the expanse of the universe just for a moment; not too long, it will melt your brain!  The volume of the universe is the comparison for the volume of God’s love toward us…  Pause again…  Let that saturate your soul for a moment.  Fill yourself up with that thought.

Now read vs. 17-19.  How does this work with everything we have just read?  Isn’t that the point, I don’t keep his covenant!  I don’t do His commandments!  That’s why I need Him to be gracious and merciful and slow to anger and remember that I am just dust!

This is where Jesus comes in.  See, Jesus did not come to simply pay the penalty for our sinful lives, He came to show us how we can begin to live otherwise all together.  In Jesus’ sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7, several times we see Jesus say things like, “you have heard it said, but I say to you…”, and “Truly, truly I say to you…”, and “unless your righteousness is even more than the scribes and Pharisees (religious leaders), you will never enter God’s kingdom.”  Jesus called us to follow Him to learn another way altogether.  What is this way?  The way of transformation.  Transformation of our hearts, transformation of our character, transformation of our passions and desires.  The way of a stream naturally flowing with good water (John 7:38).  The way of a tree naturally bearing good fruit (Matt. 7:16-18).

So how do we walk this way of transformation?  John 3:16, that’s how!

“For God so loved the world (there’s that infinite expanse of His love!) that He gave His one and only Son (Jesus coming to provide a better way) that whoever would believe in Him (this word “believe” could literally be translated “to place one’s confidence in, to place one’s trust in”) would not perish (here we are back to Ps. 103:4, “He redeems your life from the pit”, this word perish can be translated “to come to ruin”) but have eternal life (this is not eternal as in very long, but eternal as in John 17:3 (look it up)). 

So can I paraphrase?  Thank you!

God’s love is so infinitely deep and wide for the entire world that He sent us His Son to put His life and love on display for us to see, so that anyone at all who would choose to live trusting Him with their entire lives would not come to lives of ruin, but would instead live His very kind of life, lives full of relationship with Him!

This is good news!

You no longer need to focus on your unworthiness, but instead you can choose to live God’s very way of life; fueled and empowered by His infinite love to choose to trust Him with your very life.  Every area of your life.  Even your sin.

Take some time to just bask in the overwhelming reality of His infinite love for you.

Try not to pray, try not to be distracted, try not to read, try not to think about anything else, just sit saturated as if in a pool of His love.

Now, release your life into His very capable hands.  He can handle it better than you.  Follow Him.

Baking A Batch Of Salvation

I saw an ad for a church on my Facebook page this morning.  I clicked it.  I couldn't help it.

It said a lot of the usual stuff, in the usual ways, but all the while saying they were the church for people who didn't like church anymore but still liked Jesus.  I can appreciate that.  I think there is a little too much of this language everywhere you look in the church world these days, but I get it; a lot of people are burned out on the whole "church" scene.  So, there is a move underway, by some, to recast the church in a new, "hip" light.

Now, I like "hip" a lot!  I don't think of myself as "hip" at all, but I like it when I see it!  What I'm not real fond of is trying to be "hip" for the sake of "hip-ness".  I mean, if you are "hip", let your "hip" flag fly!  But I don't think "hip" is a good thing to work at...especially in church.  It just looks a little off.  Kind of like Tom Hanks' multiple characters in "The Polar Express".  You knew that train conductor was Tom Hanks, but something was just not quite right...

Sorry...tangent...

So on one of the pages of this church's website I saw "Becoming A Christian.  It's As Easy As ABC".  It then went on to spell out the ABC's:

1. Admit you're a sinner...
2. Believe that Jesus died on the cross for you to pay for your sins...
3. Choose to accept His free gift of forgiveness, by accepting Him as your Lord and Savior...

...and that was pretty much it.  Presto, Magico!  We just baked up a batch of salvation!  We have the list, we've checked it twice.  We followed the directions...Yep!  We're all saved now!  Doesn't it feel good?!

The problem is...Jesus never said any of this...

1. Jesus called us to repent, to rethink our entire way of living our lives, not just the bad things we do.
2. Jesus called us to believe in Him, literally to place our confidence in Him, not just something He did.
3. Jesus never asked permission when He forgave, no one ever had to accept His forgiveness, He just freely gave it whenever the opportunity presented itself.
4. Jesus said "...I am Lord...", "...I have come to save..." He is Lord and Savior whether one accepts it or not, it is who He is.

The question then becomes "Will I continue to fight for my own way, or will I recognize that His way of life is far superior to my own?"

This question is relevant both without and within our churches today.  Too many church attendees (either full time or part time) today have settled for an ABC christianity.  We have traded the beautiful, loving, adventurous, passionate, interactive relationship with the Creator of everything (both seen and unseen), and changed it for a three part formula that when mixed together and baked in the oven of human life, someday comes out smelling of fresh baked salvation from hell and into everlasting heaven.  

I'm sorry, it's just not good enough news for me.

Why do we do this?

Because it's easy.

It's easy to understand a formula; relationship is hard.  It's easy to believe three things, say a prayer and then wait for heaven; it's hard to develop a new life passion.  It's relatively easy to work hard to break a bad sin habit; it's impossible to become a different kind of person on my own.  It's easy to show up to church every Sunday, read some bible verses, pass out some tracks to people on the street; it's hard to become involved in people's messy lives, to meet people's needs, to be interrupted from something I want to be doing to spend time with someone else.  It's easy to give 10% of my money; it's hard to not want anything.  It's easy to feel guilt and condemnation; it's hard to get on with living His life.  It's easy to study doctrine; it's hard to love my enemy.

The real beauty of salvation is when we choose to follow Jesus (become His disciple) and we begin to learn to trust Him for everything, He saves our live's now!  We don't have to wait for heaven!  The glorious, beyond our wildest imagination, reality of a future heaven will take care of itself!  And where else would we go??  We've followed Him with our whole lives, of course we will follow Him into the next!

The real beauty of salvation is that we are invited by God (by way of gentle, loving command) to participate with Him in His great saving (reconciling) work in this life.  Jesus called this being salt and light.  Jesus said our good deeds would bring glory to God.  Jesus commanded us to love one another.  Jesus invited us to follow His example and make disciples, immersing these ones (through their interactions with us) in the reality of the triune God.

The real beauty of salvation is intimate and passionate relationship with Creator God.  It is not a formula.  It does not always make sense.  It is certainly not without danger.  It does require much effort, although I cannot trust in that effort.

The real beauty of salvation is it is truly good news.  Right here, right now, and for eternity!

Do You Have Your Jesus Camo?

I know, it's a gruesome image, but we use some gruesome language.

Consider the hymns we sing on Sunday mornings:
"There Is A Fountain <Filled With Blood>"
"Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus"
"There Is Power In The Blood Of Jesus"
"Are You Washed In The Blood"
"Covered By The Blood"

I watched a message on YouTube the other day of a preacher talking about the "gospel".  The gospel by definition is "Good News", this was what he was proclaiming is the good news:

"Jesus went to the cross so that you don't have to!  He took your place.  When you are washed in the blood of the Lamb, when you are covered in the blood of Jesus, then when God looks at the cross He doesn't see His Son, Jesus, He sees you!  And when He looks at you, He doesn't see you, He sees His Son, Jesus!"

I understand that might sound like some good news at first, not having to be crucified ourselves (...wait, didn't Jesus talk about us taking up our cross and dying daily?  Didn't Paul claim to be "crucified with Christ"?  Anyway.....), but really, the good news is I can hide from God by drenching myself in Jesus' blood?  Jesus' blood camouflages who I am so God can no longer see me?  Let's not even take into account that what appeases God is His eternally bloody Son.  And how long do I have to keep up this charade?  Is there any point in eternity where I can stop wearing my Jesus camo and God will be ok with me being in Heaven?  Do I just sneak by Him at the pearly gates as He's reading the paper, hoping that He doesn't look too closely as I walk by, "Oh, hey Son, be sure to wipe your feet so You don't track too much blood on the carpet."

Jesus went to great lengths to communicate the love of the Father, not His blood lust.  He went to great lengths to communicate how we are infinitely special to Him, how we are His sons and daughters, so much so that yes, He did send His Son to die a horrible death by crucifixion.  But is that moment in history frozen for all eternity?  Is God always looking for a bloody Jesus?  Are we to perpetually live with eternal Jesus camo?

Jesus communicated a loving Father, not just in the act of the cross, but towards us His children.  Paul understood this and communicated it over and over again in his letters.  James understood this.  Peter understood this.  John understood this possibly more than any one.

When God sees us, He isn't looking for His bloodied Son, He sees us, warts and all, and loves us just as we are.  That love is what will wash us.  That love is what will cure our sin disease.  That love is what will transform us into His very likeness, His image.

Let's trade in our Jesus camo for His very way of life, only accesible because of the cross, His eternal life.

Following the Historical Jesus?

I was talking with someone today who claims to be unsure of God's existence.  Of the existence of any god for that matter.  The interesting thing is he grew up in the church, his parents are in ministry in the church, he's been a part of our youth group, he's played for our worship gatherings, and unsure of God's existence.

We've known each other for a year now, a year this Easter.  I love this guy.  He's special to me.  I don't believe him.

We've been having this conversation for a while now.  The one about him not believing in God.  He's been told about God for much of his life, believed for a period of time, and then one day began to ask the question, if God is actually real, why won't He just show Himself?

He asked this in church one day...they told him that he couldn't play the drums in the church service anymore if he was questioning the existence of God.

His question became a decision.  If this is how christians are going to react to a question I have, then I don't want to believe in their god.

Done.  Just like that.  God doesn't exist.

So our conversations have morphed a bit now.  Like I said, I don't really believe him.

Today we were talking again and I told him that I didn't think he struggled with the reality of God so much as he struggled with the picture of God that has been presented by those who claim His name.  He said he thought I might be right...

I encouraged him to follow Jesus, there is no questioning His existence.

Is it possible to follow Jesus and question the existence of God?

Is it possible to follow Jesus and not know that He is God?

I'm thinking of the story in Mark 2 where the four men bring their friend who is lame to a house that Jesus was teaching in.  The house was packed so they climb to the roof, tear a hole in it, and lower their friend down.  Mark tells us that Jesus saw their faith, and said to the man "Your sins are forgiven."  Then He heals him.  Not once do we see the man, or his friends for that matter, say anything at all.  What was their faith?  Was their faith that Jesus was God?  Was their faith that Jesus was the Messiah?  Or was their faith simply that Jesus had a reputation for healing people, so chances are He could heal their friend too?

The interesting thing is Jesus was ok with whatever their faith was, they had come to Him with their need.  So he forgave the man's sins...and He met the man's need.  He healed him soul and body.

Oh, and Mark says that Jesus claimed to do this so that all present would know that He is the Son of Man, a direct reference to being divine.

It's as if Jesus were ok with the friends bringing the man to Him with no claim of recognizing who He really was.  He then used that as an opportunity to clearly state who He is.

I really hope my younger brother will choose to follow the historical Jesus.  I'm not even concerned that He may not be able to recognize Him as divine.  I don't think Jesus is concerned with it either.  I do think it won't take long for any disciple of Jesus, under any circumstance, to begin to recognize that there is more to this One, He is no mere human.