Dash of Salt

In 2 Timothy, chapter 3, Paul writes this instruction to his young protege, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." Do you believe that? I say I do, but often times I find myself skimming through certain obscure passages missing what God has recorded for us. I just get lazy not wanting to mine the truths that are found in the genealogies, salutations and conclusions. And yet, this is God's word, and in the Greek the word "ALL" does mean "ALL." Well, God recently caught my attention with one of those obscure passages as I was finishing a quick reading through Paul's letter to the Colossian church.

In Colossians 4:7-18, Paul writes a handful of parting comments. I found myself zeroing in on the names and ways that Paul described these people. We really know very little about these people beyond what Paul wrote, but I found myself asking, when I am gone, will my life make such an impact that someone would say something like this of me. Here are just a couple of the things written about these "Nobodies":

1. Tychicus was a "beloved brother," a "faithful servant" and a "fellow bond-servant in the Lord"

2. Epaphras was a "bondslave of Jesus Christ" who had a reputation for "laboring earnestly" for others in prayer.

I was convicted deeply. Were these traits that would be said of me when I am gone in the pages of time? I think more than anything I want to be remembered as one who drew others to Christ. Someone once observed, while reading tombstones, that many focus on the start and end dates but we forget it's the dash in between that represents our life. I want to be a dash of salt.

Who's Fault is It?

Decisions have been made, and along with much of the same pattern of past elections, blame goes back and forth as to how this could happen. Along with it comes the racial slurs and off color jokes. We have a new President-elect. I really don't care about their color, I care about their character-- their skin color has nothing to do with that. I am more sadden that our country has morally decayed to the point where wrong seems right. That speaks more of the lack of influence the Body of Christ has had on the society. I have said it before, I will say it again-- we have failed to be "salt and light."

The testimony of Scripture clearly shows that when evil leaders come to power it has more to say about God's judgment and cleansing of His people. As long as we continue to live in the mind set of "Heaven on earth" rather than "thy kingdom come," we will fail to be effective as a people of God. As long as we fail to do that which God has told us to do, and as long as the body of Christ looks exactly like those who are not indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the result will be God's judgment.

Thus begins the spiral. I told Jill this morning, now more than ever, we must not waver to instill in our children the knowledge of God's word and the perseverance of the saints. Their generation will see persecution, of this I am confident. I am, however, encouraged to know that God is still sovereign and in control, regardless of my comfort level. It is times like this we should be very familiar with the writings of Daniel and Ezekiel. In particular, how God's people should behave under evil leadership.

Regardless of who is in the White House, God is on the throne. So, if our nation goes to hell in a hand basket, whose fault is it? It's my fault.

Welcome to the Family!

We have added a new member to our family this weekend! I would like to introduce you to Polly my daughters' new big sister. Polly (her new "American" name. Her real name is too long for me to remember yet) is an exchange student from Thailand that will live with us for the next year. She is sixteen and will be learning about America and all the various things it offers. In addition to that, I am so excited to have her live with us as it will give me a unique insight into Thai culture since I will be going on mission to Thailand in January 2009.

Please pray that Polly will see Jesus in our family over the next few months. Pray that she feels safe and welcome in our home. I know the anxiety that my 10-day trip brings me, a grown adult. I cannot imagine her feelings, at her age, and for this length of time. She has such a sweet spirit and willingness to jump in and be a part of our family. Of course, Melody and Selah just LOVE having a big sister to play with. I will love her the way that I love my own daughters, and am grateful that her family entrust her with us. I do not take this privilege lightly.

Taking Care of Business

It doesn't take very long watching the morning or evening news to get frustrated with the idiocy of how people think and behave. Both news features and commercials remind us of the depravity of human nature and the desperate need for a Savior. In James 4, the writer tells us that "friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (vs. 4) So, we are supposed to remove ourselves from interaction with the secular world, have only Christian friends, buy Christian's goods and services, work for Christian employers, etc. right? I am not so sure that is what this verse is instructing.

I began reading the second Chronicle of the history of Israel and Judah this morning. It is a familiar passage to those who have grown up in Sunday School. Solomon is now King and God, in a vision, tells him in chapter 1 to ask whatever he wants. As the story goes, Solomon requests wisdom to govern well, and a pleased God blesses him in every other area in addition to great understanding. Solomon then seeks to complete the task his father David has entrusted to him: to build the temple for worship of the LORD.

Now remember, God is still a Holy God expecting His people to be a holy people. The definition of holiness is being set apart. If this is true, why is it that one of the first decisions that this wise king did was to seek alignment with the King of Tyre a pagan man? Shouldn't he have gone to the people of Israel, the holy people of God to build the holy temple for the Name of the LORD? I believe that Solomon in fact did the wise thing. One, he wanted to honor God with excellence. He wanted the best for God (there is a lesson in there too, but we won't go there today).

He contracts with this pagan King and two good things happens. One, using the best skilled workers in the area, he has built a temple for the Most High that has no parallel in all history. The other, we see in chapter 2. "Then Huram, king of Tyre, answered in a letter sent to Solomon: 'Because the LORD loves His people, He has made you king over them.' Then Huram continued, 'Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has made heaven and earth,'" (vs 11-12). Huram honors the one true God. Now granted, there is no record that Huram then becomes a follower of God, but because of a respectful relationship, Solomon earns the right to be heard.

This is a lesson we would do well to heed. Peter writes of this same lesson in one of his letters. He urges the readers to keep from being influenced by the world, but not to be removed from the world. In Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17, the Messiah prays that His disciples would be in an amongst the world but protected from its influence. If we are not to be around people that believe just like us, how do we influence them?

We should not rush to get out of the world, but rather, to be Salt and Light as we have been commissioned. How can we do this if we aren't around the world? So, before you quit your secular job, before you stop doing business with those who don't care about the things of the Lord, keep in mind, you may the only godly influence in those people's lives. Perhaps, God will grant you wisdom and people will honor God as a result of your life. Hang in there.

"'You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;'" (Matt. 5:14)

Hail Caesar!

Does the name Caesar Cardini ring a bell? No? Well, I will give you a hint, he wasn't a Roman ruler nor a Mafia Don. His name may not be familiar, but I would venture to guess that most of you are familiar with what he is famous for... the Caesar Salad! Wow. Woohoo. Who cares? So, you are one question smarter in the game of Trivial Pursuit. But as I was enjoying a Caesar salad with my family and friends, I was reminded of a truth that God has been teaching me in my daily readings through the book of Kings and even in my studies in Romans.

Repeatedly, throughout both books of Kings, one of two phrases comes up in these chronicles of the lives of the kings of Israel and Judah. The beginning of the account of their life either reads, "He did evil in the eyes of the LORD..." or "did what was right in the eyes of the LORD...". Some of these life records are short, even as short as a few days, some of them are long lives filled with evil or good deeds. Later in Romans 1, in the middle of Paul's salutation, verse 8 heralds the same truth that challenges me at the core of my being. "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world." The faith of the church in Rome, was being talked about in places all over the known world. That is a real wow!! Anytime I begin thinking that I am all that, I read something like this that really humbles me. I am not sure that people in my community have heard about my faith let alone folks all across the world. And yet, that is what we are called to be- light and salt in the world.

Is the way I love my wife and kids talked about elsewhere? Is the way that I spend God's money in a godly, responsible way part of my legacy? Do people hear about how my work is glorifying to God? Peter instructs the church to live such good lives that people around us take notice and glorify God and give ear to our witness of God's work in our lives.

I may not create the latest greatest salad, but I want to live my life in such a way that people glorify God in years to come. What will you be known for?

Chasing Smoke

My oldest daughter has, for the last few weeks, been participating in a basketball league called Upwards Basketball. The whole Upwards program is geared for building kids up and teaching them to work together as a team, and to enjoy playing sports as a way to glorify God. One of the things they do for the kids is at the beginning, which is the highlight of most kids day, is they get to run through a tunnel filled with smoke as the announcer calls out their name. Within minutes though, the smoke has cleared and it's time to play the game. The kids are there to play the game, not to chase the smoke. God has been teaching me much of the same lesson. Once again, I am in a barrage of very specific messages that I am hearing from multiple places saying roughly the same thing-- stop chasing smoke.

The last couple weeks, I have been studying Ecclesiastes, and though I didn't do it intentionally, it is really complementing the book I am reading. I wonder if the author, John Ortberg, was reading Ecclesiastes while writing, When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box. The major premise of the book is our life is short, make it count for things which matter to God. Solomon says the same thing. He begins his book by saying, "'Vanity of vanities,' says the Preacher, 'Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.'" What I have learned in this reading of Ecclesiastes is that the word "vanity" is not just saying things are meaningless, but the word can be translated as "smoke" or "vapor." He is not necessarily saying that life is a waste, but rather, don't waste your life on things that blow away like smoke. Solomon goes on to explain that as he has tried everything the world has to offer, it all has one theme in common. He uses this phrase to describe life's pursuits over and over again, "striving after wind." It's all chasing smoke.

As a minister, I have participated in a large number of funerals over the last couple of decades. And after I am done, I always find myself in a state of healthy contemplation. One of our saints was promoted to the Lord's presence this week. So, once again I am thinking. Listen to how Peterson renders what Solomon says, "You learn more at a funeral than at a feast— After all, that's where we'll end up. We might discover something from it. Crying is better than laughing. It blotches the face, but it scours the heart. " (Ecc.7:2-3) Some funerals are filled with wailing and tears, especially when the young perish. Others, there is a spirit of celebration because a righteous life has finished well having invested in the lives of other people. They weren't chasing smoke. They left a spiritual legacy that will be carried on in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ortberg describes a familiar illustration in how to measure what is worth our lives with tennis balls and sand in a jar. The tennis balls are what counts: God, People, Calling, & Joy. The sand is just filler- all the other stuff we spend our time on. So, we must put the tennis balls in first, because once the jar is full of sand, the tennis balls won't fit. And once the jar is full, it's over.

That is how I want to finish. When I leave this earthen vessel, I want people to be able to say that "I am closer in my relationship to the Lord because of this man." I don't want to chase smoke. We all have the same number of hours in a day, if we spend them on things that will blow away in the wind (i.e. possessions, status, etc.), we will have wasted our lives, because it all stays here. I want to put the tennis balls in the jar first. I have to ask myself, when I give myself to something, does it REALLY matter in the grand scheme of things. There is a temptation to believe that we can always start tomorrow, but we are never promised tomorrow. So, let's do it today!

Too Big for Our Britches

There was a verse in my reading this morning that caught my eye. In Romans chapters 9-11 Paul talks about the sovereignty of God in salvation. Much of his discussion is about how God grafted in the Gentiles (non-Jews) into His chosen people. That for a time He is rejecting the Jewish people so that He may be merciful to us, all the while remembering that Israel is His covenant people. Then Paul makes a statement in chapter 11 that stood out to me. Using agricultural terms in verses 17-22, he describes how Israel, the natural olive branch, had been broken off for a time because of their disobedience and that we, the wild olive branch, are grafted in. Then , in verse 21 he says this, "For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either."

In Texas, we have a saying, "don't get too big for your britches." For you non-Texans, that means don't get too arrogant, because you can get put back in your place. I wonder if we as American Christians have gotten too big for our britches. This morning, I received another e-mail about in the influx of Muslims in America (I get several each week). And while I am concerned about the direction of our nation and its naivete of the fundamental Muslim teachings, it does not surprise me, nor should it you. A short study through the Old Testament should be a quick reminder that God frequently used the ungodly nations to discipline his people.

This reminds me of a story in the Matthew where Jesus was driving out the money changers out of the temple. For years in my immaturity, I thought that it was saying we shouldn't sell stuff at church. However, when you look up the passages Jesus quotes here, he is quoting some Old Testament passages. The first is in Isaiah 56:7. The second is Jeremiah 7:11. If you look at these passages, God is revealing His heart that ALL men were to have access to Him, and instead, these money changers were taking advantage of people prohibiting them from being able to come to Him. Have we become the new money changers? Are we preventing the lost from coming to him?

I find it interesting that those countries we were, for decades, trying to reach with the Gospel, are now sending missionaries to America to reach it with the Gospel. We who have been the senders are now being the receivers. Perhaps we are getting too big for our britches. Perhaps, God is going to, as we say in Texas, take us down a few notches. Gandhi once said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Church it is time we change some things. I believe that if we continue on the path we are on, we are asking for discipline. It must first begin with ourselves, then our families, then our churches, then our communities, and so on. As I said in a previous post, we must train ourselves in righteousness.

Live Out Loud, Pt. 5, Living Inside Out

Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12)

Verse 12 shifts to the more positive instruction. Most times in scripture you will find that when there is a command to stop doing one thing, there is often a command to start doing something else. In Paul’s writing, he describes this as getting dressed: put off and put on. Here Peter replaces what he just told them to stop doing with what they need to start doing.

Peter tells his readers to "keep their behavior excellent." If we want to live out loud so that we draw others to Christ, we must keep our behavior excellent. So what does this involve? I heard an excellent application of what this looks like in a sermon recently. You can keep your behavior excellent in 3 ways:

1. You must love others. (1 Cor. 13:1-3) A few months ago, I finally watched a full episode of ABC's "Extreme Home Make Over." And while I found myself moved by the outpouring of love for these people, I found myself asking, why can the body of Christ not be more proactive in meeting people's needs like this. Granted, we usually do not have corporate funding to do such huge projects, but we can: mow a neighbor's lawn, offer free babysitting, or anonymously meet a financial need. The possibilities are endless. We should not be out given by the world, but instead many ways we are being blown away by the world. Just keep your eyes open to the needs of other around you and watch for ways you can love them by meeting those needs.

2. You must live and speak with humility. To get the heart of this one you need to go back to verse 10. I don't know about you, but when I am around arrogant people I just want to get away from them- and I sure don't want to hear what they have to say. Perspective is always a good way to maintain a sense of humility. Remember where you were before Christ set you free and you will live and speak with humility.

3. You must learn to suffer well. 2 Tim. 3:12 tells us that we will be persecuted, Christ himself told us that in this life would have troubles. How you cope with suffering can have incredible witness to the Lord's goodness. A dear friend's son who recently, due to a softball accident, had brain surgery. Coming out of the hospital, he tells his dad, "I don't know how people face this kind of thing without Christ." When we suffer it shows the world what we really cling to. I have heard it said that when life's pressure squeezes you, what comes out? Do you become bitter or better.

The next phrase, “among the Gentiles” is vital to understand, as it points out 2 mistakes that unfortunately affect our ability to live out loud. First, too often the church lives like the world lives. We buy what the world tells us to buy, we think like the world tells us to think. We chase after the things the world tells us to chase after. So, why would the world want our gospel if we act as if it had no real impact on our lives. Second, we go to the other extreme and we isolate ourselves from the world. In John 17:15, Christ says that that is not his desire for our lives. We must continue to be in the world, but there has to be a difference in us. There is a balance to be lived between these two opposites. It must begin on the inside and work its way to the outside. Otherwise we begin to look like Pharisees that are described in the following verses: Matthew 5:16, Matthew 23:25-27.

The world tends to look at Christians in terms of what they don’t do rather than in terms of their contributions to the world. Of course I know there are many good things done in the name of Christ, but should it take a natural disaster for this to occur? This is not to say that Christians can avoid the stigma of being separatistic. Being holy means leaving behind many of the practices we once engaged in as unbelievers (see 1 Peter 4:3-4). But since we will seldom find the world eager to praise us for what we avoid, we must also be diligent to do those things which are beneficial and therefore praiseworthy.

Galatians 5:22-25 and Romans 12:1-2 gives us key insight from where our excellent behavior must originate. The end result of a life that is lived from the inside out is God's glory because when they see our excellent behavior, instead of criticizing us for being hypocrites, they will be drawn to the authentic message of the gospel being fleshed out.

Live Out Loud, Pt. 4 - Yelling on the Inside

"Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul." (1 Peter 2:11)
Here in verse 11, Peter addresses in two different ways to begin to live out loud. In verse 11, he focuses on a negative more corrective instruction. We will see tomorrow in verse 12 the positive. He shifts here in this verse from our identity to our responsibility. You can see his passion for what he is about to say in the first few words, “Beloved, I urge you,” He implores them, those of whom are the object of God’s love. He starts here, because we must begin with the fact that we are recipients of God’s love fleshed out through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That in itself should be enough, so he begins with reminding them again of God’s love. He does this 8 times in both of his letters. Then, he goes right back to remind them of who they are, “aliens and strangers” that because of God’s love they are in enemy territory. And because we are on enemy turf, we are being watched. Consider all that is going on today in the realm of immigration reform. Many of us look on with suspicion (and prejudice) on those who are aliens, whether illegally or legally. Aliens have no rights in the land where they live. Strangers are only temporary residents.

He then goes in to the first command that we see in these verses. Everything he is about to say leans on what he has just told them. His command is “to abstain.” The word literally means to “hold oneself constantly back from.” This is the verb, however, we must have an object of the verb, or in other words, “what are we to abstain from?” “fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.”

What are fleshly lusts? NIV translates the words “sinful desires,” ESV “passions of the flesh” basically they are selfish natural appetites. It is what comes natural to us. Fleshly lusts is what rushes to fill the void when God is left out. It is when we experience temptation to satisfy bodily desires in ways contrary to God's will. Fleshly lusts are human desires which stem from our depravity and seek fulfillment outside the boundaries of righteousness. They simply cannot be overcome by human effort and asceticism. They are only overcome by the power of the indwelling Spirit as we “walk in the Spirit.”

For more information of what these can include look at Galatians 5:19-21, & 1 Peter 4:3. These are the things, regardless of which ones we struggle with in particular, that will constantly wage war against us, and in that we can never become complacent. These are the things that we are drawn to when God is not at the center of our focus. This is an intentional act of the enemy. He will kick you when you are down, tempt you when you are most vulnerable. As a matter of fact, one of the most important reasons for maintaining fellowship with the body is so that when we are down, we can pick one another up. But instead, we choose to do it on our own, keep our sins secret, and not air our dirty laundry. Peter describes the enemy later in his letter as a lion who prowls around seeking on whom he can devour. (1 Pet. 5:8) When lions on the pride land hunt they seek those prey which are wounded or weak and separated from the herd. Don't be so naive to think that this doesn't happen in the spiritual realm as well.

Fleshly lusts seek to attract our affections and attention to this temporary world rather than to our true eternal “home.” Abstaining from fleshly lusts compliments our condition as aliens and strangers, who are “just passing through” this world. Are you losing this or winning this war? Living out loud happens as a result from the yelling of our character on the inside that has rejected or held oneself constantly back from.

Live Out Loud, Pt. 3- What Are We Yelling?

The second question addresses our current progress in living out loud. In verse 10, Peter draws a contrast, which has implications to us today. To the readers, he contrasts what they were, with what they are now, "for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY."

His language smacks of the adoption process. When a child is taken out of one environment and is placed into a new environment, it changes their identity altogether. If you contrasted what you were with what you are now, how much difference would there be?

According to a couple of reports, here is how we as the Body of Christ are doing in the realm of living up to the change that has supposedly taken place. In the National and International Religion Report, October 1990, p.8, Gallup Poll. This study said that one third of American adults say they have had a born again experience. The survey finds that there is little difference in the behavior of these born again Christians before and after their conversion experiences. In three major categories – use of illegal drugs, driving while intoxicated and marital infidelity – behavior actually deteriorates after a commitment to Christ. The incidence of drug use and illicit sex roughly doubles after conversion and incidence of drunk-driving triples.

A more recent Barna study (2003) said that 84% of adults claim to be Christian, three out of four say they are either absolutely or somewhat committed to Christianity, and three-fifths say they believe the Bible is totally accurate in all that it teaches and yet many of these people contend that the following behaviors are morally acceptable:

1. cohabitation (60%)

2. adultery (42%)

3. sexual relations between homosexuals (30%)

4. abortion (45%)

5. pornography (38%)

6. the use of profanity (36%)

7. gambling (61%)

8. Research shows that only 4% of adults, and just 9% of born again Christians, have a biblical worldview.

That last statistic basically says that even though we believe the Bible, we either don't know it well enough to line up their lives with it or we don't care! If what we live does not line up with what we profess to believe, there is a serious problem. This is the very heart of what James wrote about in his letter; true faith cannot be without works. A former pastor of mine expresses it like this, "While the authenticity of message of the gospel is not compromised, the credibility of the messenger is. Whether we like it or not, how people see us affects whether or not they accept the validity of the gospel." He goes on to say that if it has little impact on how we live our lives and how we treat one another, why would they [the nonbelievers] want to subject themselves to it? Of course it would be better if they evaluated the message of the Gospel based solely on the person and work of Christ, but they don’t. People take into account what they see in His followers.

Dan Kimball, a pastor and author in California, states in his book, They Like Jesus but Not the Church, that a huge number of the younger emerging generation, and non-Christians in general, have developed certain perceptions of the Church and Christians and will have nothing to do with the church because they believe the following 6 things about us:

1. the church is an organized religion with a political agenda
2. the church is judgmental and negative
3. the church is dominated by males and oppresses females
4. the church is homophobic
5. the church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
6. the church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

One of the main problems with these statements is that those who made them, most of them, according to Kimball, don’t even know any Christians. So, they form their opinions based on what they see in the media and movies. That tells me that we, as a church, have failed to engage these people. How many non-believers do you know and have relationships with? Do you treat them as targets or has people? Do you want the media speaking on your behalf? Kimball noted that the bulk of the issues that were raised had less to with message that it did attitude and heart. When we deal with issues of the heart, we deal with the area of spiritual control. Who is in control of your heart? I will discuss the necessary adjustments to make tomorrow.

Live Out Loud, Part 2- Who is Yelling?

Yesterday, my discussion was primarily focused on establishing the need to take an honest look at where our effectiveness lies as the Church in reaching the lost. The first step in Living Out Loud starts with the question, "who is yelling" or rather what is our identity? 1 Peter 2:9, "But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;" Answering this question lays the foundation on which we can build. If we are building on the identity of our jobs, family, possessions, or anything that is temporal, we lose our identity when those things blow away in the wind of life.

According to this verse, who does God say we are? In verse 9, Peter uses language that previously was used to refer to the nation of Israel, however, here, he is not talking about Jews. “Israel was a physical race of people, descendants of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.” (Thomas Constable) The church, however, is a spiritual race that has been grafted into His Holy nation (Rom. 11). Just as the nation of Israel was to be a "nation of priests who would stand between the Holy God and the rest of humanity," the church has the same task, although there are some obvious differences in function. We are to be the instrument through which the light of God is to shine on those who sit in spiritual darkness. Note the phrases he uses. We are called “a chosen race” which has to do with the identity that is given to us. Secondly, we are a “royal priesthood” which describes what we are to do with that identity in that we are the next generation of interceders for the world (2 Cor. 5:14-21). We are also “a holy nation” which describes the manner from which we are to operate- holy and set apart. Finally, "A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION" reminds us that 1. we are not our own; 2. the price that was paid for our redemption; and 3. from where we get our power to function in this role.

The remainder of the verse tells us of the ends result of all of this. The Greek word for "proclaim" could be translated "advertise." We are advertisers of how great our God is to a world that is in the dark. Our lives are walking billboards for Christ we should “radiate the ‘marvelous light’ into which God has graciously called us. What are we advertising with our lives? I will go into this tomorrow.

Live Out Loud, part 1

This past Sunday, I was privileged to be able to preach in my pastor's absence. Since I have been so focused on preparing for that, I have neglected to post anything recently. So, since I spent most of my time preparing for this sermon, I thought, I would share what I learned in my studies. I will however, break down the sermon into bite sized morsels. The sermon went long, but I feel like I said what God told me to say. My sermon text was 1 Peter 2:9-12. Here was my introduction...

Our culture today, in many ways, mirrors that of the days of Noah described in Genesis 6. I go few weeks without getting at least one email chain letter bemoaning the fall of societal values and the demise of good ole’ fashioned Americana. It is very easy to get down in the mouth and take our eyes off our Savior. However, we should not despair, because “despair is a sin. It is a sin because it denies the sovereignty of God.” The battle is not ours; it is the Lord’s. The people of this world are not our enemies, but rather His name is Satan and his followers. (Ephesians 6:12)

And yet, that is the world in which we live, and that is the world in which we have been called to reach. We can complain about how things have gone, but I believe one of the primary reasons that the world has taken such a dramatic turn into immorality is that we as the Church of Jesus Christ have failed to be Salt and Light in that lost world.

Don’t believe me? Only a few weeks, while attending the Southern Baptist Convention, we learned that we are losing ground. "According to the Annual Church Profile baptisms last year dropped from 371,850 to 364,826" in the Southern Baptist Convention. The church in general is declining the younger you go, the fewer that attend. Consider the following numbers of those reporting going to church:

52% of Builders generation (born before 1946) drops to 36% of generation X
If you are like me, I consider these numbers to be very generous.

The things that the unchurched have to say about us is mostly formulated by what they see and hear from the drive-by media. Do you want the media speaking on your behalf? However, most of these that have critical things to say about Christians and the Church have not even met someone who is a Christian. That would lead me to believe that we, as a whole, are not engaging the lost. Most of the criticisms they have have more to do with attitude and heart than with doctrine.

So, we are faced with making a decision. We can either choose to complain about how things are in comparison to how things used to be (good old days mentality); we can choose to ignore the problem and go on about our own business thinking they are lost and are gonna get what they deserve anyway (looking out for number one); or we can look intently into where we are now and where we are going, and choose to do something about it (biblical response).

The third choice may require that we make some significant changes in our thinking, our methods and our lifestyle. What are you choosing? I believe this text has much to say about how to do this.

Missional Living

This week was a long one. Jill & I spent from Sunday evening to Wednesday at the SBC Convention in San Antonio. It started Sunday afternoon with my getting sick, and still recovering to this day. It was long primarily because sitting through a 2 1/2 day Baptist business meeting is hard enough trying to keep focused, but when your head is pounding and you are battling a upper respiratory infection, the days really drag on. Nevertheless, we survived. I have little patience for this type of convention, and found myself remembering why it was that I left the Baptist church years ago. In spite of this, I find myself once again serving in a Baptist church.

This convention did have a couple of redeeming points. The most significant being an after hours session which included an 1 1/2 hour worship set of awesome contemporary music followed by a teaching session by a pastor I have been following in recent months by the name of Bob Roberts. It was a powerful and challenging time as he spoke on something he is on the leading edge of- "Missional Living." Missional living is essentially a postmodern alternative to the ecclesiology and missiology of Evangelical Christians. Is is a relatively new concept and has been a topic I have found myself studying recently. There is much debate on the topic, but guys like Roberts, Dan Kimball, and Ed Stetzer are leading the way on the more conservative evangelical side of things. In short, it is a mindset of outside the box thinking on missions and how to do church- a mindset I find myself embracing. Roberts defined missional living in this way, he stated that it is living your life in Christ in "total abandonment." Living here and now as if you were a missionary wherever God has you. He went on to say that to live missionally is to live not caring whether you live or die pursuing this kind of life. I kept waiting for a comic or sarcastic remark to soften the blow, but it never came. As I meditated further on this, my first response was, "wow, that is extreme!" However, the more I thought about it, the more I found myself accepting the validity of this statement, especially when the Spirit reminded me of a familiar passage where Paul says, "to live is Christ to die is gain..." When I looked up the passage in Philippians, it was even further driven home. Listen to the his words:

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!" -- Phil.1:20-22

It IS extreme, but true nonetheless. The conviction and shame that followed was heavier than I have experienced in a long time. I began to realize that although he was not saying that we must adopt an evangelical version of jihad, the attitude of total abandonment is a willingness to sacrifice all for the sake of Christ. It is wear the rubber meets the road. It is not the "touchy feel-ly churchianity" that I and most fo the American church has grown accustomed to. Even in the midst of my own frequent disgust with status quo religion, it was a wake up call to ask what do I really believe? I can't say that I have had this same conversation that Paul had with the Philippians, and that I have lived much of my existence trying to satisfy the desires of my flesh.

Lord, please forgive me. Your servant Jim Elliot was right, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."