Mixtape 2009

I figured that it being the last day of the year, it would be appropriate for me to give out my favorite songs of 2009. At least, I'm pretty sure most of them are songs from 2009. Either that or I discovered them in 2009. Which is good enough for me. So, in no particular order, here is my epic mixtape of the very best of my music for the year of our Lord 2009:

Future of Forestry – Hills of Indigo Blue
Matt Papa – No One Else
The Ember Days – Fortress
Gabe Dixon Band – Disappear
Mute Math – Clipping
Switchfoot – Your Love is a Song
Ingrid Michaelson – Maybe
Paramore – All I Wanted
Jars of Clay – Hero
Andy Davis – Hard to Believe
Mae – Night/Day
Owl City – Fireflies
Dave Matthews Band – Funny the Way it Is
Regina Spektor – Eet

Eternal Word, born in the flesh

Here's a side to the Christmas story that isn't often told: Those soft little hands, fashioned by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb, were made so that nails might be driven through them. Those baby feet, pink and unable to walk, would one day walk up a dusty hill to be nailed to a cross. That sweet infant's head with sparkling eyes and eager mouth was formed so that someday men might force a crown of thorns onto it. That tender body, warm and soft, wrapped in swaddling clothes, would one day be ripped open by a spear. Jesus was born to die.

John MacArthur, God With Us

Today is Christmas. Along with all the commercialism and consumer-driven celebration, with the watered-down, seeker sensitive messages of Jesus born in a manger with cute animals standing by, reigns the fulfillment of the promise of God in Emmanuel: that God is with us. The Eternal Logos has broken into our world, for the sake of our salvation, to rescue a broken and hopeless people. The power of God is shown in the weakness and innocence of a baby, born the King of kings and Lord of lords. The love of God is shown in the miracle of the Incarnation, that a member of the Holy Trinity subjected Himself to the weakness of human flesh, for the purpose of dying a shameful death. The coming of Jesus Christ into our world means the beginning of our salvation. It means that the Kingdom of God has come here among us. It means that there is hope for the hopeless, light to break into the darkness, and deliverance from our sinful states. It means that God is with us, God is with us, God is with us, forever and ever, and will NEVER leave us or forsake us. This inbreaking of the Divine into our world is the most significant event in the history of creation up to this point. Because it brings the Light of the world to us. Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, JESUS! He is here! "A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices!" REJOICE! Sing glory with the angels, for God was made flesh and made his dwelling among us. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests" (Luke 2:14).

Rejoice on this day, for it celebrates our salvation and freedom and hope and life and the very power of the Gospel that changes lives, and has changed this world forever.

O come let us adore Him!
O come let us adore Him!
O COME LET US ADORE HIM!
CHRIST THE LORD!!

Amen, glory to God forever.

Lord Christ, Master of Death

"If, then, it is by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ that death is trampled underfoot, it is clear that it is Christ Himself and none other Who is the Arch-victor over death and has robbed it of its power. Death used to be strong and terrible, but now, since the sojourn of the Saviour and the death and resurrection of His body, it is despised; and obviously it is by the very Christ Who mounted on the cross that it has been destroyed and vanquished finally. When the sun rises after the night and the whole world is lit up by it, nobody doubts that it is the sun which has thus shed its light everywhere and driven away the dark. Equally clear is it, since this utter scorning and trampling down of death has ensued upon the Saviour's manifestation in the body and His death on the cross, that it is He Himself Who brought death to nought and daily raises monuments to his victory in His own disciples."

St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 5.29

My grandma just died last week, so death has been on my mind a lot recently. At the same time, I've been trying to read through this book by Athanasius as an Advent devotional. There are so many good chunks of this book I could quote here, but I especially like this one, mainly because of that last sentence, in that Christ, the Victor over death, "daily raises monuments to his victory in His own disciples." Athanasius goes on to talk about martyrdom and the men and women of Christ who so despised death that they went to face it head on without fear. Death used to be something to fear, something "strong and terrible," but now through the victory won by Christ's resurrection, it has been subjected to scorn and ridicule and has been made impotent. Instead of feared, it is despised. Death is still the enemy, but no longer an enemy that has power over us. And that power over death is displayed in Christ's disciples as a testament and a living monument to His victory. Our lives can be ruled by fear of death or power over death. Let's choose to live in that power, living in glory, celebrating with all the saints as we sing out the truth, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" (1 Cor. 15:55) Praise Jesus!

The Gossip Guard

A New Family

I want to explore the depths of what it means to be a brother in Christ. I want to know the potential for the reality of the relationship between brother and brother, sister and sister, and brother and sister in Christ.

I've been realizing recently just how important these relationships are in the Kingdom of God. In the Old Testament, the blood family was the primary social and spiritual unit. It was through Abraham that his descendants, the people of Israel, received God's blessing. It was this family identity (Israel, tribe, and clan) that was foundational to the religious identity of the people of Israel. In the New Testament, Jesus brings the Kingdom of God to us, and with that a new paradigm of religious identity. Spiritual blessing and identity is no longer through the blood family, but rather by belonging to a new family--the body of Christ. This was exemplified by Jesus when his mother and brothers came to talk to him, but couldn't get near him because of the crowd. When someone told him that his mother and brothers were waiting outside for him, Jesus said, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice" (Luke 8:19-21, also Matthew 12:46-50, and Mark 3:31-35). Jesus no longer defined "family" by blood relation, but by Spirit-relation. Or at the least, one had taken priority over the other. The family of Christ is one that is united by the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, and is bound together by the workings of the Holy Spirit. Jesus showed us that this is a bond that goes much deeper than that of a physical family. We are no longer united by our own blood, but rather by the blood of God Himself.

Why don't we take advantage of this relation? Why do we fail to see its potential? We often feel awkward sharing our lives and passions and pains and struggles and joys to the degree of intimacy that this family allows for, or maybe even expects of us. We are afraid to be vulnerable with each other. Often we look to our brothers and sisters to "keep us accountable" (a term i dislike), and leave it at that. Helping each other to steer from sin and live righteous lives is definitely a part of living in this family, but it's so much more than that! We are brought together in order to share in each others' lives in a real way, to REJOICE together, to PRAISE together, to PRAY together, to LOVE together, to CRY together, to LAUGH together, to MOURN together, to WORSHIP the God of our mutual salvation together and to WORK together for His Kingdom and GLORIFY Him together forever! There is no awkwardness in the Kingdom of God! With the freedom we have in Christ, nothing has the power to keep us from sharing in each others' lives completely.

It's easy for us to pick up on this togethering thing and agree with it on the grand scale, but how does it affect our individual relationships? How can we practice doing life together and honoring God together in our one-on-one's? It starts with just investing in each others' lives, pouring ourselves out for the sake of others, putting their needs above our own, and loving each other in mutual submission. And it starts with prayer. We need to be praying more as a body and family of believers. We need to be praying for, with, and over each other all the time. Prayer unites us, and works to change us. When we submit our relationships first to God, it brings us closer together. Have you ever had the experience of feeling really close to someone after praying for them, even if you didn't know them that well in the first place? Praying together is the process of communing with God by the same Spirit that unites us together as believers.

What's tough for me is the relationship between me as a brother and my sisters. Especially for me, as an intentionally single guy, to try and explore the potential of the Spirit-bond between myself and a single sister can be tricky. I feel like our culture is so dating-relationship focused that attempts at intimacy in the Spirit between a brother and sister can be misinterpreted on either side as something with a more romantic interest. So what's the answer to that? Do we safeguard ourselves and not attempt to be a invest all of ourselves in a brother or sister, holding back in order to protect ourselves? I think, to an extent, at least for me, this can be necessary, but overall, i think we need mutual understanding and minds and hearts that are transformed by the Spirit, desiring to seek God and honor Him above all else, and willing to pour out ourselves into the lives of our brothers and sisters.

But the main point is, we need to take more seriously the responsibility we have as brothers and sisters. We need to take advantage of this relationship, and the incredible potential for communion with others and God. Stronger than any blood bond, stronger than any experiential bond, stronger than any dating bond, is the bond of salvation in which we are washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ and have been brought into His Kingdom to share in this community of faith that glorifies Him forever! We all share this most incredible gift, and not of ourselves, but only by the grace of God. It is by this grace that we have been saved and have been brought into this community of faith--this family of Christ.

This journey is not meant to be traveled alone. The more i learn and grow, the more i'm convinced that community is one of the most important things in all of our faith. Let's put it into action. Let's pray for each other. Let's share what God is doing in our lives. Let's be vulnerable with each other. Let's truly worship together. Let's glorify God through the bond of this new family.

Reformation Day

Today, All Hallow's Eve, also doubles as Reformation Day, the 492nd commemoration of the somewhat historical event of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of a church at Wittenburg. I'm not sure how i feel about celebrating such a day. The Reformation, for being a movement with the purpose of restoring the Church, ripped it completely apart. Since then, the Church has been split down the middle, and into hundreds of separate denominations and ideologies. I really, really love the Church, feeling it an under-emphasized (or neglected) aspect of Christian teachings and theology, and i feel called to serve her. So, do i commemorate this day? Probably not. But, nonetheless, it is a significant moment in the history of the Church

Jared over at The Gospel-Driven Church, is commemorating Reformation Day by making his own 95 theses for the American Church today. I really like his blog, and recommend checking it out. The 95 theses are split into five parts:

Part One: discipleship
Part Two: community
Part Three: the Church
Part Four: the pastorate
Part Five: purpose

One of my favorite quotes is by none other than St. Augustine, who said "The Church is a whore, but she's my mother." Even though the Church of Jesus Christ is broken and wounded with divided loyalties, we are still called to love and honor and serve her. Amen.

A Theology of Swearing

Words are only symbols for the meaning that we attribute to it, and they only carry the meaning that we give to them. Language is kind of random like that. It's why, in the 90s, teenagers could get away with using the word "bad" to refer to something something good, or "wicked" as something super cool. I can make up any word and give it any meaning i want (this is actually kind of fun, if you get a good word and it catches on with friends).

And we get so worked up over the little things like words someone once defined as "swear words," and don't bother worrying about the meaning (or lack of meaning) we attached to the rest of our vocabulary. Which is a worse sin, if i say the word "fuck," or if i say "Jesus is Lord" without really meaning it? Our words either don't carry any weight at all, or we've given too much weight to the wrong ones.

Stop worrying so much about swearing. It has no meaning except for what you give it, and it has no power unless you choose to submit to it. Worry instead about the words you say, and be deliberate in your speaking. When we lack meaning in our words, we can deceive ourselves and others, and it leads to a life of hypocrisy where we say one thing and do another. Be deliberate in all that you do, but i think a great place to begin this is with the words that we say. Maybe it starts with not saying anything at all.


*Disclaimer: Unless it's funny or circumstantially called for, i think swearing is really stupid as well. In light of 1 Corinthians 10, in which Paul advises that "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial," and talks about working to not offend brothers even if your conscience is clear, i do not regularly swear, because many Christians do take offense to it and see it as a sin. But what really gets me is when those who do take offense get so worked up about such a tiny sin, and that was the point of this post.

Reclaiming Christians for Christ

There's a fundamental difference between serving the world and your own desires in a Christian manner, and serving Christ in a way that leaves no room for anything else and reaches out to the world from that foundation. This is a distinction that i think many American Christians do not get, nor do they want to get. Because it's a reality that is not easy to swallow. It may be a subtle distinction in our own eyes, but it is one that goes to the very core of who we are.

I'm realizing more and more just how clever we Christians are at deceiving the world and ourselves. We are very capable of looking and acting like we're serving Christ, when in fact we can be submitting to the world's demands on our life, adding in the pursuit of our own desires. We have been so twisted up and turned around that the world's demands become our desires, and we don't realize the difference. It's easy to say that the world is bad, especially when we see on the news reports of disease, war, greedy CEOs, starvation, rape, murder, etc.--you know, the big stuff that is obviously the result of sin in the world. But we miss out on the little things--the more dangerous things--because we don't realize how great an influence the world has on our lives.

I'll give an example, on that has been frustrating to me recently. (By the way, i'm just as guilty as anyone of all this, so i can't point the finger without four pointing back at me (cheesy, but i like that image. It works.)) Last week on our campus, we had a Living Single for the LORD emphasis week. Some monks, with whom i got to go up and live last January, came and talked about this Biblical alternative that is given to us in order to more fully devote ourselves to Christ and the ministry He has given us. Being a typical Christian campus, i think the majority of the students shut it out after the first message, and were frustrated that these guys were telling us that we couldn't get married if we wanted to be good Christians, and saying things along the likes of, "I just don't feel that that calling is for me, and I'm really looking forward to getting married, and GOSH DARN IT, I WANT TO HAVE SEX!"* I would argue that the people who reacted this way, although completely allowed to do so, have completely missed the point. If we are to be followers of Christ, true disciples, we have to be willing to put Him first, ahead of all things, which means that we have to be willing to give up all other things if He were to ask us, including marriage and sex.

That's one example, but this applies in so many areas of life. How we act and what we say are so often determined by an analytical look at what is socially acceptable in the world's eyes, how we pray with each other is done in a way that avoids awkwardness, and how we live in community is done in a way that is comfortable and encouraging for us, but doesn't leave us too vulnerable. All these things make us slaves to the world's standards.

We have become worldly Christians, rather than Christians in this world.

We have been set apart (read: made holy) to have a new identity, separate from the world, and to have a new purpose, a new mission, and a new Master of our lives. This does not mean we withdraw from the world, but we invade it, secure in our identity as the Church of Jesus Christ our Lord and Master, unwilling to yield to any other lord or submit to any other way of life that might tempt us. We are foreigners in this land, and we do not belong to it. We must submit our lives only to the Authority and Lordship of Jesus Christ. Nothing else must have our devotion. Nothing else is worthy of our devotion. This world is passing away, and so we grab on to and commit ourselves to the only Eternal One who will serve as the foundation of all that we are and will be.

Our Enemy is very good at making us like accidental traitors in this war. People that in reality serve the world when they think they are serving Christ. People that claim to be "sold out" for Christ when they have no notion of what that term means. People that proudly do their own thing and call it Christian while ignoring the call that God has placed on their lives. People that serve the world's purposes, disguising them as "Christian."

Looking back at what i've just written, it is harsher than i set out to make it. But i'm not convinced it was unnecessary. I am convinced though that we need more table-tossing and whip-cracking in our Christian communities. Those that fit the profile that i've gone through include my brothers and sisters in Christ, and i the chief among them. I want to see, in myself and in the community i live in, a renewed devotion to our Lord Jesus. I want to see a renewed passion for the Gospel. I want to see purpose and intention in following Jesus. I want to see the Holy Spirit ruling and directing our lives. I want to see Christians reclaimed for Christ.



*Not a real quote.
As a quick aside, we Christians are probably the horniest people on earth. We just repress it to the point where it manifests itself in other ways, like getting married way too young and then adding to the highest divorce rate of any faith group.

Intentionality

I don't know if intentionality is a real word. But i'm using it. Because it fits. And i can.

I am currently called by the Lord my God to live single. I have felt this calling on my life ever since just over a year ago, at the beginning of my junior year of college. You can read more about that decision if you want here and here. It was at a time when i really felt the Lord calling me to a deeper walk of discipleship with Him, to devote my life more fully and completely to His purposes. I read 1 Corinthians 7, the famous passage where Paul talks about living celibate for the sake of Christ. He talks about how if one is called to live single, then they can devote more of themselves to the Lord's service and to ministry, without having their interests divided between a family and ministry, and i thought Yes! This is great! This is what i want to do! Serve God fully! And when i committed myself to not pursuing dating in order to try and discern God's call on my life, it was fantastic. My relationships with female friends grew immensely, and this time with pure motives on my part, and i just had a better outlook on life.

A year later, and i'm struggling. At the end of this past summer, i decided that i needed to renew my commitment for another year, because i had been slacking off. And so far this semester, it has been one large struggle to maintain a pure heart and mind in intentionally being single. My old thoughts and habits have begun to return to me. Doubt crept in. Did i rush into renewing this commitment? Am i just supposed to get married and stop trying so hard, when all i do is fail?

This week is a spiritual emphasis week here on our campus, about Living Single for the Lord. It is being put on by the same monastic community that i visited last J-term, and i learned an immeasurable amount about living single from them. Through having them here, God has reminded me why He called me to this in the first place--for the sake of ministry. I haven't been called to live single for this time in my life just for kicks and giggles. I've been called for a purpose. I have been called out so that my life can be more fully devoted to the Lord's service. This is what i'd forgotten. This is what i'd been missing, and why i'd been struggling. I was missing the intention behind the action.

As Christians, we are all called for the purpose of sharing and spreading the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the world, investing ourselves in the Kingdom of God and showing the love and light of Christ to all those around us. We can do that whether we're dating, married, widowed, or single. It's just a matter of serving this purpose the best you can in whatever situation you are in. But those who have been specifically set aside for singleness have the purpose of being single-mindedly devoted to this work. I've been missing out on the intentionality and the purpose of what i've been called to. My heart has not been focused and devoted to the Lord throughout this discernment process, which makes the whole process kind of pointless.

We are all called to live with intention. We are all called to one purpose. We are called to live deliberately serving the Kingdom, not just by accident or just when we feel like it. But all the time, on purpose, for a purpose. Some are called in different ways than others. But our purpose remains the same, all glory to God.

My First Philosophical Musing

Going through my philosophy notes in preparation for my midterm tomorrow, i came across something we did the very first day of class. We were asked to distinguish between facts and values. Nothing ever really came of this (i think it was just intended to make us start thinking philosophically), but i rather liked the definition i came up with:

Facts are knowledge about reality.
Values are the reality of our worldview.

Interesting to think about. Back to studying for me.

Of Foundations and Blessings

Last week was a week of incredible learning for me. It was a week of incredible shame and growth (i hope). It was a week where part of my foundation was revealed, and it was not what i thought it would be. Which was at the same time scary and wonderful.

It started last weekend when i went to go visit my good friend Austin in Columbus. On the way there, just outside of Columbus, i got into a tiny car wreck, in which i rear-ended someone, who rear-ended someone else at a stop light. Everyone was fine, and insurance is taking care of the damage, but as it was my fault, i got a citation for it. Fortunately, the officer there told me he could have held me in custody until i could pay the ticket, since i was an out-of-towner, but he was gracious with me and didn't. Now typically, a $130 traffic citation isn't that big of a deal, you just pay it and you don't have to show up for your court date and all is well. But this happened to come at a time when i was completely broke.

I had about $15 to my name. And my family is just about as broke as i am, with both parents, for all intents and purposes, out of work--so they couldn't help me. And then it happened that money i thought i had coming to me pretty soon, wasn't. I thought i would be getting my scholarship check from the church i interned at this past summer any day now, but when i emailed my pastor, he said that they were having trouble rounding up the money, and they might have to split up the checks, but they would definitely get it all to me by the end of the year, 2009. When i read those words, my heart, and my hope, started to sink. I had no options. Suddenly a small ticket turns into a big deal if you have no way to pay for it, and you know that they will come and arrest you if you don't pay in time.

This all started to come crashing down on me on Tuesday of last week. This is when i started to realize that i had no options, i was broke, and this might end with me getting arrested. I started to panic. I'd never been in a situation like this before. I didn't know what to do. I cried multiple times that day, and was praying about it all day, crying out to God because it felt like i was cornered in the ring and about to go down. Cornered, helpless, and panicking--these weren't feelings i was used to.

And all the time, i was thinking to myself, Why am i getting so worked up about all this? I knew that Christ was my source of hope and life and that i was never helpless with Him on my side. I knew that. I knew that verse that said how beautiful and well taken care of the birds and the flowers are, and since i am so much more important than them, why should i worry? I knew that God was always with me, would never leave me nor forsake me. So why was i acting like this?

It occurred to me then, in the midst of all this stress, that maybe the Lord was trying to show me something about myself. My foundation has not been built solely on Him or the authority of His Word. A big part of my foundation has always been my comfort. My security. I've never been rich or well off or wanted to live with high standards, but i've always had money available to me if i needed it. There is a great security in that. There is a great security in knowing that, even if i don't have much money, still i have enough. I've never been attached to money or been materialistic or greedy, and was always fine with living simply, but just knowing that it was there was enough for me.

This struck me like a bag of bricks. My foundation has been built on something other than Christ.

This is sin. This is idolatry. And i've allowed it to become a foundational part of who i am. This is a big deal. And i think that shook me up more than anything. But at the same time, i was so grateful. Grateful that this was happening now, and that this sin was being revealed now. I posted on my facebook status something to the effect of "sometimes the house has to be shaken in order for the foundation to be revealed." And my friend Brian replied, "I'd rather be shaken sooner than later - to reveal any weakness before things get built too high!" So true. God chose through this extremely stressful occasion to reveal to me the quality and make-up of my foundation at this time in my life, before i continued to build and build on top of it until it would cause irreparable damage. The truth of Matthew 6:24 really hit me here:

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Since last Tuesday, God has blessed me abundantly. Whether through the generosity of friends or mentors, or from earning money where i didn't expect to, the Lord has provided me with much more than i needed. Last Wednesday, i had lunch with my campus pastor, and told him how stressed i had been because of this situation, and he stopped and pulled out his wallet, handing me $130 right there. I was flabbergasted (always a fun word to use) at this, until he reminded me that, we always seem so astounded when things like this happen, but we forget that this is what the Body of Christ is for--to support each other and be there for each other in need. Last week i was definitely blessed by the Body of Christ, receiving much more than i needed. And just today, i checked my campus mail and in it was my check from Good Shepherd, in full, and it was actually more than i was expecting.

God is so good, and so faithful to provide for His children when they are in need. Sometimes we need to be shaken in order for our weaknesses to be revealed. Sometimes we need to trust in a power beyond our own. And another lesson i've learned from this is that we are only blessed so that we can bless others. Money is only a blessing if you use it for the glory of God. I pray that God has received the glory due to Him through my situation, through the money that i have received, if only so that we can praise Him for His goodness to us. But also, i pray that He is glorified by showing me how i can bless others through what i have received. I submit this story to you, not to prove that God will always provide you with money if you need it, or to say that my life is so much better now that i have money. But i pray that together we can praise God for being a God of provision, being a God of faithfulness, and being a God of hard truths. I give this story for His Kingdom's sake, praying that God will be praised and the Body of Christ will be built up in the Spirit, learning to give and receive with the intentional love and support of Christ. You and i are blessed only in order to bless others.

Claiming our Anointing

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed (Greek crio) me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
-Luke 4:18-19

According to Luke, this prophecy was spoken and claimed by Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. Here, Jesus is claiming to be the one spoken about in the prophecy, the Lord's anointed one. Christ is the Greek word for "Anointed One." Jesus is claiming to be the Christ, to be God himself, and declares his foretold mission on earth. To preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor, to proclaim freedom for prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and proclaim the Year of Jubilee (the year of the Lord's favor), in which all debts are canceled, land is restored, and slaves are set free. This incredible claim of Jesus is one of my favorite passages in the gospels because of the boldness and radical nature of such a claim.

Even more radical though, is that this anointing continues to be claimed. We, as Christians, bear the name of Christ, the anointed one.

We are the anointed ones.

We have been anointed by God himself to go and preach the Gospel, to bring freedom for prisoners, to heal the blind, and join in with the counter-cultural paradigm of the Kingdom of God that turns the values of the world on their head. We have been given the Spirit of the Lord. We have been given the gift of His anointing. Everything that Jesus did, we are called and empowered to do. You, as an anointed one of the Lord, have been given power to preach the Gospel, which is good news to a world starving for meaning.

Claim this anointing that is upon you. It's not a physical, material anointing, but a spiritual one, one that goes much deeper than the surface, down to our very core and purpose. Claim the power of the Spirit within you. Preach the Gospel. Free those bound by whatever it is that holds them prisoner. Bring sight to those who cannot see. Live radically, in the light of the Kingdom. You Christian, claim that name that you have the privilege of bearing. Claim the anointing of the Spirit, and the power to change the world.

Love through Community

I am going to tell a story, one that happened to me, not to toot my own horn, but to glorify God because of how He works and to demonstrate a larger point.

The other day i was in the midst of my prayer time and randomly a friend of mine popped into my head, and the feeling that i should pray for them. I did, as well as i knew how, but then afterward emailed that friend to see if there was anything that i could be praying for them about. The friend emailed me back the next day and said, yes, actually there was some crap going on in their life, below the surface, that really needed prayer. The friend remarked how incredible God was, because in the past few days, no fewer than 5 people had come to them, saying that the Lord had put them on their heart or asking if they needed prayer.

Now, this isn't an incredible, rock-your-world kind of story, but to me, this was a Kingdom story. This was a story about how God works through the Body of Christ to show His love and His strength in my friend's life. This was a story about how, through several, God gave grace to one. And this just caused me to praise God for His faithfulness and His goodness and His love.

God is glorified when we submit to be used by Him. This is the cycle of glory--all for God's glory, for the sake of His people. One is encouraged or comforted, and the rest praise God for His work in that person's life. The Community of Christ exists for God's glory--to showcase His power and His love in our lives. We are all ministers of God's grace, not only to the world at large, but to each other. If YOU are a member of this community, then your purpose is to be a vessel of God's grace to EVERYONE, for the sake of God's glory and His Kingdom. How can God be working through YOU? WHO is God trying to reach through you?

You have a purpose. You have a mission. You are here to show your brothers and sisters, and to show the world, that God's love is strong, stronger than any chains that might be binding them, stronger than any walls that they may have built up between them and God, stronger than the power of sin and death in their lives. God's love is strong, and YOU have the strength of that love within you, waiting to be unleashed to the world. YOU are a vessel of the LORD Almighty, and of His love. You are a minister of His grace.

And you are a member of this divine community. Take advantage of it. Use it for the glory of God. When you are going through crap in your life, tell your brothers and sisters and ask them to pray for you. And when you witness a Kingdom moment, share it with brothers and sisters so that you can all praise God together. Build each other up, hold each other accountable, worship together--all of this is for the glory of God.

Don't waste time. Don't waste your life. Start fulfilling your purpose NOW. God wants to use you. Yes, you. He wants to show His love through you. Will you submit to Him, or keep giving in to the myth that your purpose is greater than His purpose?

Attacking the Church from Within

"Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."
--Galatians 5:3-6

I feel like this passage still rings true today for many of us in the Church. But instead of the Law, or circumcision, the way many seek righteousness and salvation is through right doctrine. There are many who are beyond certain that their set of doctrines and beliefs is THE only way, the perfect way, and the only doctrines/denominations/type of preaching that Jesus would approve of. They point the finger at everyone else, crying "HERETIC!" or "FALSE TEACHER!" because the spreading of proper and true doctrine is the most important thing. These people decry teachers like Rob Bell, Richard Foster, Brian McClaren, and those "post-modern liberals", and the "egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church--morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC)" (<--quote taken from Apprising Ministries website: www.apprising.org), all because they see these people as tarnishing Christianity and teaching false doctrines and perverting Scripture. I feel like these people have completely missed the point of faith. They are the new Judaizers of Christianity, who try to push their righteous agenda on those who are encouraged by the writings of the New Testament to cling to such things as faith, hope, and love. I mean, the phrase "egregiously ecumenical" doesn't even make sense to me. When did ecumenism become a bad thing? I think the ecumenical movement is one of the best things to happen to the Church in recent history. Many of these reformed believers think that the Reformation was the greatest thing to happen to the Church since Pentecost. IT WASN'T. Indeed, reforming definitely needed to take place within the Church at that time, but the Reformation RIPPED GOD'S HOLY CHURCH IN HALF!

I realize the irony in my rantings, that i am pointing the finger at them for being wrong for pointing their fingers. But i have felt for the past several years that one specific focus of my calling from God is toward Christian unity. I feel so strongly within me that Christ died for His Church and desires to see His Church working together and worshiping Him in unity (see John 17). So when i see these blatant attacks against the Church, sowing seeds of division and hatred, rather than peace and love--it hurts. I love the Church. I love working for Her, i love serving Her, and i want so badly for Her to be united. St. Augustine said, "The Church is a whore, but she's my mother." How can a broken Church serve a broken world?

I'll be honest, most of my frustrations stem from one guy that i'm facebook friends with (but don't really know that well in real life), who all the time posts articles and YouTube videos with attacks like these. I have never responded to one of these linkings, even though i'm always tempted to, because i know that what i respond with won't be nice. But sometimes with all the crap that's posted, i'm at a loss for how to respond. If i'm formulating a response in my mind, i'll come across some other article that answers my point with some close-minded attack. I've seen articles that denounce certain Christians for exalting "love" and "unity" over preaching right doctrine. I just read an article on apprising.org entitled "Turning God's Grace into an Idol," with the tagline saying "Grace Does Not Relieve The Christian From Their Duty To Contend For Proper Doctrine." This is disgusting to me. I am at a loss for how to respond to this. Or should i even bother? Any of these believers is obviously not going to really hear anything i, a blatant heretic and false teacher, would have to say. I do believe that these people are still my brothers and sisters, and that i should love them as such. But that is not going to be an easy task. But no one ever said that love would be easy.

Endurance

I preached this weekend at Good Shepherd. Four services total: Saturday evening's and 3 on Sunday morning. Phew. It went really well i think, and i think that the Lord definitely was able to speak through me, which is what counts, right? That being said, i am pooped. Doing four services like that is draining. I don't know how pastors do it every week. I came home and immediately took a 2 1/2 hour nap, which was wonderful.

In addition to being physically exhausting, it was also spiritually exhausting. I come off big things like this and just feel like i've got little juice left in me to be strong in faith. Right away, as i let my spiritual guard down, i am hit with temptations and just a general lack of motivation to do what i need to do to continue being an active servant of the Lord.

And it's then that i'm reminded of exactly what i preached on this morning. Faith, following Christ, being a Christian, etc., has to go deeper than just when we feel like it. What's required is a commitment, a commitment that stands the test of trials, temptations, exhaustions, and apathy. To really follow and serve and know and love the Lord is to continue to follow and serve and know and love Him when you don't feel like it. The easy times are just that--easy. They don't really do much for our growth. Romans 5:3-5 says, "...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Not to say that i've experienced suffering though this--i haven't. But i'm beginning to see the value of real endurance in faith. This race we run is not a sprint. It's a marathon. And this Hope, this Love planted in me is the blood that pumps through my veins and the oxygen that goes to my muscles to keep them going. It is my means and my end. Jesus--He is my means and my end. It all comes back to Him, every time, doesn't it? I guess He's pretty important.

So "let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (Heb. 12:1-3). Amen.




P.S. - Pray for your pastors, they need it!

P.P.S. - If you want to check out the sermon i preached, a rough draft of it can be found here, and you can listen to the recording here.