12I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. Ecclesiastes 3: 12-13
6Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 1 Timothy 6
22But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
James 1: 19-27
As we were looking at these verses last night I was thinking about three contrasts presented:
Doer :: Hearer
Blessed :: Deceived
Perseveres :: Forgets
A good systematic theology is the foundation upon which we build our lives. It is to our walk with God what our skeleton is to our body. It holds us together and keeps us in the right form. But right doctrine is never an end in itself. True doctrine governs our relationship with God and man. Many Christians have a relationship with God that is only theological, not personal. Those accustomed to the word of righteousness should be sensitive to the personal leading of the Holy Spirit.
Solomon started with a love for God. He "became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And all the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart" (1 Kings 10:23, 24). He had the ability to discern, but moral demise led to his downfall. His wives turned his heart away, and he was no longer accustomed to the words of righteousness. His heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord, and the kingdom of God was torn in two.
I'm not sure my senses would have been trained if God hadn't called me into the ministry of setting captives free. If we are going to minister in a world of deception, we had better learn to rely on God and not lean on our own understanding. We need more than intellectual discernment; we need spiritual discernment. All spiritual discernment is on the plane of good and evil. Because the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit, we should be able to sense when something is right or wrong.
The Holy Spirit is our first line of defense. Our personal relationship with God is made possible by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who does not silently sit by in the face of danger, but prompts us to choose what is true and right.
Thank You, Lord, for the protection of Your indwelling Holy Spirit. Forgive me for the times I have failed to discern good from evil because I ignored or overlooked Your guidance.
The biggest defining moment in my life was when I saw Trevor Huddleston and I was maybe nine or so.I didn't know it was Trevor Huddleston, but I saw this tall, white priest in a black cassock doff his hat to my mother who was a domestic worker.
I didn't know then that it would have affected me so much, but it was something that was really - it blew your mind that a white man would doff his hat.
And subsequently I discovered, of course, that this was quite consistent with his theology that every person is of significance, of infinite value, because they are created in the image of God.
And the passion with which he opposed apartheid and any other injustice is something that I sought then to emulate.
The first thing that comes to mind is frenetic western-culture busyness.
I read a book on stress a few years back, and the author made a side comment that I thought was so insightful. He said that the highest value of materialistic western culture is not possessing. It's actually acquiring.
If you're a go-getter you never stop. And so the guy who is lavishly successful doesn't quit, because there are greater levels of success. "My house could be bigger, I could drive better cars, I could have more power, I could have more money."
And so we've bought an unbiblical definition of the good life of success. Our kids have to be skilled at three sports and play four musical instruments, and our house has to be lavish by whatever standard. And all of that stuff is eating time, eating energy, eating money. And it doesn't promote community.
I think often that even the programs of a local church are too sectored and too busy. As if we're trying to program godliness. And so the family is actually never together because they're all in demographic groupings. Where do we have time where we are pursuing relationships with one another, living with one another, praying with one another, talking with one another?
I've talked to a lot of families who literally think it's a victory to have 3 or 4 meals all together with one another in a week, because they're so busy. Well, if in that family unit they're not experiencing community, there's no hope of them experiencing it outside of that family unit.
We have families that will show up at our church on Sunday morning with the boys dressed in their little league outfits, and I know what's going to happen. They're going to leave the service early. Now what a value message to that little boy! Do I think little league is bad? I don't think it's bad at all. I think it's great. But they're telling him what's important as they do that.
You can't fit God's dream (if I can use that language) for his church inside of the American dream and have it work. It's a radically different lifestyle. It just won't squeeze into the available spaces of the time and energy that's left over.
And I'm as much seduced by that as anybody. We have sold our four-bedroom house because our kids are gone, and we've bought a loft in Chinatown, Philadelphia. And we're amazed at how simple our life has become. We're grieving over how we let our life get so complicated.
Last year, for example, I put almost $2,500 worth of gas in my car. This year, I've put $159 in the first quarter. It's because we're walking places, and that slows our life down, and we're near the people in our church because we're within walking distance of the church. And we've had so many natural encounters with people because of that.
We're living in a much smaller place. We got rid of most of our stuff. As we went through it, we laughed about how we just collected stuff. All that stuff has to be maintained. It grabs your heart, it grabs your schedule, it grabs your time. It becomes a source of worry and concern and need to pay.
So we've just been confronted with how all of those things that aren't evil in themselves become the complications of life that keep us away from the kind of community that we need in order to hold on to our identity.
Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
Colossians 3: 12-17 (The Message)
When I was 14 years old my family moved off the farm in Minnesota where I was born. But I never adjusted to our new home in Arizona. When I was only 15 my parents let me take a bus back to Minnesota to work on the farm for the summer. The following summer I drove an old car back to Minnesota by myself. The family I stayed with asked if I would like to live with them and finish high school in Minnesota. To my great joy my parents said it was okay.
What impact did my parents' trust have on me? I never wanted to do anything to lose their trust. Their trust in me was a great driving force in my life and the greatest gift they ever gave me. Next to the Holy Spirit in me, that trust has been the greatest deterrent to immorality. Even years later when I was in the military and thousands of miles from home, I didn't want to lose their trust.
When you effectively communicate your love, trust and respect to your children, they will learn to value these qualities so much that they will never intentionally do anything to lose them. Then when they are introduced to Christ, they will also value His love, trust and respect. "But my child isn't trustworthy," you say. Neither are you completely trustworthy. Yet God has entrusted you with the gospel. That gives you something to live up to. What can you possibly gain by communicating anything less than your trust in your child?
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: "I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you" (2 Corinthians 7:16). But Corinth was a messed up place. Is Paul's statement a bunch of psychological hype? No, I don't think so. Paul's confidence was in the Lord, and he knew that the work God had begun in the Corinthian believers would be completed. Under the inspiration of God, he also knew that expressing belief and confidence in them was foundational for building them up.
Thank You, Lord, for the love and trust You have expressed to me which frees me to love and obey You. Help me encourage my children by communicating my love, trust and respect to them.
Upstream Collective: Ministry in Rome from Ed Stetzer on Vimeo.
Jesus isn't hanging on a cross. Jesus is seated on a throne.
Just thought I'd share a thought from yesterday's message titled God is Incomparable. If I were to ask you to think of Jesus, what image comes to mind? I have a couple images that immediately pop into my mind. One is a painting of Jesus with a lamb draped around His neck. Another is a painting of Revelation 3:20 with Jesus standing outside a door poised to knock. Those images come to mind because my grandparents had them hanging in their home when I was a young child.
For most people, I'm guessing the dominant image is Jesus hanging on a cross. And there is no question that the cross is the crux of our faith. That is where the love of God was painted in blood red. And it is a sacred image. But having said that let me say this. Jesus isn't hanging on a cross. Jesus is seated on a throne. And one of the reasons we walk in weakness is because we cannot imagine the authority of Christ and the authority that is ours in Christ. We cannot imagine because we don't have a mental image. I think Ephesians 1 is the solution to that problem. Paul paints an amazing portrait of Jesus on the throne.
He is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.
Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
James 1: 19-27 (The Message)
So, the life of mission is an adventure and this teaching series that ends tried to paint a holistic portrait of what that looks like. We used these diagrams [note: see post link above for diagrams] below in the series.
We start with Jesus as He is the head of the church and the reason we are in existence and on mission.
Then we are Worshipers of God foremost. Worship will continue for all eternity. But we worship in Community - we are not meant to be in isolation. However, if we are only remain worshipers in community, we can slowly become inward focused singing-happy-shiny people who exist in our own Christian world. We may escape the happy-shiny-world to go do a service project every so often, but we run back into our happy-shiny worshiping community world.
That is why a worshiping community needs to be in the world on Mission as a lifestyle. But if we are on worshipers on mission who don't have Community nor are growing Theologically - then we can be missionally passionate, but burn out since we have no community to support us or we can be shallow if we aren't growing in Scripture. Another off-balance approach would be if we are in Community and Theologians - but we aren't in the world on mission and in the lives of people. So then we stay inward focused and over time we can become mean Bible-heads.
Now being a Bible-head is a really good thing as we need to saturate our minds with Scripture - so our hearts melt in worship to God and in love for people as Jesus said were the two greatest commands. I absolutely love apologetics too and my largest section of my bookshelf is books on apologetics by great and insightful apologetics writers. But if we only hang with each other that isn't the point of apologetics. And if we only hang out with each other, we slowly can become Christians with a lot of head knowledge but we don't have much love for people. Some of the meanest Christians I have ever met ironically were ones who knew the Bible really well. So knowing the Bible is not about simply gaining knowledge but for transforming our hearts to be worshipers of God whom loves the people He loves.
It needs to be holistic is what we have been trying to teach. Worshiping.. Community... Missional... Theologians... with Jesus as our head of the church and why we are doing what...
I desperately have wanted Angie to see and experience the whole vibe of our church, the coffeehouse, the art, the music. Most of all I wanted her to be amongst the people of our church community and meet people who are followers of Jesus, but maybe not like she would imagine. So in the front corner we set up a little chair and area for her to set up her barber tools. She even brought a bib-thing that I wear normally at her salon. It wasn't in direct view of everyone, but in the corner. But as people were coming in and as the music started Angie was there cutting my hair. She was so cool about it, and as things were happening in the gathering I would explain them to her. I explained what communion was as we were going to be taking communion that night as she didn't know what that meant. When it was time for the message part,I got up and then brought up Angie on the stage.
After we went up to my office and talked more about the whole experience, and she finished cutting my hair up there. And had a good discussion. We then walked around the building and she got to see the coffeehouse packed as a band was playing there after the gathering. Although I had explained to her about our church, she said she had no idea it was going to be like it was. It's interesting as I was walking around and introducing her to people I was so proud of the people of our church. I know "proud" is a weird word to use, but not sure what else to call it. But it was great getting to introduce her to people and for her to see all that was happening.
...
"The Harvester isn't waiting. He's taking his pay, gathering in this grain that's ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. That's the truth of the saying, 'This one sows, that one harvests.' I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others."
John 4: 34-38 (The Message)
We pray to Jesus asking Him to answer our prayers - what if we became the answer to His? In John 17:20-24, He prayed that we would be one, and One Prayer is an opportunity to see what can be accomplished when the Church works together.
In June 2008, God worked in amazing ways as more than two million believers stood together to pray, fast, learn, and love others. This year, we'll be joining forces once again for an extraordinary worldwide experience: One Prayer 2009. Beginning the first weekend in June, we'll come together for four weeks as we learn more about our Creator and go out into the world to share, serve and give.
...
A severe storm hit the East Coast, and the Coast Guard was summoned to respond to a ship in crisis. A young sailor, new on board, was terrorized by the prospect and proclaimed, "We can't go out. We'll never come back!" The seasoned captain responded, "We must go out. We don't have to come back." Duty called and responsibility overcame fear.
If we're going to walk by faith, there can be only one fear-object in our lives, and that's God. We are responsible to Him. He is the ultimate fear-object because He is omnipotent and omnipresent. The fear of the Lord is healthy because it is the one fear that expels all other fears (Isaiah 8:11-14). All other fear-objects pale in comparison to our holy God. We need to be like David who proclaimed before Goliath, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?" (1 Samuel 17:26). The Hebrew army saw Goliath in relation to themselves and cowered in defeat. David saw Goliath in relation to God and conquered in His strength.
When the 12 spies checked out the Promised Land, 10 of them came back and responded, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us" (Numbers 13:31). They didn't see God in the land; they saw giants (verse 33). With that perspective, "all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night" (Numbers 14:1).
Joshua and Caleb responded, "Do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they shall be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them" (Numbers 14:9). The people did rebel. They accepted the majority report instead of listening to Caleb and Joshua. By accepting the Canaanites' will over God's will, they elevated the power and eminence of the Canaanites over the omnipotence and omnipresence of God. To honor God as the ultimate fear-object is to worship Him. To be controlled by any other fear-object is to allow it to usurp God's place in our lives.
Lord, I want to be a God-pleaser in all I do today, not a man-pleaser or a coward.
We all eat three meals a day. Why not make a habit of sharing one of those meals with a non-Christian or with a family of non-Christians? ... Have cookouts and invite Christians and non-Christians. Flee the Christian subculture.
If you live in a walkable area, make a practice of getting out and walking around your neighborhood, apartment complex, or campus. ... Take interest in your neighbors. Ask questions. Engage. Pray as you go. Save some gas, the planet, and some people.
Instead of hopping all over the city for gas, groceries, haircuts, eating out, and coffee, go to the same places at the same times. Get to know the staff. Smile. Ask questions. Be a regular. ... Build relationships. Be a regular.
Pick a hobby that you can share. Get out and do something you enjoy with others. ...Be prayerful. Be intentional. Be winsome. Have fun. Be yourself.
How hard is that? Take your breaks with intentionality. Go out with your team or task force after work. Show interest in your co-workers. ... Work on mission.
Find a non-profit in your part of the city and take a Saturday a month to serve your city. ... You can do it!
Instead of playing XBox, watching TV, or surfing the net, participate in city events. Go to fundraisers, festivals, cleanups, summer shows, and concerts. Participate missionally. ... Participate with the city.
Help a neighbor by weeding, mowing, building a cabinet, or fixing a car. ... Get creative. Just serve!
Father in Heaven,
We lift our eyes toward Your Throne, where You reign in righteousness.
Your Word assures us that when Your people cry out in sincerity and humility, You will never turn a deaf ear to us.
We call upon You now, seeking Your forgiveness and favor.
Look over this fevered landscape and heal us, Lord.
Drop knees to the floor and raise eyes to the sky, for we know where our help comes from.
Unite these States again in devotion to You, and blur every dividing line.
Do not give us over to our sins. Give us, instead, over to passionate prayer that moves Your heart.
“May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in You.”
In the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
Amen
An important concept about the will of God that my students hear at seminary is, "Bloom where you are planted." Be the best you can be at your present assignment, and stay there until God calls you elsewhere.
Oftentimes my students will say, "There are no openings to serve at my church!" My response, "Oh, yes there are. They're probably begging for someone to teach third-grade boys." The momentary silence reveals this thought: "But anyone can teach third-grade boys. I had something bigger in mind." Like maybe an opening in the Trinity!
Take the opportunity before you and teach those third-grade boys. Decide to be the best teacher they've ever had. You may start with only three little boys, but at the end of that year you've got 12 boys excited about God, Sunday school and church. Next year, when the personnel committee needs to fill leadership positions, they say, "We need some new life on the Christian education committee." Somebody aware of the fruit you are bearing says, "There's this guy doing a bang-up job with our third graders. Let's ask him to be on the committee."
Now that you are on the Christian education committee, decide to be the best committee member you can be. It won't be long before they recognize your initiative and say, "We could use this person on the board." Determine to become the best possible board member you can. Then an opening develops for an intern and guess who the people suggest! People hearing of your faithfulness and aware of the fruit you are bearing ask you to consider a full-time pastoral position. So you become the best youth pastor, small group pastor, or college minister you can possibly be. Before long you'll be bearing so much fruit that other churches will be inquiring about your availability.
God guides those who bloom where they are planted.
I want to be faithful in the small things, Lord, so You will advance me to greater responsibilities in Your timing and according to Your will.
12-14 "Therefore, prophesy. Tell them, 'God, the Master, says: I'll dig up your graves and bring you out alive—O my people! Then I'll take you straight to the land of Israel. When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you'll realize that I am God. I'll breathe my life into you and you'll live. Then I'll lead you straight back to your land and you'll realize that I am God. I've said it and I'll do it. God's Decree.'"
Ezekiel 37 (The Message)
2-3But friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the beginning. Who knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus' life as a model for our own.
1 John 3 (The Message)
