We as evangelicals often confuse the results of using spiritual gifts with spiritual fruit. For example, a thriving ministry that has great worship and great preaching may attract a crowd, but the people leading that ministry could be completely devoid of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. We, as ministers of the Gospel, can vocalize justification by faith all the while functionally acting as if we believe justification by ministry. The success of ministry can fall prey to what we think God thinks about us. "If God uses me then I'm good, but if my ministry goes in the tank then something is wrong between me and God" is the way we often can feel. If we do not see spiritual fruit in our own hearts God may be working in spite of us instead of in us and through us. Don't sacrifice the fruit of the Spirit on the altar of ministry success. Don't let the fear of smallness, obscurity, and potentially suffering drive you away from the path of the cross. Embrace the cross. There you will find real fruit instead of pictures of fruit taped to dead trees.
Check out Tim Keller's message:
The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry (Acts 19:21-41)
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Suffering: Cancer and the Cross
Have you ever wondered about the devastation of cancer. I'm willing to bet you have because you more then likely know someone who has cancer. I've heard that every person is connected to everyone in the world through just 5 people. For example, I have a friend I went to high school with who has met both Andy Samberg and Lady Gaga.
Through one person I'm connected to two celebrities, and that is just one person. Imagine all the people Lady Gaga and Andy Samberg have met! Now apply this same sort of pattern to cancer. I'm willing to bet you are connected to every single person on the planet with cancer through less then 5 people. It makes me wonder if anyone is safe from the disease? It is such a prevailing sickness that I sometimes wonder why them and not me? I even ask why not now instead of later? I have a 1/3 chance of dying from cancer before you even add in my family history. All these things make me have just one wish: I wish that all cancers could be put in me so that NO one ever has to face this dark sickness ever again. But we don't get to choose our pain.
I'm sure most of us would choose never to experience pain ever again if given the choice. The world looks to medical science for anything and everything to eradicate pain. As Christians, most of us just accept suffering taking bible verses like aspirin. Feelings of pain and hurt are washed away by some coffee cup verse. Feeling pain is taboo and hurting at a Christian's funeral is stupid, because they are going to heaven. Its as though promises come before people. I also sometimes wonder if we play a give and take game with God. We say, "If I have to go through pain and suffering can it please be this kind of pain. God here is a list of the acceptable sufferings I'm willing to go through. God, give me cancer, but don't let my loved ones go through it." This goes beyond just cancer. This goes into the fabric of all pain. How many of us would rather be fired from our job, before we see a tornado take away decades of family memories? How many of us would be evicted from our homes before we are separated from our families? How many of us would take on the cancer of our loved ones instead of watching them go through it? I'm not trying to compare sufferings. Pain may hurt in all shapes and sizes, but it still hurts. I simply want to point out that perhaps as Christians we are so busy trying trying to solve someone's pain with Biblical promises that we are missing the opportunity to surrender. If God must sanctify us through pain we want it on our terms. Not even Jesus got that privileged. Jesus didn't solve his pain with a barrage of Bible verses.
In the Garden, Jesus prayed something radically different then what I expected. I expected Jesus to man up and spell out some rational prayer about how God is using this suffering in his life. Yet, Jesus nervously prayed for a way out of his suffering and was so distressed he sweat drops of blood. What could scare Jesus so much that even HE didn't want to face it? Furthermore, I didn't know Jesus could be afraid? I take so much from Jesus here. First, I hold fast to being okay with being afraid. I'm not talking about the fear that paralyzes you, but rather the fear that knows life could turn out really bad. Second, I look at the complete surrender Jesus had to his Father. Jesus didn't play a give and take game with God. Jesus didn't say,"Father, I did this whole human thing. Isn't that suffering enough?" Jesus wanted whatever the Father wanted even if that scared him. Lastly, Jesus endured a suffering that is far greater then mine. In this case, it is fair to compare. What Jesus went through does not hold a candle to anything we will endure in this life.
The crucifixion is merely scratches compared to the spiritual sufferings Jesus endured. Earlier I mentioned that I would take on all the cancers of the world in order that no one would have the disease again. The good news is that this has already been done. Jesus took on much more then a beating from the Romans hanging on that tree. He took a beating from every mother and father who have had to bury their lifeless cancer-ridden child. He was lashed for every crying teenager who cannot stand the pain of a chemo drip. He was mocked for every cancer patient who has been told medical science can do nothing for them. He was stripped naked for every breast cancer woman who feels like her womanhood has been stripped from her. He had a spear thrust through his side for every father who has walked down the road of prostate cancer. He endured the cross for my family as we see cancer take its toll on my dad. See, its not supposed to be this way. Cancer is not supposed to ravage bodies and kill 1/3 of the population. That is why Jesus went to the cross. He went to start something new. He went to redeem what sin had done to our planet.
I cannot wait for the day when I will stand before God, and he will take every person who has suffered from cancer and renew their heart. I cannot wait for the day when Jesus gives new bodies to those who have went to the grave because of cancer. I cannot wait for the day when God turns the last cancerous cell into a healthy one. I stand upon the promise that I will one day see the redeemer who battled cancer once and for all and WON!
Read Mark 14:32-36
Monday, May 2, 2011
God's Justice, Patience, Grace and the Death of Osama Bin Laden
Last night sent the world spinning into a frenzy with the news of Osama Bin Laden's death. Many Americans recalled memories of September 11th and the threat of this new terrorism that many have endured for the last decade. Cue the parade of blog-spheres and social network sites blowing up with opinions on this subject. This parade seems to have many Christians beating drums to different beats and I merely want to try and conduct some of this rhythm. Forgive me if I'm not faithful to God's Word.
God's Justice
I've read countless Facebook status' and Tweets that declare something about the justice of God and how it relates to the death of Osama Bin Laden. I will deal with God's justice and Bin Laden's death in a moment, but first I want to address the many who have taken delight in the death of Bin Laden and breathed a sigh of relief that our security in the United States is now more secure. I want to say up front that I believe this sort of comment is foolish. Ezekial 33:11 says, "Say to them, 'As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live..." I take comfort in knowing that God is perfect in justice, but I do not delight when he pours out his wrath, because that is not the posture God himself takes. R.C. Sproul wisely points out that when God judges sinners who are without Christ, it is done in tears because this judge is sentencing his own son . If we delight in the punishment of sinners, we are saying that is what heaven will be like as though we are nerds gloating over the punishment of the bullies that tormented us. Nothing could be further from the truth. We will delight in the fact that God chose to save any sinner much less our own self. There are no tormented nerds in heaven. Only bullies who were saved.
As far as American security, take one look at Psalm 90. In that chapter our life is compared to the dew on the grass - to an inhale of air. It's as though our lives are like a breath of air in the winter where we see it for only a moment. Life is short, but more importantly it can be lost in a moment. Bin Laden's death will not prevent somebody from getting into their car and colliding with another on their way home from work today. Bin Laden's death provides no new found security for the patient with terminal cancer. Our lives are so fragile, and to stake security in governments - an invention of man - will leave us empty. Shane Claiborne wisely pointed out in his reflection of September 11th, "A people longing for a savior placed their faith in the fragile hands of human logic and military strength, which have always let us down. They have always fallen short of the glory of God" (The Irresistible Revolution p. 199). This is not to say that I do not believe safety in culture should not be preserved or upheld. We are called to be salt and light in the world. National security is a good thing and as Christians we should be about helping to foster communities that are safe for people. I fully support any government person who chooses to uphold our security both at home and abroad. However, the problem with sin is that it takes good things and makes them the only thing. This is called idolatry and it is alive and well. National security cannot be the ultimate idol we hold to, because as September 11th showed us it can come crashing down in one morning.
I do want to answer the larger issue of God's justice and Bin Laden's death. If I'm honest, for a long time I struggled with how to reconcile justice with death. Derek Webb's lyrics from the song My Enemies Are Like Me ring loud in my ears when he sings, "Peace by war is like purity by way of fornication. It’s like saying murder is wrong and showing them by way of execution." How can we, a sinful people, execute God's justice? However, to ask such a question takes a naive view of scripture. If you take a look at the book of Habakkuk you will see God using the Chaldeans, a very evil nation, to punish and bring justice upon the nation of Israel - God's chosen people. At this point, I would love to spell out a view on God's wrath and how it coincides with justice, but perhaps that is best left suited for another blog post. I do want to simply say that a very weird view that has taken hold in the Church is that somehow God can only use Christians or Christian nations for his purposes. That really isn't Biblical. Heck, the Gospel of Luke was funded by a pagan Roman official! The Church is the primary way in which God works, but it is not the only way. To come full circle, the person who says that God only executes justice outside of human entities makes God devoid of his personal nature and ignores the entire Bible. Not only does God execute justice through the hands of people, but he did so ultimately through the "man" Jesus Christ.
Still, the larger question remains: Do I believe that Osama Bin Laden's execution was an act of God's justice? Absolutely. Romans 13:4-5 is pretty clear: "...But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he(a governing authority) does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer." However, God's wrath has nothing to do with God's supposed "blessing" on the United States or the supposed "righteousness" of our nation. The USA did not work out a deal with God. This has everything to do with His Kingdom and His redemption. There is no righteous person who carries out justice except Jesus. However, God does use sinners to carry out justice in the world that ultimately we may point to Jesus.
At this point someone may interject - what about Bin Laden's redemption? If we take his life, aren't we saying that he is beyond redemption? What about the justice paid in the cross of Christ?
God's Patience
This leads me to discuss the patience of God. Romans 2:4-5 says, "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed."
I want to first point out that the simple fact that we are all breathing right now is an act of patience on God's behalf. As hard as this is to swallow for some people, we are all in the same boat as Osama Bin Laden. We have all sinned against the glory of God. That is cosmic treason and demands a cosmic punishment both for you, me, and Bin Laden. God would be perfectly just to kill all of us right now, and as we have seen earlier he can use sinful people to do it. In that sense, justice makes sense, but it leaves God as seemingly cruel and indifferent. However, God is not that way. He is by no means tolerant of our actions of sin, but he is loving towards us, and he deals with our sinful nature. God did not send us to our room or slap us on the wrist, because that is not a just punishment. He did not make a way out - he became the way out. This means that Christ took on the cosmic punishment which is ultimate death and the full wrath of God and gave us the relationship he had with God the Father. We can either remain as we are and collapse under this wrath or seek refuge underneath the cross - the only thing to bear the weight of God's wrath.
Why do I spell out a simple gospel message? I want to show that Christ's death and resurrection was for the glory of God not your own. The idea that God would do this for us, and then actually give us a chance to respond to this love and be patient over our life time to respond is remarkable and nothing more then pure grace. John Piper notes in one of his many works on Romans that, "No man will ever be able to say that God did not provide an opportunity for him to repent, nor that God did not give evidence that should have led him to do so." .
Still, one may wish to say "Aren't we perhaps negating the work of God? How are we giving Osama a chance to respond in repentance if we take his life?" To that I would simply say that we cannot put all the stakes in the power of choices. God has a choice as well and I believe that choice is much more powerful then my own. God was not somehow caught off guard by the sudden death of Osama Bin Laden wondering what he should do next, because Bin Laden was supposed to respond in repentance on May 2 and now he can't. God has much more control over the day we die. I'm not saying your choices don't matter, I simply want to point out that I believe at one point or another Bin Laden had some opportunity to respond to grace or there was a much larger use of his life that I cannot yet see. God does not waste his creation.
However, to say we should not take the life of Osama Bin Laden doesn't really hold any ground in my opinion. He was a mass murder and a conniving man who gave false assurance to women and children that if they strapped bombs to their bodies and go into a building they would have eternal bliss on the other side of death. He seemed set on causing further destruction as is evidence by his last stand and a man like that deserves a death to preserve the safety of culture and communities. Was Osama saved? I do not know. I want to believe that God moved in his heart perhaps at the last moment and he responded in repentance, but that is not my job to figure out. To that end, I will mourn the death of such a man who is beloved by God and caused so much heartache in the world and I will rejoice that some may be saved by it. May God truly have mercy on his soul.
God's Grace
Whether you agree with my views or not, or you are somehow still reading - I do want to say that I think we all can agree that God can use this for his glory and plans of redemption. Somehow, God will use the death of Osama Bin Laden to bring people to repentance and a knowledge of him. The beauty of Grace is that no situation is beyond it. May we all be diligent in prayer that Jesus Christ may be seen as beautiful, and that the Gospel would be seen as the only true peace, security, and justice.
God's Justice
I've read countless Facebook status' and Tweets that declare something about the justice of God and how it relates to the death of Osama Bin Laden. I will deal with God's justice and Bin Laden's death in a moment, but first I want to address the many who have taken delight in the death of Bin Laden and breathed a sigh of relief that our security in the United States is now more secure. I want to say up front that I believe this sort of comment is foolish. Ezekial 33:11 says, "Say to them, 'As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live..." I take comfort in knowing that God is perfect in justice, but I do not delight when he pours out his wrath, because that is not the posture God himself takes. R.C. Sproul wisely points out that when God judges sinners who are without Christ, it is done in tears because this judge is sentencing his own son . If we delight in the punishment of sinners, we are saying that is what heaven will be like as though we are nerds gloating over the punishment of the bullies that tormented us. Nothing could be further from the truth. We will delight in the fact that God chose to save any sinner much less our own self. There are no tormented nerds in heaven. Only bullies who were saved.
As far as American security, take one look at Psalm 90. In that chapter our life is compared to the dew on the grass - to an inhale of air. It's as though our lives are like a breath of air in the winter where we see it for only a moment. Life is short, but more importantly it can be lost in a moment. Bin Laden's death will not prevent somebody from getting into their car and colliding with another on their way home from work today. Bin Laden's death provides no new found security for the patient with terminal cancer. Our lives are so fragile, and to stake security in governments - an invention of man - will leave us empty. Shane Claiborne wisely pointed out in his reflection of September 11th, "A people longing for a savior placed their faith in the fragile hands of human logic and military strength, which have always let us down. They have always fallen short of the glory of God" (The Irresistible Revolution p. 199). This is not to say that I do not believe safety in culture should not be preserved or upheld. We are called to be salt and light in the world. National security is a good thing and as Christians we should be about helping to foster communities that are safe for people. I fully support any government person who chooses to uphold our security both at home and abroad. However, the problem with sin is that it takes good things and makes them the only thing. This is called idolatry and it is alive and well. National security cannot be the ultimate idol we hold to, because as September 11th showed us it can come crashing down in one morning.
I do want to answer the larger issue of God's justice and Bin Laden's death. If I'm honest, for a long time I struggled with how to reconcile justice with death. Derek Webb's lyrics from the song My Enemies Are Like Me ring loud in my ears when he sings, "Peace by war is like purity by way of fornication. It’s like saying murder is wrong and showing them by way of execution." How can we, a sinful people, execute God's justice? However, to ask such a question takes a naive view of scripture. If you take a look at the book of Habakkuk you will see God using the Chaldeans, a very evil nation, to punish and bring justice upon the nation of Israel - God's chosen people. At this point, I would love to spell out a view on God's wrath and how it coincides with justice, but perhaps that is best left suited for another blog post. I do want to simply say that a very weird view that has taken hold in the Church is that somehow God can only use Christians or Christian nations for his purposes. That really isn't Biblical. Heck, the Gospel of Luke was funded by a pagan Roman official! The Church is the primary way in which God works, but it is not the only way. To come full circle, the person who says that God only executes justice outside of human entities makes God devoid of his personal nature and ignores the entire Bible. Not only does God execute justice through the hands of people, but he did so ultimately through the "man" Jesus Christ.
Still, the larger question remains: Do I believe that Osama Bin Laden's execution was an act of God's justice? Absolutely. Romans 13:4-5 is pretty clear: "...But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he(a governing authority) does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer." However, God's wrath has nothing to do with God's supposed "blessing" on the United States or the supposed "righteousness" of our nation. The USA did not work out a deal with God. This has everything to do with His Kingdom and His redemption. There is no righteous person who carries out justice except Jesus. However, God does use sinners to carry out justice in the world that ultimately we may point to Jesus.
At this point someone may interject - what about Bin Laden's redemption? If we take his life, aren't we saying that he is beyond redemption? What about the justice paid in the cross of Christ?
God's Patience
This leads me to discuss the patience of God. Romans 2:4-5 says, "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed."
I want to first point out that the simple fact that we are all breathing right now is an act of patience on God's behalf. As hard as this is to swallow for some people, we are all in the same boat as Osama Bin Laden. We have all sinned against the glory of God. That is cosmic treason and demands a cosmic punishment both for you, me, and Bin Laden. God would be perfectly just to kill all of us right now, and as we have seen earlier he can use sinful people to do it. In that sense, justice makes sense, but it leaves God as seemingly cruel and indifferent. However, God is not that way. He is by no means tolerant of our actions of sin, but he is loving towards us, and he deals with our sinful nature. God did not send us to our room or slap us on the wrist, because that is not a just punishment. He did not make a way out - he became the way out. This means that Christ took on the cosmic punishment which is ultimate death and the full wrath of God and gave us the relationship he had with God the Father. We can either remain as we are and collapse under this wrath or seek refuge underneath the cross - the only thing to bear the weight of God's wrath.
Why do I spell out a simple gospel message? I want to show that Christ's death and resurrection was for the glory of God not your own. The idea that God would do this for us, and then actually give us a chance to respond to this love and be patient over our life time to respond is remarkable and nothing more then pure grace. John Piper notes in one of his many works on Romans that, "No man will ever be able to say that God did not provide an opportunity for him to repent, nor that God did not give evidence that should have led him to do so." .
Still, one may wish to say "Aren't we perhaps negating the work of God? How are we giving Osama a chance to respond in repentance if we take his life?" To that I would simply say that we cannot put all the stakes in the power of choices. God has a choice as well and I believe that choice is much more powerful then my own. God was not somehow caught off guard by the sudden death of Osama Bin Laden wondering what he should do next, because Bin Laden was supposed to respond in repentance on May 2 and now he can't. God has much more control over the day we die. I'm not saying your choices don't matter, I simply want to point out that I believe at one point or another Bin Laden had some opportunity to respond to grace or there was a much larger use of his life that I cannot yet see. God does not waste his creation.
However, to say we should not take the life of Osama Bin Laden doesn't really hold any ground in my opinion. He was a mass murder and a conniving man who gave false assurance to women and children that if they strapped bombs to their bodies and go into a building they would have eternal bliss on the other side of death. He seemed set on causing further destruction as is evidence by his last stand and a man like that deserves a death to preserve the safety of culture and communities. Was Osama saved? I do not know. I want to believe that God moved in his heart perhaps at the last moment and he responded in repentance, but that is not my job to figure out. To that end, I will mourn the death of such a man who is beloved by God and caused so much heartache in the world and I will rejoice that some may be saved by it. May God truly have mercy on his soul.
God's Grace
Whether you agree with my views or not, or you are somehow still reading - I do want to say that I think we all can agree that God can use this for his glory and plans of redemption. Somehow, God will use the death of Osama Bin Laden to bring people to repentance and a knowledge of him. The beauty of Grace is that no situation is beyond it. May we all be diligent in prayer that Jesus Christ may be seen as beautiful, and that the Gospel would be seen as the only true peace, security, and justice.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Poverty: The Phyiscal and The Spiritual
A few weeks ago our Church had an annual event called Global Summit in which we as a church highlighted the importance of taking the Gospel of Jesus to all nations. This year had a new twist. We hosted a group of people who are taking their tour-museum called the "Project Experience" to churches around the states. Project Experience is an interactive museum that exposes you to the cycle of poverty that is all too common in this world. I was privileged to be a tour guide and it was definitely worth it. I encourage you to check out this video for a taste of the Project Experience:
http://vimeo.com/20561555
After the Global Summit, I started to really think about the depth of poverty. I started to think I've probably never known what it means to need something. I'm prone to selfishness so I wonder sometimes if what I really consider a need is really just a "want" in disguise. What if what we want was never really promised to us? In Matthew 6, Jesus says to seek 1st the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you. What are "these things?" I can't help but wonder how many times I've interpreted "these things" as more clothes, the latest technological gadget, a good day, success in school, or even great relationships. But is that what Jesus is talking about here? Context would suggest that Jesus is talking about what you need. According to Jesus, what we need is simply food and clothes and that our Father in heaven will provide that for us. Yet, I can't help but think about the thousands of people who will go to sleep tonight naked and hungry. Where is God's provision for them? Answer - I'm hoarding it. I'm stealing God's provision for them and abusing it.
I do not believe in a God that provides little; I do believe in selfishness and I believe that is spiritual poverty. Still, I'm not wanting to cast guilt and point to my nonexistent hippie lifestyle as the way to go. There is nothing wrong with enjoying God's creation, and sometimes it is appropriate to splurge and celebrate with good taste. But I do want to show that physical poverty is merely a symptom. It is a symptom of something deeper - spiritual poverty. Spiritual poverty is really just selfishness. If we want to attack physical poverty we need to go to the source: spiritual poverty.
We cannot excuse sin as we engage poverty, and believe me there is enough to go around. On our side - the rich side - the sin is selfishness. Can we just admit that we all at one point or another have lived above our means? Can we all finally admit that at one point or another we haven't taken good care of what God has provided to us? I'll even admit that I'm quick to make excuses for my abuses, but at the end of the day it is the appetite of selfishness. Still, I do not simply leave people in the wake of poverty while enjoying life's spoils. Selfishness and hoarding bring a whole host of problems into my intermediate world as well. Selfishness has really been a source for much depression, suicide, and obesity. How many of these things are associated with a broken social circle? When relationships are warped and distorted selfishness is usually the underpinning reason. On their side - on the poor side - the sin is selfishness as well. There is something wrong about a family that will sell one of its members into sexual slavery so they can buy food. There is something wrong about making children fight wars so that your village can rise out of the slums.
We would be naive to think physically poor people are not prone to selfishness. If you give a poor person bread they are still poor spiritually, but the thing we must come to understand as Christians is that we don't help the poor because we feel guilty for being rich. We don't help the poor so that we can see a smile on their face. We don't help the poor to say we made a difference. We help the poor because we are fully aware that we ourselves are very poor as well. There are no sides on the issue of poverty. We are all poor spiritually and that results in selfishness which results in the abused resources God has given us. That's what makes Jesus sacrifice so important. Jesus wants to trade his generosity for our selfishness. If we try generosity on our own we will end up with a twisted society that is looking for recognition for their own generosity. We end up with a society that is "us(rich) and them(poor)." That is not genuine or reality. If we try generosity with God we will begin to understand that Jesus came for the poor. That is everyone. 2nd Corinthians 8:9 says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." If we allow this truth to heal our spiritual poverty our generosity will begin to erode physical poverty.
http://vimeo.com/20561555
After the Global Summit, I started to really think about the depth of poverty. I started to think I've probably never known what it means to need something. I'm prone to selfishness so I wonder sometimes if what I really consider a need is really just a "want" in disguise. What if what we want was never really promised to us? In Matthew 6, Jesus says to seek 1st the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you. What are "these things?" I can't help but wonder how many times I've interpreted "these things" as more clothes, the latest technological gadget, a good day, success in school, or even great relationships. But is that what Jesus is talking about here? Context would suggest that Jesus is talking about what you need. According to Jesus, what we need is simply food and clothes and that our Father in heaven will provide that for us. Yet, I can't help but think about the thousands of people who will go to sleep tonight naked and hungry. Where is God's provision for them? Answer - I'm hoarding it. I'm stealing God's provision for them and abusing it.
I do not believe in a God that provides little; I do believe in selfishness and I believe that is spiritual poverty. Still, I'm not wanting to cast guilt and point to my nonexistent hippie lifestyle as the way to go. There is nothing wrong with enjoying God's creation, and sometimes it is appropriate to splurge and celebrate with good taste. But I do want to show that physical poverty is merely a symptom. It is a symptom of something deeper - spiritual poverty. Spiritual poverty is really just selfishness. If we want to attack physical poverty we need to go to the source: spiritual poverty.
We cannot excuse sin as we engage poverty, and believe me there is enough to go around. On our side - the rich side - the sin is selfishness. Can we just admit that we all at one point or another have lived above our means? Can we all finally admit that at one point or another we haven't taken good care of what God has provided to us? I'll even admit that I'm quick to make excuses for my abuses, but at the end of the day it is the appetite of selfishness. Still, I do not simply leave people in the wake of poverty while enjoying life's spoils. Selfishness and hoarding bring a whole host of problems into my intermediate world as well. Selfishness has really been a source for much depression, suicide, and obesity. How many of these things are associated with a broken social circle? When relationships are warped and distorted selfishness is usually the underpinning reason. On their side - on the poor side - the sin is selfishness as well. There is something wrong about a family that will sell one of its members into sexual slavery so they can buy food. There is something wrong about making children fight wars so that your village can rise out of the slums.
We would be naive to think physically poor people are not prone to selfishness. If you give a poor person bread they are still poor spiritually, but the thing we must come to understand as Christians is that we don't help the poor because we feel guilty for being rich. We don't help the poor so that we can see a smile on their face. We don't help the poor to say we made a difference. We help the poor because we are fully aware that we ourselves are very poor as well. There are no sides on the issue of poverty. We are all poor spiritually and that results in selfishness which results in the abused resources God has given us. That's what makes Jesus sacrifice so important. Jesus wants to trade his generosity for our selfishness. If we try generosity on our own we will end up with a twisted society that is looking for recognition for their own generosity. We end up with a society that is "us(rich) and them(poor)." That is not genuine or reality. If we try generosity with God we will begin to understand that Jesus came for the poor. That is everyone. 2nd Corinthians 8:9 says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." If we allow this truth to heal our spiritual poverty our generosity will begin to erode physical poverty.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
The Gospel and The Lies We Beleive
This post is part of a series that will apply the truth of the Gospel to lies I believed. The greatest jewel we could possibly have is the Gospel who is Jesus Christ. As such, I believe some of the greatest lies we believe are about the Gospel. When we believe them we make the jewel dull and ordinary. We make the Gospel much less then what it is. This is my attempt to name some of those lies, so that the beautiful facets of the Gospel may shine through the darkness of the lies we believe.
Lie #2: "Sin is Just Doing Something Bad"
A lie is good when it contains a bit of truth. Sin is certainly doing "bad" things, but that is only the surface of what sin is. Sin is also NOT doing something right when you know you should have. Still, this is only dealing with sins that are actions. Sin is also evil thoughts, but that is still not the full ice berg of sin. Sin is a layered disease that is only revealed in the world's most disgusting atrocities. Sex trafficking, abuse and ignorance of the poor, murder, racial hate - these are but the reflections of a wicked heart. However, what makes a heart wicked? It is selfishness - pride.
If that is the case then sin is so much more then doing bad things. Did you know you can do the right thing and still be sinning? Even the most dedicated philanthropist can boast about how much he is giving to the poor. Humble people can desire in their hearts that people stop and recognize how humble they are. Yet, it does not stop simply with the actions. If I'm struggling with gossip chances are my problem is not telling secrets or making things up. Trying really hard not to gossip only fixes the symptom. My problem is that I want to be the center of attention and since I have nothing to say I make something up. My problem is not trusting in the security of God's adoption and falling prey to my insecurity as a worthless sinner. I need to repent of my selfishness and trust in the value God places in me and I will stop gossiping.
Consider the nicest person you know who does not know Christ. They may be polite, generous, humble, and even think and feel in their hearts that they are no better then anyone else. However, at the end of the day they would be forced to merit their entire personality to themselves. Even if that person wanted to give credit to their parents, friends, or mentors the problem still remains: they haven't acknowledged God.
God is a jealous God for a reason. He doesn't want Glory because he is selfish. He wants it because he knows its the best thing for you. If a really really nice person decided to jump off a building would you say, "You don't really need to stay on the roof, because your such a nice person." At least that really really nice person would have their independence as they passed the windows of the building they just jumped from. Regardless of what you have heard from Hollywood movies that is not deserving of an Oscar - this is faith in something other then God. It is good old fashioned pride. This is so crucial to understand, because we cannot simply treat the symptoms of sin. We must treat the source: the human heart.
For years I said the right thing, did the right thing, and acted the part when I didn't feel like doing either. In the end, I sucked the joy from doing the right thing. Why? There were lots of reasons, but they all boiled down to "It didn't go my way." Pride. Then, I was stubborn enough to believe I wasn't sinning simply because I was doing the right thing or at least something that was good. I'm a sinner. Anytime I say sin is just doing something bad I've lost what that means and more importantly I've lost the depth Jesus went to save me.
Lie #2: "Sin is Just Doing Something Bad"
A lie is good when it contains a bit of truth. Sin is certainly doing "bad" things, but that is only the surface of what sin is. Sin is also NOT doing something right when you know you should have. Still, this is only dealing with sins that are actions. Sin is also evil thoughts, but that is still not the full ice berg of sin. Sin is a layered disease that is only revealed in the world's most disgusting atrocities. Sex trafficking, abuse and ignorance of the poor, murder, racial hate - these are but the reflections of a wicked heart. However, what makes a heart wicked? It is selfishness - pride.
If that is the case then sin is so much more then doing bad things. Did you know you can do the right thing and still be sinning? Even the most dedicated philanthropist can boast about how much he is giving to the poor. Humble people can desire in their hearts that people stop and recognize how humble they are. Yet, it does not stop simply with the actions. If I'm struggling with gossip chances are my problem is not telling secrets or making things up. Trying really hard not to gossip only fixes the symptom. My problem is that I want to be the center of attention and since I have nothing to say I make something up. My problem is not trusting in the security of God's adoption and falling prey to my insecurity as a worthless sinner. I need to repent of my selfishness and trust in the value God places in me and I will stop gossiping.
Consider the nicest person you know who does not know Christ. They may be polite, generous, humble, and even think and feel in their hearts that they are no better then anyone else. However, at the end of the day they would be forced to merit their entire personality to themselves. Even if that person wanted to give credit to their parents, friends, or mentors the problem still remains: they haven't acknowledged God.
God is a jealous God for a reason. He doesn't want Glory because he is selfish. He wants it because he knows its the best thing for you. If a really really nice person decided to jump off a building would you say, "You don't really need to stay on the roof, because your such a nice person." At least that really really nice person would have their independence as they passed the windows of the building they just jumped from. Regardless of what you have heard from Hollywood movies that is not deserving of an Oscar - this is faith in something other then God. It is good old fashioned pride. This is so crucial to understand, because we cannot simply treat the symptoms of sin. We must treat the source: the human heart.
For years I said the right thing, did the right thing, and acted the part when I didn't feel like doing either. In the end, I sucked the joy from doing the right thing. Why? There were lots of reasons, but they all boiled down to "It didn't go my way." Pride. Then, I was stubborn enough to believe I wasn't sinning simply because I was doing the right thing or at least something that was good. I'm a sinner. Anytime I say sin is just doing something bad I've lost what that means and more importantly I've lost the depth Jesus went to save me.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
The Gospel and The Lies We Beleive
This post is part of a series that will apply the truth of the Gospel to lies I believed. The greatest jewel we could possibly have is the Gospel who is Jesus Christ. As such, I believe some of the greatest lies we believe are about the Gospel. When we believe them we make the jewel dull and ordinary. We make the Gospel much less then what it is. This is my attempt to name some of those lies, so that the beautiful facets of the Gospel may shine through the darkness of the lies we believe.
Lie #1: “I Have a Boring Testimony”
I wasn’t an ax murder. I wasn’t a drug addict. I wasn’t a prostitute. My testimony is boring. I remember hearing stories of people who had struggled with serious “sins” and then claimed to be radically changed by Jesus. They seemed to capture people with this statement: “If I can change then so can you.” However, when I looked at my testimony it was filled with trying to follow the rules and being a good kid. When I would tell my story, people seemed disinterested. I captured people with boredom. The irony is that saying, “I have a boring testimony,” revealed in me a very deep sin that actually uncovered a very compelling testimony. The sin was self-righteousness.
I knew Jesus had died for my sins; the problem was I couldn’t point to specific sins in my life that he died for. Welcome to self-righteousness. I wasn’t claiming perfection, but I was ranking my sin whether I wanted to admit that or not. I didn’t condemn ax murders or drug addicts or prostitutes to hell, but I did judge them by not putting myself on the same level as them. I did this the moment I said, “I have a boring testimony.” I also minimized sin. I would say, "I know everyone is a sinner before God, but there are sins with worse consequences. Plus when I do the right thing it is honestly because I love Jesus." There are two problems with that statement. First, I failed to see that the greatest consequence of sin is separation from God which all sinners face whether you killed someone or told a white lie. Focusing on earthly consequences showed that I didn't fully experience the full weight of what it meant to be separated from God. Second, I had to realize that my love for Jesus wasn't rooted in the reality that he loved me, it was rooted out of fear of failure and drudging obedience. This all screams self righteousness. The danger of being self-righteous is that you usually don’t know it. Our fear that other people will think our testimony is boring convinces us that we really have a boring testimony. We have to focus on what God thinks of our testimony, because it is his story anyways. Think about that for a moment. Saying “I have a boring testimony” can be stated this way “God has a boring story.”
There were self-righteous people in the bible called Pharisees. These people followed all the rules and were genuinely concerned about doing the right thing, but they also sought after reputations and acted out of fear of what others thought of them. In doing so they judged others without mercy. If you read about them you will think “they will never change.” My testimony is that I was like the Pharisees. I was a self-righteous punk who judged and minimized the grace of God and my sin. However, the Gospel changed and is changing me. That is anything but boring.
Lie #1: “I Have a Boring Testimony”
I wasn’t an ax murder. I wasn’t a drug addict. I wasn’t a prostitute. My testimony is boring. I remember hearing stories of people who had struggled with serious “sins” and then claimed to be radically changed by Jesus. They seemed to capture people with this statement: “If I can change then so can you.” However, when I looked at my testimony it was filled with trying to follow the rules and being a good kid. When I would tell my story, people seemed disinterested. I captured people with boredom. The irony is that saying, “I have a boring testimony,” revealed in me a very deep sin that actually uncovered a very compelling testimony. The sin was self-righteousness.
I knew Jesus had died for my sins; the problem was I couldn’t point to specific sins in my life that he died for. Welcome to self-righteousness. I wasn’t claiming perfection, but I was ranking my sin whether I wanted to admit that or not. I didn’t condemn ax murders or drug addicts or prostitutes to hell, but I did judge them by not putting myself on the same level as them. I did this the moment I said, “I have a boring testimony.” I also minimized sin. I would say, "I know everyone is a sinner before God, but there are sins with worse consequences. Plus when I do the right thing it is honestly because I love Jesus." There are two problems with that statement. First, I failed to see that the greatest consequence of sin is separation from God which all sinners face whether you killed someone or told a white lie. Focusing on earthly consequences showed that I didn't fully experience the full weight of what it meant to be separated from God. Second, I had to realize that my love for Jesus wasn't rooted in the reality that he loved me, it was rooted out of fear of failure and drudging obedience. This all screams self righteousness. The danger of being self-righteous is that you usually don’t know it. Our fear that other people will think our testimony is boring convinces us that we really have a boring testimony. We have to focus on what God thinks of our testimony, because it is his story anyways. Think about that for a moment. Saying “I have a boring testimony” can be stated this way “God has a boring story.”
There were self-righteous people in the bible called Pharisees. These people followed all the rules and were genuinely concerned about doing the right thing, but they also sought after reputations and acted out of fear of what others thought of them. In doing so they judged others without mercy. If you read about them you will think “they will never change.” My testimony is that I was like the Pharisees. I was a self-righteous punk who judged and minimized the grace of God and my sin. However, the Gospel changed and is changing me. That is anything but boring.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Thanksgiving: The True Great Banquet
I love thanksgiving. Roasted turkey, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, the Macy’s Day Parade, a pick-up game of football, and the feeling that snow is on its way are a few of the things I enjoy on Thanksgiving. For some of us, we have so much to be thankful for that we can’t stop smiling when we think about all that we have. For others, maybe this is a time where being thankful is the opposite of how you feel, because quite frankly it is hard to see what there is to be thankful for. For others, maybe celebrating Thanksgiving won’t be the same this year because you can’t go home, or you wouldn’t want to even if you could. For some of you, maybe affording a Thanksgiving meal is too much of a luxury. Whatever our circumstances are these holidays, we need to know that God is throwing a Thanksgiving banquet party and you, yes that means you, are invited. The main course is God’s love and all the rules of being polite and getting too full are out the window. A starving person does not use silverware when he is presented with a plate full of food; he stuffs his face. Likewise we should do the same with God’s love. In our sin, we were starving to death, but God saw fit to still love us and rescue us by giving his son Jesus. You can come to the table and have your fill of God’s love and yet never be full. In our culture, the difference between a need and a want can sometimes get blurred, but isn’t it great to know that God is more than we need and we don’t have to feel guilty for wanting him too much. God’s love satisfies and yet we can never be too full from it. I know that sometimes I give excuses for not coming to God’s table. Sometimes I become more interested in all the things I have that I forget about what can never perish. Sometimes I let dire circumstances dictate how I feel and instead of running to God for rescue I would rather starve to death in my sorrow. Sometimes I can’t believe I’ve been invited to the table because of what I’ve done. Sometimes I even wonder if God’s love is enough to fill me. Yet, the promise that God has invited us to a great banquet that will satisfy our souls still remains and is not dependent on how I feel. I have tasted and seen how great the Lord is and I never want to leave the table. God is throwing a Thanksgiving feast. Won’t you come to the table and Give Thanks?
Check out Luke 14:15-24 and Psalm 34:1-10
Check out Luke 14:15-24 and Psalm 34:1-10
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