Dodging bullets in KC

I have many vivid memories from my childhood that do not reflect current reality. Growing up on the outskirts of the Kansas City Metro (KC) yet consistently interacting with the each part of the city I was given a very unique perspective and love for the whole city. Just like any other metro area, things change, some parts get better and vice versa. One of these areas in KC is called “Bannister” which is named after the road that the area is centered on. While growing up I have so many great memories from this area. After church my parents would take us down the Bannister mall to the SUPER WALMART to shop. I remember seeing the traveling Lego collection (specifically the Lego Statue of Liberty, life changing), filling up on all the samples (don’t judge you’ve done it), and generally having a good time. I also remember the night we were watching the news that there had been a “shoot-out” in the parking lot of the Mall and from that point everything started to go downhill, quickly.

Sunday afternoon my mother and I were trying to find a place on the Southeast side of the city to meet so she could see the kids and I could give her the camera we borrowed from my parents. I pulled off of I-435 and merged onto Bannister Rd, an area I have been to thousands of times. I noticed a gold Mercedes (E-class) coupe flying towards me in the inside lane, so I continued on. A few seconds later this car is next to me and the driver is livid, apparently he felt that I had cut him off (intentionally) and decided that he needed to scream this at me while we drove. I sped up to try to get away (Sienna vs. MB E-class) and he easily kept pace with me so he could keep up his obscenity laced tirade. This is the point I looked over and noticed a pistol laying on his passenger seat as he points to it and then back at me. At this point my inner “Bryan Mills” comes out and quickly begin planning how to safeguard my family if he began to shoot (this is what happens when you grow up with a father who should have been in the CIA). My wife, noticing that something is wrong, asks what is going on, to which I lie to her and say nothing at all is wrong (I repent). Eventually, I [skillfully] found a way to lose him and found a place to meet my mom.

What was the point of this story? Well I want to tell you this for a couple reasons.

I am part ninja…
Ares of a city are just a microcosm of our nation which relish in prosperity, ebb, and then die.
There are broken places everywhere and we were almost another stat for no apparent reason

In this [overly] political season we need to remember that it is our privilege to make the invisible kingdom [of God], visible through our [redeeming] fidelity to it. So how do we begin to encounter these broken people for the glory of God and the good of the city? I’d love to hear your thoughts below.

God needed another angel in heaven?

** This is the final part of my series on Christian cliches. I really hope that you’ve enjoyed the series and if you missed any part of it click here to view all 7 post. I may revisit this concept again in the future but for now I will leave this series here.**

This is an example of another well-meaning but insensitive Christian Cliche that I have heard [primarily] in funerals is “God [just] needed another angel [in heaven]”. Honestly I have heard the argument as an explanation for why people die. I initially did not question this thinking as a child, seeing adults as wise authority figures and religious statements as beyond question. As I grew and became an atheist this sentiment began to deeply disturb me and since I received Christ that sentiment has yet to leave me.

These words are meant to soothe and heal, but they often fall shallow and empty on hurting hearts. Why? Not simply because they are tidy explanations for the confusing mess of tragedy, explanations that don’t ever feel very satisfying in the midst of great grief; but also because these words are resisting or attempting to eliminate the deep pain of sorrow. In our grief, we often don’t need encouragement, or simple answers, and we don’t need to feel “happy” right away; what we need is the open-hearted presence of another and the unspoken assurance that the pain we feel and the confusion we experience have room to find expression. In grief, we need to know that our pain and confusion do not make us unacceptable or unworthy of love. The greatest gift in grief is the permission, the space, and the support to feel what we are really feeling; and to say it honestly in the company of others.

The problem is we as people who care for those who grieve, we have a hard time being with people in their pain; we have a hard time letting them weep, or letting them complain; the wreckage of bitter words unsettles us; so we search for words that will help them figure it all out in their head or that will alleviate their terrible suffering. With our words we stop paying attention to the grief of another and speak out of our own insecurity or discomfort. The path of silent listening and compassionate presence before the pain of another; the path of letting the one who grieves scream, shout, and seek out God on their own; and the revelation that such bitterness and lament is not what we should avoid; but rather, that it may be the very birthplace of hope.

Job did not feel God’s presence. But God had not abandoned Job. God was there as Job screamed and complained. And unlike Job’s friends, God let Job’s words land with all their force.

God makes room for our lament, because God knows when we form words, however bitter, angry, sad or confused; we give birth to hope, if only just a little.

Does God want me to be blessed?

** This is part 6 of my series on Christian cliches. They’re meant for good but end up doing more harm in the long run**

The word for blessed is a great word, ( Μακάριος or makarios) it means more than just happiness. It carries with it an idea of happiness, but also something much more. It means “Great news! God’s best is in store for you!” You have God’s blessing, His approval, His love. You are blessed. This is something more than the “happiness” that we talked about last week.

So who is blessed? If you asked someone if they are blessed they might say, “God has blessed me with:

a new house
a car
a new job!
I got a raise! I’m blessed!
I’m blessed with good health!

These can certainly be blessings from God, this isn’t exactly what God means when he says He wants to bless us. If you read the Sermon on the Mount you will see that it begins with a series of “Blessed-s”. Who does God called Blessed in this?

Blessed are the poor in spirit
Blessed are those who mourn
Blessed are the meek
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
Blessed are the merciful
Blessed are the pure in heart
Blessed are the peacemakers
Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness…

No one would look at the people on that list and say these people were “blessed,” who were “more than happy” but Jesus says that everyone of them are to consider themselves blessed. Why? Because He was opening the door for them to come into His Kingdom. People that are often mocked for being meek, poor, pure, persecuted because they want to do what is right, He was receiving them. The thing that made them most despised by others will be what brings their blessing!

Each point of blessing comes with responsibility. Maybe God has blessed you with a raise at work, and he is asking you not to use it on yourself but to support something He is doing. Maybe He blesses you with a mostly-conflict-free family life and He wants you to invite others in who aren’t so lucky. Maybe He blesses us with a big house and we have the opportunity to use it to invite others in to building deeper relationships. God blesses us so that we can fulfill His mission in this world…We get to enjoy what He has given us, but it also comes with responsibility.

Many other things can also be a blessing. Maybe you lose a job, and discover that you have been neglecting your family in order to get ahead in your previous occupation or you lose your job and discover the career you never imagined you could have. Maybe a sickness brings some clarity to your life. You know that person that is always go and then they become sick and can’t get out of bed for a couple of days. They get that much needed rest, they get to spend some time alone. When these things happen a lot of the junk that is floating around in your life suddenly becomes NOT important and you can see the things that matter, it brings some clarity.

In the end what we call a blessing may actually be a curse and many of the things that we complain about as hardships may be a blessing. Does God want you to be blessed? Yes, but He wants to define it.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/9796056]

God wants me to be happy… right?

** This is part 5 of my series on Christian cliches. They’re meant for good but end up doing more harm in the long run**

This just sounds so good, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t want to be happy. I want to be happy! If we are not careful there is a great deal of danger in this belief. It is subtle, but seductive. When we believe that God’s purpose for us is that we be happy we end up having God serve us rather than us serving God. We quickly jump on God if I am not happy, because God has failed to do what he “promised”. If we are becoming what God desires of us then the ultimate goal of our lives with God is not that we are happy, but that God is worshiped and His will is accomplished in and through us.

What I don’t want you to hear is that God wants us to be miserable or doesn’t care about our happiness at all. I am not saying that at all. God the Father delights in us and in our happiness, but our happiness is not the goal. Sometimes, in order to accomplish what needs to happen in our lives we need to be kept from happiness (let that one sink in a little).

One of God’s purpose is to form a Christlike character in each one of us, and when sin creeps in He knows it will derail us from developing that Christlike Character. Our goal as Jesus’ followers is not happiness, it is holiness and if we are not careful our desire for happiness, our desire to be comfortable, our desire that nothing bad happen will interfere and subvert with God’s desire to build His holy character in us.

Additionally, happiness is a temporary emotional state based on circumstances. When things are good, we are happy and when things are bad, we are not happy. Don’t believe me, just watch Facebook status updates or check you Tweets. One minute the person is having a good day and they are happy, the next someone has said something to them and they are not happy. Then they are happy again. The emotional cycle never ends. When times are good Be Happy! Enjoy it. Party like it’s 199…um…2999 (darn you PRINCE!). Christians should know how to have a good time, how to rejoice in the good times. We should be some of the best people at knowing how to celebrate the good times. We need better Christian parties but that’s for a different post.

God isn’t in the business of making us happy, He is looking to make us holy, to develop Christlikeness in us, to impart true joy, to bless us! It would be a lie to say that if we begin following God that everything is going to go well for us. All our sicknesses will be healed. We will have more than enough money. We will be happy. We will never struggle. In many ways, I wish I could say that, but it just isn’t true. God is doing something bigger in us than making us happy. He’s bringing Himself glory and subsequently joy to us.

**Over the next few weeks I would love to address other Christian cliches, if there are some that you’ve wondered about please let me know in the comments below and I will try to address them in the upcoming weeks.**

Listen to your heart?

** This is part 4 of my series on Christian cliches. They’re meant for good but end up doing more harm in the long run**

I know the question sounds counter intuitive in a culture where many motivational gurus and life coaches are saying,

“Above all things trust your heart.”

while the Bible says,

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” – Jeremiah 17:9

Who is right?

The problem with listening to your heart is we are forgetting that you are your own worst enemy. You have within you a voice that is dearer than the voice of God or any angel or man. This voice can comfort and convince you against any teaching or warning. This voice is with you twenty-four hours a day, and it always tells you what you want to hear and what to believe. It helps you make most decisions and if you continually listen to it you are a fool and will be led down a horrible path.

Your heart has a strong opinion on any and every subject, whether you know anything about said subject or not. Your heart reacts in an instant against criticism or reproofs, and it controls you with passionate desire for something it wants. Your heart can lull you to sleep about matters it says are unimportant, and it can keep you from sleeping out of envy or hate. It is your internal set of desires and needs that affects your decision-making. This is not your conscience it is your anti-conscience. It is not the Holy Spirit but the antithesis of it, please do not get them confused. Unfortunately this is the set of passions that drives most men and women.

Do what your heart tells you is a creed believed by millions today. It is one of the great cultural myths of the Western world, a gospel proclaimed in many movies and songs and television programs and stories. We have to have a higher standard of authority than our heart, a higher standard of authority than mere opinion, and that is the Word of God.

Instead of trying to accommodate the Word of God to our changing culture, we need to accommodate our culture to the unchanging Word of God.

God helps those who help themselves?

** This is part 3 of my series on Christian cliches. They’re meant for good but end up doing more harm in the long run**

God helps those who help themselves?

Does He?

Really?

As you can see in this video, Stephen Colbert takes Bill O’Reilly to task for wrongly attributing this [sad] cliche (amongst other things) to Jesus, yet he is not alone. In February of 2000 George Barna did a poll asking if “The Bible teaches that God helps those who help themselves” and the results were eye-opening:

53% of Americans agree strongly [that is could be found in the Bible]
22% agree somewhat
7% disagree somewhat
14% disagree strongly
5% stated they don’t know

Of “born-again” Christians 68% agreed, and 81% of non “born-again” Christians agreed with the statement. Despite being of non-Biblical origin, the phrase topped a poll of the most widely known Bible verses. Seventy-five percent (75%) of American teens said they believed that it was the central message of the Bible.

The problem with this belief is that is directly conflicts with the Bible’s view of God’s kindness towards people, none of whom deserve it – “grace”. It suggests a spiritual self-reliance inconsistent with the God of the Bible. The essence of this cliche is that if you work hard and take care of your own business, God will intervene where necessary. In other words, do your job and God will do his. While we have responsibilities as those who bear the image of God, God is NOT OBLIGATED to intervene in our lives or act in prescribed ways, simply because we did our part. God does not owe us….anything! He is not in our debt; we are in His.

Let me be clear – THIS IS NOT IN SCRIPTURE. People treat it like it is, but it’s not. Benjamin Franklin penned this in the Farmers’ Almanac in 1757 and it can be found from other non biblical sources even earlier. God does not help those who can help themselves, simply because no one can help do so. We cannot save ourselves from our bondage to sin, nor from the wrath of God, so He does. Our own power fails us when we rely on it, rather than God. To believe that God helps those who help themselves, is not only foolish, but it’s proud. Pride motivates the belief that we can do everything by our own gusto and go-to attitude. That we can pick ourselves up by our spiritual & moral bootstraps, but, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”. This is hard for us here in the U.S. but we must learn to work through God’s grace and not our own works.

Dodging bullets in KC

God needed another angel in heaven?

Does God want me to be blessed?

God wants me to be happy… right?

Listen to your heart?

God helps those who help themselves?

Soma Community Church

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