Do I want Jesus OR a Genie in a bottle?

Recently, I was heading out the door to go and meet with a friend of mine or coffee. As I was getting ready to leave the house my daughter came running up to me, hugged my neck, looked up at me and smiled & said, “Daddy!”

So…what did I do? I did what ANY dad would have done at that point…I stopped in my tracks, picked her up and gave her a big hug! It felt so wonderful to receive attention from my child and I REALLY was enjoying that moment…

Until…

She looked at my sunglasses on my face & said, “ooooooh” and reached for it.

Let me explain…

A few days earlier we had been shopping when i bought them and she was enamored with them them. Additionally she had been wearing them around the house and playing with them (even after i asked her to stop) all morning long. She walked around the house with it…and even tried to put it on her head, like daddy. When it was time to leave I took it from her and told her I had to go and that is when she ran after me and began to give me attention.

You see her attention and affection was not because she wanted to be close to me but because of what I had that she wanted. As I sat there thinking about this for a second God spoke to my heart and said, “This is the way you treat the Gospel many times!”

I am so guilty of times in my past where I prayed like crazy, raised my hands in worship, made HUGE promises and so on but NOT because I was in awe of who He is, but rather I wanted something from Him and falsly assumed that if I did the right things and gave Him enough attention that He would finally break and fulfill my selfish desires. THAT IS RELIGION! THAT IS REPUGNANT!

God knows my heart! He knows my mind! He knows my motives and He will not be tricked or deceived by empty worship.

One of the things I’ve been continually praying over the past year or so is for Jesus to continually make my motives pure and if there is ANYTHING in me that is not of Him to help me see it and get it out of my life. It’s not the easiest process to go through but it’s been incredibly liberating!

At the end of the day I am praying that I will not want what I think Jesus can give me…but simply just want Jesus! It’s a battle and I think there will always be a struggle to try and manipulate Him but it simply cannot be done.

So how about you? Are you pursuing Jesus, OR are you just after you believe He can give you? Just something to think about today! I wish I were an expert on this, but I am struggling just like most of you are. However, in His grace, mercy and patience He is blowing my mind as I work through this. I hope you will work through this as well!

Gospel – Centered Life

This summer we will talk a lot about being Gospel-centered as a church and/or community, and I really want to encourage Gospel-centered living amongst the people in our class. From time to time you will we get asked by our newcomers, “What exactly does that mean? What does it look like?” Here is a brief explanation.

The Gospel

Before we jump into gospel-centeredness we need to be clear about the gospel itself. In the simplest of terms the gospel is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that accomplishes redemption and restoration for all who believe and all of creation. In the simplest way I can state this is the gospel, the “good news,” that God redeems a fallen world by his grace.

Gospel-Centered

Therefore, to be gospel-centered means that that the gospel – and Jesus himself – is our greatest hope and boast, our deepest longing and joy, and our most passionate song and message. It means that the gospel is what defines us as Christians (Gospel Identity), unites us as brothers and sisters (Gospel Community), changes us as sinner/saints and sends us as God’s people on mission (Gospel Practice). When we are gospel-centered the gospel is exalted above every other good thing in our lives and triumphs over every bad thing set against it. I essentially serves as the only filter by which we view the world in which we interact.

More specifically, the gospel-centered life is a life where a Christian experiences a growing personal reliance on the gospel that protects him from depending on his own religious performance and being seduced and overwhelmed by idols. This summer my want and prayer for each of you is that we become gospel-centered and that the subsequent life produces:

Confidence
When the gospel is central in our lives we have confidence before God – not because of our achievements, but because of Christ’s atonement. We can approach God knowing that he receives us as his children. We do not allow our sins to anchor us to guilt and despair, but their very presence in our lives compels us to flee again and again to Christ for grace that restores our spirits and gives us strength.

Intimacy
When the gospel is central in our lives we have and maintain intimacy with God, not because of our religious performance, but because of Jesus’ priestly ministry. We know that Jesus is our mediator with God the Father and that he has made perfect peace for us through his sacrifice allowing us to draw near to God with the eager expectation of receiving grace, not judgment.

Transformation
When the gospel is central in our lives we experience spiritual transformation, not just moral improvement, and this change does not come about by our willpower, but by the power of the resurrection. Our hope for becoming what God designed and desires for us is not trying harder, but trusting more – relying on his truth and Spirit to sanctify us.

Community
When the gospel is central in our lives we long for and discover unity with other believers in the local church, not because of any cultural commonality, but because of our common faith and Savior. It is within this covenant community, if the community itself is gospel-centered, that we experience the kind of fellowship that comforts the afflicted, corrects the wayward, strengthens the weak, and encourages the disheartened.

In Galatians, Paul lays down a powerful principle. He deals with Peter’s racial pride and cowardice by declaring that he was not living “in line with the truth of the gospel”. From this we see that the Christian life is a process of renewing every dimension of our life– spiritual, psychological, corporate, social–by thinking, hoping, and living out the “lines” or ramifications of the Gospel. The Gospel is to be applied to every area of thinking, feeling, relating, working, and behaving. The implications and applications of this idea are vast and deep and I pray that they change us throughout this summer.

A rebuttal to “Five Reasons I Hate Telling People I’m Christian”

Almost every day I work with people who have a past with or a strong aversion to Christianity. Many times the persons actions and words will completely change and they will quickly conform to what they think I would like for them to act like. It is very frustrating! On the other hand some people do not shape up but amplify their behavior in order to get under my skin, disgust me, or just offend me. I find this really funny! People are rarely just themselves when they find out what I want to do and this can be traced to our societies perception of Christians in general.

A while back I read a blog from a fellow blogger named John Smulo. He wrote a post entitled “Five Reasons I Hate Telling People I’m Christian”. As I read this simple post I was struck with this thought, I like his thought provoking post most times but this one I did not ( see what see said please check out his post here). So I wanted to spend some time giving my “Six Reasons I Love Telling People I’m Christian”

When I say, “I am a Christian,” I’m not shouting “I’ve been saved!”I’m whispering, “I was lost. That’s why I chose this way”
When I say, “I am a Christian,” I don’t speak with human pride I’m confessing that I stumble, and need Christ to be my guide.
When I say, “I am a Christian,” I’m not bragging of success I’m admitting that I’ve failed and cannot ever pay the debt.
When I say, “I am a Christian,” I don’t think I know it all I submit to my confusion asking humbly to be taught.
When I say, “I am a Christian,” I’m not claiming to be perfect My flaws are far too visible.
When I say, “I am a Christian,” I still feel the sting of pain I have my share of heartache which is why I seek His name.

Despite the all of the preconceived notions that coincide with the word “Christian” I truly believe that it is my job to represent the one who saved us. The first known usage of the term can be found in the New Testament, in Acts 11:26: “the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” The term was first used to denote those known or perceived to be disciples of Jesus Christ. In the two other New Testament uses of the word (Acts 26:28 and 1 Peter 4:16) it refers to the public identity of those who follow Jesus. I think that the word should be redefined and fought for by those of us who follow Christ. Because of my skin color many people have presuppositions on who I am and what I do/ sound like. It may not be fair but I refuse to accept those false assumptions as true, neither should we do that with Christ name. We need to live preaching the Gospel to ourselves and living it (through words and actions) to the Glory of God and for His praise.

This is just my opinion I could be wrong!

What do you think? Comment below…..

on Blast!

***Please take a second to [carefully] read this billboard***

A New Mexico man’s decision to lash out with a billboard ad saying his ex-girlfriend had an abortion against his wishes has touched off a legal debate over free speech and privacy rights.

The sign on Alamogordo‘s main thoroughfare shows 35-year-old Greg Fultz holding the outline of an infant. The text reads, “This Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!”

Fultz’s ex-girlfriend has taken him to court for harassment and violation of privacy. A domestic court official has recommended the billboard be removed. But Fultz’s attorney argues the order violates his clients free speech rights. “As distasteful and offensive as the sign may be to some, for over 200 years in this country the First Amendment protects distasteful and offensive speech,” Todd Holmes said.

The Supreme Court recently weighed in on the distasteful “Free Speech” of the Westboro [former] Baptist ~~Church~~ Cult and I want you to please respond to what the billboard says.

What do you think is he justified or is this wrong?

Where does your free speech end?

[Doin’ it] Again…

Many nights after I leave work I turn on Pandora and listen to some Neo-Soul on my way home. It is relaxing to me but sometimes the themes of the song catch my ear. Most songs pertain to relationships and one of my favortie artist John Legend has a history of talking about the side that isn’t as popular, cheating. The video below is one of those songs that caught my ear.

In the song Legend implies that their affair is going to end cause it’s wrong, but they eventually ended up in a relationship and now that they are together they can’t trust each other. The problem is they are addicted to each other so it’s hard, if not impossible, for them to walk away from each other. No matter how much they try to end the relationship.

Now, I want you to listen to the song carefully and replace “it” with whatever sin you struggle with. The reason I want you to do this is that this song seems to refer to all types of addictions:

mainly love
relationships
cheating
drama
sex
drugs
basically anything attractive and intoxicating that is potentially toxic.

Keep this in mind: The opposite of [the] worship [of God] is idolatry. Every human being—at every moment of their life, today and into eternity is unceasingly doing either the former or the latter.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtC0rcHkTxE]

Lyrics (if needed)

What are your thoughts after listing to this song?

Does this describe your relationship with [your] sin?

Thinking Theologically About Memorial Day

If you have ever spoken to me about the issue of patriotism & worship you know that I have struggled to find the balance between the two. So many times I feel we as Christ followers mix these and it in turn becomes damaging to our focus in worship. After reading this post I was both affirmed and challegned and pray that you are also. Pastor Kevin DeYoung tackels this subject in exceptional fashion. Please read:

This is post probably has something to make everyone unhappy. But here goes.

With Memorial Day on Monday (in the U.S.) and, no doubt, a number of patriotic services scheduled for this Sunday, I want to offer a few theses on patriotism and the church. Each of these points could be substantially expanded and beg more detailed defense and explanation, but since this is a blog and not a term paper, I’ll try to keep this under 1500 words.

1. Being a Christian does not remove ethnic and national identities.

In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free (Gal. 3:28), but this does not mean men cease to be male or Jews ceases to be Jewish. The worshiping throng gathered around the throne is not a bland mess of Esperanto Christians in matching khaki pants and white polos. God makes us one in Christ, but that oneness does not mean we can no longer recognize tribes, tongues, nations, and peoples in heaven. If you don’t have to renounce being an American in heaven, you shouldn’t have to pretend you aren’t one now.

2. Patriotism, like other earthly “prides,” can be a virtue or vice.

Most people love their families. Many people love their schools, their home, and their sports teams. All of these loves can be appropriate. In making us for himself, God did mean to eradicate all other loves. Instead he wants those loves to be purer and in right proportion to our ultimate Love. Adam and Eve should have loved the Garden. God didn’t intend for them to be so “spiritual” that they were blind to the goodness around them. In the same way, where there is good in our country or family it is right to have affection and display affection for those good things.

Of course, we can turn patriotism into an idol, just like family can be an idol. But being proud of your country (or proud to be an American or a Canadian or a Russian or whatever) is not inherently worse than being proud of your kids or proud to be a Smith or a Jones or a Dostoevsky. I find it strange that while it is fashionable to love your city, be proud of your city, and talk about transforming your city, it is, for some of the same people, quite gauche to love your country, be proud of your country, and talk about transforming your country.

3. Allegiance to God and allegiance to your country are not inherently incompatible.

Sometimes Christians talk like you should have no loyalty for your country, as if love for your country was always a bad thing. To be sure, this must never be ultimate loyalty. We must always obey God rather than men. But most Christians have understood the fifth commandment to be about honoring not only your parents but all those in authority over you.

Moreover, Jesus shows its possible to honor God and honor Caesar. This is especially clear if you know some of the Jewish history. The tax in question in Mark 12 is about the poll tax or census tax. It was first instituted in AD 6, not too many years before Jesus’ ministry. When it was established a man by the name of Judas of Galilee led a revolt. According to Josephus, “He called his fellow countrymen cowards for being willing to pay tribute to the Romans and for putting up with mortal masters in place of God.” Like the Zealots, he believed allegiance to God and allegiance to any earthly government were fundamentally incompatible. As far as they were concerned if God was your king, you couldn’t have an earthly king.

But Jesus completely disagreed. By telling the people to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” he was saying there are duties to government that do not infringe on your ultimate duty to God. It’s possible to honor lesser authorities in good conscience because they have been instituted by a greater authority.

If you read all that the New Testament says about governing authorities in places like Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2, you see that the normal situation is one of compatible loyalties. The church is not the state and the state is not God, but this does not mean the church must always be against the state. In general, then, it’s possible to be a good Christian and a good American, or a good Ghanaian or a good Korean. Patriotism is not bad. Singing your national anthem and getting choked up is not bad. Allegiance to God and allegiance to your country do not have to be at odds.

4. God’s people are not tied to any one nation.

When Jesus says “go ahead and give to Caesar what belongs to him” he is effectively saying, “you can support nations that do not formally worship the one true God.” Or to put it a different way: true religion is not bound with only one country. This means–as we see in Revelation 7 and Isaiah 49 and Psalm 87 and Matthew 28 and Acts 1and a hundred other places–the Church will be transcultural and transnational.

While American churches are in America, they must never be only American churches. We must keep in mind (and when applicable, explicitly state) that our congregations are filled with brothers and sisters from all over the world. Likewise, we must work hard to help people see that Christianity is not just a Western religion or American religion. Christianity started in the Middle East and quickly spread to North Africa, and parts of Asia and Europe. The Church was always meant to be international. Today there are more Anglicans in church in Nigeria than in England, more Presbyterians in South Korea than in the United States. The promise to Abraham way back in Genesis is that through his family God would bless the whole world. Christianity is not tied to just one certain nation. Following Christ is not an ethnic thing. You can be from any country and worship Jesus.

5. All this leads to one final point: while patriotism can be good, the church is not a good place for patriotism.

We should pray for service men and women in our congregations. We should pray for the President. We should pray for the just cause to triumph over the evil one. We are not moral relativists. We do not believe just because all people are sinners and all nations are sinful that no person or no nation can be more righteous or more wicked than another. God may be on America’s side in some (not all) her endeavors.

But please think twice before putting on a Star Spangled gala in church this Sunday. I love to hear the national anthem and “God Bless America” and “My Country, Tis of Thee,” but not in church where the nations gather to worship the King of all peoples. I love to see the presentation of colors and salute our veterans, but these would be better at the Memorial Day parade or during a time of remembrance at the cemetery. Earthly worship should reflect the on-going worship in heaven. And while there are many Americans singing glorious songs to Jesus there, they are not singing songs about the glories of America. We must hold to the traditions of the Apostles in our worship, not the traditions of American history. The church should not ask of her people what is not required in Scripture. So how can we ask the Koreans and Chinese and Mexicans and South Africans in our churches to pledge allegiance to a flag that is not theirs? Are we gathered under the banner of Christ or another banner? Is the church of Jesus Christ–our Jewish Lord and Savior–for those draped in the red, white, and blue or for those washed in the blood of the Lamb?

In some parts of the church, every hint of patriotism makes you a jingoistic idolater. You are allowed to love every country except your own. But in other parts of the church, true religion blends too comfortably into civil religion. You are allowed to worship in our services as long as you love America as much as we do. I don’t claim to have arrived at the golden mean, but I imagine many churches could stand to think more carefully about their theology of God and country. Churches should be glad to have their members celebrate Memorial Day with gusto this Monday. We should be less sanguine about celebrating it with pomp and circumstance on Sunday.

I would love to hear your thoughts below!

HT: Kevin Deyoung