The Pain of the Mundane

I have recently been wondering about life, relationships, and family. Without going into much detail, many close friends in my life have been struggling with their faith and their marriage. Some say that they can’t quite pinpoint what the problem is, and others feel as though they know exactly what they problem is, but they just don’t know how to fix it. Why is it that our relationships begin to crumble? Why is it that struggling with these relationships and struggling in our relationship with God, typically go hand-in-hand?

I wonder if we haven’t created this problem out of our mundane routines and habits. Let me explain. Before you read the next sentence, let us just agree that there are always exceptions, but generally, this is too true. I believe that if you walked into most any Church of Christ in the country on any given Sunday, you would experience pretty much the exact same order of worship. If you are a member of the Church of Christ, you know what I mean…Welcome; Songs; Communion; Songs; Sermon; Invitation. The format is completely predictable. I wonder, though, if it is so predictable that it has actually become detrimental to our spiritual vitality.

Have you ever heard anyone say, “I have driven this road day in and day out for the last _____ (you insert the number) years, I could drive it with my eyes closed.” Or maybe you have heard this one, “I have done ________ (you insert the task) so many times, I could do it in my sleep.” Routines and habits can be helpful in some cases, but I am beginning to seriously question if they are not actually more harmful. I experience the same worship format week in and week out. I look around at all of the faces and I see zombie-like expressions. By the facial expressions, or lack thereof, I see people that are there because they feel that they have to be, or know that they need to be, but they are certainly not engaged. I look out while we are worshipping, and I notice that only about 30-40% of the congregation is actually participating. That means 60-70% of our people are not even engaged in the worship. Have we done church the same way for so long that we have arrived at the point where we can “do it in our sleep” or “with our eyes closed?”

Sadly, I believe that is exactly what is happening. I am afraid that many of us have lost our spiritual fervor for God. I fear that worship has become mundane and boring for many in our fellowship. I believe that it has become so predictable and unexciting that we literally sleep through worship. Time and time again I hear people who are not engaged in worship admit that they are not reading their Bibles or praying to God on a regular basis. If they are not growing with God on their own, and they are not growing with God through worship, when and how are they growing at all? And, if they are not growing in their relationship with God, how do they expect to grow in any other relationship in their lives, marital or cordial? The moment we begin to struggle in our relationship with God, that is the moment Satan steps in and takes the opportunity to break down other aspects of our lives; jobs, finances, and of course, marital relationships. The more pieces he can destroy, the more doubt he creates in our hearts and minds about God, and he in turn expands his power in this world. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

I wish we could “liven” up worship. I wish we could “shake” things up. However, when a worship leader finally gets the courage to “change” things up a bit, he usually gets his feet held to the fire. People typically don’t like things that make them feel uncomfortable. And we usually keep the uncomfortable ones “happy” because they are usually the loudest. I wonder though…

What if we started worship by taking the fellowship meal together?
Although we like to act like it is, the Lord’s Supper is not a funeral. Jesus asked his disciples to practice it in remembrance of him. In remembrance of what, exactly? Just his death! Maybe that too is part of our problem. We take it every week, focusing only on his death. We need to be reminded, I guess, that three days later he rose from that grave. He is alive! We eat and drink in honor of the “good news”; the death, burial, AND the resurrection. Wouldn’t it be great if we started one Sunday with the Communion, and didn’t tell anyone? That might surely shake things out of the mundane.

What if we started the worship service one Sunday with the sermon?
There is a slight possibility that if we were reminded about the grace of God, how much he loves us, and the extent to which he proved that love, it might actually improve the quality of the worship if it followed the sermon. Also, what if someone in the crowd heard the sermon, responded in baptism, and then was able to share in the Communion feast with the entire congregation? That too might also serve to “liven” up the worship that would follow as the whole church worships God in “celebration” of a redeemed brother and/or sister in Christ. The congregation as a whole might develop a whole new appreciation for worship, and a new love and respect for God.

At the risk of sounding overly critical…What we have been doing doesn’t seem to be significantly or spiritually forming. If that is true, then why are we so afraid to try something different? Meanwhile, we sit and wallow in our reluctance and watch our friends and families crumble around us because they know God, but do not truly love him.

Be a Good Ship

“A ship in harbor is a safe ship, but that is not what ships are for. Be a good ship.”
- Secretary of the Navy to Annapolis Midshipmen

Battleships are built for battle. What good is it to spend all of that time, money, and energy outfitting a battleship if it was never intended to join the battle? Battleships dock long enough to get refueled, re-armed, and re-stocked so that they can do what they were intended to do. Battleships were not built to sit in the harbor.

You and I are God’s vessels in the wide open seas of worldliness, materialism, selfishness, and anti-spiritualism. In some ways, you could call us God’s battleships. In other ways, you might call us God’s rescue boats. Either way, we were not equipped to sit in harbor. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19, 20) We do not come to harbor (worship) to escape the world, but to get refueled, re-armed, and re-stocked so that we may re-enter it. We are meant to navigate and patrol the seas; watching for the enemy and rescuing those that are lost and abandoned by the world. We are battleships, meant to engage the enemy (Satan); “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Eph. 6:11)

There are those that live under the false impression that sitting in harbor protects them from the enemy. I believe that history has proven that this is not necessarily the case. I truly hope that we do not live under the same false notions in our spiritual lives. We sometimes come to believe that coming to worship and refusing to engage the culture around us will protect us from adversity and spiritual warfare. That is simply not true! Satan can and will attack us wherever we are most vulnerable; in our selfish and worldly desires or in our quite and seemingly humble religiosity. The truth is, the longer we just “sit” in the harbor, the more vulnerable we become. In port, we relax and drop our defenses. Subconsciously, we believe this is the “safe” place to be. The smart, strategic enemy will attack his opponent when he is most vulnerable. And believe me, Satan is a smart adversary. When we are navigating the open seas, our defenses are up and we are alert! We should be patrolling, looking for those moments when Satan drops his defenses. We should engage!

IF we were meant to engage the culture, why does it so often seem that we shy away from doing so? It seems that many of us come in, attend a Bible class, sit through worship (notice I didn’t say participate in worship), and go home. Are we afraid? Are we apathetic? The church is not something we are supposed to go to. No! The church is something we are supposed to be! We are God’s vessels, God’s battleships. You can’t captain a ship when the crew is hiding below deck.

Be a good ship!

Unspiritual Religion

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

- Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)

By definition, the Pharisee is the most religious of the two mentioned. He is the one that not only follows the law, but even chooses to go beyond what the law requires. He kept to the daily practice of prayer, the weekly practice of fasting, and he gave the Lord the first ten percent of everything he acquired. How often do we approach our religion with the same attitude? Let’s go through the checklist…___attended Bible class; ___attended worship; ___took communion; ___gave my 10%; ___attended small group; ___attended Wednesday night; ___daily Bible reading; ___daily prayer. I must be a good and faithful Christian, right? In many ways, all of us aspire to achieve such dedication and devotion to God. However, Jesus implied that the Pharisee’s prayer was not heard. He, unlike the tax collector, did not leave the temple justified before God. Why? What makes the tax collector so much different than the Pharisee in this case?

The attitude of the heart; an attitude of gratitude. The Pharisee may have longed to honor God with such strict adherence to these religious practices, but he failed to honor God with his heart. The purpose of these disciplines is freedom. “Our goal is the freedom, not the discipline. The moment we make the Discipline our central focus, we turn it into law and lose the corresponding freedom.” (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, p. 110) Such was the problem with the Pharisees. Instead of experiencing freedom, they had become enslaved by their own self-righteousness. To the Pharisee, salvation is not the surrender of your heart to God, but complete surrender to the laws of God. They had become so focused on themselves that they could not even see God right before their very eyes. Jesus scolded them in Matthew 15:7-8, “You hypocrites (Pharisees)! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’”

The tax collector had no credentials. As far as his society was concerned, he was the scum of the earth. As far as God was concerned, he was a model student of the faith. He probably wasn’t tithing. He probably wasn’t fasting. He probably took more than he should have from those he met that day. However, he approached God humble, broken, and penitent. The only achievement he acknowledged was his failure to honor God with his life. He had but one request, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Father, forgive me for acting religious. Humble me and help me see that you are the focus of my faith, my worship, and my life. Destroy any arrogance and pride I may be tempted to display. Help me read, pray, fast, and tithe so that I may be liberated by your wonderful mercy and amazing grace. God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

You may have given your heart to your spouse, your children, your job, or even your religion; but, have you given your heart to God?

"Merry Christmas"

Christmas Day is quickly approaching! I love the Christmas holidays…cold weather, snow (sometimes), lights, music, trees, and yes, presents. Who doesn’t like presents? I have gotten some really great gifts for Christmas in the years past. I can remember my first bike. It was a blue frame Huffy bike with yellow rims. I can even remember my first stereo. It was a Sony with a double tape deck, and it had detachable speakers. As we are all swamped with gifts, shopping, family, and friends, I want us to remember the real reason that we celebrate Christmas.

Micah 5:2-5a
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past. 3 The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the time when the woman in labor gives birth to her son. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land. 4 And he will stand to lead his flock with the LORD's strength, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored all around the world. 5 And he will be the source of our peace.
(New Living Translation)

Micah was a prophet whose prophesies promised both judgment and deliverance for Israel. In earlier chapters he tells Israel that God will bring punishment upon them because they do not honor God in their heart or with their life. God does not even accept their sacrifices anymore! Then, you have this passage. Here, when things seem so dark and hopeless, Micah gives the nation of Israel a little ray of hope to hold on to. God’s kingdom will not completely pass away, but will actually reach newer and greater heights through the coming Messiah. This Messiah will be born in a small town called Bethlehem. We see the fulfillment of this prophecy in Matthew 1 and Luke 2. The birth of Christ renewed the hope of Israel and restored life and vitality to the people of God. Through Jesus Christ, we too live with an unfailing hope in our eternal future with our Lord God.

Jesus truly is the greatest gift that we have ever received. My mom used to always tell me that Christmas is more about giving than receiving. I never understood why moms and dads would torture kids with that great little one-liner. Until now! Now, I have my own kids and I find myself saying the same thing. But today, on this blog, it is about what you have received. I want to hear from you. Take a moment and share with me (aside from Christ), “What is one of the greatest gifts you have ever received?” I’ll start…

Even though it was December 28th, one of the greatest gifts I have ever received was my wife. We will be married eleven years this year, and she truly is my best friend. I have never met anyone with such a patient, caring, and self-sacrificing attitude. She has put up with so much due to my little “quirks” and “inconsistencies.” Why she continues to put up with me I will never know. But I am, and will be, forever grateful that she said, “Yes,” and that she continues to help me grow into the husband and father that I long to be. (I can write all of this about her because she doesn’t read this blog!)

Your turn! “What is one of the greatest gifts you have ever received?” Blessings…

Spill the Beans

Confession. Boy, has that word begun to hold some negative connotations. The accused, a lawyer, a couple of police officers, a legal pad, and a pen all sitting in a room around a little bitty table trying to uncover the truth. Here confession is the admission of guilt and the beginning of indictment. In this context we understand confession to mean that one realizes he or she is left with no other alternative. They have been caught “with their hand in the cookie jar” and all of the evidence is stacked against them. At this point, the best thing for them to do is admit their guilt and beg for mercy.

“He confessed!” When you hear words like that you begin to think that some ugly, guilty, despicable person has finally been caught and will soon get what they have coming to them (justice). When you put it that way, no wonder we think so negatively about confession. But that is what the world, and worldly values, tend to do to some very healthy and beautiful components of Christianity.

Confession was actually meant to be a good thing; one broken sinner, standing before a forgiving Father, pouring out his heart begging for mercy. Here confession is the admission of imperfection and the beginning of absolution. In this context, we understand confession to mean that one realizes he or she is only human. We are not perfect! No matter how hard we try, we are going to find ourselves in those moments when we fail. At this point, the best thing for us to do is acknowledge our imperfections and beg for mercy.

Think about these two very different views. Christians have even been guilty of leaning on the more negative view. There are so many people in our churches today that are hurting, deeply hurting, but no one is going to know it because they are not going to tell. They will not “confess” because they are afraid of judgment and embarrassment. We do not usually know that anyone has a drinking problem until they have hurt themselves or someone else. We do not usually know that someone has financial problems until they file for bankruptcy. We do not usually know that someone has marriage problems until they file for divorce. How did we come to the point that people feel so guilty about their “issues” that they feel too ashamed and embarrassed to ask for help? I wish we could all just come right out and say that struggling with temptation is normal…struggling with finances is normal…struggling with marriage is normal…there is no shame in that!

I wonder if it is possible for us to restore the beautiful, positive connotation of “confession?” I like the way that Webster defines confession. Confession is ‘a disclosure of one’s sins in the sacrament of reconciliation.’ Confession is the beginning of reconciliation. We cannot be truly restored until we “spill the beans.” Disclosure is a scary word for some. I looked that up too! The first definition I found listed was, ‘to open up.’ Just open yourself up to God and watch the healing begin.

Take a look at these words from David in Psalm 32, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Do you hear that? When we keep silent about sin, struggle, in our lives it eats us away from the inside out. Our silence saps our energy. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people struggling with sin say, “I just can’t go on. I am just too tired.” Huh, I wonder why? When we bare our soul before the Lord (when we hide ‘nothing’), David says that is when we find forgiveness. I want you to notice though that David points out something really interesting here! We are not only forgiven of our sin, but we are also forgiven the guilt of our sin. Whew! Not only can I let go of that ugly thing in my past, but I do not have to carry around the worry that goes along with it.

May we all find the courage to practice “confession” and practice it regularly. We need to admit that we are human, fallible, and imperfect. We need to quit pretending, in our moments of absolute weakness, that we are strong enough to conquer sin and its guilt on our own. Find comfort and inspiration in David’s very real experience. Whatever it is that is eating you away from the inside, let it go. Give it over to the Lord! I said earlier that Christian confession is a broken sinner, standing before a forgiving Father, pouring out his heart and begging for mercy. The cool part is we beg for mercy, but the forgiving Father grants us GRACE! Experience true relief, true grace, and true forgiveness; “SPILL THE BEANS.” Blessings…

"Four Weddings and a Funeral"...A Look Back

Wow! What a year! I really don’t know what else to say. It hasn’t been terrible. It hasn’t been burdensome. It has just been wild. I have actually grown a lot throughout the last year. When someone goes through a whole lot of change in a short amount of time, I have heard it said that they have been “baptized by fire.” Let me tell ya, it has been hot! Good!...but HOT! I have learned so much about myself this year. As I look back, I am and will be eternally grateful for the challenges that the Lord has presented me with over this last year. Within this last year, I have seen a lot, experienced a lot, and taken a lot. I like to call this last year in review, “four weddings and a funeral.”

Within this last year, I have taken on a massive amount of preaching responsibilities. You know that old saying, “Be careful what you pray for…you just might get it!?” Well, I have been itching to preach, and buddy, have I had ample opportunity. It has been fun, too! Our last preacher has accepted the call to plant a church in a growing community just to the north. While our church began the search for our next pulpit minister, I opened my mouth and told my elders I would like a crack at this preaching thing. I have certainly enjoyed the time in study, reflection, and prayer as I prepared for each sermon. I have preached more in the last 12 months than I have in my last eight years of ministry. Exciting, huh! I feel that God and I have developed a much closer relationship in these last 12 months.

To add to the excitement, I have actually done “four weddings and a funeral.” I have had the privilege of performing the first wedding ceremony of one of the kids that grew up in my youth ministry. Let me just tell you, it is one thing to watch them grow up for six years in your ministry; but, it is something else entirely when one of them calls one day and tells you they would be honored if you would perform their wedding. They would be honored?! Man, it was so cool to be able to perform their wedding and participate in such a special day. I was able to cap the year with three more weddings for some who were members of our church, and some who just had past ties to our church. For one, I actually got the honors of performing a wedding for one of my past youth ministry interns.

The funeral was very humbling. Have you ever wondered why God places you in certain situations when he does? Well, this funeral was one of those moments. When this family called and asked for me, I kept asking myself, “Why me?” I really didn’t know them. They really didn’t “know” me. They had seen me upfront regularly because I work for the church, but we did not have a deep relationship with one another. After I had the opportunity of meeting this family, God began to reveal to me why he was asking me to do this funeral. As I began to visit more and more with the family, I began to realize that this man was so much like my granddaddy. As I said before, I really didn’t know this family all that well. However, the more and more I listened to them talk about him, share stories about him, and remember him, the more I saw my granddaddy sitting beside me in the room. When I began to put my thoughts down on paper for the funeral, it became very apparent to me what I was going to say. And going into this experience I was terrified because it was my first funeral. I believe the Lord knew what he was doing.

So there it is…my year in review. It may not be very exciting to you, but it was a ride for me. There is so much more I could tell you, but these are the most exciting highlights. What has the Lord done for you this year? What were some of your most exciting moments? What were some of your most terrifying? Somebody be brave and start the sharing! Blessings…

"Confidence in Solitude"

Greetings! I trust that all of you had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday. It was sure wonderful spending time with my family.

Well…I have been involved in a very fulfilling study with my HomeTeam. We have been studying through Richard Foster’s, Celebration of Discipline. Each week we are taking a look at another one of the spiritual disciplines in the life of a disciple of Christ. This last week we studied about the discipline of “solitude.” While in this study, Foster led us to an interesting verse in Isaiah the 30th chapter, and then he followed that with an interesting question. I wanted to share the verse and question with you, as well as some of my insights as I have struggled to answer this question.

Here is the verse from Isaiah 30:15 (New Living Translation)…

“The Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says, ‘Only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.’”

Foster asks the question, “How does solitude produce confidence?” I have really wrestled with my answer to this question. This morning as I was having some solitude, I believe the Lord began to reveal to me an answer (Ironic? I think not!) Solitude is what I like to call “God Time.” There are no other distractions. For 30, 45, or 60 minutes (you choose), it is just you and your heavenly Father…Sovereign Lord…the Holy One of Israel. Solitude doesn’t mean silence! Solitude simply means that you are controlling the environment around you to maximize your time with your heavenly Father. For you, worship music in the background may help you make the most of your time with God. For you, singing some worship songs may help you maximize your time alone with God. For you, maybe complete silence and solitude go hand in hand. Maybe, just maybe, the quieter it is, the more fulfilled you become in your time alone with God.

At any rate, as we practice the discipline of solitude, we pause to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and hear the voice of God. It is here in this solitude that our relationship with God is deepened, and the deeper we go, the more confident we become. Why? Well, I liken it to the confidence of a young boy around his Father. I consider my son a brave young lad for sure, but it is amazing to see just how brave he becomes when dad is standing by his side watching. All of a sudden, that ball is not so hard to kick…that ball is not so hard to hit…that height is not so high after all…and that water isn’t so deep after all. For him, it is almost as if he is saying, “With my dad here, I can do anything?”

For me, that is how I see solitude building confidence in the believer. As we spend more time in solitude, as our relationship with our Father grows deeper, as we feel him getting closer, we become amazingly more confident in our faith and life. All of a sudden, that darkness isn’t so dark after all…that mountain isn’t so hard to climb…that gift isn’t so hard to give…that enemy isn’t so hard to love…and that gospel is all of a sudden so much easier to share.

My encouragement for you this week, friends, is to discipline yourself to make time in your day for the discipline of solitude. Go off somewhere! Sit in a chair in your backyard. Take a walk in your local park. Drive out to the lake. Whatever you need to do, just spend about thirty minutes to an hour in solitude with the Sovereign Lord. Listen for his voice. Drink in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Get to know the Holy One of Israel for Jesus himself has said…

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
- John 17:3 (NIV)

As you grow deeper and deeper in your relationship with Almighty God, may he inspire you with the confidence that moves mountains. Blessings…