Priority Confusion #2

Well, here we are for round two. I am going to try and keep this one short and simple. Let's discuss punctuality. Over the last several years of being a youth minister and now a preacher, I can assure you that this is not just a youth problem. As a matter of fact, I would say that kids are only modeling what they have learned from their parents. The adults are just as guilty, if not more.

On average, I would say that adults and teens are at least 15-20 minutes late to Bible class/church on Sunday and Wednesday. On Sunday mornings the most common excuse… "I just couldn't get up in time" or "I just couldn't get ready in time." Really? We start Sunday morning Bible class at 9:30am. Worship at 10:30am. The average student and adult must be to school and work by 8:00am. So, are we really trying to make the argument that we can be ready and to school and work by 8:00am 5-6 days a week, but we can't make to church on time; which starts an hour and a half later? Or, if it is just worship, two and half hours later?

No one wants to be late to work and face an upset or angry boss. No student wants to be tardy to school and face detention or possibly even Saturday school. But who cares if we show up late to church. God is merciful, forgiving, and gracious, right? God is not at all offended or hurt when we show up late on the day we have set aside to worship him.

I know, I know…you are thinking that I am too harsh, too blunt, or too personal. Well, I do take it personal; and not because I am a preacher. No, I take it personal that we would rather give more priority to our own personal lives than to our spiritual lives. It never ceases to amaze me when I watch so many give so little to their own spiritual growth and formation, then to seem so confused when their relationship with God is weak and their spiritual lives are in so much disarray.

Priority confusion…How would our churches change if we were hungry for God? What if we showed up early to pray with friends? What if we showed up early to greet guests? What if we showed up early, just because?

Priority Confusion #1

Okay, here is the first thought in a series of thoughts on priority toward our spiritual formation.

There are 24 hours in a day. 7 days in a week. So, there are 168 hours in a week. If we work an average 8 hours a day for 5 – 6 days per week, then we work on average 40-48 hours per week.

This leaves us with 120 – 128 hours. If we follow the recommended pattern for rest, then we get 8 hours of sleep per night. This leaves us with 64 – 72 hours for personal, family and/or leisure time.

For the purposes of this discussion, the average "dedicated" churchgoer attends church, or church related Bible studies, about 4 hours per week. 4 hours! Out of 64 – 72 hours, only 4 of those are devoted to church. Comparatively speaking, that is a very minimal amount of time to give to the one who created you, saved you, and loves you.

Okay, I am serious here. I recently received a complaint from a member of my church that the service was too long. Seriously!? On average, our Sunday morning worship runs about 1.5 hours. The member that complained, very seldom if ever comes to worship. Dare I say I can't even remember the last time I saw him/her in a Bible class. So, in short, out of a whopping 64 – 72 hours left over in his/her week, 1.5 hours was too much to devote to worshipping God. Is that asking too much, really?

Priorities…how can we ever expect to deepen our relationship with God if we can't even worship him for more than an hour per week!? The sad part…this isn't the first (nor will it be the last) time I have heard this complaint from a member of my church.

Change: I need it!

I realize that it has been quite some time since my last post on this site. I guess in many ways I have been struggling with whether or not the things I write mean anything to anyone but me. That is one of my greatest downfalls in life. I have for many years struggled so much with what others think of me. That little nugget of realization and confession has caused me more unnecessary grief than you can possibly imagine.

This blog is going to change. I have put myself under so much unnecessary stress in an effort to write "articles" that I believed people would be interested in reading. Only to find out, I am really not a good consistent writer. I am more of a random thinker. So, in that same spirit, I want to change "Tidbits for the Road". Who knows what will pop up on here? It may be a Scripture for the day, for the week...it may be a joke or a story...it may be a poem...it may be a video or audio clip...it may be an "article." Who knows? What I can assure is that I will only post it if I believe it has something to do with our spiritual journey as followers of Christ. You may enjoy reading it, and you may not. My prayer is that it will benefit those who read it in some way, form, or fashion.

With that being said, I am about to begin a series of posts (undetermined in number) entitled "Priority Confusion." I invite you to follow and read the series. I invite you to share your own thoughts and insights. Each one of these does affect our spiritual journey, so feel free to share your tidbits concerning the topics of discussion.

Deny Thyself

In Mark 8:31-33, Jesus informs his disciples that he is about to suffer many things, be rejected by the leaders of Israel, and be killed. After three days he will rise again. Peter, expecting the warrior Messianic King, does not like this news and he decides to pull Jesus off to the side and rebuke him. In turn, Jesus rebukes him in front of all of the disciples. Then Jesus has some interesting words for all who are thinking about following him…

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Jesus has just told them that he will give his life for the sake of the gospel. Now, he tells all who want to follow him that they must be ready to give their own lives for the sake of the gospel. “Deny ourselves”… our lives are not our own. If we, in an attempt to save ourselves, choose a life of comfort, ease, security… a life without risks… then we will ultimately lose our lives. However, if we are willing to sacrifice our lives for the gospel of Christ… living dangerously, courageously, and boldly… then we will ultimately live forever (immortality at its finest). Jesus’ message to those who would follow him, “Life without Jesus and the gospel… zero dollars. A life lived following Jesus for the sake of the gospel… priceless.” Erwin McManus nailed it when he described accepting the call to follow Jesus as living “the Barbarian Way.”

It is high time for us to step out of the comfort and complacency of our Sunday morning experience and truly live. We must stop waiting for people to take a risk and come to us. Jesus asked his followers to take the risk. Jesus asked those who would follow him to step out in faith. Jesus was crucified because he was seen as a threat to Jewish leadership of his day. His movement was making waves. People wanted to follow the way of Jesus rather than the ways of old. I have to ask myself, very convictingly, is the Christianity of today a threat to the leadership of today? Actually, the leadership of our world today is stomping out Christianity. Why? It is happening…slowly but surely. What are we as Christians going to do? Will we sit in our pews comfortably every Sunday and Wednesday offering our sacrifice of praise? Will we live our lives quietly minding our own business, afraid to disturb someone else with our Jesus? Will we continue to tell others that if they want Jesus they must come to us?

I often like to dream about how this world might change if we actually understood what Jesus meant when he said, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me (to death)”… parenthetical words are mine, of course. I am just as guilty. I sit in my office each week preparing for the next class or the next sermon. I realize that at the end of the day… I have risked absolutely nothing for Jesus or his gospel. What have you risked today?

I will close with these words from Thomas a Kempis… “Jesus has many who love his kingdom in heaven, but few who bear his cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share his feast, but few his fasting. All desire to rejoice with him, but few are willing to suffer for his sake. Many follow Jesus to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of his passion. Many admire his miracles, but few follow him in the humiliation of the cross.”

May the Lord grant me the strength and the courage to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow him. May I live dangerously for the sake of Christ and his gospel.

Perspective

I read something today that has really got me thinking. It spoke to me and wanted to share it with you. When I first read it, it made me kind of angry, defensive. I had to go back and re-read it several times. Then I had to put the book down and think on this for a while. I had to consider the possibilities. I had to put it into perspective. The more I thought, the blurriness of these words began to come into focus. The more perspective I gained on these words, the more I began to understand why they made me a bit defensive. These words convicted me. What about you? Take a look at these words taken from Rob Bell’s book, Velvet Elvis…

“The Bible is not pieces of information about God and Jesus and whatever else we take and apply to situations as we would a cookbook or an instruction manual.

And while I am at it, let’s make a group decision to drop once and for all the Bible-as-owner’s-manual metaphor. It’s terrible. It really is.

When was the last time you read the owner’s manual for your toaster? Do you find it remotely inspiring or meaningful?

You only refer to it when something’s wrong with your toaster. You use it to fix the problem, and then you put it away.” (p. 62)

If you are like me, you have used the owner’s manual metaphor when referring to the Bible. Surely I am not the only one that has told someone that God’s word is like an owner’s manual…instructions for living. While it is true that there are instructions for living within the Bible, think about what he is saying for a moment. As you are contemplating these few words, take note of the very next sentence he writes (p. 63)…

“We have to embrace the Bible as the wild, uncensored, passionate account it is of people experiencing the living God.”

Oh man, I am going to be praying with all that I am that these words convict me. The Bible is alive. It is inspiring. It is meaningful. This story (the Bible) is my story. As I read, may I experience the living God. As you read, may you experience the living God.

Blessings…

Crazy Love

Love…it is one of those words in our culture that we have devalued. In our world today, we toss that word around far too easily and carelessly. In our own selfishness and sinfulness, we have weakened the impact of love. I get confused today when I hear parents tell their children, “You don’t even know what love is.” Even though that may be true, I struggle with this because I believe there are many adults in our world today who do not even know what real love is. For many in our world today, love is such a relative term. We say “I love you,” so easily, but what we really mean is, “I love you as long as it is convenient for me.” When pain surfaces, when restlessness sets in, or when it just no longer feels right, then we believe we have the right to quit. We convince ourselves that we have the right to choose to love someone else.

That is not the way love was meant to work. Over 2000 years ago, love made is greatest move; love gave its greatest demonstration. Love as it was intended was defined by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That is love, “crazy love.” It is so simple and has become so common that I am afraid we are missing the total and awesome impact of what this verse it actually saying. The only reason we know what love is, the only reason we have a clue, is because we have seen it in Jesus Christ. This love is insane, foolish, and it turns our world upside down. This love is so crazy that the world cannot grasp it, does not understand it, and does not promote it. Unfortunately, I am afraid that even Christians are beginning to lose their grip on the impact of God’s crazy love. My prayer is that all followers of Christ, all over the world, will be re-enlightened to the crazy love of God. For us to once again appreciate the awesomeness that is God’s love, we must understand a few things.

First, may our hearts be enlightened to the crazy love of God. Check out these passages of Scripture (Romans 5:5-10; 8:35-39; Ephesians 3:17-19 look this one up in the New Living Translation if you have one available). At just the right time, while we were still sinners, enemies of God, Jesus Christ gave his life for us on the cross. That act was God’s greatest demonstration of his love. In Jesus’ death, God poured out his love into our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is “crazy” love. Paul explains that very rarely would anyone die for a righteous man. Some might even consider dying for a good man, someone they believe is worth their time. Who, though, in their right mind would die for a selfish, inconsiderate, and sinful, enemy? Jesus did! Paul also explains that if Jesus has gone through all of that for us, then we can be sure that there is nothing in this world, or even beyond this world, that can separate us from the love of God. In Ephesians, Paul prays that our roots would go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous, God’s crazy love. He prays that we might experience the love of God, even though it is so crazy that we will never fully understand it. As we begin to understand the crazy love of God, it will change the way we love God in return.

We should have a crazy love for God. As we come to understand that God’s love is undeniable, unconditional, and unchanging, how can we not love God back? Jesus said in Matthew 22:36, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind.” It is so simple that I cannot for the life of me figure out why we try to make it so complicated. Jesus didn’t ask for our time, money, possessions, or our position. He didn’t ask for those things because he knew that if he could get our hearts, our crazy love in return, he would get all of those other things as a by-product of our love. For God so loved the world…and all he wants is for the world to love him back. Here are a few simple questions to answer that will help determine if you have a crazy love for God. Who dictates your schedule? If you have a crazy love for God, you will use Sunday and Wednesday to schedule your other appointments instead of allowing your other appointments to dictate whether or not you are able to attend church. Who dictates the prioritizing of your time? If you have a crazy love for God, you will be early for worship rather than late; and it will not bother you if worship takes one hour or even two. With a crazy love for God, you will want to soak up every single minute worshipping the Lord and fellowshipping with his church. Who dictates your finances? If you have a crazy love for God, you will make absolutely sure that God gets the first fruits of your labor rather than the leftovers. As we receive God’s love and practice giving that love back, it will change the way that we love others.

We should have a crazy love like God’s. This is by far that most difficult for us to practice. It is much easier to love God sitting in the building and singing praises to him than it is to have God-like love in the world for every single human being. This is not a new problem. Take a look at these New Testament passages where even some of the first disciples of Christ were struggling with this same issue (Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 5:1-2; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; John 13:34-35). Jesus knew how difficult it was going to be for us to move ourselves aside and love others with the love of God. He indicated that in the second greatest commandment, “Love our neighbors as ourselves.” Ahhhh! That is a problem for us, though, isn’t it.

We all have those lines in the sand when it comes to loving others. Because we are human, we judge others based on our own style, our own tastes, and our own standards. We are willing to love others up to a certain point, but then we make rationalizations for not going any further. We shy away from them because they don’t match up with our standards. For some it is tattoos…for some it is body piercings…for some it is drinking and/or smoking…for some it is dirty, ratty, or tattered clothing…for some it is what side of the town you live on…for others it is race (yes, unfortunately many are still there)…and for some it is what church they attend (have you ever wondered what Jesus really thinks when he looks at this world and notices how many different denominations we have divided “his” church into).

Praise be to God that Jesus doesn’t love us this way! Aren’t you glad he doesn’t love you based on conditions or standards. Jesus is perfect, holy, righteous, blameless, and sinless. If Jesus loved us on those conditions and standards there is not one of us that stand a chance of ever seeing eternity. With God’s crazy love there are no limitations. God’s crazy love is unconditional. It is refreshing and calming to know that no matter how imperfect I may seem in the eyes of the world, I am always perfectly lovable in the eyes of God. We will have a crazy love like God’s as soon as we admit and accept the fact that we are just a bunch of imperfect sinners just like the rest of the world. The only difference between us and them is that someone took the time to tell us about the crazy love of God. Doesn’t the rest of the world deserve the same chance?

Live with Crazy Faith. Hold on to your Crazy Hope. And love with world with a Crazy Love.

Crazy Hope

"Hope"...this is another word in our culture that has really lost its meaning. In many ways, we have really devalued the word hope. We use the word now when we speak of things that we believe to be beyond our control or our power. For example, we say things like, "I hope I get that promotion"... "I hope I pass that test"... "I hope the falling stock market doesn't completely destroy my retirement." It really breaks my heart to hear people use such a powerful word in such an unpowerful way. For believers, hope is not uncertian at all. On the contrary, hope is certianty. Hope is confident expectation. Hope is the fulfillment of God's promises to his people. Hope is what God gives, and hope is what sustains.

There are two different aspects of Christian hope. For us, our hope is a definite, present reality. And, hope is a confident, future anticipation. Within both aspects there lies a power from God that is very real, yet because of our humanistic worldview, for many of us it is not fully realized. We as followers of Christ need to recapture the extraordinary, remarkable aspect of hope we have in Christ. We must reclaim our "Crazy Hope" so that we may find the strength and courage to persevere within a fallen world.

Read: Ephesians 1:13-2:10

Our crazy hope is rooted in a crazy powerful God! Paul speaking to the Ephesians (and to us), is reminding us that as we believed in the gospel we were marked with a seal. That seal is the promised Holy Spirit which guarantees our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession. The Holy Spirit is our mark of hope. In this hope, Paul prays that we might also come to realize the riches of his glorious inheritance and his incomparably great power. What about this power?

Well, this power is the same mighty strength exerted by God when he raised Christ from the dead...placed him in the heavenly realms at his right hand..."far above" all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given...the same power that put everything under the feet, under the lordship of Christ. The idea here is that no matter what kind of god or celestial being you and I might believe exists, no matter what kind of god or celestial being we might be able to dream up, no matter what kind of god, being, or thing we might believe deserves our worship, none of them could ever have, or will ever have, more power and authority than Christ.

Here is the best part! Notice in vv. 22-23 of chapter 1 where all of that power and authority is being concentrated. It is all given to Christ for the church! The church is us, right!? That same power that raised Christ from the dead, seated him next to God in the heavenly realms, and placed everything under his feet; that same power lies within you and me. That power is ours for we are the fullness of Christ and Christ fills everything in every way. It is Christ that we serve, and it is his church he fills! Because of the incomparably great power, we rejoice in some amazing blessings that are already fully real.

Our crazy hope is a present reality! There are promises of God that have already been fulfilled. There are blessings from God that are already a very real part of our everyday lives. These promises and blessings provide for us a present hope that gives us a confidence and certianty that all of God's future promises will be reavealed. Take a look at the following verses (Eph. 1:3, 5, 7-8, 13-14; 2:5, 6, 10). Pay particulary close attention to verse 6 of chapter 2. Paul writes that we are already raised with Christ, we are already seated with him in the heavenly realms. Paul reassures us that as the church, Christ is in us and he fills us in every way. If Christ is in us and Christ has already been raised and seated with God, then in some sense we too have already been raised and seated with God. Our reservation has been made! Our hope is already secure! Our eternal home is a sure thing! With these blessings and Christ's power, Satan cannot take away what Christ has already shed his blood for! So, just tell Satan to back off in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ! We do have great blessing that are completely and fully real, but we also eagerly anticipate some amazing blessings that are not yet fully realized.

Our crazy hope is in our future glory! With a strength and power that is beyond the world we live in, we are able to overcome each day's struggles as we realize what has already been done for us. We are also able to live powerfully for what lies ahead because of the confident expectation of what we know will also be done for us. As human beings we must deal with the present reality of the world that we live in. As disciples of Christ, we can long for, dream of, and hope in a future glory that far outweighs anything this life has to offer. Look at these verses (Eph. 1:18; 2:7). Beyond this life lies the riches of his glorious inheritance. Beyond this life lies the incomparable riches of his grace. As followers of Christ, we have have grace beyond grace, love beyond love, wealth beyond wealth, and life beyond life. We too should pray daily that God lay on us his Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we might know him better. We too should pray daily that the eyes of our heart are enlightened that we may understand the hope that we have, as well as the hope to which we have been called.

Believers in Christ rejoice in a new life in Christ, but we await eternal life at the feet of Christ. We know that we have been raised with Chrsit, but we eagerly await the final resurrection. We know that we have been saved, but we are awaiting our salvation. We know we have been adopted, but we anticipate the day we are fully revealed as sons and daughters of the King. We know we are transformed, but we are waiting to be fully changed. Each day we experience the glory and power of God, but we anticipate the day when God's full glory and power will be revealed. What a God! What a hope! May prayer is that all believers, every day, will be able to live confidently because they have a "crazy" hope in a "crazy" powerful God.

Blessings.