Behavior Based Gospel

A Gospel that Sticks from Fuller Youth Institute on Vimeo.

What if the Gospel was only about behavior modification?  What if the Gospel was only about a set of rules and regulations?  But really, what if...

If that were the case, then the Pharisees would have nailed it down perfectly.  There wouldn't have been any need for Jesus or the New Testament.  But don't we often live a behavior based gospel in which church life and following Christ is simply a matter of do's and don'ts?

Furthermore, if the Gospel really was all about changing behavior, we would all fail miserably.  The very essence of the Gospel is that we all fail miserably apart from the saving grace of Christ.  So why don't we live like that's the truth.  We live as if God just wants to do a few minor modifications to our lives when He is really out to transform us into something completely different.  And unfortunately, this seems to be the message we are passing on to teens.  We expect them to act right at church, at home, and school.  We expect them to set goals for life, usually without any spiritual goals, and ultimately to compartmentalize their faith for certain occasions like Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.  Then, we are surprised when all goes wrong.  That's what happens with the story in this video.

Following the Gospel is so much more than a list of rules and regulations.  Anyone can follow a set of rules without agreeing whether or not they are necessary or beneficial.  What if we lived life as if the Gospel was necessary and beneficial?  We wouldn't just behave when the time is right.  We wouldn't just come to church because it's what we ought to do.  We can't afford as a Youth Ministry and church to teach behavior modification.  What we are out to do is to show teens that the Gospel is about grace and transformation.  The Gospel wants the heart, mind, body, and soul.  Until we show students that the Gospel has grabbed our hearts, our minds, our bodies, and our souls, students will continue to compartmentalize their faith.  It will be something used for certain occasions.  It will be something that can be packed away until it is presumably needed or necessary.  If Gospel living doesn't permeate our lives, how can we expect it to permeate theirs?  If Gospel living for us as adults is simply about right behaviors (leaving out grace, transformation, Biblical worldview, eternal perspective, the call to holiness, losing to win, giving up everything to gain even more, etc.), then we are headed toward a Christianity all about management.  You can behave Christian without ever being Christian...

The Gospel moves and chases after us.  The Gospel won't settle for anything less than all of who we are.    So if we believe in the power of the Gospel, why don't we give it all of who we are?  And why do we expect teenagers to get it if we haven't grasped it ourselves?  The Gospel is meant to change all of who we are.  It is about transformation and compassionate living.  It is about leaving everything to follow Christ.  How can we expect teenagers to leave everything for the sake of the Gospel when their faith is compartmentalized and the Gospel they know is only about right behavior and doing church?

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." -Romans 12:1-2

Be transformed by the Gospel.

Solitude...

Our society has taught us that true punishment happens in solitude, when we are left to ourselves.  Kids have to go to timeout, teenagers struggle as outcasts, single parents feel completely alone, the worst criminals are given to solitary confinement, and the elderly fear that they will be left alone in a nursing home.  Society has taught us to fear that idea that we could be left alone.  

And so, out of fear, we often move toward noise and crowds.  Next time you walk through the mall or a crowded area, look for people who are alone.  Most of them will either be playing on their phone, reading something, or doing anything to keep from looking like they have been left alone.  The earbuds are the usual tool for deflecting loneliness in teenagers, anything to keep from being condemned to silence.  

So, out of the fear of being left alone, we stay busy.  We lack the kind of solitude that we as Christians need to stay centered.  We need the kind of inner solitude[1] that leads to fulfillment.  Loneliness is inner emptiness, but solitude is inner fulfillment.  If we possess inner solitude it keeps us from the fear of being alone. 

The fear of being alone keeps us from practicing the discipline of solitude.  I think that’s a fair statement, right?  It is for me anyway.  But beyond that fear is something even more difficult for most of us to overcome.  It is that we not only are drawn to crowds, but also to noise.  We simply do not know how to practice silence.  If solitude is the means, then the end would be an encounter where God speaks into our lives and we listen.  But the act of listening (and this is where most of us stumble) involves the absence of speech.  The kind of silence we are talking about is the kind where we hear God.  So to simply refrain from talking without listening to God is not silence.  Our distractions have to be silenced.  Our pride in ourselves has to be silenced.  Our need for self-justification has to be silenced. 

But what does self-justification have to do with solitude.  Richard Foster puts it like this – “One reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that it makes us feel so helpless.  We are so accustomed to relying upon words to manage and control others.  If we are silent, who will take control?  God will take control, but we will never let him take control until we trust him.  Silence is intimately related to trust.”

Solitude is a discipline we must practice.  It is where God does some of his most important work on our souls.  “Every distraction of the body, mind, and spirit must be put into a kind of suspended animation before this deep work of God upon the soul can occur.  It is like an operation in which the anesthetic must take effect before the surgery can be performed.”

So, how crowded and how noisy is your life?  How crowded and noisy is the life of your family?  Jesus purposefully made time for solitude with God (Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 6:12, Matthew 14:13, Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Mark 6:31, Luke 5:16, Matthew 17:1-9, Matthew 26:36-46).  If he needed solitude (inner fulfillment), how much more do we need to separate ourselves from the noise and crowds of life so we can listen to him speak into our lives?  How much more do teenagers need this solitude as they grow and develop spiritually amidst a world of temptation and mediocrity?

We should know that when we are alone, we are not alone. 

“Settle yourself in solitude and you will come upon Him in yourself”  -Teresa of Avila

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[1] For more on the idea of inner solitude, see Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.  

Remember When...

Christmas is approaching quickly.  Now, I'm not big on spending money for gifts at Christmas.  But trust me, I don't mind receiving them.  The older I have gotten (and perhaps wiser), the more I have begun to appreciate Christmas because it provides the opportunity to create new memories and cherish the old memories together with people that matter the most to me.  It's easy to forget, but God gave us the gift of memory.  Remember the movie Ground Hog Day?  Or Fifty First Dates?  Could you even imagine waking up every day to the same thing or not being able to remember anything from the day before?  The ability to remember is a tremendous gift.

Now...remember your favorite Christmas present as a child.  What was it?  Who gave it to you?  What did you do with it?  Most importantly, how long did it take you to open that present?  I never had a chance to open my favorite Christmas gifts.  Usually I snuck around and found them, or I was able to convince my mom to go ahead and give them to me early.  She couldn't help herself.  She loved watching my excitement (that or she was tired of me bugging her)!

The point is this...when we think there is something we'll like or it's a gift important to us, we waste no time opening it.  We can't wait to open it up and see what benefit or fun it will bring us.

Have you ever watched siblings opening presents?  They carefully count, with some type of equation only they can understand, to see who winds up with the best stash from Christmas.  Or, if one kid gets something so incredible, the other is distraught.  They will mope and mope neglecting all the gifts left for them under the tree.  Well it's sad, but I think the Christian life is sometimes like this scenario...

Take a look at Micah 6:1-8.  It's a courtroom scene.  God is indicting Israel for their wrongdoings.  This is a scary place to be.  I'd hate to be put on trial in front of God with all my sin being exposed.  Somehow the people have tried to blame God.  But God asks, "How have I done you wrong?"  Then, he goes on to list four different times when he has bailed the people out of trouble to make good on his promise that they, as the chosen people, would in fact see the Promised Land.  We can be the kid pouting at Christmas because of what everyone else has received, but that's never God's fault.  It becomes easy to whine and complain if we never choose to unwrap the gifts set before us.  I think that's what happened with the nation of Israel.  They forgot to unwrap the gift of memory.  In doing so, when things went wrong, they began to pout, put themselves on a pedestal by blaming God, forgot how God had blessed them, and failed to bless others.

Verses 3-5 make it clear that God is on our side.  The difficulty for us comes in verses 6-7.  God also makes it clear that finding joy in our relationship with him is not about what we can give him, but it is about cherishing the gifts that he has given us.  Without opening up the gift of relationship, we'll never get it.  One of those greatest gifts is the gift of memory.  When we forget the past, we no longer have a debt of gratitude, no sense of obligation, and no feeling of intimacy because the bond with Christ is broken.  Memories serve to strengthen the bond between friends.  The same is true for us as Christians.  Scripture makes it clear that we are called to remember.  Finally, Micah makes it clear what we are to do.  We are to love justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.  How do we come to a place where we love justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God?  We remember how His justification, His mercy, and His walk with us forever changed our lives.  Remembrance is kind of like a prerequisite to a life of worship and prayer.  I love how The Message puts verse 5.  It says, "Keep all God's salvation stories fresh and present."  I'm guessing if we made that a priority things like worship and prayer would look drastically different in the lives of our churches and families.

Remembrance is an exercise of the mind that changes the heart.  I feel drawn in when I think about all God has done for me.  I have goose bumps right now as I'm writing this as I remember when...

Pray the Cliche

Have you ever stopped to think about what we pray in church?  It's almost as if there is a prescribed way to pray when we our in church.  Somehow, our brain tingles a little bit differently, our vocabulary sounds like the seventh page of the SAT's, and our voice takes on a sort of Shakespearian tone.  Sounds familiar doesn't it?  One thing is for sure when we pray in church...We certainly pray the cliche.  

(clears throat, assumes perfect posture, bows head, and closes eyes)

"Dear Lord, be with us now in these moments because we know, Lord, that where two or three are gathered in Your name, there you are in there midst, Lord.  Just help me to let go and let God.  May I love the sinner  but hate the sin.  Help me to get right so I don't get left.  I mean, I've got to stand for something or I'll fall for anything.  I know you love me just as I am, but too much to leave me there.  Bring a fresh move of Your Spirit so all of us believers can stand in the gap as You raise up a new generation.  Yes, Lord, Your pain is definitely my gain.  Amen." ([re]UNDERSTANDING Prayer by Kyle Lake, pg. xxii)

Ouch.  That really hurts.  Especially since that is exactly what I have done from time to time in my life.  Whenever I am empty and void of true and honest communion with God, I can always pray the cliche.  I keep it in my back pocket in case I need it somewhere.  I can pull out the youth friendly version, the senior adult version, the suit and tie version, and the hurry-pray-before-somone-takes-a-bite-version!

What I have discovered in my up and down prayer life is that simple prayer goes a long way.  Take a look at the Lord's Prayer for instance.  It's about simple everyday needs.  It's about our place before God.  It's also about who God is and what he wants from us.  It is a plea to God to be faithful to his promise.  I have taken time the last few days to move deeper into the Lord's Prayer.  So far, I am stuck on the first two words - "Our Father."  There is so much richness in those two words that I have sat right in the midst of them this past week.  So many verses, emotions, feelings, remembrances have billowed out of my soul this week just in thinking of those two words.  I cannot tell you how much I have prayed those words over and over this past week.  And, I feel like my prayer life has grown tremendously.  It's as if those words of Jesus have now become the very echo of my soul, and they carry me.  Simply awesome!

But the journey to these two words has not been easy.  I've had to leave cliches, my favorite Christian phrases, and my prayer reflexes behind.  What has kept me from this journey?  I think my upbringing has scripted for me what the drama of my prayer life is supposed to be.  I'm supposed to pray at particular times, with particular words, and for particular things.  But this journey has moved me far beyond these lies.  Just like I can act like I'm supposed to for certain situations and people, I can pray like I'm supposed to for certain situations and people.  Somewhere along the way I was fed a lie.  It's a lie that tells me I'm supposed to have everything together before I pray.  I think this is a particularly big struggle for our teens.  Then I found freedom in prayer.  Richard Foster put it this way - "We pray by grace just as we are saved by grace.  God has a relationship with us despite our sinfulness, mixed motives, and selfish nature."

Over this past week, I have laid before God what is in me, not what ought to be in me.  I have learned prayer simply by praying.  I'll put it to you this way.  If you've got kids or have been a kid (are we missing anyone?) then at some point you created some pretty awful artwork.  But when you brought it home, your parents thought it was the greatest thing ever.  They put that junk all over the fridge removing any chance of your house ever being featured in Southern Living.  It was museum worthy to them, especially if it had anything to do with them or said "To: Mom" or "To: Dad," "From: Ross (insert your name or your child's here to make sense of this!)  It was better than anything they had ever seen.  Well if we go back to those first two words, "Our Father," then I suppose we are God's children.  I would imagine I have quite a few awful prayer drawings slapped up on God's fridge.  And because I put his name on them, I know he is a proud Father.  Not to mention I'm sure he's not worried about living anywhere in the southern vicinity, if you catch my drift.

The point is simple.  Simply pray, and pray simply.  Do an experiment with your teens or as a family.  Walk through the Lord's Prayer a couple words a week.  Meditate and talk together in the way Jesus taught us to pray.  I had plans for moving on next week, but I'm not sure I'm past "Our Father."

The Undignified and Unpredictable Worshipper

Stop!  Wherever you are, take the next five seconds off of work, the kids, or your busy schedule.  Stand up, and show off your best dance moves!  No, really, get up and dance like a good Baptist should!

Seems a bit undignified, a little improper for the workplace...and it might be.  But, undignified and unpredictable should be key characteristics of us as worshippers.  Look at the story of David bringing home the ark of the covenant (2 Samuel 6:12-16).  As he worships in an undignified manner, God is certainly pleased.  True worship forgets what others think.  Sometimes, it even makes others uncomfortable.  I mean really, what if people just broke out in dance for God?  I personally would be a bit uncomfortable.  For five seconds Wednesday night I asked the kids to stand and show off their best dance moves.  Some participated.  Others just kind of stood there looking really awkward.  They were too concerned with what others thought.  But in that moment, they were the ones who looked out of place.  I mean if 15 out of the 100 kids are going bananas with their best dance moves, that overshadows the other 85 who are just standing still in place.  Our worship carries this same weight.  True worship doesn't care about others.  It's not concerned with rules and regulations, tempo, or genre.  True worship is shown in undignified love and affection for God.  Or flip to Luke 15 and read the story of the Prodigal Son.  The father bounces out of his rocking chair on the front porch when he sees his son off in the distance.  Instead of waiting for him to return, he runs after him so that he can embrace him ASAP!  A king and a father in ancient culture coming unglued in undignified forms of affection.  That is the essence of the undignified worshipper.  So, now that you've read this go ahead and actually stand up and bust out the most convincing 5 seconds of the water sprinkler ever seen!

True worship isn't just undignified, but it's unpredictable.  It grows out of spontaneous encounters with Christ.  Read Mark 14:1-9.  The woman's worship happens in an unscripted encounter.  She is free to respond to Christ in a way that is deep, is intimate, and unpredictable.  It's a beautiful and gripping scene. We, the church, are God’s bride.  We’re not meant to have a dry and predictable relationship.  It’s a divine romance full of life and energy.  True romance is never predictable.  It cannot contain its instinctive responses to the one it adores.  People in love do lots of crazy things.  They do things that probably embarrass the people around them.


William Barclay says it this way, “Love does not stop to nicely calculate the less or more; loves does not stop to work out how little it can respectably give.  With a kind of divine extravagance, love gives everything it has and never counts the cost.  Calculation is never any part of love.”


Give everything as you worship!  Be an undignified and an unpredictable worshipper.  Embarrass your kids and family and break out in an unscripted and undignified life song that is written and played in response to the God who got up from his seat and chased after you!
 

Fast Food Faith

Secular Business writer Jim Collins says it best.  "Good is the enemy of great...We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools.  We don't have great government principally because we have good government.  Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life."

Have you ever met one of those "save-the-world" types?  We read about them.  We think to ourselves that what they do is great.  We love watching them on TV.  Sometimes, we even get a little teary eyed at their stories.  Then, we close the book, set down the paper, put the magazine back on the stand, turn off the TV, and get back to real life checking out at the grocery store, fixing dinner for the kids, paying the bills, and heading to bed so we can get up and do it all again tomorrow morning.  And for us, it's a good life.  And for our kids, we hope it's a good life too.  

I think our faith is like this scenario sometimes.  When it comes to those "save-the-world" types, Jesus lands somewhere on our list.  We come to church, we hear sermons, we have Bible study, and we feel good about ourselves.  We have a good relationship with God.  And so, we feel good about ourselves.  Buuut, at the end of the day, we're back to real life.  We can usually manage to get through life with good faith in a good God as we go to a good church.

But that's where the problem lies.  God is not just good.  He is great and mighty, able to save.  And so, in the business of real life, we pass on fast food faith to our kiddos.  We run through the drive through with our kids in the back seat.  We pass them a Happy Meal complete with a toy.  And for us as parents and youth workers, the Happy Meal is a good thing because it satisfies the kids and keeps them quiet.  It's quick and easy.  

But faith is not quick and easy.  And while we pass Happy Meals into the back seat, our students our missing out on what it means to dine with Christ.  They are missing gourmet faith.  We've replaced Christ with a cheap substitute that does a wonder on their spiritual cholesterol.  No wonder when they're 21 Happy Meals don't make them happy anymore.  No wonder only 8% of teens have consequential faith meaning they own their faith for themselves. (National Study of Youth and Religion).  No wonder 88% of teens no longer attend church after they graduate High School (International Mission Board).

We can't keep feeding them cheap and easy faith.  We can't let them settle for good when our God is great.  Think about the education of teenagers.  They are doing calculus, chemistry, trigonometry, and speaking foreign languages.  We teach our children for the sake of their education.  Millions of dollars are spent on sports equipment and private lessons for students who will never play professional sports much less make a walk on at a college.  We teach and train and equip.  We all have plans for the education of our children.  We even save for their college education hoping to provide them with a good life.  

All the while, we simply expose them to our faith once or twice a week at church.  We drop them off for an hour or two and hope for some sort of spiritual osmosis.  We think by getting them in the doors that faith will make its way into their lives.  But, we never teach them faith.  We struggle to teach them how to pray.  We help them answer their questions about algebra, but we hope they don't ask us any tough questions about faith.  It's time we invite them to sit at the table and savor the greatness of Christ.  It's time we teach them faith.  It's time we don't just have save-the-world type people but save-the-world type families who teach and translate faith in the home.  What if some of us set aside money to send our kids on a mission trip when they graduated High School hoping and praying it would make a lasting difference in their faith journey once they were on their own in the world?  What is we had a spiritual checklist of things we wanted to share and teach our kids about faith before they graduated?  What if we worked to unveil the greatness of God to our kids while we have the chance?  We're underestimating our teenagers.  If they can learn chemistry and calculus, they can certainly learn theology.  

Look at what happens when people sit at the table with Christ in the Scriptures.  I hope we don't just drive through life, but we participate in saving the world.  I hope we are inviting our teens to dine with Christ each and every day.  I hope that as we gather around the table we are sharing stories about life transformation and greatness that would make for great TV, magazine articles, newspaper stories, and the like.  And I hope people are watching our stories unfold.  And as they watch, I hope they are moved to join us at the table.  

ELEV8

ENCOUNtER, our Wednesday night youth service, is headed in a very specific direction this school year.  After asking ourselves some important questions, we feel as though our students need a platform or foundation from which they can elevate their lives by living in the Spirit and authority of God and making practical faith applications each day.  Ultimately, this will accomplish our greatest goal which is to elevate the name of God in this community and throughout the world.  

Theme for the Year - ELEV8

What do students need to elevate their standards of living in their current circumstances and surroundings?  Furthermore, by what standards should they be living?  This school year we will seek to elevate our standards to those of God.   How will we do that?

INTEGR8 – This will be our theme of study for the Fall semester of the school year.  We will look at different spiritual disciplines throughout scripture.  I firmly believe that Kingdom living involves disciplined living.  These sermons and teachings will help students not only understand the importance of the spiritual disciplines, but will also give them a practical application and understanding of the spiritual disciplines so that they can integrate them into their daily living and thinking. 

NAVIG8 – With a desire to elevate our standards of living and a practical foundation built upon the practice of spiritual disciplines, the Spring semester of the school year will be built around navigating through difficult issues your teenagers face on a regular basis.  We are going to tackle a number of difficult but relevant topics.  We are going to wrestle with temptations, questions, hurts, and many other issues that challenge the claims and authenticity of Christianity.

John 8:11-12

“Go on your way. From now on, don't sin."  Jesus once again addressed them: "I am the world's Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in." (The Message)

We are called to go and to live a life free from sin.  This is only possible because Jesus is the light.  If we follow him, we will ELEV8 his name in this world.  The practice of spiritual disciplines will lead us to live a life freed from sin.  Furthermore, with Christ as our headlamp, we will navigate through this life in a way that honors God and follows his direction in our lives.  

Follow us on the blog each week to connect with your student and what they learn each Wednesday night at our ENCOUNtER service.  Leave comments, ask questions, and share stories of how your family is connecting.  Take time to be the greatest spiritual influence in your student’s life.  

FUGE Recap

          Whether your child went to CentriFuge or M-Fuge, you can rest assured they had an ENCOUNtER with God during the week.  Everything about the camp is designed to bring your student into the presence of God.  Games, worship, service, and everything else your student did during the week was aimed at embracing the truth of the Gospel.
          Let me brag for a moment...First, our students received compliments everywhere we went.  When we checked out of one of the hotels, the staff commented that we had a group of young adults rather than teenagers.  Furthermore, in the PCY groups (paint, construction, yard work), our kids outworked every other group there.  Yes I am biased, but our kids were the hardest workers at camp - no doubt!  Your kids were well behaved and a joy to be around.  Secondly, no church at this camp had the support of volunteers like our Youth Group.  Our adults easily out numbered every church, even churches that brought more students.  The Fuge staff was even impressed that we had brought a caravan of 9 personally owned vehicles.  What is impressive is that this church rallies together to watch God work in the lives of students.
         On August 7th, we will be baptizing some of our students who have accepted Christ this year.  You will also be given the opportunity to hear from the students firsthand about what God is doing in their lives.  Encourage your student to share with you about their week.  Specifically ask them about connecting with the Gospel, God's mission, and how their life will be lived differently after a week of camp.
          One last note...I think one of the spiritual disciplines we often forget is the spiritual discipline of celebration.  The service on August 7th will be a celebration of what God is doing in the lives of students in our church.  Richard Foster puts it this way, "Joy is part of the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22).  Often I am inclined to think that joy is the motor, the thing that keeps everything else going.  Without joyous celebration to infuse the other disciplines, we will sooner or later abandon them.  Joy produces energy.  Joy makes us strong."  Our students are energized.  They are poised and strong.  It brings me great joy to serve them alongside of you all.

FUGE UPDATE #2

Things have been going great.  We have settled in and are working hard in the community already.  Each of your children miss you dearly!!!  We had some really great conversations last night, and God is clearly working in and through our students already.  The students have been challenged to connect with Gospel and those who do not know Christ.  Last night in our Church Group Devotion time, I also challenged the kids to disconnect from anything that keeps them from connecting with the Gospel.  Our adults also spent some time focusing in on the heart of our ministry and how they can better connect with students.  Brainstorming, ideas, and projects are in the works.  Look for changes and new conversations when we get back.

On a fun note, Scotty and I took five 14 and 15 year old boys to Olive Garden tonight.  We will never do that again!  We laughed a lot but I feel terrible for our poor waitress.  However, your kids tipped well.  Also, last night was a themed cartoon dress up night which featured several of our kids.  We also had a Smurf family from our church including yours truly as Papa Smurf.  We are out and in the community serving.  Continue to pray for us as we press deeper into the heart of the Gospel tonight.

Pray for attentive ears and listening hearts.  Pray for clarity from scripture.  Pray for a connection with the Gospel.  Pray for safety as we travel.  Pray for courage for students to respond to what God is doing in their lives.  

FUGE Update

We made it safely to the hotel last night after 32,567 stops.  All nine cars and 52 people made the journey safely.  After a few "swimming pool showers" we went to bed and woke up this morning to a hot breakfast.  Somebody just burned a waffle as I am typing.  Just a three hour trip today until we arrive at camp.  Everyone seems rested, and we look forward to worshipping tonight.  God is already at work.  Thank you for your prayers and support.  I look forward to sharing some awesome stories with you about the work and transformation God is doing later in the week.

Also, I will buy some candy and a soda for the child of the first parent who comments back with the starting five players of the World Champion Dallas Mavericks at the end of the NBA playoffs.

Effective Affection

         We all have within us a human nature that longs for love and affection.  Deep within us is a fear of not being loved as well as a fear of loving.  Men usually do a good job of suppressing those feelings because they aren't "manly."  Surprisingly, many women suppress these feelings because they have been hurt in a relationship at one point or another and their desire to fill their longing for love is too painful.  Our longing for love could be described as the most fundamental part of our humanity.  At the same time, what we have discovered is that this fundamental part of who we are is also extremely dangerous.  Why?  Because real love is dangerous and risky.  It invites the possibility of our being hurt in one way or another.  And so, to avoid distress or dissatisfaction, we live closed and protected lives.

Why do you think so many parts of the world are so cold and unfriendly?  Why are so many people drawn to Facebook, cable television, and online shopping?  Because it can be done in the protected atmosphere of the home - safe, closed off, and comfortable.  

          What about the love of the Gospel?  Where does it find its place in clammed up living?  Furthermore, what about the love of the Gospel?  Are we really interested in the love of the Gospel?  How does it change us?  How does it set us apart?  How does it work?  How is it communicated?  What about the love of the Gospel...

          Church - we are to be the embodiment of the love of the Gospel.  A Facebook checkup, a friendly text, and a casual handshake at church are not enough.  The self-protective demeanor of the culture of Christianity is causing a lot of people to ask, "What about the love of the Gospel?"  

         I mean, do you know, do you really know the love of God in Christ Jesus?  Once we know that love, nothing can separate us from it.  Once we know that love, we're free to love.  We're never at risk of being unloved.  The only risk we carry as the church is to become unloving.  In doing so, the world begins to wonder, "What about the love of the Gospel?"  

          Back to Gospel Lenses - put them on the next time you look at the world, the next time you walk in to your work place, the next time you walk into your home.  Instead of complaining about how people treat you, instead of protecting yourself from pain or insult, instead of wondering why the world is so unloving, ask yourself the following questions; Who here can I love?  Who needs my love right now?  How can I make the love of the Gospel real in this place?

          We fear the act of giving love because we are not sure if it will be reciprocated.  What we should fear most is that we are not reciprocating the love first given to us by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers" (1 John 3:16).  Risky, lay-down-your-life, dangerous love, I will argue, is the clearest indicator that one is living a gospel-centered life.  Writing that statement puts a knot in my stomach.  Lay-down-your-life love is impossible.  It's totally and completely impossible.  Unless...

        Unless you know you are eternally loved by Christ.  Then you are free.  Then you become yourself the love of the Gospel.  Then you are free to give of yourself because you have received so much.  What if...

          What if we took the Lord's Prayer seriously in our lives?  What if our mantra was this - "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."  What if we were courageous enough as a Christian body to take this prayer literally and seriously?  What would happen if we as the church sought wholeheartedly to bring the reality of heaven to this earth?  God's mission is to bring heaven to this earth.  God's mission is for people to get so wrapped up in the love of the Gospel that we never forget it, we never forsake each other, and that this world would begin to look more like heaven because people were so changed by HIS love.  This is effective affection.  It is effective because it is from our God above.  It is affective because he chased us down in the form of Christ.  So, what about the love of the Gospel?  If it isn't changing you, if it is what gives you breath each and every day, then maybe you're missing it.  

         Isn't it exciting?  Doesn't it do something to you to think and know that God is choosing to use you to bring heaven to earth?  I mean, how can we as a church become numb to the words of love in the Gospel?  He loved you enough to die for you.  God wanted to show you the affection you need so much so that he came.  Did you catch that?  He came.  He literally came and brought heaven to this earth through Christ.  Church - RISK everything so that no one ever has to ask again, "What about the love of the Gospel?"  Gospel love is effective affection.  Our world needs it so desperately.  Don't hold back.  Don't fear.  Bring the kingdom!

Gospel Lenses Part II

Just like any pair of handy glasses or lenses, Gospel lenses need a regular cleaning so we can continue to see clearly.  This past Wednesday night as we continued our walk through Jonah, we looked at Jonah chapter 3.  I'm not sure if Jonah took his Gospel lenses off when he ran from God or if they had just gotten really dirty and he wasn't seeing clearly.  For most of us, I don't think it's that we take off or abandon the Gospel, but it is more like we aren't quite seeing the Gospel clearly.  That's because things seem to get a little muddy sometimes.  Maybe Jonah needed a good washing and that's why he was tossed straight into the ocean.  A baptism for Jonah?  Maybe so...

By the time we turn to chapter three, Jonah is a washed-up prophet (literally)!  He has seen the depths and been spared.  But God seems to be an advocate of second chances and tells Jonah that his mission is the same (3:1).  God gives Jonah a second chance because He has remained the same and so too has his mission--God in all times and places desires that all creation be reconciled to him.  God calls a second time because he wants the lost saved, even the Ninevites.  Jonah has enjoyed God's grace and mercy, but has been reluctant to see God use that same grace and mercy on the Ninevites.  Sounds like some of us in the church today.  Scary...

So when Jonah finally shows up to Nineveh, God has given him a message to proclaim.  It's a message of coming doom and gloom.  In the Hebrew, Jonah simply preaches 5 words.  Imagine a Sunday morning sermon only 5 words long.  You would never miss a kickoff or wait in line at a restaurant again!  5 Words!!!  So, in a mighty city known for torturing their enemies*, Jonah brings a message of their coming destruction if they fail to turn to God.  He does so seemingly in an earnest way.  This is probably because he thinks they'll never repent, or they're too far gone.  He enjoys the message because he thinks God will overturn them and they will reap his wrath.  However, after 5 words, the people repent.  They are totally overturned!  They turn from sin and to God!  This was not the overturning Jonah had hoped for.  And why should God have mercy on people like this?  That seems like an injustice in the mind of Jonah.

But wait!  It's God.  It's the same God that brought about a storm and a fish to rescue Jonah.  He has done something even more incredible now!  He is changing the hearts of sinful human beings.  Their repentance encompasses all parts of life.  They respond by fasting, wearing sackcloth, and crying out to God.  Even the animals fasted!  They abstained from both food and water, and by having their livestock fast, they put their economy in God's hands as well.  What's even more amazing is that they do all this not knowing whether or not God will spare them.  They respond in repentance to God because he is God.  We should respond to God for who God IS, not because of what we might get or gain!  We don't worship God to get something in return.  We worship God because GOD IS GOD!  That's enough.  They put everything in God's hands, even their finances!  Total surrender to God because God is God.  That is the kind of humility that leads to a true repentant heart.

Perhaps we get like Jonah and the Gospel lenses through which we view life become a little muddy.  They get a little dirty when we come to church and dig deep into religious duties.  They are clouded a bit when we yearn for God's mercy for ourselves, but cry out for wrath and justice on others.  The lenses grow darker when we take the Gospel and keep it to ourselves.  They lose their clarity every time we sin because every time we sin we are living contrary to God's will.  We in fact are turning our backs to God and running toward Tarshish.  You see, sin makes it hard to see through those Gospel lenses, but like the Ninevites found out, God is ready to clean them off for us when we are overturned by repentance.

The real injustice in this life lies not in God seeking the redemption of our enemies.  The real injustice lies in the hearts of those who have the Gospel and keep it to themselves.  Why do you think Jesus tells us to love our enemies?  Because God loves them and God is calling us to share the good news with them.  In fact, every time we fail to share the Gospel, we are running from God just like Jonah.  What if Jonah had never gone to Nineveh?  They may have never had the opportunity to respond.

Perhaps as a church, we need to repent.  Perhaps we have been unjust.  Perhaps the lenses God gave us to view the world have become a bit muddy.  Maybe it's time for a cleaning.  Maybe it's time for humility.   And maybe, just maybe it's time for repentance.  I believe revival springs forth from true repentance.  Where there is true repentance, there is an increase of comfort and compassion in this world.  True repentance is not just about turning from disobedience.  It is about turning all the way back to obedience.  Ask God to clean your lenses so you don't lose sight of him in this world.

Gospel Lenses

         What is the Gospel?  What does the word Gospel mean?  Who is the Gospel for?  What does the Gospel do?  These are basic questions of Christian faith that we usually entertain and answer in VBS or maybe even at youth camp.  Once we "get" the Gospel, we move on to deeper discussions about theology and doctrine of the church.  In doing so, the Gospel becomes the story of the life of Christ and his message of salvation to sinners.  It's almost as if in the church, Christians graduate from the Gospel...to go deeper in faith means to move beyond the simple message of the Gospel right?
          That's the question we've been asking on Wednesday nights with our students as we walk through the book of Jonah.  I have challenged them to read Jonah through Gospel lenses.  As we read Jonah, it's like we are reading the story of the Gospel in the New Testament.  Read it and notice all of the similarities.  No matter how hard he tried, Jonah couldn't escape the reality of the Gospel--grace and mercy to all men.
          The word Gospel literally means good news.  Webster defines the word gospel as the teachings of Jesus and the apostles; the Christian revelation.  It can also be defined as the story of Christ's life and teachings, especially as contained in the first four books of the New Testament, namely Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  The Gospel--what does it mean to you?  I think in our faith, the Gospel often gets lost.  The more you go to church, the more likely you seem to be to move past the Gospel into church politics, church arguments, church votes...somewhere in the midst of that we become numb to the Gospel, our faith becomes about our preferences, the church is supposed to serve us, and the Gospel is just for lost sinners.
          Without the reality of the Gospel, that's exactly what we'd be--lost sinners.  Even though we may not be eternally lost, we often get lost like Jonah when we remove our Gospel lenses.  Jonah was a great prophet, but he also sinned, got lost, and forgot that God's grace was for all people.  So, I invite you to put on your Gospel lenses.  You can't graduate from the Gospel!  To do so would be detrimental.  Yes, the Gospel is for lost sinners who live life outside the kingdom of God.  And yes, the Gospel is for Christians who get lost in sin and think they can move beyond the Gospel.  You cannot move beyond the Gospel, but you can forever move deeper and deeper into the Gospel.  
          I think if we view life through Gospel lenses, we as the church will be much more effective.  These lenses are like a good pair of prescription safety glasses.  They allow us to look into the world and see clearly.  At the same time, they protect us from the debris and dangers of getting caught up in the world.  Finally, they allow us to work in the world.  No one sits around watching TV with a pair of safety glasses.  In the same way, the Gospel saves us from works, but it doesn't save us not to work.  Put on your Gospel lenses and get to work.  The Gospel is for all people, both the lost and the found.  
          Ask your kids what the Gospel means to them.  Sit down as a family and write a family mission statement.  Answer this question--How would we live as a family if we were all wearing our Gospel lenses working together in this world for Christ?  If you feel like somewhere along the way you graduated from the Gospel, it's time to go back to school.  The Gospel should change us, grow us, and impact us each and every day.  It is our source of life and gives us breath.  We cannot live apart from it.  If you've taken off your Gospel lenses put them back on!  If you've been hit by some debris, I know a great physician who can probably get you up and running again.  I saw him save a man from drowning once...

Spiritual Adoption

          Adoption is something Stephanie and I have talked about since we began to date.  We both feel as though God has placed this desire in our hearts to one day adopt a child.  For Stephanie, I think that desire grows from her overwhelming love of children, all children of every color, shape, and size.  God made her to be a mother and to love kids.  That is completely obvious if you know Stephanie.
          For me, the desire to adopt comes from the fact that I was adopted as a teenage boy.  I wasn't legally adopted.  I didn't change last names.  I didn't move from one place to another, but I was adopted.  Yep, Clinton and Belinda adopted me when I was thirteen.  They already had four kids of their own, one of which they had legally adopted, and they decided to add another one to the mix...that was me.  I am sure of why they adopted me.  It wasn't because I was a perfect kid that would make their Christmas cards perfect for the cover of a magazine.  Trust me, I was in the awkward stage.  I had braces and a gel-locked hairdo that we now look back and call the wave.  It was bad!  They didn't adopt me because they thought it would be easy.  I was an angry kid.  I was confused, and I was difficult.  They didn't adopt me to be able to brag about filling up every seat of a suburban complete with the smell of McDonald's air fresheners (also known as french fries stuck between the seats).  They didn't adopt me to have another kid to look after on family vacations...that's right, they took me on family vacations!
          I am sure of why they adopted me.  It was and is because they take seriously the Gospel.  They take seriously the Word of God.  They take seriously God's commands, and seriously seek to be obedient.  You see, all throughout scriptures, God is commanding his followers and the church to care for the orphans and widows, to give special care and attention to the fatherless.  When my parents divorced, I became an orphan.  My mom became a widow.  I firmly believe the modern day widow and orphan are products of our culture's tendency to divorce.  Now, more than ever, God's challenge for us to care for the fatherless and widow is urgent.  Clinton and Belinda adopted me as a spiritual orphan.  I had no spiritual guidance at home.  My mom was doing her best to keep us going.  I needed guidance...trust me!
          They took me on.  They made themselves responsible for caring for my spiritual wellbeing.  They gave me a spiritual family and a place of safety and security.  Not only did they care for my physical needs, they provided deep spiritual care and healing as well.
          Because of that adoption, I am where I am today.  My testimony is to the power of obedience, not in my own life, but in the lives of Clinton and Belinda.  Their commitment to obeying the Word of God changed my life.  And I can promise if you ask them, being obedient was not always glamorous when it came to their adopted son Ross.  He was difficult, disobedient, and a typical teenage boy!
I'm not quite sure where I might be had I not been adopted.  Perhaps I would have never been introduced to my Father...maybe I wouldn't be apart of this family, the family of God.  Who knows?  I'm glad Clinton and Belinda didn't leave that up to chance.  Nothing is left up to chance when we live out and follow God's Word obediently.
          I suppose legal adoption is an option.  For me, it has become a desire of my heart.  Spiritual adoption on the other hand is not an option.  It is a command given in scripture to be taken seriously by the church.  Look up the words widow, orphan, and fatherless in the index of your Bible.  I think God was trying to make something very clear to us.  Walk into our ENCOUNtER service on a Wednesday night.  There are so many orphans in need of adoption.  Maybe it's one of your teenager's friends in need of adoption.  Whoever, wherever, I pray that you and I will be obedient.  I pray that we will take seriously this call in our lives.  If nothing else, adopt of one of these teenagers by prayer.  Pray each and every day for them.  Transformation doesn't happen apart from obedience.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  James 1:27

"Be Filled With the Spirit"

Any Baptists out there get a bit afraid when someone begins to talk about the Holy Spirit?  It's okay.  Go ahead and raise your hand.  My hand is raised too.  I think so many people have abused the Holy Spirit waving it as their banner for Christianity, using it as a tool to dissuade or persuade, or by using the evidences of the Holy Spirit as a sort of mark of superior Christianity.  And, as good Baptists, we have kept our distance from those types of practices and bad theology.  And, being a "good Baptist" myself, I think our trepidation and distance from those issues has been a good thing.  However, somewhere in the midst of all the conversation about the Holy Spirit and our tendency to shy away from those conversations, I think we have forgotten all of who God is.  That's the point Francis Chan makes in his book, "The Forgotten God; Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit."
Somewhere in our fear of getting out of the box, we forgot about the Holy Spirit.  It's as if we have ignored and left out a huge part of who God is.  We started a new series called "Abide" in one of our adult Sunday School classes this past week.  This study places an emphasis on staying in rhythm with God.  The passage we looked at on Sunday came from Ephesians 5:18 which says, "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.  Instead, be filled with Spirit."
Easy enough right?  I don't drink wine, but this being full of the spirit?  Isn't that for charismatics? Furthermore, I thought when I asked Christ to be the Lord of my life, I was filled with the Spirit.  I thought it was a total package, unless I missed the installment plan.  No, no...Paul made it clear we were "sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 1:13).  Alright, so the Spirit is given to us at conversion and is the agent of conversion.  What then is Paul telling us to do when he says be filled with the Spirit?  Certainly we don't have control of the Spirit, do we?
Have you ever seen one of those documentaries about someone who is able to use their brain in a way beyond the average human being?  I saw one the other night about a man who had a form of autism.  Musically, he was brilliant.  He could play any song, in any key, to any tune.  A room full of PhD's couldn't even stump him.  The documentary pointed to how much of his brain he was actually using and how we could unlock the full potential of the brain.  I think this analogy works for us.  Have you ever known someone that you just knew they were in touch with God?  Their prayer, their actions, their love, their grace, their discernment all led you to believe they were just so close to God.  It just seemed they were tapping much further into their faith.
I wonder if that is us?  We are given the Spirit at conversion, and here, Paul tells us to be filled with the Spirit.  Maybe he is telling us to tap into the full power we have as Christians.  Maybe he is telling us to use and unlock all we are given from God.  "The Spirit is not an optional add-on, a second work of grace, or a privilege of the elite.  Rather, he is the agent of God's work in the world and is both the source and proof of conversion.  To be in Christ and to be in the Spirit are virtually the same.  In fact, the Spirit is the presence of Christ within the believer.  To ask us to be filled with the Spirit does not point to repeated charismatic experiences, as some claim.  It is to ask us to focus our attention on Christ and his presence in us, to open ourselves to the continual transforming work of the Spirit so that the presence of Christ empowers and shapes our lives." (NIV Application Commentary on Ephesians)
If we were to abide in Christ, to make him a part of the rhythm of our life, maybe we would tap into the Spirit that is already at work within us.  How do we do it?  Paul tells us in 5:19-21.  "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The more I fill up on the Spirit by reading, singing, praying, serving, giving thanks, etc...the more I am aware how very close and present God is.  The challenge is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  For you and me, I think that means we make him apart of our daily rhythm.  Without those things, I think we miss a few beats.  What about your family?  Does your family have a Spiritual rhythm?  How different might your home be if you made these things Paul talked about a regular part of the life and rhythm of your family.  The more I practice spiritual disciplines, the more aware I become of how God is acting in the world.  When I neglect those things, I am neglecting a vital part of who I am.  The Holy Spirit is meant to empower and guide us, to transform us and bring us into the presence of Christ.  So if you or your family feels like you're running low on Spiritual fuel, it's time to fill up.  Sing together, pray together, read the Bible together, give thanks together, fill your home with the Spirit.  What better legacy to pass on to your children than one of fullness...."to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).  What a blessing to know and be filled with the fullness of God.  What a peace and joy that brings to life!