We sing the songs about Jesus' birth in a sheep pen. We idealize it and we set up likenesses of our version of the scene and call it 'the nativity'.
yet I believe we have sterilized it so much that we miss a couple things... I know I do.
What was it like after the gift-bearing royalty left? Do we think that the inn-keeper suddenly found a room for the new parents and their new baby?
Jesus whole life was, in a way, miraculous. We think of His birth that way... but have you ever thought of the days following our baby savior's arrival?
What was it like for a teenage momma to care for her new baby in a barn? Nursing and diapering (did they even have diapers? yeccchh!) and sleeping and not sleeping...
When we welcomed our firstborn to this world, I couldn't even get within 10 feet of her without a 5 minute surgical scrub and a face mask. When we brought her home, we had so thoroughly disinfected our house, it would have passed any Marine's white glove inspection! Bacteria feared our house for over a year!
We are so accustomed to the sterilized environment to which we usher our babies.... and I wonder what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph.
For me the whole thing was a miracle.... His conception and birth and, yes, merely surviving His first few days here... not in a pristine, germ-free neonatal intensive care unit with nurses buzzing around checking His temperature and wiping Him down with alcohol swabs... but in a barn with donkeys licking His face...
thank God for His Sovereign plan which seems more stunning to me everyday.
Blessings!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
I LOVE this time of year!
I love the holidays! I love spending time with family and giving gifts and getting gifts and seeing smiles...
I love the cold weather and snow and snowmen... I love the fact that, for at least a few days, people seem to care less about themselves and think more about Jesus.
I hope you and your family have the very merriest Christmas ever.... and it is my sincere prayer that 2009 is the very best year ever!
May God Bless you richly!
tim
I love the cold weather and snow and snowmen... I love the fact that, for at least a few days, people seem to care less about themselves and think more about Jesus.
I hope you and your family have the very merriest Christmas ever.... and it is my sincere prayer that 2009 is the very best year ever!
May God Bless you richly!
tim
Sunday, December 21, 2008
you gotta let it go
When you perceive that someone has wronged you, you basically have two choices:
- hold on
- let go
one is of Satan and one is of God.
Satan wants you to hold on to any perceived wrong.... to harbor ill will toward anybody whom you believe to have perpetrated anything upon you. He wants you to keep score and seek revenge and withdraw your love. He is the creator of festering.
God wants you to let it go. I used to think God wanted us to seek resolution... I used to believe that God desires for us to 'fix it' or to 'work it out'.... but frankly, I have come to the conclusion that the 'fixing it' and 'working it out'... the resolving... is more our desire than His.
you wanna fix it? you wanna pull off the scab and go deep? have at it! be my guest! but for most of my life, I have found that diving deep and learning exactly why someone did something takes an incredible amount of energy... and I usually end up being more tired than anything else! (and no, not the 'satisfied' kind of tired either) So, for me (I admit it may be lazy or selfish or both) I just choose to mark it up to humans being humans.... and move on... I know, not very profound!!
yeah, I am convinced that, more than anything, God wants us to just let it go.
how do we do that? a few suggestions:
- clear the air often - my momma told me when Kelly and I were newlyweds: "don't go to sleep at night until you have forgiven and forgotten". I'm sure it wasn't original with her, but it is really good advice.
and I guess these next two grow out of 'clearing the air'
- forget it... whatever it is, if it's possible, just forget it! period.
- always be forgiving... this one is the most important - and Christlike - of any of these suggestions.
Look, I know it may be that you feel compelled to confront and fix and all that... I get it... and there are probably times and circumstances which would dictate that you need to confront and seek resolution...
but I would encourage us all to assess our motivation for doing that.... when I think back to when I felt strongly about confronting and fixing, I gotta admit my motivation was selfish! I mainly wanted to plead my case or explain or get an explanation... and it didn't turn out nearly as well as when I simply forgave and forgot.
So it would seem that the 'forgetting it' may be the very best advice... but you gotta be selfless. and you gotta truly forget... you can't play at it and say 'I have forgotten that', then keep a little bit in your back pocket to pull out when you need it.... you gotta forget!
you gotta let it go!
Blessings!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
borrowed thought from Frank Viola
Friends: I have been rather... I don't know... agitated for the past couple years...
I have been, on one hand, more 'at peace' than at any other time in my life... and on the other hand... sort of 'stirred up'.
It has been a struggle for me to know whether this 'agitation' is a little A.D.D. on my part, or satan-seeded restlessness, or just His Spirit at work in me... perhaps the jury's still out...
but I read an article just now that describes - almost to a T - what it is that has been nipping at the edges of my conscsiousness for a while now...
It is entirely borrowed from Frank Viola, and copied exactly as I found it in New Wineskins e-zine (it is long, but worth reading.... a couple times... I would really LOVE your feedback):
The Current Move of God: 8 Characteristics - by Frank ViolaNovember - December, 2008
I’m looking forward to 2009. I believe it’s going to be an important year for the church of Jesus Christ.
In August, I was privileged to be one of the speakers at a conference for Christians who gather outside the institutional church. Some of the other speakers were Tony & Felicity Dale, Paul Young, Wolfgang Simpson, John White, and Jon Zens.
In one of the leadership sessions, I gave a very short talk in which I stated that I’m not someone who goes around saying that there’s a new move of God happening in our day. In fact, for the last two years I’ve heard many others say this, but I’ve suspended judgment. I then announced that I’m now forced to say that I am convinced that we are in the beginnings of a new move of God.
Please note that I believe that God is up to many things. And He’s using all sorts of movements, “conversations,” etc. in various ways to bring His people to His final and ultimate goal.
In this article, however, I’ll be focusing on one particular move of God that has taken place in two different phases, or currents, thus far. Both of these currents have occurred outside the organized church in the West.
The first current occurred in the late 60s and early 70s. By 1979, it had all but died.
The second current began in the late 80s and early 90s.
This brings me to the reason why I’m excited about 2009.
It’s because we are just now beginning to see a third current of God’s move in the United States (and other Western countries) where Christians are leaving the institutional church structure (in record numbers) and discovering the living, breathing, headship of Jesus Christ in an organic, collective way without a clergy.
The landscape is changing rapidly. God is raising up new voices and new expressions of the church which look very different from the traditional expression.
According to my travels, my observations, and my correspondence, eight main features appear to be marking this third current. They are as follows:
1) A genuine revelation and experience of an indwelling Lord. Many Christians are being awakened to the fact that Jesus Christ dwells inside of them, and that He seeks to be everything to them. Some movements today emphasis the historical Jesus and seek to provoke Christians to try to imitate the Jesus of history. But in this third current, God’s people are discovering that the historical Jesus has taken up residence within them. He is resurrected, glorified, enthroned and has become a life-giving Spirit. Consequently, we can actually live by His indwelling life. Not as a theory, a doctrine, a positional truth, but as a reality.
2) A recapturing of a spiritual vocabulary to reflect a unique experience. Ephesians Chapters 1-3 are littered with a vocabulary that few Christians use today. This vocabulary emanates from a mind. And that mind is characterized by the capacity to see the unseen and to declare as present fact heavenly realities that exist outside the constraints of created time. Realities that are not just doctrinal or theological, but experiential. This vocabulary is being restored in this third current.
3) Meeting together for a very high and noble purpose. That purpose is to display the living Christ who indwells the church. The third current is being marked by church gatherings— not as services, not as platforms for sermonizing, not as pastor-led or priest-led orders of worship, not as Bible studies, and not as liturgies— but to make visible a living Christ by His every-member functioning Body where principalities and powers are put to shame. This aspect of church meetings, where every member is participating under the headship of Christ, is little understood today. But it’s beginning to gain traction in this new current.
4) An incredible Christ-centeredness in the thinking, life and vocabulary of God’s people. This new current is marked by the centrality of Christ. Jesus Christ is being put in His place. He is being given His rightful position of centrality, supremacy, and preeminence.
This Christ-centeredness is being reflected in conversation. (That’s how the first believers got the name “Christian,” by the way. They were always speaking about Christ. ) This Christ-centeredness is being reflected in songs. This Christ-centeredness is being reflected in ministry.
Our message is Christ. It’s not about how to be a better person, how to serve God more, how to do better and be good. It’s instead marked by a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ along with practical help on how to know Him deeply. Out of that flows everything else, including the church’s mission.
5) An experience of close-knit community. This is becoming an experience, rather than a buzzword. Believers who know church as community do not think merely as individuals. They do not think in terms of “me” or “I.” Instead, they think and live in terms of “we” and “us.”
To their minds, there is no disconnect between getting saved and being part of the community of believers. This element is a restoration of the New Testament Christian mindset.
If you were a pagan in the first century, you knew that becoming a Christian meant being initiated into a shared-life community. It meant losing your raw individualism and your rugged independence. It meant becoming part of the people of God. Not as an abstract doctrine, but as a way of life. You became part of something larger than yourself—a new culture in which you lived your life. For that reason, the early Christian movement was called “the Way” (Acts 19:9, 23; 24:14, 22). It wasn’t a belief system; it was a way of life.
Let’s face it. Western Christians have inherited an individualistic Christianity with an individualistic salvation and an individualistic walk with God. A Christian publisher recently told me that there are about 45,000 evangelical Christian titles in print and about 5,000 that are published every year. 95% or more of those books are addressed to you as an individual Christian. And the underlining point of those books is what you must do as an individual to be a better Christian.
But there is no such concept in the mind of God. Christianity has always been a corporate experience and a corporate reality. The individual Christian mind was born during the Reformation, driven into the ground during the Enlightenment, and set in concrete for the last several hundred years. But the New Testament knows no such mindset. This, I believe, is an important recovery.
6) An understanding of the reality of being “in Christ.” Like the early Christians, those in this third current are being pulled loose from a “works” mentality, liberated from a guilt complex, and set free from a sense of religious duty.
If you open up the New Testament letters, you will find that Paul always addresses the churches he planted (despite what they were going through) with the arresting phrase “holy ones.” He saw them holy “in Christ.” And the recipients of Paul’s letters clearly understood what Paul was saying, because he didn’t give much explanation for it.
I want to give you a testimony of how this mindset is being recaptured in this new current. Not long ago, a sister in a Christ-centered organic church stood up in a meeting and gave a testimony. She said,
“I have been raised a Christian since I was a child. I’ve been meeting with you all for about a year now. I was listening to the Christian radio, as I sometimes do, and a song came on. The singer was singing about how unworthy she was and how she needed to try harder to please God. She sang that her righteousness was as filthy rags, and she needed to improve her spiritual walk. I paused and suddenly realized that I couldn’t relate to that song anymore. I couldn’t relate to it because I’ve been given new eyes to see myself in Christ. For many years I struggled with a sense of unworthiness, guilt, and condemnation. But that’s all gone now. I don’t have it anymore, and I feel so free in the Lord’s love.”
When she shared this testimony, the room erupted and others began to testify along the same lines. It was an awesome experience. I believe this sister had laid hold of the same spiritual reality that the first Christians had laid hold of.
To add another illustration, a few years ago one organic church did an interesting experiment. They broke up into pairs and visited the various institutional churches in town for two solid weeks. And they decided to analyze the sermons they heard.
When they came back to report, they made this striking observation: every sermon they heard had the same essential message. It was this: “What you are doing isn’t enough to please God. You need to do more than you’re doing. You need to read your Bible more, pray more, help people more, come to church more, etc. You need to do better than the best you can do.”
This is the script upon which most contemporary sermons are built. It is a gospel of duty—pure and simple.
Interestingly, it was observed that these same churches give a very different message to the non-Christian. It sounds like this: “God loves you the way you are. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, His love is unconditional. Jesus died for you because He loves you without condition. You can’t please God. Your good works are as filthy rags. But God will receive you as perfect if you come to Christ. So receive Him today.”
Ah . . . but once those same people receive Christ and “get saved,” the “bait and switch” gospel kicks in with a passion. Here’s what it sounds like:
“Now that you’re a Christian, here’s what you must do to please God. You must try harder, you must do more, you must work harder, God won’t be pleased with you if you don’t do such and such, etc.”
A question that every Christian should ask when listening to a sermon or a message is this: “Am I hearing about the glories of Jesus Christ or am I being told what to do to be a better Christian?” The latter is a duty-based gospel – it’s legalism in one form or another. It’s eating from the wrong tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the luring counterfeit for the tree of life. Note that the forbidden tree contains the knowledge of good.
According to the New Testament, good works are like fruit that falls off of a tree spontaneously as the result of life. In the same way, Christians naturally walk in good works with others as they learn to live by God’s life.
In this connection, I have lost count of the letters I’ve received from pastors (some of whom are part of “cutting edge” movements) who confessed, “My gospel isn’t working. For so long I have been serving the god of serving God, and I admit now that I really don’t know Him nor do I know His love and acceptance in a genuine way.”
A large number of these men have also expressed the fact that burned out with respect to ministry and confessed that they had come to the shocking realization that they were serving God in their own strength instead of by His life.
You and I cannot live the Christian life by ourselves. You can I cannot serve God in ourselves. Theological knowledge, doctrinal precision, and the intent to do good and help others is no substitute for living by Jesus Christ. Being a Christian is territory staked out only by Divinity. Only Christ lives the Christian life (John 15:5; Gal. 2:20). We learn to live by Christ and we learn to serve God together in community, not as an isolated Christian. This experience is beginning to take root among a growing number of Christians today.
7) A rediscovery of God’s eternal purpose. It appears that the eternal purpose of God is the governing vision of this third current. I won’t unravel that statement here (as I’ve spoken on it extensively elsewhere), except to say that this is probably one of the most exciting aspects of what’s beginning today, for me at least. The eternal purpose is deeply bound up with an experiential understanding of the Trinity (the fellowship of the Godhead) and its relationship to the Christian life, the expression of the church, church planting and mission.
8) An inclusive, open spirit to all of God's people. Unlike so many past movements, this third current is marked by an open attitude toward all of God's people. It rejects and even hates an exclusive, sectarian, elitist attitude and posture. While it has its own unique distinctiveness, it embraces and receives all whom God has received. Neither is this movement built around a human personality. While God is using a number of people to influence it, no human being is taking the center of attention. Those who are influencing it the most are pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ rather than to themselves.
In conclusion, we are only in the beginning stages of this third current. So there’s not a whole lot that’s established yet. The baby is breaking open the womb. But through her birth, we are seeing a recovery of what’s been lost and a discarding of what’s been picked up over the centuries.
As we approach 2009, pray with me that the Lord will gain much more for Himself with respect to these eight characteristics—all of which tell us something about one of the ways in which the Spirit is blowing today.
Wow
I have been, on one hand, more 'at peace' than at any other time in my life... and on the other hand... sort of 'stirred up'.
It has been a struggle for me to know whether this 'agitation' is a little A.D.D. on my part, or satan-seeded restlessness, or just His Spirit at work in me... perhaps the jury's still out...
but I read an article just now that describes - almost to a T - what it is that has been nipping at the edges of my conscsiousness for a while now...
It is entirely borrowed from Frank Viola, and copied exactly as I found it in New Wineskins e-zine (it is long, but worth reading.... a couple times... I would really LOVE your feedback):
The Current Move of God: 8 Characteristics - by Frank ViolaNovember - December, 2008
I’m looking forward to 2009. I believe it’s going to be an important year for the church of Jesus Christ.
In August, I was privileged to be one of the speakers at a conference for Christians who gather outside the institutional church. Some of the other speakers were Tony & Felicity Dale, Paul Young, Wolfgang Simpson, John White, and Jon Zens.
In one of the leadership sessions, I gave a very short talk in which I stated that I’m not someone who goes around saying that there’s a new move of God happening in our day. In fact, for the last two years I’ve heard many others say this, but I’ve suspended judgment. I then announced that I’m now forced to say that I am convinced that we are in the beginnings of a new move of God.
Please note that I believe that God is up to many things. And He’s using all sorts of movements, “conversations,” etc. in various ways to bring His people to His final and ultimate goal.
In this article, however, I’ll be focusing on one particular move of God that has taken place in two different phases, or currents, thus far. Both of these currents have occurred outside the organized church in the West.
The first current occurred in the late 60s and early 70s. By 1979, it had all but died.
The second current began in the late 80s and early 90s.
This brings me to the reason why I’m excited about 2009.
It’s because we are just now beginning to see a third current of God’s move in the United States (and other Western countries) where Christians are leaving the institutional church structure (in record numbers) and discovering the living, breathing, headship of Jesus Christ in an organic, collective way without a clergy.
The landscape is changing rapidly. God is raising up new voices and new expressions of the church which look very different from the traditional expression.
According to my travels, my observations, and my correspondence, eight main features appear to be marking this third current. They are as follows:
1) A genuine revelation and experience of an indwelling Lord. Many Christians are being awakened to the fact that Jesus Christ dwells inside of them, and that He seeks to be everything to them. Some movements today emphasis the historical Jesus and seek to provoke Christians to try to imitate the Jesus of history. But in this third current, God’s people are discovering that the historical Jesus has taken up residence within them. He is resurrected, glorified, enthroned and has become a life-giving Spirit. Consequently, we can actually live by His indwelling life. Not as a theory, a doctrine, a positional truth, but as a reality.
2) A recapturing of a spiritual vocabulary to reflect a unique experience. Ephesians Chapters 1-3 are littered with a vocabulary that few Christians use today. This vocabulary emanates from a mind. And that mind is characterized by the capacity to see the unseen and to declare as present fact heavenly realities that exist outside the constraints of created time. Realities that are not just doctrinal or theological, but experiential. This vocabulary is being restored in this third current.
3) Meeting together for a very high and noble purpose. That purpose is to display the living Christ who indwells the church. The third current is being marked by church gatherings— not as services, not as platforms for sermonizing, not as pastor-led or priest-led orders of worship, not as Bible studies, and not as liturgies— but to make visible a living Christ by His every-member functioning Body where principalities and powers are put to shame. This aspect of church meetings, where every member is participating under the headship of Christ, is little understood today. But it’s beginning to gain traction in this new current.
4) An incredible Christ-centeredness in the thinking, life and vocabulary of God’s people. This new current is marked by the centrality of Christ. Jesus Christ is being put in His place. He is being given His rightful position of centrality, supremacy, and preeminence.
This Christ-centeredness is being reflected in conversation. (That’s how the first believers got the name “Christian,” by the way. They were always speaking about Christ. ) This Christ-centeredness is being reflected in songs. This Christ-centeredness is being reflected in ministry.
Our message is Christ. It’s not about how to be a better person, how to serve God more, how to do better and be good. It’s instead marked by a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ along with practical help on how to know Him deeply. Out of that flows everything else, including the church’s mission.
5) An experience of close-knit community. This is becoming an experience, rather than a buzzword. Believers who know church as community do not think merely as individuals. They do not think in terms of “me” or “I.” Instead, they think and live in terms of “we” and “us.”
To their minds, there is no disconnect between getting saved and being part of the community of believers. This element is a restoration of the New Testament Christian mindset.
If you were a pagan in the first century, you knew that becoming a Christian meant being initiated into a shared-life community. It meant losing your raw individualism and your rugged independence. It meant becoming part of the people of God. Not as an abstract doctrine, but as a way of life. You became part of something larger than yourself—a new culture in which you lived your life. For that reason, the early Christian movement was called “the Way” (Acts 19:9, 23; 24:14, 22). It wasn’t a belief system; it was a way of life.
Let’s face it. Western Christians have inherited an individualistic Christianity with an individualistic salvation and an individualistic walk with God. A Christian publisher recently told me that there are about 45,000 evangelical Christian titles in print and about 5,000 that are published every year. 95% or more of those books are addressed to you as an individual Christian. And the underlining point of those books is what you must do as an individual to be a better Christian.
But there is no such concept in the mind of God. Christianity has always been a corporate experience and a corporate reality. The individual Christian mind was born during the Reformation, driven into the ground during the Enlightenment, and set in concrete for the last several hundred years. But the New Testament knows no such mindset. This, I believe, is an important recovery.
6) An understanding of the reality of being “in Christ.” Like the early Christians, those in this third current are being pulled loose from a “works” mentality, liberated from a guilt complex, and set free from a sense of religious duty.
If you open up the New Testament letters, you will find that Paul always addresses the churches he planted (despite what they were going through) with the arresting phrase “holy ones.” He saw them holy “in Christ.” And the recipients of Paul’s letters clearly understood what Paul was saying, because he didn’t give much explanation for it.
I want to give you a testimony of how this mindset is being recaptured in this new current. Not long ago, a sister in a Christ-centered organic church stood up in a meeting and gave a testimony. She said,
“I have been raised a Christian since I was a child. I’ve been meeting with you all for about a year now. I was listening to the Christian radio, as I sometimes do, and a song came on. The singer was singing about how unworthy she was and how she needed to try harder to please God. She sang that her righteousness was as filthy rags, and she needed to improve her spiritual walk. I paused and suddenly realized that I couldn’t relate to that song anymore. I couldn’t relate to it because I’ve been given new eyes to see myself in Christ. For many years I struggled with a sense of unworthiness, guilt, and condemnation. But that’s all gone now. I don’t have it anymore, and I feel so free in the Lord’s love.”
When she shared this testimony, the room erupted and others began to testify along the same lines. It was an awesome experience. I believe this sister had laid hold of the same spiritual reality that the first Christians had laid hold of.
To add another illustration, a few years ago one organic church did an interesting experiment. They broke up into pairs and visited the various institutional churches in town for two solid weeks. And they decided to analyze the sermons they heard.
When they came back to report, they made this striking observation: every sermon they heard had the same essential message. It was this: “What you are doing isn’t enough to please God. You need to do more than you’re doing. You need to read your Bible more, pray more, help people more, come to church more, etc. You need to do better than the best you can do.”
This is the script upon which most contemporary sermons are built. It is a gospel of duty—pure and simple.
Interestingly, it was observed that these same churches give a very different message to the non-Christian. It sounds like this: “God loves you the way you are. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, His love is unconditional. Jesus died for you because He loves you without condition. You can’t please God. Your good works are as filthy rags. But God will receive you as perfect if you come to Christ. So receive Him today.”
Ah . . . but once those same people receive Christ and “get saved,” the “bait and switch” gospel kicks in with a passion. Here’s what it sounds like:
“Now that you’re a Christian, here’s what you must do to please God. You must try harder, you must do more, you must work harder, God won’t be pleased with you if you don’t do such and such, etc.”
A question that every Christian should ask when listening to a sermon or a message is this: “Am I hearing about the glories of Jesus Christ or am I being told what to do to be a better Christian?” The latter is a duty-based gospel – it’s legalism in one form or another. It’s eating from the wrong tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the luring counterfeit for the tree of life. Note that the forbidden tree contains the knowledge of good.
According to the New Testament, good works are like fruit that falls off of a tree spontaneously as the result of life. In the same way, Christians naturally walk in good works with others as they learn to live by God’s life.
In this connection, I have lost count of the letters I’ve received from pastors (some of whom are part of “cutting edge” movements) who confessed, “My gospel isn’t working. For so long I have been serving the god of serving God, and I admit now that I really don’t know Him nor do I know His love and acceptance in a genuine way.”
A large number of these men have also expressed the fact that burned out with respect to ministry and confessed that they had come to the shocking realization that they were serving God in their own strength instead of by His life.
You and I cannot live the Christian life by ourselves. You can I cannot serve God in ourselves. Theological knowledge, doctrinal precision, and the intent to do good and help others is no substitute for living by Jesus Christ. Being a Christian is territory staked out only by Divinity. Only Christ lives the Christian life (John 15:5; Gal. 2:20). We learn to live by Christ and we learn to serve God together in community, not as an isolated Christian. This experience is beginning to take root among a growing number of Christians today.
7) A rediscovery of God’s eternal purpose. It appears that the eternal purpose of God is the governing vision of this third current. I won’t unravel that statement here (as I’ve spoken on it extensively elsewhere), except to say that this is probably one of the most exciting aspects of what’s beginning today, for me at least. The eternal purpose is deeply bound up with an experiential understanding of the Trinity (the fellowship of the Godhead) and its relationship to the Christian life, the expression of the church, church planting and mission.
8) An inclusive, open spirit to all of God's people. Unlike so many past movements, this third current is marked by an open attitude toward all of God's people. It rejects and even hates an exclusive, sectarian, elitist attitude and posture. While it has its own unique distinctiveness, it embraces and receives all whom God has received. Neither is this movement built around a human personality. While God is using a number of people to influence it, no human being is taking the center of attention. Those who are influencing it the most are pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ rather than to themselves.
In conclusion, we are only in the beginning stages of this third current. So there’s not a whole lot that’s established yet. The baby is breaking open the womb. But through her birth, we are seeing a recovery of what’s been lost and a discarding of what’s been picked up over the centuries.
As we approach 2009, pray with me that the Lord will gain much more for Himself with respect to these eight characteristics—all of which tell us something about one of the ways in which the Spirit is blowing today.
Wow
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
seed scatterers
to sort of 'wrap up' the topic of 'the message'(as if my few words here are the quintessential end-all-beat-all on the subject - NOT!), how 'bout this: what are we called to be?
above all, I would say we are to be sowers! seed scatterers!
Aren't we to spread and scatter, and allow God to 'give the increase'?
So many times in my results-oriented world, I get so caught up in God's part.... at the expense of doing my own.
I gotta trust that God is gonna do His part... I gotta believe that deeply enough that I can do my scattering without wondering if He will do His 'increasing'.
so... go scatter!
My problem with our normal 'cart-before-the-horse' mentality is that when we START with all our differences, we rarely get an opportunity for relationship... and that's where growth and exchange and honest study happens!
we are ignorant when we believe we have all the answers (I learn new things and nuances every time I open the Bible)
we are arrogant when we think that, if not for me, God's Church will fail and everyone will go to hell (what about the Spirit's work today?)
and we are offensive to everyone (believers, non believers, atheists, muslims, baptists, lutherans, etc etc etc) when we act as if we have a corner on THE truth.
but I believe God is in control.... and He and His Spirit will make up for whatever deficiencies you or I possess in our approach.... so I have peace that whatever approach we use in our various walks and ministries, God will take care of it!
if we are prayerful and earnest and sincere with God, He will bless our efforts to His purpose...
So go sow!
above all, I would say we are to be sowers! seed scatterers!
Aren't we to spread and scatter, and allow God to 'give the increase'?
So many times in my results-oriented world, I get so caught up in God's part.... at the expense of doing my own.
I gotta trust that God is gonna do His part... I gotta believe that deeply enough that I can do my scattering without wondering if He will do His 'increasing'.
so... go scatter!
My problem with our normal 'cart-before-the-horse' mentality is that when we START with all our differences, we rarely get an opportunity for relationship... and that's where growth and exchange and honest study happens!
we are ignorant when we believe we have all the answers (I learn new things and nuances every time I open the Bible)
we are arrogant when we think that, if not for me, God's Church will fail and everyone will go to hell (what about the Spirit's work today?)
and we are offensive to everyone (believers, non believers, atheists, muslims, baptists, lutherans, etc etc etc) when we act as if we have a corner on THE truth.
but I believe God is in control.... and He and His Spirit will make up for whatever deficiencies you or I possess in our approach.... so I have peace that whatever approach we use in our various walks and ministries, God will take care of it!
if we are prayerful and earnest and sincere with God, He will bless our efforts to His purpose...
So go sow!
the message - part deux
So, if we learn to better send our 'message' to people with whom we come in contact, what's next?
well, that in itself is a pretty tall order.... and one which I anticipate wrestling with till I go Home.
But, as the Spirit gives us opportunity after opportunity to not only 'send a message' as a first impression, we better be ready for the next (second, third, forty-third) 'impression', right?
What do we do then? when we have opportunity to study and teach and discuss and shepherd and learn with people, what is important?
As we talk to our Baptist friends, is it important to discuss instrumental music?
As we spend time with our Methodist friends, should we study premillenialism?
...or (fill in the religious/theological difference here) with your (fill in denomination here) friend?
I dunno.... just asking the question...
I know this: it seems that most religious discussions tend to begin (and end) with the differences between the discussors' denomonational beliefs.... and the 'end' part is what concerns me...
What would happen if we sought to begin on common ground?
what would happen, for instance, if we started a discussion with, say, our Baptist friends about the Sovereign God and His coming to earth to walk among us and die for us and be raised for us?
what would happen if we started a conversation with our Catholic friends by acknowledging that the Catholic church has, BY FAR, the most amazing and comprehensive ministry for orphans and unwanted children?
what would the result be if, instead of concentrating on our differences, we worked hand in hand with our friends from different religious backgrounds in a soup kitchen or free clinic?
here's what happens: you strengthen friendship.. you build relationship... and walls are obliterated.
and guess what: then you can discuss almost anything! and remain friends...
and though I am an infant in this way, the most magical thing has happened to me when I allow God to lead me like that... a lot of the 'things' I viewed as important are...
just not.
well, that in itself is a pretty tall order.... and one which I anticipate wrestling with till I go Home.
But, as the Spirit gives us opportunity after opportunity to not only 'send a message' as a first impression, we better be ready for the next (second, third, forty-third) 'impression', right?
What do we do then? when we have opportunity to study and teach and discuss and shepherd and learn with people, what is important?
As we talk to our Baptist friends, is it important to discuss instrumental music?
As we spend time with our Methodist friends, should we study premillenialism?
...or (fill in the religious/theological difference here) with your (fill in denomination here) friend?
I dunno.... just asking the question...
I know this: it seems that most religious discussions tend to begin (and end) with the differences between the discussors' denomonational beliefs.... and the 'end' part is what concerns me...
What would happen if we sought to begin on common ground?
what would happen, for instance, if we started a discussion with, say, our Baptist friends about the Sovereign God and His coming to earth to walk among us and die for us and be raised for us?
what would happen if we started a conversation with our Catholic friends by acknowledging that the Catholic church has, BY FAR, the most amazing and comprehensive ministry for orphans and unwanted children?
what would the result be if, instead of concentrating on our differences, we worked hand in hand with our friends from different religious backgrounds in a soup kitchen or free clinic?
here's what happens: you strengthen friendship.. you build relationship... and walls are obliterated.
and guess what: then you can discuss almost anything! and remain friends...
and though I am an infant in this way, the most magical thing has happened to me when I allow God to lead me like that... a lot of the 'things' I viewed as important are...
just not.
Monday, December 15, 2008
the message
so what's the message?
Sometimes when First Day sings, Devin introduces one of our songs by saying something like this:
"we get to sing for lots of different audiences.... so what is THE message we want to leave with them?"
then we sing 3:16, a song Bruce composed which essentially puts music to the most famous verse of the whole Bible...
I wonder sometimes if it wouldn't make sense for us to give thought to the same question in our day-to-day....
all the people I come into contact with.... what is the message I want to 'leave' with them today?
I am sort of a student of behavior... not nearly as observant as I should be, but somewhat aware nonetheless...
so if one could infer from another's behavior that they are trying to 'leave a message', what message would one see? ...or more personally, what message would the casual observer 'get' from my behavior?
So I thought about it... and I retraced my steps and my actions from 'a day in the life' of me... just to see...
and here are the 'messages' I conveyed:
Sometimes when First Day sings, Devin introduces one of our songs by saying something like this:
"we get to sing for lots of different audiences.... so what is THE message we want to leave with them?"
then we sing 3:16, a song Bruce composed which essentially puts music to the most famous verse of the whole Bible...
I wonder sometimes if it wouldn't make sense for us to give thought to the same question in our day-to-day....
all the people I come into contact with.... what is the message I want to 'leave' with them today?
I am sort of a student of behavior... not nearly as observant as I should be, but somewhat aware nonetheless...
so if one could infer from another's behavior that they are trying to 'leave a message', what message would one see? ...or more personally, what message would the casual observer 'get' from my behavior?
So I thought about it... and I retraced my steps and my actions from 'a day in the life' of me... just to see...
and here are the 'messages' I conveyed:
- I'm in a hurry
- My time is more important than yours
- I know more than you do
- What I have to say is really really important, and what you have to say is, well, not so much
- I'm materialistic
- I have an inordinate love of food
- I am proud and arrogant
- I think I'm 'all that and a bag of chips'
wow. that was harsh. and insightful. and revealing. and true.
and really really disappointing... 'cause here's what I wanted to convey:
- I'm sold out to Jesus, and He rules my life
what message do you send?
God Bless!
Friday, December 12, 2008
labels
Labels are useful... how do you know what's IN something if you can't read (or look at the pictures) the label on the container!
Many labels exist today... we like to use them on people... and most of those are overused. But, frankly, some are well-deserved.
Still, I am not real fond of labels... I believe it makes us lazy and gives us license to not become familiar with people. It allows us space to not get close.... it gives us excuse to keep people at arm's length... and, as a result - if we're not careful - we become more and more distant from those whom we are called to engage...
after all, I would rather marginalize someone with a label than truly draw close to them and find out why they are like they are and offer help... or at least acceptance... or friendship.
especially poignant is the thought that Jesus did not discount people... and the only people he labeled were the 'religious'...
...brood of vipers... pharisees.... dead men's bones.... white-washed tombs...
the people we tend to label are those different from us... because we see them through our eyes...
Brandon Heath wrote a song called 'give me your eyes'...
it's worth watching the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTsYAZvHsEQ
Blessings!
Many labels exist today... we like to use them on people... and most of those are overused. But, frankly, some are well-deserved.
Still, I am not real fond of labels... I believe it makes us lazy and gives us license to not become familiar with people. It allows us space to not get close.... it gives us excuse to keep people at arm's length... and, as a result - if we're not careful - we become more and more distant from those whom we are called to engage...
after all, I would rather marginalize someone with a label than truly draw close to them and find out why they are like they are and offer help... or at least acceptance... or friendship.
especially poignant is the thought that Jesus did not discount people... and the only people he labeled were the 'religious'...
...brood of vipers... pharisees.... dead men's bones.... white-washed tombs...
the people we tend to label are those different from us... because we see them through our eyes...
Brandon Heath wrote a song called 'give me your eyes'...
it's worth watching the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTsYAZvHsEQ
Blessings!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
the Center of His Will
My friend John Harkness sent this video to me... it has beautiful music and a powerful message...
I have believed for a long time that many 'religious folks' (at least from my fellowship) assign value to conservatism. The more 'to the right' one may be, the 'better off' they are... it's a pendulum effect that causes people to run far and fast from a certain behavior or belief they may perceive as 'liberal', and they end up further to the 'right' than ever!
It occurred to me several years ago that we are called to try to 'be' in the center of God's will. I even drew a horizontal line on a whiteboard and placed a short vertical line at it's center... "imagine the vertical line is God's will. Don't we want to be as close to that 'center' as possible?"
I further asserted (and still believe) that being 'this far' to the 'right' of God's will had no more merit than being 'this far' to the 'left'... but somehow we have convinced ourselves that it's fine (and even better and laudable and 'safe') to be conservative - right of the center - while it's bad (sinful and dangerous) to be 'liberal' - left of center...
I am convinced that neither is correct.
God wants us to try and live in the very center of His will... period...
so as you think about that...
watch this video.... it will make you think!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ufpVNgBBY
God Bless!
I have believed for a long time that many 'religious folks' (at least from my fellowship) assign value to conservatism. The more 'to the right' one may be, the 'better off' they are... it's a pendulum effect that causes people to run far and fast from a certain behavior or belief they may perceive as 'liberal', and they end up further to the 'right' than ever!
It occurred to me several years ago that we are called to try to 'be' in the center of God's will. I even drew a horizontal line on a whiteboard and placed a short vertical line at it's center... "imagine the vertical line is God's will. Don't we want to be as close to that 'center' as possible?"
I further asserted (and still believe) that being 'this far' to the 'right' of God's will had no more merit than being 'this far' to the 'left'... but somehow we have convinced ourselves that it's fine (and even better and laudable and 'safe') to be conservative - right of the center - while it's bad (sinful and dangerous) to be 'liberal' - left of center...
I am convinced that neither is correct.
God wants us to try and live in the very center of His will... period...
so as you think about that...
watch this video.... it will make you think!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ufpVNgBBY
God Bless!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
History Lesson
I love history... and I know that makes me a nerd. I like reading and watching and learning about most all periods of history....
My favorite movies include historical 'fiction', like "Braveheart", "Saving Private Ryan", "The Patriot", "the Blue and the Gray", "We Were Soldiers" and perhaps my very favorite is the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers"... (ok, there's a war theme emerging... or a Mel Gibson affinity... not sure what that means)
Perhaps the most intriguing of all 'stories' is the story of His Church. ...and maybe the reason it's so interesting to me is that it is THE story of all time... literally. The recorded story of God's people - His Church (the ecclesia - called out) - begins with Genesis and, well...
continues with you and me today.
The most striking era in this story involves God incarnate. Because while the story is very interesting from Genesis to Malachi, it gets REALLY GOOD when God becomes man and lives among us.... then it starts to get really unbelievable...
for most of us, the most important part of the story is the part which includes us!
and since someone way smarter than me once observed that those who "ignore history are doomed to repeat it", I submit that it is of paramount import that we pay attention!
So as you endeavor to grow and learn and stretch, it would seem prudent that you learn from your own past...
For instance: If, historically speaking, I am in a better 'place' spiritually when I am, say, giving to others rather than thinking of myself, maybe 'history' would suggest that I daily remember to do something for someone else...
...or if I remember that I am less 'happy' and in tune with God when I hang out with this person or that group, perhaps history is suggesting that I not spend time with those folks...
Similarly, our local churches should do the same...
If we, as a local fellowship, are vibrant and happy and most useful to God when we are open to being challenged... then why wouldn't we ALWAYS endeavor to be open and challenged? why would we ever be 'closed' and unchallenged?
if your most treasured memories of your congregation involve times of transition and growth... then wouldn't you yearn for times of change and stretching? why would you ever seek or accept the status quo?
if, when you remember the most joyful time in your congregation's history, and that cherished memory involved a time when things were not altogether calm or smooth... wouldn't it make sense to almost flee from 'calm and smooth'?
if routine and sameness and stagnation are the natural opposites of excitement and movement and change, then why would you now crave the former and not the latter?
Why don't we, instead, crave and seek the MOVEMENT of HIS SPIRIT?
If most churches are a stagnant pond instead of a raging river, it's largely because they forgot their history....
His Holy Spirit wants to MOVE in us. His Spirit seeks to stir us up to action. He does NOT operate best in a calm, serene, stagnant pool of 'status quo'... and when we crave routine and calm and sameness, we are quenching God's Spirit... plain and simple.
Blessings!
Friday, December 5, 2008
about direction and leadership
How do you choose leaders who will take His church in the direction it needs to go? Who do you look to?
yeah, I understand we must look to His Spirit's guiding... and I know we must pray for His Hand to be on the process... but, practically speaking, how do we choose elders for our local churches? There is no modern day Paul-esque itinerant preacher/apostle roaming around the country establishing churches and appointing its leaders...
so... what do we do?
the Bible actually gives scant little information about what steps we are to take in appointing/choosing/installing shepherds or pastors or elders... We like to take I Timothy and Titus and make them 'lists', although I suspect that these (and the I Peter 5 text) were intended to serve more as 'heart windows' into prospective shepherds, rather than the litmus test our fellowship has bent them into...
so what do we look for?
is it someone who can 'get along' with the current elders?
is it someone who knows the Bible front to back?
is it someone who will 'represent' his 'constituents'?
perhaps each of these have merit...
but if this is His Church and His Body, maybe the very most important trait we should seek is... seeking.
What if we chose elders who, above all, were seekers? I'm not talking about 'seekers' in the 'mall-church-felt-needs-looking-for-Jesus' sense... I mean the type of 'seeker' who does not have all the answers, so he is constantly looking to God for them.
What if we chose shepherds who, like their namesake, would climb sheer cliffs and skinny limbs to 'get at' God's will? (remember the parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18?)
What if our litmus test for leaders was not 'sameness' but 'stretching'?
We have three terrific shepherds at Riverside! and each of them, in their own way, are seekers and stretchers...
as we choose additional shepherds, let us constantly look to God and His Spirit's leading... and seek 'seekers'...
God Bless!
yeah, I understand we must look to His Spirit's guiding... and I know we must pray for His Hand to be on the process... but, practically speaking, how do we choose elders for our local churches? There is no modern day Paul-esque itinerant preacher/apostle roaming around the country establishing churches and appointing its leaders...
so... what do we do?
the Bible actually gives scant little information about what steps we are to take in appointing/choosing/installing shepherds or pastors or elders... We like to take I Timothy and Titus and make them 'lists', although I suspect that these (and the I Peter 5 text) were intended to serve more as 'heart windows' into prospective shepherds, rather than the litmus test our fellowship has bent them into...
so what do we look for?
is it someone who can 'get along' with the current elders?
is it someone who knows the Bible front to back?
is it someone who will 'represent' his 'constituents'?
perhaps each of these have merit...
but if this is His Church and His Body, maybe the very most important trait we should seek is... seeking.
What if we chose elders who, above all, were seekers? I'm not talking about 'seekers' in the 'mall-church-felt-needs-looking-for-Jesus' sense... I mean the type of 'seeker' who does not have all the answers, so he is constantly looking to God for them.
What if we chose shepherds who, like their namesake, would climb sheer cliffs and skinny limbs to 'get at' God's will? (remember the parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18?)
What if our litmus test for leaders was not 'sameness' but 'stretching'?
We have three terrific shepherds at Riverside! and each of them, in their own way, are seekers and stretchers...
as we choose additional shepherds, let us constantly look to God and His Spirit's leading... and seek 'seekers'...
God Bless!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
holidays and stress
I love the holidays! I love the music and the family visiting and the decorations and the general goodwill... I like the cold weather and the food and the food and, of course, the food!
But I know it can be a stressful time for some... and I wonder what it is that causes us to fret and stress and get all wrung out during this time of year...
sometimes it is family. your relationship with momma is strained... you haven't spoken to your dad in 6 months... you and sister are still fighting about something you can't even remember!
sometimes it is financial. barely enough money to pay the light bill, and a big dinner to buy and serve... not nearly enough cash to buy the gifts your kiddos want... or need... you can't even fill up your gas tank, much less decorate for the occasion.
sometimes it is loss... the holidays tend to remind us all of the loved and gone...
sometimes it is the stress of shopping for all those on your list!
whatever it is that causes you stress this time of year, let me encourage you to look for the good... look for the good in your family... look for the good in the goodwill... look for the good in loss... (remember, the reason you miss 'em is most likely because they blessed your life!) look for the good... even in the shopping!
if you know someone who lost a dear one this year, call them and tell them you are thinking about them!
if you have a warm place to sleep and stay, praise God and be thankful.
if your warm place is bigger than most, invite people over for a meal and good conversation!
if you have extra money (dig down, now), give it to someone you know can use it!
and above all, remember that people are more important than things... so spend time with 'em during this special time!
God Bless!
But I know it can be a stressful time for some... and I wonder what it is that causes us to fret and stress and get all wrung out during this time of year...
sometimes it is family. your relationship with momma is strained... you haven't spoken to your dad in 6 months... you and sister are still fighting about something you can't even remember!
sometimes it is financial. barely enough money to pay the light bill, and a big dinner to buy and serve... not nearly enough cash to buy the gifts your kiddos want... or need... you can't even fill up your gas tank, much less decorate for the occasion.
sometimes it is loss... the holidays tend to remind us all of the loved and gone...
sometimes it is the stress of shopping for all those on your list!
whatever it is that causes you stress this time of year, let me encourage you to look for the good... look for the good in your family... look for the good in the goodwill... look for the good in loss... (remember, the reason you miss 'em is most likely because they blessed your life!) look for the good... even in the shopping!
if you know someone who lost a dear one this year, call them and tell them you are thinking about them!
if you have a warm place to sleep and stay, praise God and be thankful.
if your warm place is bigger than most, invite people over for a meal and good conversation!
if you have extra money (dig down, now), give it to someone you know can use it!
and above all, remember that people are more important than things... so spend time with 'em during this special time!
God Bless!
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