Does God Really Care About Christmas?

     I went to the mall this week to buy a last minute gift for my wife and I saw this incredibly long line weaving through the mall.  I began to wonder what they where waiting in line to see.  As I finally got to the front of the line I saw an overweight man with with white hair and a white beard dressed in red and white sitting on what appeared to be a throne of some sort.  I watched as child after child approached this stranger with great fear and trepidation.  The parents of these children encouraged them to sit on the strangers lap for a picture.  After great struggle by the parents and insanity by the camera lady to get the children to smile against their will, the picture was taken and the parents were happy.
     Had I been an alien from another planet I would have thought this ritual was quite strange!  Who is this odd man and why are parents making their kids sit on his lap?  Why do they go to great lengths to try to maintain this myth in their children's minds?  Why do they spent so much money on presents then tell their children that they are from this imaginary man?  
     Before you accuse me of being one of those crazy Christians that thinks that Santa is equal to Satan, I want to bring a different perspective.  I don't think that Santa is the major source of the Christmas confusion.  Neither do I think that people saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is a battle worth fighting either.  In the past well-intentioned Christians have boycotted stores because of their refusal to say "Merry Christmas."  Well this year many of the stores caved to the pressure and started saying "Merry Christmas" instead.
     My question is, how many people's eternal destiny was changed from heaven to hell because Wal-Mart cashiers are now saying "Merry Christmas?"  Don't get me wrong I still say "Merry Christmas."  I am just wondering if God really cares about what we call Christmas at all.
     Lets face it, we as Christians celebrate basically the same way non-Christians do.  We fill our time with shopping, holiday parties, wrapping gifts, decorating our homes, over-eating, and spending time with family.  None of which is wrong of course, but it all tends to be quite self-centered.  But do we really stop to think about how God would want us to celebrate the birth of his son?
     To me the way we celebrate Christmas is the like the way we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday.  We give kids a day off from school to celebrate his memory.  Looking at all of what he stood for is that the way he would want to be remembered?
     Look at the first Christmas.  No one who was invited to the first nativity was their for self-centered reasons.  Joseph took Mary as his wife even though she became pregnant before their marriage.  Mary agreed to what the Angel told her even though she knew the social stigma that would be attached to her.  The Shepherds came to worship Jesus and the Wise men travelled for months to bring their gifts to a newborn baby.  That scene was about any of them, it was all about Jesus.
     Now over 2,000 years later we still celebrate Jesus' birth but it seems to be all about us and very little about him.  I don't claim to have all the answers or solutions to this problem.  Neither do I claim to celebrate Christmas exactly the way God would like.
     I also realize that you may think of several ways that you celebrate Christmas that may honor Christ, but if we were to weigh that against our expressions of self-centeredness which would win?
     I know this doesn't feel like a real cheery blog, but after all it is Christ's birthday in the first place maybe we should take the time to ask these sobering questions: "How would Christ want me to honor him on his birthday?"  "Is the way I celebrate Christmas really all about me or about others?"          

I Wish You Would Go To Hell!

    Are you ever appalled by your own selfishness?  I often am.  I recently pulled up to the street corner where Alex begs for money.  (If you would like the back story on Alex please read "I really am a horrible person")  I have reached out to Alex multiple times, initially with a great response but since then it has been hit and miss.  I was in a hurry to get to an appointment and didn't want to bother with him.  So I pulled over in the far lane and hoped he wouldn't recognize me.  Well that didn't work.  He came running across the lanes of traffic to say "Hi" to me. The light turned green and I pulled away.  I immediately felt horrible.
     I realized I had been sucked back into my own selfishness again.  I was trying to ignore the obvious need right in front of me because of its potential inconvenience.  So I decided to make it right.  Alex had mentioned that he was sick.  So I went and bought him some hot soup and coffee and went back to give it to him.  I was reminded again through that experience that compassion or selfishness are moment by moment decisions.  Each day I can live for myself or I can choose to live for something greater.
     Today, I would like to look at the final chapter in the book of Jonah.  Jonah is an example of someone who knows so much about God but who in this story chooses to act so little like him.  God's word says that Jonah is ticked off at God's mercy.  Listen to what he tells God, "Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord?  That is why I ran away to Tarshish!  I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  You are eager to turn back from destroying people.  Just kill me now, Lord!  I'd rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen."
     How appalling!  Jonah has every preacher's wildest dream come true: To preach to a city of 120,000 people and see the entire city repent and turn to God!  Jonah should be dancing in the street, but instead he is sitting on a hill pouting and complaining to God about his mercy.  He is so intense about this that he says he would rather die than see these people not get what they deserve.  He is essentially saying "I wish they would all go to hell!"
     I ask the question again: "How can someone who knows so much about God act so little like him?"  But then I realize that I am guilty of the same thing.  In those moments when my schedule, my priorities and desires are more important to me than sharing God's grace and truth with another person, I am essentially doing the same thing.
     I think all Christians can get sucked into the trap of knowing a lot about God, but not acting like him.  I think that is one of the primary reasons why Non-Christians aren't impressed by Christianity: "They know too many Christians."
     But all they way back in Genesis God declares his purpose for humanity "Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.'" I refuse to be someone who knows a lot about God but doesn't act like him.  That is why moment by moment, decision by decision, and choice by choice I determine to follow Christ and become more like him.              

Sheep Wearing A Sackcloth Suit!

     Ever come across something that is so out of the ordinary that it demands your attention?  What if you came across a sheep wearing a suit of sackcloth?  Well, you might think that you are watching a cartoon episode to see an animal wearing clothes.  What if everywhere you look every beast was wearing burlap?  Sounds like a strange dream doesn't it?
     Well, where we pick up the story of Jonah describes this exact scene.  After spending 3 days in the belly of a great fish and being vomited back upon dry ground, Jonah decides to obey God.  He goes to the great city of Nineveh and begins to shout, "Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed."
     My first question is "Could Jonah possible have preached a more pathetic message then this."  He doesn't even try to preach to them.  The Bible doesn't record that he even tried to tell them about God.  Obviously his heart is not in this mission at all.  He sounds like a crazy man on the side of the road holding a sign saying: "The end of the world is near."
     Using this approach, you expect the people to totally ignore him but instead the Bible says "The people of Nineveh believed God's message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow."  Even the king joins the people by dressing in burlap and sitting on a heap of ashes.  But that isn't the most extraordinary part of this story.
     The king makes this proclamation: "No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks may eat or drink anything at all.  People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God.  They must turn from their evil ways . . ."  Now that is the kind of leadership that we need today!
     I am amazed at the level of repentance you see in this passage.  Not only does the entire city repent of their sins, but they declare an extended fast from both food and water.  They also dress in burlap and sit in ashes, but they are so serious about this that they make their animals fast and dress in burlap as well.
     How difficult would it be for a shepherd to dress his flock in sackcloth?  How much work would it be to a farmer to clothe his entire herd of cattle in burlap?  It sounds absurd doesn't it, but that is how serious these people were about repentance and following God's words.
     The principle that I find in this Scripture, is that many times people who do not know God are better at doing what he says than those of us who claim to follow him.  I have seen over many years of ministry that the most effective people at bringing others to church with them are not church people, but non-Christians or new Christians.
     I love being around new Christians, because they are so serious about learning God's word and doing what it says.  It is refreshing and challenging to me.  I want to be that serious about learning and doing God's word.  Even if it means looking ridiculous to other people.  Let's be honest, you know the Ninevehites had to been ridiculed by other people for this ridiculous spectacle of all their beasts dressed in burlap.  What if we as Christians were this passionate about learning and doing God's word?  How different would our world look?
    Unlike Jonah, I refuse to become so accustomed to hearing God's word that I completely miss the point.  (We will talk about this more in my next blog.)        

What a Pathetic Prayer!

     I am a father of three children ages 9, 7 and 6.  So needless to say I have heard my share of crying over the years.  It starts with the most beautiful cry you have ever heard: "A babies first cry!"  Then you start to be able to distinguish between different cries.  You have the: "I am wet" cry, "I am tired" cry and "I am mad" cry.  As they get older the cries become different.  Now you have the: "my sister is picking on me" cry, "I don't want to clean my room" cry and "This is so not fair" cry.  I have become quit good at ignoring these cries, but the cry that always gets an immediate response from me is the "I am really hurt" cry.  I come running to the rescue of my children when I know they are in trouble or danger.
     Today we pick up the story of Jonah as he is crying out to God from the belly of a great fish!  I can only imagine how terrifying that place would be.  Jonah describes his life slipping away, and how God rescued him from the jaws of death!  In fact some scholars believe that Jonah drowned in the fish's stomach and that God brought him back to life when he was spat back upon dry ground.  Regardless, Jonah prays this prayer in chapter 2 out of complete desperation.
     As I read this story, I can't help but think about how pathetic Jonah's prayer sounds.  I get mad at Jonah, "It is your own fault, you are there.  You rebelled against God.  He is actually saving your life by having a great fish swallow you."  But then I think about all the times I have cried out to God in my own horrible situations created by my own bad decisions.
     Jonah says, "I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me."  God is a loving heavenly father and he hears and answers the cries of his kids when they are in trouble.  He may not always answer those prayers exactly the way we would like but he always answers.
     We can be tempted to think that our prayers have to be elegant, theologically accurate and in King James English.  But I think God wants to hear our pathetic prayers.  The word "pathetic" means "having the capacity to move one to a compassionate pity."  God hears our pathetic prayers.  So if you are in trouble today don't stop praying pathetic prayers.  

How can you sleep at night?

     Have you ever asked anyone this question?  Usually the question comes after we have heard about someone else's unwise, unsafe, or immoral behavior.  We ask this question because we think about how our conscience would drive us crazy if we were living the way the other person was.
     But even though we hear God speaking to us by his Spirit (which we call our conscience), we can easily choose to ignore it.  When we consistently choose to ignore God's voice, it can become as if we don't even hear it at all.  God's word gives us the picture of our conscience being "seared with a hot iron."
     We see an interesting picture of this in the story of Jonah.  Jonah was a prophet.  Which means his calling was to hear from God and deliver his messages to others.  Normally, the Israelite prophets delivered messages to God's people: the Israelites.  One day God gives Jonah a different assignment: deliver a message of repentance to the pagan people of Nineveh.
     Jonah hates the idea of pagan people getting the chance to repent.  He thinks they deserve punishment.  So instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah gets in a boat and goes the opposite direction.  He says he was trying to run away from God.  When I read this story, I think to myself, "Silly Jonah, everyone knows you can't run away from God."  But then I realize how often I am guilty of the same faulty thinking.  "God won't see this."  "God won't know about this."  "God won't care about this."
     While they are on the boat a violent storm hits them and they are all fearful that they are going to die.  Everyone except Jonah, that is.  He is down in the boat sleeping!  Jonah is clearing disobeying God, his life is being threatened, and he is sleeping peacefully.
     Jonah: the great prophet has so hardened his heart against God that he seems completely comfortable in his rebellion and defiance!
     Unfortunately, it can be so easy for us to see this in other people's lives but at the same time totally miss it in our own lives.  We can be living in direct rebellion to God's word and yet be so seemingly comfortable in our lifestyle.  The reason we seem so comfortable is that we have ignore God's voice for so long that it is almost as if we don't hear it any more.  This is such a dangerous place to be!  I know because I have been there!
     The only way you and I get of that dangerous place is an unpopular word called "Repentance."  Repentance means that we have such a change of heart that we turn 180 degrees from our sin and head in the opposite direction.  Repentance is not a one time thing.  It is the lifestyle of a follower of Christ.  I have to daily turn from my sin to follow Christ.
     The reason why I am so challenged by this story is that I don't want to have to be swallowed by a fish like Jonah in order for God to get my attention. (I will speak more about this in tomorrow's blog.)
     Today, I repent.  Today, I turn away from my sin.  Today, I refuse to ignore God's voice.            

Are You Naked?

     Have you ever had one of those disturbing dreams where you show up to school or work and you realize your naked?  My thought in my dream is always, "How in the world could I leave the house and forget to put clothes on?"
     Here is a interesting thought: God created us to be naked!  Look at Adam and Eve, it was only after their sin that they felt shame for their nakedness.  Now, before you think that I am trying to have some weird creepy argument for us all to join a nudist colony, here me out.  I am just saying that our life-long obsession to cover up who we really are was never God's plan.
     I think we can try to cover up who we are in many ways: physically, emotionally, financially, relationally, and spiritually.  It doesn't matter if you are a Christian or not, the same temptation is there.
     John addresses a church in the Revelation 3 that is dealing with the same issue, "You say, 'I am rich.  I have everything I want.  I don't need a thing!'  And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."
     For the first 10 years of our marriage, Dianne and were so blessed, but it always felt like money was tight.  Recently, God has blessed us again and it feels like we are more comfortable financially.  Dianne and I have always strived to be generous with God and others concerning our finances, but I must admit it seems like the more I have, the more I want to hold on to it and spend it on myself.
     The words we just read from Revelation are a loud warning to us.  I don't know about you, but I refuse to become rich financially, but become poor in what really matters.  I refuse to become so obsessed with "clothing" that I don't realize how naked I am without God's grace.
     John gives the solution to this dilemma of becoming so blessed that we forget God.  He says in 3:19 "So be diligent and turn from your indifference."  Indifference is so sinister.  It is that "I don't care" attitude that can creep into our lives.
     If you have been reading my recent blogs, you will be familiar with my stories of God challenging me to reach out to a homeless man named Alex.  This morning I drove past Alex's corner and a different homeless man was standing there with a sign.  Upon seeing him, I immediately found myself drowning in a sea of my own indifference again.  I thought of all the reasons why I shouldn't help.
     In that moment, I was "poor and blind and naked."  What I keep learning is that just because you win a battle with indifference one day, doesn't mean you win the war.  That is why John challenges us to be diligent in turning from our indifference.  We must continue to turn from indifference or as John says we become "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."  This is not at all what I want my life to look like.  So I ask you again, "Are You Naked?"           

I ain't going to hell wit ya!

     I was recently listening to some a random Christian hip-hop song I had on my ipod while I was fixing supper.  The message of the song seemed pretty good.  It was a song about standing up to the crowd for God and righteous living.  But the tag line in the chorus shocked me.  It said "I ain't going to hell wit ya!"  

     That seems to me to be a common Christian attitude.  I got my ticket to heaven and I am not too concerned if you get your ticket.  I just hope your wickedness doesn't rub off on me.  

     After recently watching the movie "The Nativity Story" my wife and I were talking about the Christmas story and she asked a great question, "Why did God draw shepherds and wise men to see Jesus?"  "What was the symbolism in drawing these diverse groups of people?"  She then had a theory.  "I think it was to show that Christ had come for all people both rich and poor.  

     I then began to ponder what my wife had said.  God did come to the rich and the poor, but he came as a poor man not a rich man.  That is the wonder that we celebrate at Christmas: EMANUEL "God with us."  God lowered himself to become a man and he challenges us to do the same in Philippians 2 with statements such as these: "Don't be selfish."  "Be humble." "Don't look out for only your own interests."  "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had, he gave up his divine privileges he took the humble position as a slave and was born as a human being."

     I recently wrote about my interaction with a homeless man named Alex in my post "I really am a horrible person!"  Yesterday, I saw Alex again and stopped to give him some food and a winter coat.  I talked with him for a couple of minutes and as I was leaving I saw him crying.  I was reminded of how powerful it is to humble yourself to minister to some one else.  Lest you think I am patting myself on the back, let me remind you I only lower myself for a few minutes when I minister to homeless person, Jesus lowered himself for a lifetime to minister to us.  

     Jesus didn't have the "I ain't going to hell wit ya" attitude.  He had a "I will go through hell so you won't have to" attitude.  How far are we willing to go as Christians so others can know Christ?  What are we willing to sacrifice for them?  Christ was willing to sacrifice everything?     

God wants you to be poor!

     A very prominent message in modern American Christianity is that God wants you to be Healthy, Wealthy and Happy.  The reason this message is popular is obvious.  Who doesn't want to be healthy, wealthy and happy?  Those three things sure are at the top of my list.
     Where we have to be careful is that we don't approach the truth of God's word looking to pull out the things that we want to hear and ignoring the things that we would rather not.  Just last night my family was reading James chapter 1 and I came across this verse "Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them.  And believers who are rich should boast that God has humbled them."
     Wait, I thought that if I followed the 10 commandments, the Golden Rule, attended church, gave in the offering, and read the Bible, I would have a perfect life!  I mean isn't that the reason why we follow all the rules and try so hard to be good is so that God will make us happy?  Isn't that why we give to the church so that God will give us more?
     This phenomenon of only hearing the parts of the Bible that appeal to us is nothing new.  Thinking that God wanted us to be healthy, wealthy and happy was very popular in Jesus' day.  That is why Jesus had to confront that thinking with shocking statements such as "I tell you the truth, it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven."  The people thought that someone was rich because God was blessing them.
     Now before you get depressed and go back to Facebook or playing Angry Birds listen up!  I don't necessarily think that God wants believers to be Sick, Poor, and Depressed, but I do think that our own pursuit of health, wealth and happiness can be huge road blocks to what God really does want.
     As I read the Bible, what I constantly see is that God wants us to be Humble, Loving, Compassionate, and ultimately more like him.  The reason why God said it was difficult for rich people to enter the kingdom of heaven is that the more stuff we have the harder it is for us to be humble, loving and compassionate.
     I think what God desires for us is succinctly summed up in Jesus saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."  The poor in spirit realize life isn't about getting more stuff, but about how God can use my life to touch other people's lives.
     I am reminded of this so powerfully when ever I leave the country.  I realize that all of our wealth can be a huge distraction to what God desires to do in our lives.  God help us to be poor in spirit!  

Is speaking in tongues demonic?

     I recently had a student send me a link to a youtube video of John MacArthur preaching on speaking in tongues.  I watched the videos and found them quite troubling.  John MacArthur seems to be a very educated and convincing speaker on this topic.  His premise is basically that speaking in tongues is a satanic counterfeit.  His argument is that speaking to god in an ecstatic, gibberish speech is an ancient pagan practice that crept into the early church.  Here are his exact words: "The Church has married a system of pagan religion again, and we have developed a sensual, feeling, experiential, erotic approach to religion and called it 'the work of the Holy Spirit' when in fact it is the counterfeit of Satan."
     MacArthur's teaching gives us the sense that experiencing God with our senses or feelings isn't biblical.  If that is the case why would God tell us to love him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength? (Mark 12:30)  Why would God create us with emotions if they have no place in our experience with him?
     MacArthur's primary argument against speaking in tongues is from 1 Corinthians 14.  He says that speaking in tongues is "useless to edify." (or build up)  Even though verse 4 explicitly says that he who speaks in tongues edifies himself.  Later in his message he addresses this verse and says that Paul was being sarcastic in this statement.  That anyone who speaks in tongues is building themselves up in a prideful manner.
     MacArthur addresses verse 2 which says "For he who speaks in tongues, does not speak to men but to God."  MacArthur says that this verse is more accurately translated "He who speaks in tongues...speaks to a god."  He says that speaking in tongues is a pagan practice of "speaking to the gods."  He says that Paul is condemning a private prayer language.  MacArthur says that the gift of speaking in tongues was always directed to other people and that only the pagan version was directed to "a god."  If this is the case why does Paul say in verse 28 "But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately?"  So Paul is saying it is ok to pray to your false pagan god in tongues as long as you do it privately!  I don't think so.
     Finally MacArthur says "These people who think that they have some great thing going with their private prayer language with God, that doesn't do them any good because there is no knowledge of what they are saying.  Consequently, there is no learning in the mind.  Consequently, it is sensual ecstasy.  It is a feeling and Christianity has never been predicated upon a feeling."  Paul addresses this directly in verse 14 "For if I pray in tongues, my spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful.  What is the conclusion then?  I will pray with the spirit and I will also pray with the understanding."
     If you haven't seen this video or heard teaching like this you may wonder why I am blogging about this.  I am writing for several reasons.  1. To address this false notion that is quite popular "The Bible says that every time someone speaks in tongues it must be interpreted."  God's word very clearly teaches that their is a public gift of speaking in tongues in the church that must be interpreted, but their is also the gift of praying in tongues that does not need to be interpreted.  2. To demonstrate that just because someone sounds like they are intelligent and know the Bible and spout a lot of Greek words that what they are saying must be true.  It is so important that we as believers study God's word for ourselves and never blindly accept anything that a preacher says.
     In closing God does want you to pursue and experience him with your mind, but he also wants you to pursue and experience him with your emotions as well.   I firmly believe that praying in tongues is a biblical experience and that the enemy of our soul knows how powerful this can be in our lives so he tries to bring dissension, division and confusion regarding this topic.      

Is it a Sin to Question God?

     Being a youth pastor I have the privilege of constantly mentoring young people.  One of the joys of mentoring students is fielding their questions.  One young lady in particular asks very challenging yet amazing questions.  I love raw and real questions.  I also love being around people who are willing to ask tough questions.  Why do I love this so much?  Because, I refuse to give pat, churchy, rehearsed answers.  I make myself look to God's word for the source of my answers.  I must admit I don't always find neat and clean answers to every question, but I am willing to rest in that tension of searching but not always finding what I was looking for.
     Growing up in the church my entire life, one of the phrases I heard a lot was "Never Question God!"  It sounded to me like it was a sin to question God.  I always wondered why.  Because as I read the Bible it looked to me like great men and women of faith were constantly questioning God.  
     Because it is the Christmas season, I was recently studying Luke chapter 1 which begins the story of the birth of Christ.  Two characters in this true story are Zechariah and Mary and they have very similar experiences.  They both have angels appear to them and tell them that the impossible is going to happen: they are both going to have a baby.  Zechariah questions this because both he and his wife are very old and this seems impossible.  Mary questions this because she is a virgin and obviously having a baby as a virgin seems impossible to her!  
     But where their stories diverge is Zechariah is punished for his lack of faith by not being able to speak for 9 months until his wife gives birth.  After the angel answers Mary's question of how she will give birth as a virgin Mary's response is beautiful: "I am the Lord's servant.  May everything you have said about me come true."
     Mary still has a lot of questions.  How in the world do you explain to your family and fiancé that God made you pregnant.  Also not only was this an extremely awkward situation but dangerous as well.  In Mary's village women who became pregnant outside of marriage were killed.  Trust me.  Mary still had tons of questions as to how this would work, but she still responds to God with faith.
     In our lives, I don't think God is threatened or offended by our questions, but what he is waiting for is whether or not we will choose to have faith in him despite our questions.  So my encouragement to you is to continue to be willing to ask hard questions, but be courageous enough to have faith in the midst of those questions.