It's time to give up!

     From time to time I read things from the Bible like I have never read them before.  I was recently reading one of Jesus' most famous sermons from Matthew chapter 5.  Jesus starts of his sermon with this statement:  "God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him."  I am so utterly shocked by this statement!  I ask myself if the American church has forgotten this verse was even in the Bible!  Has anyone told all of the prosperity gospel preachers about this one?  If you looked at the church in America would anyone realize that Jesus even made such a statement.  We teach the opposite.  We teach that God's blessings make us financially rich, that God wants us to have more!  But what if God wants us to have less.  Would anyone buy that book or watch a TV preacher talk about that message?  I don't have to surrender to the idea that God wants me to be rich.  I like that idea!  In fact, I love that idea!  Who wouldn't?   But it requires great surrender to follow someone who starts off there most famous sermon with "God blesses those who are poor."  Now before you think I am preaching that every true disciple of Christ needs to take a vow of poverty, I will admit that Jesus is talking about a character trait that goes much deeper than how much stuff we have or what our bank account balance is.  The danger with our wealth is that it numbs our awareness of our need for God.  That is what Jesus is preaching about our constant surrender to the fact of our overwhelming need for God!
     Jesus says next that "God blesses those who mourn."  Once again Jesus blesses something that we want nothing to do with.  Who wants to be poor?  I want to be rich.  Who wants to mourn?  I want to be happy.  In fact, we spend the majority of our life based around the illusive "pursuit of happiness."  Happiness is a moving target.  As soon as you think you have it, somehow it slips like sand through your fingers and you our off and running after it again.  God wants to give something that is much more secure than happiness.  He wants to give us joy.  He wants to give us peace.  But those things only come through this scary word that I keep saying:  SURRENDER  
     Jesus goes on to say that "God blesses those who are humble."  Now I could rant and rave about how our culture celebrates pride and not humility but I realize that humility by necessity must be a hidden gift.  If our culture constantly honored humility and humble people it would tempt humble people to lose the very character trait that we our celebrating.  Humility is a very difficult thing to shine a light on.  It is simple impossible to be proud of how humble you are.  Humility only comes through consistently surrendering to our need for God.  Humility is simply admitting that everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God.        
     Following God is most definitely not easy but it is obnoxiously simple!  Being a Christ follower is centered around one word: Surrender.  It isn't easy to give up our obsession with obtaining more possessions and instead pursue purpose.  It isn't easy to give up our obsession with happiness and instead desire holiness.  It isn't easy to give up success for significance, but yet it is simple.  It all involves surrender!

When God doesn't make sense. . .

     I have been a follower of Christ for over 21 years now and I must admit that there are still so many times that I don't understand God or the way he works. I just returned this morning from a missions trip to Costa Rica.  It was an absolutely an amazing experience, but not at all what I thought it was going to be.
     Let me give you a little background.  When I was 16 years old I said yes to God's voice which I felt like was saying "Go on a missions trip."  One night I was praying fervently about where God would want me to go and I clearly heard him say "Costa Rica."  I just knew once I heard that direction that I would be on a plane to Costa Rica that summer.  Well it didn't work out that way at all.  Instead, that summer I found myself doing missions work in Mexico.  Actually, this God-given dream for Costa Rica didn't come true for 20 years.  Why did God so clearly tell me to do something that he didn't want me to do till 20 years later?  I have no idea.  Sometimes, God doesn't make sense!
     We started out this journey this year thinking God was sending us to Mexico, but then we felt it change to Costa Rica!  Twenty years ago, I felt a call to Costa Rica but ended up in Mexico.  Why does God work this way? I have no idea.  Sometimes, God doesn't make sense!
     Our family stepped out in faith to go on this missions trip (all 5 of us!)  We knew it was going to cost us thousands of dollars, but we prayed and asked God to provide it all.  God is so faithful.  Through people's generosity, we were blessed with every penny, an amazing answer to prayer!
     While, I was at it I figured I would pray another prayer, which I knew was totally selfish.  I prayed that while we were in Costa Rica God would allow Dianne and I to swim in the ocean with our kids.  We prayed this prayer despite the missions trip directors consistent statements that our ministry site was no where near the beach and that it wouldn't be possible.  To make a long story short, we found ourselves zip-lining in the rain forest 2 minutes from the beach on our free day!
     Here is the funny part.  Our bus broke down on the way to the rain forest which delayed us a couple of hours.  This meant that our dream to swim with our kids in the ocean, looked like us swimming for 30 minutes while it rained.  Why did God answer my totally selfish prayer in such a non-climatic way?  I have no idea.  Sometimes, God doesn't make sense.
     Finally, because God revealed this journey to me 20 years in advance, we were praying and believing God for amazing things.  As a group we prayed for thousands of salvations, miracles, healings and a revival to break out in Costa Rica.  Instead, our trip consisted of loving on poor children, disabled children, and orphans.  What I thought was going to happen didn't happen at all.  We didn't sweep the country of Costa Rica as Christian Rock Stars, instead God broke our hearts for the things that break his heart.  Why did it happen this way?  Because sometimes God doesn't make sense.
     As I look back on this trip, I wouldn't have it any other way.  God says "My thought are higher than your thoughts, my ways higher than your ways."  God blessed us in incredible ways through this adventure but not at all the way we anticipated, because sometimes God doesn't make sense!     
     

Does God care about how I feel or only about what I believe?

     This is a question that I wrestle with a lot.  As I dialogue with people about issues of faith, I feel so schizophrenic in my answers.  I feel like I continually "speak out of both sides of my mouth."  On the one hand, what we believe about God is so crucial to the way we live our lives.  Our knowledge or lack of knowledge about God's word has such a drastic effect upon our relationship with him.  But on the other hand, just filling our minds with knowledge about God and no experience with him is as dry as stale crackers.
     My knowledge of God is foundational, but if it had not been for my experience with God, I doubt I would be following him today.  Feeling the presence of God has carried me through times of doubt and confusion.  When my mind gets tired my heart carries me on.  On the other hand, if I only follow God when I "feel" him, I will constantly give up when my heart gets tired.  On the other hand, (wait a minute. . . how many other hands are there?  This argument has turned into a monster.)  Told you I feel schizophrenic in my answers.
     I love what Erwin McManus said, "God is not a drug.  He will not make you feel better without making you better."  God's word says to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength."  Experiencing God is a mystical experience, and any teacher or church who tells you that you only pursue God with your mind is totally missing the point.  Also, any church that is only about "feeling God's presence"  and constantly pursuing the next "God high" is missing the point as well.
     God cares deeply about how we feel and wants us to experience him with our passion and emotions.  He also cares deeply about what we think and believe.  He wants us to study deeply his word and pursue him with our mind.
     If we only pursue God with our emotions we will turn into "spiritual nut cases."  If we only pursue God with our minds we will turn into "self righteous prigs." (to quote C.S. Lewis)
     I want to live somewhere in the middle.  I want to be Truth on Fire!  Ultimately I believe that the Heart and the Mind keep the Soul in Line!          

Blessed are the cool!

     This my response to a recent blog I read entitled "Blessed are the uncool!"
If you don't want to take the time to read it, let me sum it up for you, with this quote from it:

"I want a church that includes fussy kids, old liturgy, bad sound, weird congregants,  and…brace yourself…painfully amateur “special music” now and then."

     I couldn't disagree more.  This sounds like the church I grew up in.  There a lot of things about growing up in that uncool church that I am grateful for.  None of which are included in the previous list.  All of those things I could have done without.  [Full disclosure:  I was a frequent participator in the painfully amateur "special music"]  

     The writer goes on to attack a very "cool" church who had a volunteer "very abruptly escort" out of a church service a family of a disabled boy who was making a distraction.  The problem with this story is that we have no idea of the exact circumstances or how it was handled.  Maybe, the volunteer did the wrong thing.  I have no idea, but this cannot be evidence for how we need to make church "uncool."

     As I already stated, I grew up in a profoundly "uncool" church.  I remember attending my first Christian rock concert as a teenager.  I was absolutely blown away that "Christian" music could be that "cool."  I remember attending my first youth conference and was amazed at how "cool" everything was.  The thought that church even could be "cool" was revolutionary for me.  

     The problem I have with the first premise of this "uncool" argument is that America is filled with "uncool" churches and very few of them are growing.  I feel like the "uncool" factor can be a huge obstacle to my generation and even more so for younger generations.  

     With that said, I do agree that we shouldn't worship at the "cool" altar, to the point that our churches no longer reflect the heart of Christ.  This is where I and the "uncool" author may agree:

But more importantly, I want to be part of an un-cool church because I want to be part of a community that shares the reputation of Jesus, and like it or not, Jesus’ favorite people in the world were not cool.

     But I have this crazy notion that we can have a "cool" church that is filled with "uncool" people.  I believe that the church should bend over backwards including "uncool" people in our communities, but I don't think that means if you are completely tone deaf that we should give you a stage and a microphone.  Could it be possible that there is another/better place for that person to serve.  Most of the time I think that the "uncool" factor in churches is due to laziness or a lack of telling people the truth.  

     I believe that we should wrestle with this tension.  I believe that the gospel deserves an engaging presentation (call it "cool" if you like.)  But at the same time I believe that the church should embrace with open arms every "cool" and "uncool" person in our community.  Most importantly I feel like what people are really looking for is "GRACE."  They are looking for a place that they feel comfortable to be themselves, and what could be "cooler"  than that?   

   

I don't want to help the poor!

     This quote has really made me think.  The problem is that I don't like the conclusions I come to when I think about it.  I know the first possibility can't be true.  There is no way that Jesus was as selfish as I am. So according to this quote I only have one other possibility.  That I really don't want to help the poor!
     Now here is where I will totally contradict myself, in actuality I really do want to love the poor and serve the needy.  I just don't like the last part "without condition."  I have all kinds of conditions to my loving the poor and serving the needy.  First, my help has to make sense to me and be on my terms.  Second, the poor and needy must show their gratitude for my help.  Third, the help must result in some tangible life change from the afore mentioned poor and needy.
     If you have read my past blogs you may have heard me talk about "Alex."  Alex is a man who occasionally stands on the side of the road with a cardboard sign begging for help because he is "homeless."  I have tried multiple times to help Alex.  I have talked with him, prayed with him, gave him food, hot coffee, and clothing.  I have offered to help him get a hot shower and anything else I could think of that would help him.  Each time I helped it met my first two qualifications but sadly not the last.  My acts of kindness made sense to me, were on my terms, and Alex was very grateful.  Unfortunately, they have not resulted in any tangible life change.
     Because of this last condition of mine not being met, I have found my heart becoming hard towards Alex.  Recently, I have noticed him standing by the road on crutches.  The more cynical side of me wondered if they were just a prop.  The other day my wife and I were riding our bikes on the bike trail when I was passed by Alex riding his bicycle with his crutches strapped to the bike.  Because of this, I felt completely justified in the fact that I was no longer reaching out to Alex.
     Jesus tells a story of two different groups of people standing before him on judgement day.  To one group he says that they will be punished because they didn't take the time to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison, and care for the sick.  To another group he says that they will be rewarded because they did the exact opposite.  He concludes his story with this chilling statement: "I tell you the truth, when you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me."
     That sounds exactly like what we stated at the beginning, "loving the poor and serving the needy without condition."  I continue to wrestle with what this will look like in my life, but I refuse to become content in hiding behind my mask of comfortable American Christianity.  I determined long ago that I was going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and he doesn't seem to give me any options on this issue.  He says pretty clearly what a follower looks like.  It doesn't appear to me that my "service with conditions" is going to cut it.
     Even though I don't like what I see when I take a honest look at my self, by God's grace this isn't where I am going to stay!  

I Guess I Am a Racist!

     I have recently been fascinated by the media coverage of the death of Trayvon Martin.  First, let me say that when anyone is killed, it is a tragedy, regardless of the color of their skin.  Second, no one knows for sure what happened that night other than Trayvon, George Zimmerman and eye witnesses.
     With that said, I find it fascinating that the media will only show pictures of an innocent 12 year old boy, not a 17 year old teenager flashing gang signs.  An accurate picture doesn't seem to support their agenda.   I also find people like Jesse Jackson, appalling.  Here is a "Reverend" who is supposedly consumed with ending racism, but yet I think that he actually encourages racism.  If racism suddenly ended, no one would pay him any attention at all.
     Here is his recent quote concerning the Trayvon Martin case, "Targeting, arresting, convicting blacks and ultimately killing us is big business."  Actually, I think that racism is big business in America.  Sadly, people are killed everyday.  Blacks kill blacks.  Whites kill whites.  Whites kill blacks, and every other possible combination.  But we only hear press if a white kills a black.  What has all the press concerning the Trayvon Martin case done to us?  Has it made us more racist or less racist?
     "Racist" tends to be the easiest and quickest label to throw on someone you disagree with.  I recently read a chain email that accused anyone who disliked the president of being a racist.  Yet I found the email "racist" in itself.  It said that at least Barack Obama "wasn't on welfare or selling drugs in front of a liquor store."  Why would the email assume that because he was a black man at least he wasn't a welfare recipient  or a drug dealer.
     Martin Luther King said that he dreamed of the day when someone "would be judged by the content of his character not the color of his skin."  That is why I disagree with our president, because of the content of his character, not the color of his skin.  I have seen him support so many things that God hates such as abortion and homosexuality.  I have seen him lie and deceive the American people, that is what I judge him upon: the content of his character.  If that makes me a "Racist," I guess we have redefined the word.
     The dictionary defines the word "Racist" as "someone who believes that a certain race is superior to any and all others."  God's word clearly tells us that there is no room in the kingdom of God for someone like that.  Martin Luther King was just echoing the words of Paul when he said, "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, man or woman.  For you are all one in Christ Jesus!"  Paul says that through Christ I can look at you and not see the color of your skin.  Through Christ I can look at you and see our similarities not our differences.
     I am so proud of the diverse church that I attend and would love to see it become even more diverse.  I don't want to be a part of an all white church or an all black church or an all fill-in-the-blank church, because I don't think that it reflects the kingdom of God.  I know for a fact that heaven will not be segregated.  Revelation 5:9 says "Your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."  Heaven will be the most diverse place ever created.  We had better start learning how to love each other regardless of skin color if we are going to be together for eternity.
    Jesus is the only answer to racism.  Our world offers no solutions.  In fact, I believe it actually encourages racism.                 

What about Homosexuality?

There was a recent controversy that has made the news here in Iowa.  You can read/watch it here: School Assembly Creates Controversy

It has reminded me of a question that we need to wrestle with: "How do Christians confront homosexuality?" There is a variety of different responses that I have seen in my life time.  There is the extreme hatred of someone like Fred Phelps.

     There is the other extreme where churches ordain homosexuals as ministers.  But there are a lot of responses in between these extremes.  I believe how the church responds to this issue could be the defining issue of our time.   

     Here are a few of my observations.  It seems like the movement towards "tolerance" is very intolerant of any differing viewpoint.  I saw a recent interview with Kirk Cameron.  He made this statement about homosexuality, "I think it is unnatural.  I think that it is detrimental and ultimately destructive to so many foundations of civilization."  The interviewer asked Kirk Cameron if this kind of statement was encouraging people to feel hate towards gay people.  Why is it that every time anyone says that homosexuality is wrong they are immediately accused of hate speech?  In fact, I know people that have said homosexuality is wrong and have received very "hateful" responses and even death threats.  That doesn't sound like a very "tolerant" response.    

     One of the first accusations of people who fight Christians who stand up against homosexuality is that they are not responding with God's love.  They always say that if God is love, why would his followers teach hate?  Why is telling someone that their behavior is destructive considered "hate speech?"  I believe that smoking is destructive behavior, does that mean that I hate everyone who smokes?  NO!  I believe that overeating is destructive behavior, does that mean that I hate everyone who is overweight?  NO!  

     It seems like we are quickly heading toward a society that will arrest anyone who dares to speak a differing viewpoint.  The interviewer even asked Kirk Cameron the question: "Why do you even talk about this subject and keep saying things that cause people such alarm?"

     But ultimately we need to follow the example of Christ who came communicating "Grace and Truth."  Jesus had this amazing ability to hold the tension between these to things.  He was very comfortable being with people who were immersed in what he would clearly call "Sin."  But even more amazing is that the scripture paints for us the picture that "sinners" were very comfortable around Jesus.  

     I believe that Jesus shows us how to speak truth about issues and still communicate grace to people.  Ultimately we can miss the mark if we spend too much time on either end of the spectrum.  I recently had a very interesting conversation with a couple of young men:  One who claimed to be a homosexual and the other who claimed to be an atheist.   The atheist spoke about a past church experience.  He said that it taught him that "the core of religion are people who care compassionately about one another."  

     That is the grace part of the spectrum that we as Christians cannot let go of.  But this atheist also said, "get with the times and drop this 'being gay is a sin' crap.  A smart church would just chuck the Bible into a wood chipper and talk about what LOVE really means."  While I applaud this young man's first statement, I must take issue with this statement.  

     He is exactly right that, "the core of religion is people who care compassionately about one another."  But the issue is that I cannot truly do that without the foundation of TRUTH.  As a Christian, the reason I love people compassionately is because I am following the teaching's of Christ.  If I throw them out the window I have no foundation for LOVE.