Christmas Is Here Again!

This is my LifeMatters post for this week, and I liked it enough to double post it.

When I look back at the Christmas story I see simplicity, humility, peace, and love. It’s because of God’s love for all people that the Christmas story even exists. I see some meager surroundings and smelly shepherds as an audience. Nothing over the top or spectacular about His entrance to our world. But as I look around today, the Christmas season has quickly become the busiest time of the year. People fight over toys, WalMart employees get trampled by crazy people looking for a deal, and selfishness seems to rule. Our thoughts are consumed by decorating our house, sending out cards so everyone can see how wonderful our family is, buying the best gifts, and making sure our children have a magical holiday. How different do those two scenes appear? How did we get here from there?

Oddly enough, I feel church has become very similar. Christ came for others, to redeem that which was lost. His focus was never on Himself. His desires were always to obey the Father and save humanity. The original churches were places focused on telling others about Jesus and serving their communities. People living openly with each other. Living and sharing life together. People chose to sacrifice for the good of others. Today’s churches often seem too inwardly focused. We argue over meaningless topics while people are hurting and struggling right next door. We form committees to discuss forming committees while people go to sleep hungry. Families are suffering and falling apart with a smile on their faces sitting in “their” pew Sunday after Sunday. How did we get here from there? 

 

This whole month is going to be about looking at the world through God’s eyes. Very often we talk about having a Christian worldview, but I think we need to have God’s view of the world. We can look around and justify excluding people from the church, but God’s offer of redemption is open to everyone. Christ did not die for some, but for all. Christ allows us to be light bringers (I just made that up I think) to the world around. Unfortunately we can choose to keep that light hidden rather than bringing it into the world we live in. Be in serious prayer this month about how you can get involved and how you can get a glimpse of God’s missional heart. Look for ways this month to join His mission. Opportunities are everywhere this time of year and especially now with the economy the way it is. Find a family that is hurting and show them some Christmas love. Buy food for a local food pantry to help feed families during this holiday season. Make a sacrifice of something you don’t need to help someone in need. God’s arms are wide open, are ours?

Included in a bigger story!

This is what I posted on my LifeMatters blog today and I figured I would share it here as well.

One of my new favorite TV shows is “Eli Stone.” You can watch it on ABC Tuesday nights, or you can DVR it like I do and watch it later. I hate commercials and our small group meets on Tuesdays. If you’ve never seen “Eli Stone,” here is a quick summary of the first season: Eli is a lawyer rising up the ladder and is engaged to the boss’s daughter. He is destined to become a partner and probably make tons of money representing less than respectable people. But then he begins having visions and those visions help him to see the world differently. He starts helping the people he has visions about and his life changes. Season One ends with him having his brain aneurism removed, oh I forgot to tell you about that but everyone is blaming his new crazy actions on the aneurism. Season Two begins with a healthy Eli, the aneurism is gone, trying to return to his old life. He is meeting with a therapist and she later reveals she is actually a messenger from God. Her message is simple—Eli’s life is meant for something more. He needs the divine in his life. The ability to help people was given to him but could be given to someone else. If he wants it back then he has to take the aneurism back as well. He does, of course, and things get back to “normal” for him.

 Please hear this, you will not get a theology lesson from watching this show. But it’s thought-provoking and entertaining. You can watch episodes for free on abc.com so get to it. The title for this episode is “The Path.” 

 

I mention all of this because I found the scene between Eli and his therapist (Sigourney Weaver) intriguing and challenging. It reminded me that we are all in a similar boat. God’s story is going on all around us. Some of it is done using conventional methods and some of it only He understands. The beauty is that He allows us to be a part of it. God allows us, His children, to be as active on His journey as we want. We have full access and yet so often take it for granted, dismiss it, or choose something “better.” Eli thought returning to “normal” would be better for him. The aneurism would be gone and life would be good again. He quickly realized that his old life was not “better” in fact it was dreadful. Once you experience the divine, ordinary won’t satisfy. Once you experience the eternal, temporary fixes won’t do. Eli learned this and made the choice to live dangerously but be part of something bigger. His life mattered and he made differences in people’s lives. The good news is we have that same opportunity, and ours is real.

 I love Romans 10:14-15. How blessed are we that we get to take the gospel to the world? God allows us to take His light and His love into a world of darkness and despair. We have the chance to impact people’s lives not only for eternity, but also for tomorrow. Sometimes people need hope and love today, and we get to play a role in that. Examine your life this week and ask yourself what role you’re playing. Do you have the divine presence in your life? Are you joining the story of redemption playing out all around you? Ask God for a part, and be ready and willing to accept what He offers. Use what He gives you to change the world around you. Guess what, that’s why He gave it to you. 

A new Christianity?

As I look around the “Christian” landscape today, I see many very strange things. One of them is a form of Christianity I don’t find as I read the Bible. In the Bible, I see men either following God or not. Certainly men were not perfect, but in cases of personal failures you’ll find repentance and reconciliation. As I look around today, I see people claiming to follow Christ, but their lives show nothing to back up their claim. I am not talking about earning salvation, but I am talking about having fruit. I am talking about obedience to God’s Word. I am talking about living a kind of faith that matters. I am talking about following after a loving God who demands our devotion. I guess when I look around I seem to find many people who want salvation without lordship and entrance to heaven without devotion. I’m afraid that many who call themselves Christians are going to be painfully awakened to hear the words, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” It is scary and very distressing to me.

A few tough questions I wrestled with this week: 
Can I be a follower of Christ and not be devoted to His leadership? 
What is devotion and what does it look like? 
Can I be devoted without being obedient? 
Is devotion legalistic? 
Does a life devoted to following Christ look different than the life of a non-Christian?

These questions cause me a lot of concern, both personally and corporately. As I examine my own heart, what level of devotion does my life show? As I look around the church today, what level of devotion do I see being preached and lived? Our faith is not a faith of showing up on Sundays and placing a check mark in that box. Our faith is one of radical devotion to a radical God—the type of God who would miraculously give you a child, and then ask you to offer that child as a sacrifice, the type of God who would offer His only Son to reconcile sinful humanity to Himself, and the type of God who would offer you salvation and freedom and only require acceptance of that gift.

I have to think that acceptance of His gift will result in a life that displays true devotion to Him. As I look through the passages this week, I see an example of true devotion; one night, God tells Abraham to take Isaac, his only son, and offer him as a sacrifice. The next morning Abraham takes Isaac and heads out for the mountains. Wait! Did Abraham know what God was asking? What about the promise God made to Abraham and the miracle that Isaac was? Why didn’t he consult other people to get their opinion on what God had said? Why didn’t they call a committee meeting to see what other meaning God must have had? Why didn’t he do something more along those lines? The answer: He trusted God and lived a life fully devoted to Him. The answer does not make sense. The action does not make sense. But he obeys anyway. I can’t fathom making that decision, but he seems to not even pause. God told him to do something, so there was no other option.

Several thoughts I learn through this passage:(if you want to read the rest, and I know you do, click here to go to the Threads site where you will find the other half.)

Obedience Leads to Good Things

While this lesson is kind of about change, I think it is more importantly about our view of God. Abram, or Abraham as he will later be called, was an ordinary man. Up until this point we know very little about him. Having access to Scripture and knowing the majority of the story, we know what Abraham will become. We have the New Testament, which looks back at Abraham as a great man of faith, and we know that God chose to make a huge covenant with him and bless him greatly. We know of his miraculous ability to have children at the age of 99 with Sarah. We even know of his mistakes, one being his attempt to get things done on his own by having a child with Hagar. But the funny thing is, we forget that all this took place after he was 75 years old. What did he do in those previous 75 years? Why did God wait so long?  

It seems that the purpose God had for Abraham was not to be fulfilled or even attempted until he was 75. Was he a slow learner so it took 75 years to get where God needed him to be? No, God’s plan was just a bit different than one we would have designed. What did Abraham do that was so extraordinary? The answer is much more simple than I would like it to be—he simply obeyed. I wish it was bigger than that, but that is not how God works, because God wanted the story to be about Himself, not about Abraham. As I read back over this story, I found myself looking past Abraham to see the rest of the story. The rest of the story is about a God that knows us, loves us and has a plan for us. I am at a point in my life where I want to see the bigness of God. I want to know that God can and will do what He says He will do. I want to serve a God that has a plan and allows me to be a part of it not because I am good enough but because He is my Father. (You can finish the rest of this blog at our Threads website.)

Fragrant incense or rancid meat

Revelation has always been a mystery to me. I have sat in on many different studies and heard many explanations through the years, and yet this book remains very mysterious. I am OK with that. In fact, I love it. I love scratching my head and wondering what in the world God is up to. I find it offensive when people try so hard to figure God out and get frustrated when they can’t. If we could see the big picture, and by big picture I mean all of eternity, maybe then we could begin to grasp some of the mystery. We however, are much like my wonderful 2-year-old daughter, only fixed on our next hit of hot chocolate to understand the big picture. This is why I embrace the mystery. For me, there is peace found in understanding that I can’t know it all, and there is hope in the fact that I rest in the arms of the One who does.

As I studied this week and explored this section of Revelation, I saw my face every time Laodicea was mentioned. This week we are exploring passion for Christ. Is seems a bit silly that we would need a lesson on remaining passionate for Christ, but apparently that need has been around for quite a while.
Let’s examine briefly what Christ did for us:
He bridged the unbridgeable gap between God and us.
He left the beauty of heaven to walk in our dirt and suffer more than we could ever know.
He died the worst death I can imagine.
Even though He was sinless, He became sin.
He took on God’s wrath—which we deserved.
He freed us from the bonds of sin.
He rescued us from hell.
He offers us purpose, peace, hope, and freedom.
He loved us in our sin, and loves us still despite our sin.
He rescued us from a path of certain destruction.

The list could go one forever, but for the sake of this blog, I will end it there.

Is there any reason, knowing any of the things Jesus did for us, that our passion would not continue to grow each day? When you sit down and make a list like that, it seems ridiculous that apathy even exists, and even more ridiculous that we are so accustomed to it. But, such is the case today as it was 2,000 years ago with the church at Laodicea.

Why does Christ hate apathy so much?…the rest of this blog is located on my LifeMatters blog. Finish reading it by clicking here!