Contempt is good?

The ups and downs of scripture can, at times, be very hard to grasp.  For example…

“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone, a new life has begun!” 2 Cor. 5: 17 (NLT)

Doesn’t that sound glorious?!  You become a follower of Christ and your life is about to change!  For those like myself, who came with some nice-sized baggage, that change can be pretty dramatic.

But a month or two into your new life, you notice something.  The people around you are a different.  Or, are you different?  The people you used to spend your time with don’t seem interested in being in your presence much anymore.  I like the way Peter says it…

“Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do.  So they slander you.” 1 Peter 4: 4 (NLT)

Doesn’t that sound fun?!

I imagined this to be a problem primarily among american young people.  Someone who gives their life to Jesus changes dramatically, quickly, and radically.  They are then ostracized by their former closest friends.

But then we went to Haiti.  The same issue is in place their.  Clearly Peter knew this would NOT be simply a cultural problem.

So what do we do?  We start by finishing 1 Peter 4.  He goes on in verse 14 to tell us to be happy when we are insulted for being a Christian.  Be happy.  How?  1 Peter 4: 14 says “For then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.”(NLT)  That sounds pretty “happy” and for those who have experienced it you know it to be true.

Students and adults alike…let us be willing to be different.  NOT so that we may pat ourselves on the back and say “good job.”  Rather, so our friends, maybe even just one of them, will see the light and love of Jesus Christ.  So maybe just one of our friends can come to experience the glorious Spirit of God resting on THEM because you were bold and brave enough to be different, to be slandered.

Checkered past?

2 Chronicles 32 and 2 Kings 18 and 19 tell the story of a guy whose name I may use if we have a fourth child…Sennacherib.  Don’t ask me how to pronounce it. 

I love this story for odd reasons. 

Confession time, I suppose…

One sin that I know God has forgiven me for but I still feel intense remorse for is blasphemy.  As an 18-25 year old I found it amusing and fun to find a Christian and debate them, attempting to make them feel like an idiot and God look like a mirage.  In my own prideful mind, I was good at it (turns out my vantage point was the mirage) but I never really had the opportunity to converse with a well-equipped, full of faith Christ follower (they would have mopped the floor with me). 

The fact that I spent years running God’s name through the mud still haunts me.  I truly know He has forgiven.  The fear that I’ve carried is that my tactics actually did some damage over those 7 years.  I feared that I impacted some in a way that pushed them away from Jesus.

In a word that’s nothing but…

ARROGANT

Sennacherib spent his time trying to convince the people of Jerusalem that their leader at the time, Hezekiah, was foolish for telling them that “their God” would save them.  None of the other “gods” had saved the cities that the Assyrians and Sennacherib had previously attacked.  Why would they be so foolish to think their’s would be any different? 

Long story short…God, the one true God, came through in a mighty way.  As convincing as Sennacherib had been in his arguments against the Lord, God himself was WAY more convincing, killing 185,000 Assyrian soldiers as they slept. 

I say all that to say this.  You may have a story that involves sin that you fear damaged the kingdom.  You may have a guilty conscience as a result.  You may fear that your life has pushed people away from the Lord. 

We must remember that He works all things together for HIS glory.  Is it okay that I spent 7 years arguing against Jesus and Christianity?  NO.  But…are you or I powerful enough to have a negative impact on the kingdom based on things we’ve done in the past?  In the big picture…NO.  God will use our past failures and our current faith and repentance to bring glory to His name, in spite of the awful things we’ve done. 

Read 2 Chronicles 32:22-23 if you’re in need of encouragement on this issue and see the ultimate result of Sennacherib’s blasphemy…take heart…God is so good He even uses our crusty, dirty past.

Choosing to Cheat

Andy Stanley released a tough, tough book eight years ago entitled “Choosing to Cheat.”  You will want to be prayed up before you take off reading it as the points of this book are quite convicting. 

The general idea is this:  As husbands, wives, dads, moms, employers, employees, parents, volunteers, leaders, or laborers our time is at a premium.  Days do not contain enough hours to satisfy every job we have in life 100%.  Sometimes we short-change our families by working late.  Sometimes we short-change our employers by leaving early to be with our families.  We generally have good intentions.  But no matter how hard we try, something or someone gets “cheated.” 

All too often in the culture in which we live, it is our family who gets cheated.  In an effort to “provide for” our families to the best of our abilities, we fail to provide the one thing they really starve for, our attention. 

Other times, we decide will absolutely give our family the attention they need and we cheat our employers out of work that needs to be completed. 

Bad news first…this tension will NEVER go away.  You will fight this battle for the length of your life, just as we have since Adam and Eve introduced sin into the garden. 

Good news, though…we CAN do a better job handling that tension.

Here are a few of Andy’s pointers to help:

• Recognize that if you stay at work until all the work gets done, you will never leave.  Prioritize your time at work (that includes those who stay home with the little ones; that IS WORK!) and set a reasonable schedule to handle all that you can in that time. 
• Allow your schedule to change with the different seasons of life.  For example, if you have little ones at home and work outside of the home, discuss with your spouse what would be the ideal work schedule of most benefit to the family while allowing the work to be completed.  Be honest.
• Prioritize life.  The hard truth is that as we add children and responsibility some of our “hobbies” have to go away.  I love to golf.  However, by the time a work week is complete, homework is worked through, my wife has been given the attention she DESERVES, the children have been bathed and played with, friends have been helped, and other fires have been put out, there is simply no time left.  As adults who are committed to our families, we must accept and embrace that.  Golf (or any other hobby) is an option, family is not. 

I strongly suggest you spend the $9 on this book, read it and apply it.  Your family and employer will be blessed.

What is your response?

Matthew 27:27-31 records the beginning of the end of Jesus’ life after being found guilty of a crime He did not commit.  A crime that would ultimately cost Him His life.  It records the brutal beating He took at the hands of the Roman soldiers.  It records the mockery they made of Him, making Him a pawn in a cruel game of assault.  It records the spitting.  It records the placing and driving in of the crown of thorns. 

The four gospels, primarily Luke 23, then record His final painful hours. 

I can’t help but be amazed at His response.  Facing a brutal beating, being “spat” upon, the crown of thorns, the cross, and verbal assault after verbal assault, He takes all the emphasis OFF of Himself. 

He was treated unfairly.  His response?  To care for the women who were weeping over him (verses 28-31).

He was abused.  His response?  To ask the Father to forgive those guilty of the abuse (verse 34).

He was placed in the company of real criminals.  His response?  To invite one of them to join Him in Paradise that very day (verse 43)

He was punished for nothing He did.  His response?  To cry out to the Father, NOT the people who caused it (Matthew 27:46).

He was punished for everything you and I did and will do.  His response?  Obedience to His Father (Luke 23:46).

How willing are you to be obedient to the Father?  When you are wronged, what is your response?  Luke 6:29, 35 is very clear about God’s expectation for us regarding those who wrong us.  Jesus taught it.  Jesus then lived it fully. 

What about you?  The moments in life when you and I are wronged are our GREATEST opportunities to share the Gospel…will we be obedient?  Will we love as our Savior loved?

This sounds familiar…

It’s a word that literally has the power to split families, start fights, and cause great fear…

Politics.

Whatever side of the political fence you sit on these days, it seems that no one is happy.  Ask most ordinary citizens what they think of the state of our government and they usually respond with words like “greedy,” “corrupt,” “selfish,” or worse that I cannot put in this blog. 

Flip to the book of Micah in the Old Testament and you find many similarities.  Micah was a prophet during one of the many dark days of Israel.  A time when many had become quite wealthy in questionable manners.  A time when the world around them was in much unrest.  A time when many in leadership positions in the church and government had become greedy and selfish, not concerned about the needs of the common people.  A time when the people seemed to forget who it was that blessed them in the first place. 

Much like we have today…

Micah 7 is a lament of the misery of Israel.  Quite frankly, this chapter could depress even the most chipper among us.  Micah uses phrases like “not one upright man remains” (how many times have you heard single ladies say this?), calls the most upright “worse than a thorn hedge,” tells his readers to “put no confidence in a friend.” 

If you were to only read the first six verses of this chapter, you would find ZERO reason for hope. 

But…there’s a seventh verse.  A seventh verse that we need to internalize and apply today.

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior, my God will hear me.” Micah 7:7(NIV)

Our God is bigger.  He is bigger than a health care plan.  He is bigger than a failed response to an oil spill.  He is bigger than a crooked senator.  He is bigger than a financial collapse.  He is bigger than a job loss.  He is BIGGER. 

Imagine if every Christian in america stopped worrying and whining and began reciting Micah 7:7…if everyone of us began to trust Him and pursue Him rather than worry about a “financial meltdown.” 

What a light this country would once again become. 

That is my prayer…that we take the same approach as Micah and remember that our God is bigger.

Temptations

Sometimes the bible can be frustrating. 

Seriously…

There are times when we read it, seeking the “nugget” that is really going to make the trial we are currently struggling through easy and manageable.  It seems that those are the times that we, like Jesus’ own disciples, have no ability to understand his parables or any other part of the scriptures.

But…

From time to time the bible is so painstakingly clear that we CANNOT miss the point. 

I don’t know about you, but those are my favorite parts…they kind of make me feel…not so dumb. 

Take Matthew 4 and Luke 4, for example. 

These are the records of Jesus’ temptation at the end of His 40 day fast and journey through the desert.  After 40 days without food, Jesus faces off with the greatest tempter the world will ever know, the devil himself. 

Starving, weak, thirsty, and hot Jesus begins what would equate to a seven second knockout in an MMA fight of today…against, by the way, the toughest opponent this world has to offer…what a MAN!!!

Three different temptations are thrown at Jesus; three temptations that, especially in the moment, would easily trap most of us. 

What’s the miracle cure for overcoming temptation in the most dire of circumstances?

The Word…

That’s it…the bible.

Our constant internalizing of God’s Holy, divinely inspired and recorded word. 

Jesus (who the apostle John refers to as the Word), uses scripture all three times to overcome the temptation of the prince of darkness himself. 

Why is it that it was so natural and seemingly easy for Jesus to overcome using scripture and so HARD for you and I to do the same?

Simple…Jesus was 100% completely sold out to God and God’s divinely inspired word.  Scripture wasn’t a segment of Jesus’ life that was there to be studied at certain times of the week.  Scripture was who Jesus was.  He WAS the Word. 

The closer you and I can get to becoming a walking model of scripture and seek to internalize the Word and project the Word through our lives, the sooner we are ready to face the devil and hand him the same humiliating defeat. 

What temptation do have a specific verse you use to help you overcome?

They’re good, but they’re not God

I heard a story on the way into the office this morning on KLOVE about Rev. Billy Graham.  He constructed a beautiful library in Charlotte, North Carolina several years ago.  However, recently he began renovating this fairly new structure after God began to impart something on him…John 3:30.  “He must become more; I must become less.” (NIV)

Rev. Graham noticed that the library had WAY too much to do with him and not HIM.  So he began changing things to shine the light of Christ, not Billy Graham. 

Then I get here and I read this in Revelation 19:10…”don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers and sisters…Worship only God.  For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus.” (NLT)

It is highly recommended that if you want to become excellent in a field that you watch those who are already excellent in that field and try to find out their work habits, study habits, practice habits, or other driving forces.  You, in turn, repeat those steps with a fiery intensity and hope to attain similarly excellent results. 

Good plan…

But a warning.  In church life this is not always a healthy habit. 

I have several pastors whose podcasts I listen to weekly and faithfully.  I read their books and study their churches.  I try to find out how it is that they have been a part of a ministry that is so successful. 

And while I never would “worship” those guys there are and have been times when I, and probably you, lose sight of what’s at stake.  In my effort to study their ministries, I sometimes forget that this is a ministry of JESUS that they GET TO be a part of.  NOT a ministry of theirs that they let Jesus be a part of.  “For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus.”

My job and your job, whatever our vocation, is to give a clear witness for Jesus.  Whether we work in a church, a store, a factory, a school, a hospital, or anywhere else our job is to be HIS witness. 

So, in our pursuit of vocational excellence (which is a GOOD pursuit), let us not forget the sole purpose of becoming excellent…to honor our risen Savior.

A Step Of Faith?

Yesterday, it was announced to the news that Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, accomplished author, and gifted speaker, would resign from his church.  When asked why, he simply said God told him to.  Where is he going next?  He doesn’t have any idea!  God simply has another mission for Francis and his family. 

That is a HUGE step of faith.

Then I come in this morning and read from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22.  Verses 7-13 re-tell the story of Jesus telling Peter and John to go prepare for the Passover meal, which would end up being their last together.  Their reply makes sense to a planner like myself; they want to know where to go and what to do…logical. 

Perhaps it’s due to my imperfect faith, but here is where it gets hairy for me.  Jesus tells them “as soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you.  Follow him.  At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’  He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up.”  (NLT)

My mind works strangely sometimes.  I can completely imagine that, had I been one of his disciples, I would have had no problem believing that He could feed 5000 with basically no food.  I could swallow that He could raise the dead, heal the blind, cure the lame, so on and so on…

But to send me to a city to find(in my mind, it would’ve been more like stalk) a guy I don’t know and ask him for the room where we could all share our last meal together…no way…that is simply too much.  Oh, and then, you’re telling me he already has this room prepared…Jesus, you must have staged this.

Don’t judge me…you would’ve thought the same thing. 

The bottom line is simple.  Peter and John went.  They found things exactly as Jesus had promised. 

UNREAL!

The reminder is simple.  We often declare something a step of faith ONLY if it is a HUGE step.  God is calling all of us to take a step of faith in some aspect of our lives, even if it something that is seemingly “small.”

Perhaps it’s just to step foot back in church; maybe it’s a financial decision that just doesn’t make sense, but God is clearly laying on you; perhaps it’s a relationship change; it may be a career change; it may be a move; it may be re-painting your living room wall; it may be what to name your coming child.

Whatever it is, any step of faith is honoring to God.  There is no step too small to give Him glory.  Larger steps usually don’t come until we’ve taken a series of smaller leaps. 

What is the large or small step of faith that God has lead you to that you are struggling with?

Encourage!

North Park youth will be diving into the story of Paul and the shipwreck from Acts 27 this week as we begin a new series entitled “Illuminate.”

This week’s question: What do you do, as a Christian, when the life of people around you seems to be collapsing?

This week has been a blast for me. Although I seem to be pretty limited on the number of spiritual gifts God has poured on me, encouragement is for sure one of them.

During what seems like the worst possible scenario for the other members of a ship that was about to run aground and be destroyed, Paul displayed a cool, faith-filled, calmness that truly changed people’s lives.

He urged the other crew members to keep their courage (Acts 27:22) and then pointed immediately to God. He didn’t pretend to have all the answers. He didn’t tell them that this shipwreck was going to be pain-free (Acts 27:26). He simply encouraged them to stay strong and pointed to Jesus.

You and I have this opportunity seemingly everyday. It is difficult to go through a day without hearing of someone’s life being in complete disarray. These family members and friends need two things from us during these trying times:
1. Listen – Notice that says LISTEN, NOT talk and share all the answers.
2. Calmly encourage and show your faith that God is bigger than this problem and CAN solve it.

I would challenge you today to read the story recorded in Acts 27 and notice the way Paul responds.  Then take his example to the life of someone you love and apply his method…

Encouragement is something we can share regardless of our education level, income level, age, sex, career status, parental status, or any other excuse we often use not to fully give ourselves to God.  Let’s do it…

Why Do We Over-complicate Things?

“Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning.” Luke 12:35

This is the heart of Jesus’ teaching about His own 2nd coming. He has more to say and teaches more, but this is at the heart of it all.

Be ready.

This month at NP we are going to be discussing the 2nd coming of our Savior. If you are a Christian, you have to believe He is coming again. He said as much repeatedly.

The problem with months like this is that we have a tendency to go off the deep end and want to know all the little details and have a schedule to go by.

Jesus tells us in Matthew that only the Father knows when He is coming back. I’m thinking that leaves us out…

It is my prayer that one month from now we will more resolved to serve our Savior as if TODAY is our last opportunity. To serve Him as if He came down in a vision and announced that He will be returning next Tuesday and we have one more week to make his name known to our friends, neighbors, and loved ones who have yet to meet my Jesus.

Be ready…He’s coming again. Other than that, I don’t really have any answers for you…