Recently I was reading in the book of Matthew when a thought popped into my head. Matthew 5 verses 14-16 says...
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
As I was reading this I started to think about what the American Christian is known for. I mean when people think of a Christian in the United States, what are the things they associate with them. So, I did a survey of Christian and non-Christians and the most common answers were that Christians go to church on Sundays and they go to bible studies during the week.
So then I started to think about these two activities. First, in purely a physical sense. On Sunday mornings (and sometimes on Saturday nights) all over this country millions of Christians get up and go to Church. Let's think about the physcial building they meet in. A church sanctuary is a building usually with no windows. When the service starts the doors are usually closed and remain closed until the end of the service when everyone goes home. Next...Let's talk about our Bible studies. Well, Bible studies are usually held in people's homes. So here we have a group of Christians meeting during the week in a building where the door is closed and the shades are drawn as we study the Bible.
Now when Jesus calls His followers "the light of the world", He uses a physical lamp as an illustration to help us get a mental picture of what He is talking about. So if we use that same picture with the average American Christian, we get a whole lot of Christians who take all of our lights (the lights of the world) and go inside buildings with no windows and shut the doors as we meet shining our lights on each other while people on the outside are left in the darkness. Do you think this is what Jesus had in mind when He called us the "light of the world"?
Now let's look at these two activities in a spiritual sense. Unfortunatley we (Christians) don't do a better job of being lights in a spiritual sense either. For example; the average Christian in the US, does not tithe to help others, is not giving to any missions organization, has not gone on a missions trip themselves and does not even know the name of their next door neighbor. He or she goes to Church once a week and lives a different life during the week than on Sundays.
So physically and spiritually, the two things the "light of the wold" is known for is taking all of our lights and putting them inside buildings and walls which keep all the light inside. Does this bother you at all?
Again if we are "the light of the world" then others are in darkness and are in need of our light. When we don't we are not living out our faith during the week, when we are not sharing out light with our neighbors much less know their names, when we are not more like Jesus during the week then on Sundays then we are not being "the light of the world".
Jesus goes on to say that when you are the light of the world, not only do you need to shine but you need to put your light on a stand and allow more people to see it. Church, when all we are known for is our meeting inside our closed sanctuaries and homes or living one way inside the church and completely different outside then we are not following Jesus, we are not being Christians.
We need to rethink our view of Church. Church should be the lighting service where we get our lights all re-lit. Some of our lights are really burning bright but some of us barely have a flame and Church should be a place where we come together to help each other burn as bright as we can be SO... (this is the most important part) we can take our lights out of the sanctuary and start shining in the world, in the dark alleys of people's broken lives and in the dark shadows of peoples hurts and pains and in the darkness of the sould who have no hope.
This is what Christianity was supposed to be...what we are known for should not be our meetings on Sunday but our doings during the week. We have such a great opportunity today to be light to so many people. It seems like kindness and common courtesy are things of the past. Today just holding the door for someone or saying thank you, taking out your neighbor's trash cans or telling someone you appreciate their hard work can really stand out. And as we do these things everyday, we will be putting our lights on a stand and letting them shine before men and we will be the Church. Then as people see a light in their dark world, they will recognize it to be the light of Jesus and as He promised then He will draw all men to Himself.
So, Church lets bring glory and honor to our Savior, let's let our lights shine before men!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Checklist Spirituality
We, humans, are obsessed with checklists. We have a checklist for our groceries, house cleaning, garage cleaning, car maintenance, daily schedule, books we want to read, bills we need to pay, places we would like to go, etc.
There is nothing wrong with checklists per se but I believe a legitimate and seriuos problem arises when we bring this "checklist mentality" into our spritual journeys. You see this idea of having a checklist for everything can easily seep into the way we live out our faith. We start seeing our faith as a checklist. We start marking our spiritual growth and our daily spiritual walks with checklists.
We may not write these things down as we do grocery lists but we have them in our heads nonetheless. We start using "checklist language" when we are talking about our spirituality. We say things like "I have to read my bible today" which is not a bad thing but what we are really saying is that I need to check off another box on my spiritual checklist. And over time we add boxes to our spiritual checklists. These boxes include, praying a certain amount of time a day or spending a certain amount of time doing this or going to a certain number of studies a week or reading a certain number of chapters in the Bible a day and so on. Ironically when we start treating our Christian faith like this, it starts to look a lot like every man-made religion in the world.
Man-made religions usually have one thing in common. Can you guess it? Thats right...they all have some sort of Checklist. Whether they call them commands or pillars or paths they are all in essence Checklists. This is the very thing Jesus came to change. He said get rid of your checklists and start checking your hearts. He said in essence its not about checking off a box on a list that makes you spritual, its about living your life, viewing the world and veiwing others the way He would if He were in your shoes.
So let's get rid of our "checklist spirituality" and lets live as redeemed people who are free to live a different kind of life. A life that is free from any man-made ideas including checklists. A life that is free to love others even when they mistreat you. A life that is free to give generously even if you are not rich. A life that is free to follow the Spirit's leading rather than a checklist.
There is nothing wrong with checklists per se but I believe a legitimate and seriuos problem arises when we bring this "checklist mentality" into our spritual journeys. You see this idea of having a checklist for everything can easily seep into the way we live out our faith. We start seeing our faith as a checklist. We start marking our spiritual growth and our daily spiritual walks with checklists.
We may not write these things down as we do grocery lists but we have them in our heads nonetheless. We start using "checklist language" when we are talking about our spirituality. We say things like "I have to read my bible today" which is not a bad thing but what we are really saying is that I need to check off another box on my spiritual checklist. And over time we add boxes to our spiritual checklists. These boxes include, praying a certain amount of time a day or spending a certain amount of time doing this or going to a certain number of studies a week or reading a certain number of chapters in the Bible a day and so on. Ironically when we start treating our Christian faith like this, it starts to look a lot like every man-made religion in the world.
Man-made religions usually have one thing in common. Can you guess it? Thats right...they all have some sort of Checklist. Whether they call them commands or pillars or paths they are all in essence Checklists. This is the very thing Jesus came to change. He said get rid of your checklists and start checking your hearts. He said in essence its not about checking off a box on a list that makes you spritual, its about living your life, viewing the world and veiwing others the way He would if He were in your shoes.
So let's get rid of our "checklist spirituality" and lets live as redeemed people who are free to live a different kind of life. A life that is free from any man-made ideas including checklists. A life that is free to love others even when they mistreat you. A life that is free to give generously even if you are not rich. A life that is free to follow the Spirit's leading rather than a checklist.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Work = Worth?
Have you noticed you have been in training all your life? Whether you realize it or not, you have been trained to understand your worth and value is based on a work=worth basis. Think about it.
When you are a baby you are rewarded based on how well you listen and behave.
When you are in school, if you do good work (study hard), then you will get good grades and your parents will be proud of you.
When you get a job, if you do good work (get the job done), then you will get a promotion and with a promotion...more money, then you will be worth more.
When you are older, if you do good work (own a nice home, have a good savings, have two kids and a expensive car), then you have made it and are successful.
Whether you realize it or not, this idea is ingrained deep in the fibers of your understanding of the world. Unfortunately this is such a deeply rooted belief that often times we translate it over to our spiritual journey. We look at God as a work=worth based system. But we replace the IFs with more spiritual things, nevertheless they are still IFs.
In our spiritual walk we think things like....
If I go to church this many times, if I read my Bible everyday, if I pray this many times a day, if I give this much, if I volunteer this much, if I dress this way, if I talk this way, if I (you fill in your blank), THEN God will love me!
This is so different from the kind of love and acceptance we see God showing in the scriptures. In the scriptures we see a God that is grace based. In fact over and over we read things like..."and this is not of your works but a gift from God" and "We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
In fact when we look at the most famous verse in the Bible...John 3:16 which says..."For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whomever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." Let's look at verse 17 also ..."For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Now in those two verse, who is doing all the work? GOD. All we have to do is believe in Him.
The problem of work=worth religion is that our focus becomes us, specifically our works and not God. And my focus usually is on my bad works. So I tend to see all my failing as a Christian and my sense of worth drops lower and lower.
The Bible paints a completely different picture. The Bible says that when you accept Christ, you are hidden in Christ. Now if you are hidden in Christ and God looks at you, who does he see?
According to the scriptures, its not about who you have failed to be, its about who Jesus has succeeded in being. It's not about doing things to make God love you. God already loves you. God already loves you.
When God looks at you, He sees Christ! So you no longer have to compete with others so that you may feel more valuable or loved. You no longer have to be better than, faster than, smarter than, richer than, etc. than, others because God loves you.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you less!
There is nothing you can do to make God love you more!
God loves you just because!
When you are a baby you are rewarded based on how well you listen and behave.
When you are in school, if you do good work (study hard), then you will get good grades and your parents will be proud of you.
When you get a job, if you do good work (get the job done), then you will get a promotion and with a promotion...more money, then you will be worth more.
When you are older, if you do good work (own a nice home, have a good savings, have two kids and a expensive car), then you have made it and are successful.
Whether you realize it or not, this idea is ingrained deep in the fibers of your understanding of the world. Unfortunately this is such a deeply rooted belief that often times we translate it over to our spiritual journey. We look at God as a work=worth based system. But we replace the IFs with more spiritual things, nevertheless they are still IFs.
In our spiritual walk we think things like....
If I go to church this many times, if I read my Bible everyday, if I pray this many times a day, if I give this much, if I volunteer this much, if I dress this way, if I talk this way, if I (you fill in your blank), THEN God will love me!
This is so different from the kind of love and acceptance we see God showing in the scriptures. In the scriptures we see a God that is grace based. In fact over and over we read things like..."and this is not of your works but a gift from God" and "We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
In fact when we look at the most famous verse in the Bible...John 3:16 which says..."For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whomever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." Let's look at verse 17 also ..."For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Now in those two verse, who is doing all the work? GOD. All we have to do is believe in Him.
The problem of work=worth religion is that our focus becomes us, specifically our works and not God. And my focus usually is on my bad works. So I tend to see all my failing as a Christian and my sense of worth drops lower and lower.
The Bible paints a completely different picture. The Bible says that when you accept Christ, you are hidden in Christ. Now if you are hidden in Christ and God looks at you, who does he see?
According to the scriptures, its not about who you have failed to be, its about who Jesus has succeeded in being. It's not about doing things to make God love you. God already loves you. God already loves you.
When God looks at you, He sees Christ! So you no longer have to compete with others so that you may feel more valuable or loved. You no longer have to be better than, faster than, smarter than, richer than, etc. than, others because God loves you.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you less!
There is nothing you can do to make God love you more!
God loves you just because!
Monday, August 11, 2008
What's Your Story
This week, I preached on the subject of the adulterous woman at our Woodland Hills campus. John Ortberg, really opened my eyes which helped me see her in a different way.
Often times we see someone like an adulterer, murderer, gang member, alcoholic, drug addict, convict and the list goes on and on, but basically the outcasts of our society and we take them at face value. What I mean is that we think that is just who they are. That they are just wicked and disgusting people. We normally don't stop to think that they may have a story of how they became those kinds of people. I don't think any little kid sets out to be an adulterer or thief or alcoholic or etc. I think we all have similar dreams to be amazing people. But somewhere on this road we call life, we hit some potholes. And sometimes those but potholes are small and we get over them. But sometimes those potholes are big. And sometimes they are so big that we get stuck in them and we can't get out. I believe that all of our outcasts hit some big potholes in their lives. I have spoke to many people and one thing everybody has in common is that we all have a story of how we got to where we are.
Some people's stories are worst than others but we all have stories. I find another thing that all human beings have in common is that we all have wounds. We all have been hurt. We all have hit some potholes on our journey. Our job as those who have been helped out of the potholes, those of us who are not an outcast....our job is to listen to people's stories. This is not an easy thing to do. Listening means getting involved. Listening means taking time out of our lives. Its much easier to dismiss the homeless guy on the corner as an alcoholic than to sit down next to him and listen to his story. It's much easier to dismiss the single mother who is pregnant with another child than it is to listen to how she got to that point.
But for those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, we have to remember that Jesus always had time for people's stories. He never took people at face value, He never judged people by their condition but looked at their stories. And in their stories he found their wounds and He met them right there. Just like He did with us. We all have had broken dreams and shattered hopes. We have all made wrong choices and we all came to Jesus broken and shamed, just like the adulterous woman. But Jesus saw past all that. He saw past our current condition.
Our job as Christians is to do the same. To love people like Jesus loved people. To hear people and listen to their stories just like Jesus did.
To not take people at face value. We are called to be His hands and feet and His ears. If we don't listen to the outcasts...who will? If we don't have compassion on them...who will? If we don't love them...who will? If you spend any time in the Gospels, you will see that Jesus has a special place for the outcasts. For the hurting. For the love-less. Bono of the band U2 puts it this way "God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them."
Our job is to validate people as lovable human beings, to listen to their stories and when we listen to their stories we will find a wound.....every body's got one....and then to take God to their wounds.
Often times we see someone like an adulterer, murderer, gang member, alcoholic, drug addict, convict and the list goes on and on, but basically the outcasts of our society and we take them at face value. What I mean is that we think that is just who they are. That they are just wicked and disgusting people. We normally don't stop to think that they may have a story of how they became those kinds of people. I don't think any little kid sets out to be an adulterer or thief or alcoholic or etc. I think we all have similar dreams to be amazing people. But somewhere on this road we call life, we hit some potholes. And sometimes those but potholes are small and we get over them. But sometimes those potholes are big. And sometimes they are so big that we get stuck in them and we can't get out. I believe that all of our outcasts hit some big potholes in their lives. I have spoke to many people and one thing everybody has in common is that we all have a story of how we got to where we are.
Some people's stories are worst than others but we all have stories. I find another thing that all human beings have in common is that we all have wounds. We all have been hurt. We all have hit some potholes on our journey. Our job as those who have been helped out of the potholes, those of us who are not an outcast....our job is to listen to people's stories. This is not an easy thing to do. Listening means getting involved. Listening means taking time out of our lives. Its much easier to dismiss the homeless guy on the corner as an alcoholic than to sit down next to him and listen to his story. It's much easier to dismiss the single mother who is pregnant with another child than it is to listen to how she got to that point.
But for those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, we have to remember that Jesus always had time for people's stories. He never took people at face value, He never judged people by their condition but looked at their stories. And in their stories he found their wounds and He met them right there. Just like He did with us. We all have had broken dreams and shattered hopes. We have all made wrong choices and we all came to Jesus broken and shamed, just like the adulterous woman. But Jesus saw past all that. He saw past our current condition.
Our job as Christians is to do the same. To love people like Jesus loved people. To hear people and listen to their stories just like Jesus did.
To not take people at face value. We are called to be His hands and feet and His ears. If we don't listen to the outcasts...who will? If we don't have compassion on them...who will? If we don't love them...who will? If you spend any time in the Gospels, you will see that Jesus has a special place for the outcasts. For the hurting. For the love-less. Bono of the band U2 puts it this way "God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them."
Our job is to validate people as lovable human beings, to listen to their stories and when we listen to their stories we will find a wound.....every body's got one....and then to take God to their wounds.
Questioning Yourself?
God loves each of us more than we could possible imagine...really! His love is so great that our mere mortal hearts and minds cannot comprehend it. And therefore like any loving parent, He wants to give us the world but He is sooo in love with us that He wants to make sure that anything He ever gives us will never take His place in our hearts. Therefore He wants to make sure that He is enough for us, period. But the amazing thing is that when He is enough for us, when deep in the fibers of our souls, HE IS ENOUGH, then He gives us the things we desire.
So the question we must ask ourselves EVERYDAY is "Is He enough for me today?
If all that I have...my relationships, my job, my car, my house, my bank account, my freedom, etc. is taken away from me today is it enough that I have you in my life Lord?" I believe we need to wake up every morning and re-evaluate God's role in our lives. We need to reflect on our lives and our hearts and be honest with ourselves and God see if He is enough today.
And if He is not, then we need to be honest with Him and say "God today you are not enough for me, please help me realize that you are enough for me!" You see God knows the place He has in our hearts and He wants us to be honest with Him. There is a story in the Bible in Luke chapter 9 where a father brings his son to Jesus to be healed. When he asks for Jesus to heal the boy, Jesus responds by telling the man to believe because everything is possible if you believe. Then the father answers with what I think is a huge key for our lives, his response is "Lord I believe, help me with my unbelief." The father has some faith but he also has some doubt (sound familiar). But the amazing thing is that the man even goes to Jesus for help with his unbelief.
That is the same attitude we need to have. We often think we can keep our shortcomings and our doubts from God. But that is not what He wants, He wants us to go to Him with all our junk. In the story Jesus goes on to grant the father's request and heals the boy. The truth is we all have doubt, we all struggle with Him not being enough.
The goal is to grow in the days when we can say "Jesus you are enough for me today...If everything I have is taken from me today, you are enough Lord! So my question to you is "Is He enough for you today?"..:
So the question we must ask ourselves EVERYDAY is "Is He enough for me today?
If all that I have...my relationships, my job, my car, my house, my bank account, my freedom, etc. is taken away from me today is it enough that I have you in my life Lord?" I believe we need to wake up every morning and re-evaluate God's role in our lives. We need to reflect on our lives and our hearts and be honest with ourselves and God see if He is enough today.
And if He is not, then we need to be honest with Him and say "God today you are not enough for me, please help me realize that you are enough for me!" You see God knows the place He has in our hearts and He wants us to be honest with Him. There is a story in the Bible in Luke chapter 9 where a father brings his son to Jesus to be healed. When he asks for Jesus to heal the boy, Jesus responds by telling the man to believe because everything is possible if you believe. Then the father answers with what I think is a huge key for our lives, his response is "Lord I believe, help me with my unbelief." The father has some faith but he also has some doubt (sound familiar). But the amazing thing is that the man even goes to Jesus for help with his unbelief.
That is the same attitude we need to have. We often think we can keep our shortcomings and our doubts from God. But that is not what He wants, He wants us to go to Him with all our junk. In the story Jesus goes on to grant the father's request and heals the boy. The truth is we all have doubt, we all struggle with Him not being enough.
The goal is to grow in the days when we can say "Jesus you are enough for me today...If everything I have is taken from me today, you are enough Lord! So my question to you is "Is He enough for you today?"..:
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