Patternism

If the pattern for the church and for the Christian is so plainly laid out in the New Testament such that there can be no dispute (as some would say that 2 Timothy 1:13 states "Follow the pattern of the sound [or healthy] words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.") then why did such a perfect Pattern lead to the Catholic church of the middle ages, and all the many thousands of splits and sects that we find today. If the pattern were perfect, the church would be perfect right? Is the pattern really there at all?  Timothy was with Paul for years and the two small letters we have are not the complete story. So when Paul tells Timothy to follow the pattern it's not something that is wholly available to us. Think about how an architect would build a house out of the "pattern" or "blueprint". It's just not all there. We don't have everything, but we have "everything we need" (2 Peter 1:3).

If the goal of the restoration movement is to get back to that pattern, then why do we think that the results will be any different this time around. If all were restored to the way it was in the first century, then just a few hundred years from now things would be heading back to the schisms and sectarianism we find today. Do we think we can do better than those who were so close in time to the events of the gospels? And if the pattern is so clearly laid out, why do we need the Holy Spirit? I guess this is why Patternists often equate the Spirit with the Bible and deny the active indwelling in our lives today.

If we treat the restoration movement as a destination rather than a journey, the situation today is where we end up. If instead, the purpose of the journey is following Christ, then we are on the right path and though each of us starts from a different location and each has different experiences along the way, we will all end up in the same place eventually, in the arms of Jesus.

The More Better Church

Thinking about the perfect church.

If I am to assume that the church I am at is imperfect is it not reasonable to assume that I should look for one closer to perfection. Given that, which church would meet the criteria of being closer to perfection? What is the measure of the perfect church? Is there one around that might be perfect?

Absent answer to these questions, does it really matter which building or which group I associate with on a regular basis? The fact that this church is more better than that one in this area but less better in some other area causes a conundrum. I am left to judge which areas are most important to be better at.

When asked what was the most important thing to be better at, Jesus said (2 things) "love God, love everyone else." So the more better church would be the one that practiced these 2 things as most important.

How many times when looking for a group to associate with have I looked to these 2 standards? Do these people love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength? Do these people love their neighbors as themselves? And if I am to live out those 2 things, then does associating with a single group to the exclusion of others even make sense?

More Than I Am

This was the devotional thought I gave tonight with much trepidation. I was worried I might be boo'd off the podium. But apparently it made some sense and wasn't too ranty.

You may not like what I’m going to say tonight. I don’t like some of it. Recently I’ve been feeling that there’s a lot more to this Christian Life than what I’ve been living. Is this all God has called us to be? In our often works centered Christianity we talk about the need to DO more. But what Christ has for us is to BE more.

He doesn’t call us not to steal. He calls us not to want to steal.

He doesn’t call us to refrain from impure actions. He calls us to refrain from impure thoughts.

He doesn’t call us not to kill. He calls us to not insult and hate and look down on.

He doesn’t call us to worship Him. He calls us to be pulled so strongly to him that we can’t help but worship Him.

He doesn’t call us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, heal the sick. He calls us to be filled with compassion so great that we can’t help but serve those around us.

What keeps us from being more? I can tell you that for me it is:  Fear. Insecurity. Complacency. Laziness. I’m perfectly comfortable in my life. Good family, good job, plenty of stuff.

And doesn’t Jesus accept us just as we are? We just sang “Just as I Am.” Yes, he does, in all our sin and imperfections, he welcomes anyone into his kingdom. But once there, we are not done. The new addition to the body is just beginning the journey, she has not arrived. The destination is being transformed to be like Jesus. That’s a long way to go.

What else holds me back? I am burdened by legalism. I am burdened by traditions held up as law that do not permit growth or change. I truly appreciate Jim’s lessons on Dependable Doctrine. As much for what he has not said than what he has said (though he’s not done yet). And his lessons on the Spirit, calling us to broaden our horizons and let the power of the Spirit live in and work through us. I am burdened when I want to be more, but those around me are just fine where they are. We have been complacent too long. Our heritage of restoring the New Testament church is done; somewhere along the way we figured we got close enough.

I’m burdened when I see our young people leaving the church in such great numbers. I worry for my own sons. Am I leading them in the right way? Our youth are not leaving because we’re not teaching them the right lists or memory verses. They’re not leaving because we didn’t pray enough before dinner, because we let them watch too much TV or play too many video games. They’re not leaving because they don’t know the stories. They’re leaving because they’re not part of the story. They’re leaving because when they ask the tough questions, we have nothing beyond trite sayings, traditions, and doctrine to offer them. They’re leaving because they see the church as an organization rather than an organism. They see a religion based on rules rather than a relationship. They see groups of people treated as second class citizens of the kingdom. They see a call to uniformity rather than unity. They see “Just As I Am” to mean “Just As Long As You’re Like Us”.

I want to be more… and yet I don’t. I don’t seem to want to take the steps necessary to be more. At least I haven’t taken those steps yet. Change is hard. Growth is hard. Snakes shed their skin. Butterflies leave the warmth of their cocoon. Birds fly out of their mother’s nest. What Christ has called us to be is hard. And sometimes we have to leave the warm (or extra chilly) confines of this building, to make it so.

I heard a statement recently that has stuck with me. “God didn’t give the church a mission. He gave the mission a church.” God put all of you here to help me be who he wants me to be. More than what I want, more than what I am. As a community, what are you doing to help me be more than what I am now? What are we doing for our young people, for the deaf, for the ladies, for the people of this community to help us all be more?

On Worship: Community

Continuing on with with my thoughts on worship I want to examine yet another purpose behind our worship. In my post on lists, I talked about the 5 acts of worship. We concentrate on what we are doing in worship (specifically inside the "worship service") too much when we should be focusing on why we worship. As a quick review, the primary need our worship fills is to give glory to God, the Father, the Creator, the Sustainer of all things.
There are other needs that our worship fills within us, other reasons for our worship:

• Worship is to encourage our brothers and sisters (1 Corinthians 14, Ephesians 5:18-20, Colossians 3:15-16) to build up the body and spur one another on to good works (Hebrews 10:23-25) 
• Worship is to welcome and bring in unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14)

I recently heard the analogy of cross-shaped worship. The cross points both horizontally and vertically. Cross shaped worship involves us reaching up to God and reaching out to our neighbors. If we are neglecting any of these aspects of worship then we are not living up to our potential. As always there is grace overflowing in our weakness. Our relationship with our fellow man is so important that Jesus said we should delay our worship if we there is a conflict between us and another and go solve the problem (Matthew 5:21-24). Looking at the letter of 1 John, it seems as if every chapter stresses the importance of loving each other. It's a new command, it's an old command. Whatever era you are from, loving one another is vital to our Christian worship.

The church is about community. The reason God put us all together is to help each other and bear one another's burdens. Paul tells us to speak to one another in our songs, but we rarely do anything other than face forward. When I am leading worship, I really appreciate everyone singing toward me. It is a great encouragement. Now imagine if we all sang to each other.

When the believers in Corinth gathered for worship, they turned communion and potlucks into divisions. Paul did not chastise them for the acts themselves, it was their attitudes and lack of consideration for the body of Christ. "For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself" (1 Corinthians 11:29). When I write about communion in a few posts, I want to go deeper into how the Lord's Supper can be more than just remembering Christ's body, but also remembering His body. It is something that is sorely lacking in our worship. As I hear about some other practices of serving the Lord's Supper there are some great ways to help emphasize the "one another" aspects of communion.

While worship is about community, it is not a gated community. We do not get to decide who we want in and who must stay out. In fact, it is our mission to bring in everyone from all over the world. On Jesus' last night before his crucifixion he prays a beautiful prayer. One of the few things he requests is for the unity of all believers, "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us" (John 17:20-23).  The reason he gives for this unity is "so that the world may believe that you have sent me." In addition to encouraging the church, our worship is to be a beacon for the unbelievers, those seeking a path to God. Paul writes that in the use of various gifts (tongues and prophecy specifically) some of them help believers and some help nonbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:22-25). In our worship, we need to show the world something that they cannot get elsewhere, namely God. It is not about entertainment but about engagement. When they visit our assembly, do they get drawn closer to God? When they look at us as a community, do they see God? Do they see love? Do they see peace and joy and all the other fruits of the Spirit?

I ran across this blog the other day that is well worth a read: The Work of Worship by Mark Love. Mark  talks about the church functioning as the priesthood in the world. He writes that in our worship we often try to see God more clearly, but what we need more of is to see the world as God sees the world, to love as He loves. "In this way, worship rehearses us for our vocation in the world." Lots of things for me to think about there.

How do we accomplish this? Speaking to one another in worship. Inviting outsiders into our community. This worship cannot just be 1 hour a week or even 2 or 3 in the "assembly." Whenever someone says "Worship Service" it should be redundant. Of course worship is about service (Romans 12:1-2). If we are not in each other's lives, we cannot be united. If we are not serving each other, we cannot be united. If we are not united, the world will not believe. Just think how many more would believe if God's church stood united before the evils and apathies of the world.

Throughout scripture we find examples of worship that is pleasing to God and worship that is not pleasing. But amid all the ceremonies and rituals, when the people did not get the purpose right God was never pleased.

• Jesus quoting Isaiah “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matthew 15:6-9)

• David from the depths of despair writes "For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51:16-17)

Lord, let us never forgot who we worship and why we worship. Help us to be the unified body that will bring the world to You.

On Worship: Introduction

I have been thinking a lot about worship lately. I've been reading and thinking and talking and writing and think I want to start a series of posts of my thoughts on worship. I am continuously trying to grow in my understanding of worship and seeking how to use my abilities to help all those around me increase in their worship to God the Creator and our Salvation. As a worship leader, I want to grow in my skills and understanding, and I want to use what I have learned to help other worship leaders grow.

A lot the information you'll find about worship, especially on the internet, deals with the what's and how's and when's and where's. These can be important to discuss and improve. First and foremost, I want to make sure I'm clear on the why's. Why do we worship? Why do we come together to worship rather than remaining by ourselves? Why do we do the things we do in the way that we do them? If I look at a particular practice and just try to evaluate whether it is good or bad or look for ways to improve, I might be going down a path that leads to nowhere. No matter how fast I get there, heading toward nowhere will still get me nowhere. Thus, I want to make sure the destination is well understood before making the journey. I need to understand the why's of what we do before and make sure those are correct and let that guide me in my journey to make the how's, what's, when's, and where's better.

A song that I've come to appreciate more in the last few years is "Heart of Worship" by Matt Redman. I really love the lyrics that focus our worship on God rather than on us and our preferences. Recently, I learned the story behind the song. You can read about it here or watch this video where Matt Redman discusses the story with his pastor.

Another song along the same lines is called "Clear the Stage" by Ross King. It asks what our idols are.

The primary purpose of worship is to honor God. Anything we do that gets in the way of that purpose needs to be stripped away whether it happens in our individual lives throughout the week or during the couple of hours we allocate for corporate worship on a Sunday. When worship becomes about me and my desires, I am setting myself up as an idol for myself or others. When I lead the congregation in worship, I constantly have to keep my pride in check. Everyone is looking at me, following me. If I am not pointed in the right direction, I am not leading them in the right direction, toward God. Paul said to emulate him as he emulates Christ; as a leader I should always be pointing to God in my worship so that those who follow me will also be pointed to God.

I haven't used a lot of scripture to back up any of my arguments for the simple fact that there are way too many to list. But just so that I'm not totally devoid of references, Psalm 95 does a better job than I of describing the purpose of worship.

Today, I've focused on the vertical aspect of worship. In the next post, I want to continue to discuss the why's but shift perspectives to examine the horizontal aspects of worship. So far I have 7 general topics planned but will change and add more as I go along.

• Community
• Connections
• Planning
• Flow
• Communion
• Styles
• Sunday Nights

Each of this topics will heavily biased by my experiences and understanding within the context of a traditional church of Christ worship service. That's not to say that I won't be challenging those traditions, but I'll leave that for later posts.

Samaritans

Since listening to some recent sermons by Patrick Mead I have been thinking a lot about John 4 and the question "Who are my Samaritans?" Who are the types of people in my life that I look at and judge without getting to know them? Who are the people that I tend to stay away from and look down upon?

The poor, homosexuals, smokers, people who curse a lot, people with bad grammar on Facebook posts, people who correct people with bad grammar on Facebook posts...

The list could go on and on. Jesus looked at the lowest of the low and saw someone who needed comfort, a friend, but most of all needed salvation. What if I were to look at people with Jesus' eyes?

The story of the woman at the well has so much to tell us about how we treat people. Just because I'm not treating someone badly does not mean that I am treating them as Jesus would. This video brings the woman to life 2000 years later.

Dare I pray that God give me an encounter with my Samaritans so that I might overcome my prejudices?

Simply Listful

Growing up in the church, one of the best ways for me to memorize stuff was to put it to music. There are songs I learned (many from my mother) that help me remember the 12 apostles, the 66 books of the Bible, the 15 judges of Israel and many more (call toll free to order now). Song is also a good way to memorize scripture. One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 5:21 which I fell in love with through the Acappella song "His Righteousness". To this day I can rattle off the 15 judges while singing to the tune of "Reuben and Reuben" in my head. Thanks, Mom!

In many of my recent journeys, I have been continually amazed at how easy it is to take a scripture and strip it of its meaning and regurgitate it to mean something totally different. I think this is called context. Every verse, every chapter, every story is part of  the larger narrative of God's workings in his creation culminating in the gift of His Son. When we move scripture out of the context of Jesus and His life we run the risk misunderstanding and misusing God's Word. Patrick Mead has done a recent series on this subject which is interesting reading and has certainly expanded my horizons. Look at his Tentpegs #356 and #357 starting here and here. For a bit lighter reading you can just stay right here with my ramblings.

Thinking about how easy it is to strip the context from scripture, I started wondering if many of the mnemonics we come up with to help us learn actually hold us back once we need to dig deeper. See 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 and Hebrews 6:1-3 for other writers frustrations at their audiences inability to move past simple matters on to maturity.

I am in no way saying that we shouldn't use these devices to teach our children and new Christians. But when these lists and mnemonics carry over into our advanced teachings and we use them as doctrine we are not able to mature as Christians.

Take for instance the 12 apostles. Lovely little song to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me." How many were there really? What about Matthias? What about Paul? What about Andronicus and Junias who are of note among the apostles (1 Corinthians 16:7 YLT). Were they not apostles? Why don't we have a song with 16 apostles? Granted the song specifically says that Jesus specifically called these 12, but then later he called Paul. See how we leave out part of the story. This is a pretty harmless example. As would be anything about the 66 books of the Bible. The Jewish Bible organizes and counts what we call the Old Testament books in a completely different way. No harm done. But there's a story there that we need to dig deeper to find.

I don't know of a song for the 10 commandments, but we know there are 10 of them and what they are. We  memorize these in Bible class growing up. They are the foundation of the Hebrew law. We have them on display in our courtrooms. When asked what was the 1 greatest commandment, Jesus gave us 2 as most important. All the rest just supplement these 2 and expound upon how to live them out.

The 5 steps of salvation: Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess, Be Baptized. Sometimes a 6th is added, walk faithfully. Sometimes people want to stop after 4. So much is involved in each "step" that this over simplified listing becomes more of a source for arguments than an aid in leading anyone to Christ.

The 4 types of prayer (ACTS): Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. This is both a list and an acronym. Who knows what supplication is anymore? We don't use that word. I do confess that I always have to look up what the letters in the acronym stand for. The only one I can remember is thanksgiving. Which might be why most of my prayers center on this aspect more than the others. So we boil down our prayers to 4 distinct parts thus stripping out any emotion or the need for the Spirit to groan for us.

The 5 acts of worship: Singing, Prayer, Teaching, Giving, Lord's Supper. Our concept of "worship" is a bit skewed from a lot of angles. First we note the beginning and ending of a "worship service" with specific markings and anything outside that time is not "worship", meaning we have a lot more leeway in what we can do. After the closing prayer we can have a special chorus or drama presentation or sing "Happy Birthday". But during that allotted time, we can only do the 5 things listed above. Except for announcements, those are fine. Does scripture reading fall under teaching or would that be a 6th act? Does it matter what is "in" the "worship service" and what is "out". When the church gathers together as the ekklesia what are we to do? We read about the early church gathering for the acts mentioned. They gathered for fellowship and encouragement. They gathered for meals. They gathered in homes, in the synagogues, in the temple, in caves. They gathered in secret. Nowhere do we read about any distinction between "in" and "out" regarding what to do. Certainly not a listing of what is acceptable and what is not. We have admonitions to wait for everyone before eating especially the Lord's Supper. We are to sing to each other. We are to pray with lifted hands. So much is left out of the list. If we use it as a checklist "Yep, we did those 5 things therefore we worshiped" or as an exclusionary rule set "Nope, you can't do that in worship" then we are missing the point of Romans 12:1-2 which seems to indicate that our whole lives are to be offered in sacrifice as worship to God. 

And now to my best friend CENI. The acronym that keeps on giving (and taking away). I ranted at length about this in a previous entry. This is not an acronym that I learned growing up, but the concept of the 3 ways we find authority in scripture (Command, Example, Necessary Inference) has so many holes in it that it fits right in with this discussion. CENI can be a helpful tool for interpreting scripture. But it cannot be our only tool. And it cannot be applied to each and every scripture equally. The context of God's story is too big to fit in 4 little letters. All commands are not for all people at all time. An example of someone doing something one time does not make a pattern and certainly not a binding command. All things that you necessarily infer are not necessary to infer.

I'm sure there are many other lists and acronyms that I could go on about, but these are the ones that came to mind. I don't want to leave the impression that these are harmful in any way, certainly not for teaching young people. They are great tools, but they can only take us so far. Let us get past the elementary teachings, past the milk, and journey together towards maturity and have some nice hearty steak along the way (unless you're the weaker brother and only eat veggies in which case I'll share a nice salad with you).

Sean Sightings

Once again Sean takes on the heavy hitting issues with his latest blog post on the Southern Hills church blog: "Divide and Conquer"
The sermon that he referenced can be downloaded (or listened to online) here: "Romans 14: The Weak and the Strong". I've listened to it 3 times now and highly recommend it.

Sean now wants to start his own blog which we will work to get going soon. There may also be some big news coming up soon so stay tuned.

By Whose Authority

When the religious leaders asked Jesus "by whose authority do you do these things" he didn't give them an answer but redirected their question. In the church today we often ask "by whose authority do you do these things" when it comes to how we worship, musical instruments, elders, the Lord's Supper, etc.

If I want to change how some ritual is performed in our worship, I can see this question being asked of me. I thought of a really good response in the shower one morning but couldn't remember what it was in time to write it down.

But I do have a few questions of my own.

• By whose authority do you condemn?
• By whose authority do you bind?
• By whose authority do you say something is sin?

Growing up in churches of Christ, I had always heard that the silence of scripture was prohibitive. This is also called the Regulative Principle. If scripture is silent on an issue then you can't do that, it is sinful. This never really sat well with me. I kinda understood it, but there was always a cognitive dissonance with how it was applied. There were so many exceptions. There was a distinction between what was an "aid" versus what was an "addition". Pitch pipes, song books, pews, church buildings, driving cars to worship, air conditioning, etc. are all "aids", but for some reason "musical instruments" are an "addition" and that made them taboo. Wow! That's a lot of definition and classification that is nowhere to be found in scripture. And yet we have no trouble spouting it out. What happened to the principle of silence. Speaking where the Bible speaks and being silent where the Bible is silent. Rather this seems like speaking where the Bible speaks and creating binding laws where the Bible is silent. (My apologies for using a slogan that is itself not found in scripture)

The Bible is silent on the classification of aids and additions and expedients and hermenutics. And yet we have no trouble speaking about them and making up rules about them and binding those rules on all Christians and refusing fellowship with anyone who practices or believes differently. I lump myself in with this group because while I may not agree, I have been looking on silently for all my life. Over the past month, I've done a lot of reading. I've tried to read on all sides of the issues. In doing so, I've not come up with any new revelations but I have really solidified what I have long felt to be true. The principle that silence is always  prohibitive is (to use a word that our modern translations politely translate) rubbish.

[Start random streams of thought]

I'd like to stand up and say "No MORE!" but in reality I'd rather live at peace with those Christians around me than try to convince anyone otherwise. So maybe I'll take the quiet approach, like the gentle rain that waters the earth and eventually stuff grows. Maybe that's just the fear in me talking. Maybe my local world needs a little shake up. Maybe I need to get thrown to the curb and have to work my way back in. Maybe someone else will step up and join me in my fight. Or maybe we shouldn't fight. The false teacher in scripture is one who is divisive. Division within God's body is counter to Jesus' last wishes in his prayer that we would all be one just as he is one with the Father. I realize that I can't change anyone but myself and I am not responsible for anyone's beliefs and actions by my own, but I have great influence on my own family and how my children are shaped to understand God's word. And I have some influence on others around me. I need to use that influence to point to Jesus. Not to a set of rules and doctrines especially when those are man-made. But just Jesus. Let's walk along that path together, hand in hand.

Year of Jubilee

Recently I’ve started thinking about the concept of the Year of Jubilee. This came up recently in our Bible study as we read through the Law as part of our Daily Bible Reading schedule. Also, one of my favorite songs to lead in worship is “Days of Elijah” which references the celebration. At each of these occasions, I made mention of the fact that we don’t have any indication of the Israelites ever adhering to the celebration of the Year of Jubilee. A wise old (older than me) man came up to me to ask why I was pointing the lack of celebration out. It started me thinking about whether what I was saying was accurate. As we discussed it, I thought back to some time in my youth sitting in a Bible class somewhere and the teacher saying that the Israelites never celebrated Jubilee in full because it was too difficult.

So I went home and started doing some research. I struggled greatly with not using my phone to do research during the sermon immediately after our conversation.

The following are links to some of the pages I read with a little commentary but not much.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_(biblical)
Jubilee years appear to have been used for counting even if not actually celebrated

In my brief searching I couldn’t find any direct evidence of Jubilee being celebrated in full by the entire nation of Israel.

Info on the Sabbath years
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmita

Sabbath years do appear to have been celebrated at times
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Sabbatical_Years

2 Kings 19:29-30

The conversation between Isaiah and Hezekiah seems to be an indication of a Sabbath year followed by a Jubilee year with regards to the agricultural aspects but there is no mention of the slave, land and debt aspects.

This article has a really good tie in of Jubilee from Moses to Jesus
http://www.yearofjubilee.org/2008/07/a-time-for-jubilee/

I especially liked that it tied in Jesus’ reading in the synagogue to the year of jubilee:Luke 20 4:14-21 “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

I’ll have to read through that some more as I think it has important implications to our lives today.

Of course people try to base everything including predictions on the coming of Christ on Jubilee year counting

http://www.growthingod.org.uk/jubilee.htm

Not too much useful info there unless you like reading rationalizations for millennial theology

So that’s about all the research I did and intend to do for now. No resolution to my initial inquiry but I certainly got some background information that I think will be useful.

Consistency

I ran across a story today that makes me sad for the cause of Christ. There's more background that you can  read here but my focus is a picture of a man with Leviticus 18:22 tattooed on his arm. This is one of the verses in the Bible that prohibits homosexuality. What interested me about this is that just a page flip away (variable depending on the layout of your Bible) is Leviticus 19:28. This verse prohibits tattoos. O.o

As Christians, one of the worst testimonies we can provide is when our lives our inconsistent with what we profess to believe and inconsistent with scripture. How often do we pick and choose those verses that we wish to live by and those we wish to ignore? We condemn those around us for one thing while ignoring our own issues. I think there's some verse in Matthew that speaks to this. Read the whole thing. It's good for you. Rather we should all work together in love to walk the path with God and when we stumble, pick each other up.

Parenting win

I had an interesting parenting experience yesterday.  The kind where you actually feel like you may get some pearl of wisdom imparted to your kids.
Sean and Joshua each wanted to play the computer.  We had told them "No" for a while but finally decided to let them have their 30 minutes of play time.  So I asked them "Who wants to play computer first?"  They were standing near each other and Sean rushed forward not quite pushing his brother saying "I do!"  I replied "Sean can play first for 30 minutes, then Joshua can play for 40 minutes."  Sean looked shocked.  Needless to say, he wasn't happy about it. He threw a fit so I then let Joshua go first with his 40 minutes.  Now Sean was really not happy.  He then tried to apply it to all future times where he could get more time by going last.  I told him it didn't work like that.

Then the lesson started.  I explained to him Jesus' words "The first shall be last and the last shall be first."  When we rush to be first we don't often end up with the best.  You could see the wheels turning in his head as he didn't want to believe it or accept the application. Only time will tell if it sinks in, but it was one of those times where I actually felt like a wise parent.

Cultural Transformers

I listen to a lot of podcasts covering a wide variety of subjects.  Some are pure fun and some are informational for personal or professional development.   One of my favorites that I’ve listened to for several years is Dave Ramsey’s radio show.  Recently while listening I started thinking “This guy is really crazy.  He wants these folks to go totally against the cultural financial norms.”  Dave is certainly more dogmatic in his teachings than someone like Clark Howard.  Clark (or Mr. Howard if you want to irritate him) tells people how to work the credit system to keep a good credit rating and credit score, useful advice for living in a culture that values and relies on credit for its daily sustenance. If you’ve listened to Dave for 10 seconds you know he couldn’t care less what your credit score is. Dave refers to Bank of America as BoA (as in constrictor) and often says “If you play with snakes, you’re going to get bit.” While Clark teaches you how to play with the snakes safely so as not to get bit, Dave teaches you to stay away from the snakes.  Clark teaches how to play the game.  Dave refuses to play the game and goes off to have his own fun playing a new game (based on old principles) and tries to get everyone to come and play with him.  I learn useful things from both of these men and am not trying to pit them against each other.  But the difference in philosophy is one to consider in many areas of our lives including religion, health, morals, and work.

This goes right along with my previous post on change.  When something in our lives is not going as it should how should we work to change it? The world is full of quick remedies and partial solutions. Get rich quick schemes, the lottery, fad diets, 30minuteworship.com, and protein power drinks are thrown at us from every form of media. The verse comes to mind:

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” Romans 12:2

How did Jesus live? Did he ask the Pharisees what they thought, study the culture and try to find the best way to live in it.  Did he go off and live atop a mountain, take a few people with him, and wait for his purpose to be fulfilled?  Or did he live his life counter to the culture, working with individuals to change their lives.  He didn’t try to change the government policies.  He wasn’t bullied by threats or name calling.  He stood up for his convictions, and everyone knew where he stood.  He worked to heal people’s hearts and spirits, not just their physical maladies.  And when they left him, they were changed and inspired to spread the change to all around.

We have options for living our lives:

1.  Embrace the culture and it’s values
2. Fit in to the culture and maintain your values
3. Separate from the culture to protect your values
4.  Work to change the culture and infect it with your values

You can thrive in various aspects by 1, 2, or 3.  But only through 4 can we be fulfilled and truly Christ-like.  The wisdom of the world won’t get us where we need to be.  Fortunately God gave us a healthy dose of common sense as well as a bunch of proverbial wisdom to go along with it.

Too many times (especially in the church) we focus on #3, separating ourselves from the culture for fear of letting it infect us.  We teach our kids “do not taste, do not touch” (Col 2). We stay within the confines of our church buildings without venturing out into the communities that we are supposed to minister to.  We must separate ourselves from the ACTIONS and WISDOM of the world, but not from the people.  We don’t live the way they live, but we must LOVE the way that HE loved.  Jesus never once shunned attending a gathering for fear of what he might hear or see.  But when he was there, he would infect those around him with his compassion and love.

In, not of. Transformative, not conforming. Loving and living in a culture that doesn’t like us or understand us and yet that is our mission. I have several mentors from afar that I thank God for their transformative message:

• Dr. James Dobson for his tireless work to protect and strengthen our families.
• Dave Ramsey for his encouragement to “Live like no one else, so that later you can live like no one else”.
• And most recently Dr. Josh Axe for his simple yet healing message of eating the foods our bodies were meant to eat and living all around healthy lives.

These men and their organizations refuse to conform to the conventional wisdom and values of the masses. They live according to a different set of rules and refuse to play the game the world wants them to play.  Instead they demonstrate great love, great compassion, and great wisdom open to anyone who will listen.  Sound familiar.

Personal Challenge:

I was just reading the book Re-Create by Ron Luce and he challenged me to challenge my children to become transformers of culture rather than conformers to it.  Now I need to figure out how to impart that mission to them. Shouldn’t be too hard; I bet they’ll like the idea of being transformers.

Change

Kathryne and I were talking a bit today about the changes in our lives in the last few years.  We used to live as pretty normal American Christians.  Plodding along in live doing the things we do, going with the flow, following the wisdom of the masses.  The main problem with that is the wisdom of the masses is not very wise.  This is summed up quite well when the Apostle Paul writes:

 ¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written:
   "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
      the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." 1 Corinthians 1:18-19

Three (3) years ago we started attending a class at church entitled "Discovering God's Ways of Handling Money" put together by a ministry called Crown Financial Ministries. What we discovered was that the way we were living was, to put it bluntly, STOOPID!  Or in the terms of Proverbs: foolish.  And yet to all those around us we looked perfectly normal.  The problem is that normal in America is broke, overweight, deeply in debt, chronically diseased, and generally not happy with life. The class forced us to examine our financial situation, and gather more information on how to do things the right way.  The results were quite dramatic as I described in detail earlier.

We were greatly focused on our finances which added an intensity that accelerated the whole process. The problem with focus is often that other things suffer.  So while our relationship with regards to money was improving we also saw the need to work on other areas of our relationship with each other as well as our relationship with our kids.  So we've read many books over the past few years on these subjects and attended several seminars to help in these areas.  The signs are not as outwardly visible as with our finances but we see them in small things in our lives.  In a couple weeks we'll be attending the Focus on Marriage simulcast seminar put on by Focus on the Family.  In addition to books, we often listen to the Focus on the Family free podcast which brings us their daily radio program right to our computers to listen to at our leisure. The interviews and speakers they bring in are amazing.

There's one more major change we're currently undertaking that I'm not quite ready to write about in detail.  But I do want to consider what are the circumstances under which change occurs. Not just temporary change, but lasting change.

• First, you have to recognize the need for change.  When we recognized our mountain of debt and it's impact on our lives, it served as a great impetus for us to make look for more information on how to get better.
• Second, you have to gather information.  Often it is information that is the impetus in #1.  But you can't just gather any information, you have to gather the right kind of information from knowledgeable, non-biased sources.  Examining the motives of your sources of information is key in this. Gathering information on getting out of debt from your credit card company is going to be suspect.
• Third, and this is the hardest one, you have to make a COMMITMENT TO CHANGE your actions. James 1:22-25 says:

 ²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Many people I've talked to recently know the information needed to effect positive change in their lives, but they're not willing to add or remove the necessary actions from their lives.  Whether it's how you spend, how you serve, how you parent, how you love, how you eat, or anything you do you will have to change your actions and make sacrifices in order to change your life for the better.  And when you make those sacrifices, you may just realize that the sacrifice is not that great and where you are is so much better than where you were that you kick yourself for not making the change earlier.  I know my legs are tired from doing just this.

One final verse, Romans 12:2 

²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Beliefs

Ran across this wonderful way of stating the basics of Christian belief in God.
Some Things I Believe...Part 1
If we talked like this more often rather than using fancy words and dogmatic statements we would be much more "salty".

He Paid a Debt

"Speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent". This oft used motto is a baseline for doctrine and practices in churches of Christ and came out of the Restoration Movement in the 1800s. And yet on the subject of money, we are often very silent where the Bible speaks very plainly. Money is one of the top subjects in scripture. There's a ton of financial advice in Proverbs and Jesus spoke of it often. In church we rarely speak about anything other than the giving aspect of money. And the times we talk about being a good steward and giving unto Caesar are in the context of giving (because the giving is never enough). Here's a long list of scriptures that speak about money and finances.

One area where the Bible plainly speaks is on the subject of debt. The Bible never says that debt is sinful, but it strongly condemns the use of debt as a bad way to do business. Depending on the translation, words like "foolish", "stupid", "lacking in sense", and "slave" are used to describe debt, the use of debt, and the relationships it creates.

Here are a few of the scriptures on debt:

Proverbs 22:7

"The rich rule over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender."

Proverbs 22:26-27

"Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge, one of those who is surety for debts; if you have nothing with which to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?"

Proverbs 17:18

"It's stupid to guarantee someone else's loan."

Proverbs 11:15

"He who is surety for a stranger will suffer for it, but one who hates being surety is secure."

And finally there's even advice on how to get out of debt:
Proverbs 6:1-5

"My son, if you have become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you are snared by the words of your own mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For you have come into the hand of your friend; Go and humble yourself; plead with your friend. Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird for the hand of the fowler."

Notice that it never says that going into debt is a sin. It just says it is foolish and will take your very bed from under you.

We have churches going deeply into debt for new facilities, pastors encouraging people to use their credit cards to pay their offering, churches asking members to personally sign for the church's debt, and Christians everyone living the good life on credit cards, HELOCs, and car fleeces.

Jesus came not just to pay our debt for the redemption of our souls, he came to show us the best way to live. We're more than willing to condemn others for drinking or smoking or carousing or missing church services, but when it comes to finances we rarely insert ourselves into our brothers' and sisters' lives. The weight of debt can be as burdensome as addictions and guilt of sin. It can destroy marriages and wreak havoc in every area of our lives.

What a wonderful opportunity for outreach and showing God's love and His purpose for our lives. If we teach our children, neighbors, and fellow Christians God's way of handling what he has given us then we spread not only his love, but a great deal of peace to a world greatly in need of both.

Above all, love each other deeply

Tonight in Bible class we were talking about 1 Peter 4:1-11. We talked about the suffering of Christ and suffering for the faith. Hard times can make us stronger or break us down. Here Peter is warning his fellow Christians of what to do when the hard times come. He first points to Christ as our example. Then he goes on to give some pratical advice of fighting the dark times:

7The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

He continues with other advice such as practicing hospitality, teaching and serving. But he echoes the idea that Jesus tried to teach us. Loving God and Loving each other is the most important thing "because love covers over a multitude of sins". The covering of sins certainly refers to Christ's love in his sacrifice that brings us redemption. But in this situation, he's referring to our interactions as a body. The MOST important thing we can do to fight the hard times that the world throws at us is to love each because all the petty arguments, offenses, and differences will be abated by love. The covering power of the love is over our sins towards our fellow Christians. They criticize us, reprimand us, believe different from us, worship different than us, and raise their children different than us. How dare they be so different from us. But all my attempts to straighten them out and set them on the right path are just clanging symbols (like the kids banging on the pots in the kitchen) if I have not love.

When they do this things, believe these things, teach these things what am I to do? Am I not to correct them? We throw around the terms conservative, progressive, liberal, anti-this, and non-that. Whatever the labels, whatever the positions, whatever the doctrines, love must bind us all together. Whether I think you're wrong and don't choose to worship as you do or you think I'm wrong and don't choose to attend my gospel meeting, we must remember the words of our Lord and his servant Peter that love must be practiced above all.

I don't have to condone your actions or accept them for myself and I can certainly discuss with you where I think you may be in need of guidance. But I must not hold a grudge, spread gossip (true or not), publish nasty letters on my blog, or write you up in a Christian publication.

If my salvation is based on doing and believing the correct things throughout my life then I'm hosed. If my salvation is based on getting everyone around me to do and believe the correct things in their own lives then I'm equally hosed. I can't do it on my own and neither can you. But together when the dark times come (such as when some big man in a black helmet tries to extinguish your light from the galaxy) we can stand up under the suffering that the world throws at us. We can use our gifts "To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

Epilogue:
The thoughts in this article have been stewing around for a bit and our class tonight finally got me going on the track to write it all down. Some of the things rattling around in my brain are from a recent story involving the school where my mother work and my youngest 2 siblings graduated and the churches local to the area. I won't go into the story, but there are some blog entries, national Christian articles, and my brother's blog that refer to the situation. These things always make me sad. The congregation here where we attend has gone through a similar situation with lingering resentment (or fear of resentment) from some people.

Let us pray that we can love and be loved and that we will forgive others as we wish to be forgiven.

Oh noes, my shadoes

Apparently the groundhog saw his shadow today. For some reason that means 6 more weeks of winter. Now in past years, that might upset me a bit, but given the winter we've had I'm content to 6 more weeks of 60-70s and sunny weather.

The worst we've had so far is like Seattle in the fall. That lasted for 2 weeks then it got sunny again.

Interesting thought. The popular culture still clings to the idea that a groundhog seeing it's shadow or not is an omen of the future weather, yet many refuse to acknowledge that anything exists that science cannot explain when it comes to God the creator.

Why do Christians like Rules?

I just heard this quote from Josh McDowell while listening to Focus on the Family:

Rules without Relationship leads to Rebellion

That's great. I have to remember that both as a Christian and especially as a parent. It's not "Spare the rod, spoil the child". That's a trite saying we use to justify our discipline methods. The actual verse is

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him. (Proverbs 13:24)

Have to remember that too.

Gracious Receiving

"It is more blessed to give than to receive" provides us with the words of our Lord (via Paul, Acts 20:35). We always use these words to encourage people to give, whether to the church or the poor or to our friends (especially at Christmas time). We teach our kids to not be selfish an to share their toys with their friends.

But how often do have trouble accepting gifts from others. Whether it's letting someone buy us lunch or pay for a coffee or accepting a large new 50" HDTV that someone wants to buy for you (hint, hint). And that's the very attitude we have to avoid. Manipulating people into giving and then using the excuse that you're helping them be more blessed is not what Paul had in mind in when he wrote to the Philippians (4:17-18):

"Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God."

He graciously accepted their gifts even though he didn't need it in order to allow them the joy of giving. God wants us to give so that we become more like him. C.S. Lewis wrote that prayer doesn't change God, it changes us. In the same way, the purpose of our giving is not soley to help the recipient, but to also change us into God's image the way he intends us to be. Christ left all of heaven and came here and gave 33 years of his life all for us. His whole ministry was a gift. He is a giver and being a Christian means being transformed into his likeness.

We teach gracious giving, but we should not deny others the joy they will receive when they give to us. Just say "Thank you" and then pass it on. If you pay them back, then it was not a gift. If you pay it forward, you make the world a better place and at the two of you have been able to experience the joy of giving.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)