Later Rather than Sooner

Frank

One of Dave Ramsey’s oft-repeated slogans is to “live like no one else, so you can live like no one else!” Meaning to make sacrifices now, be good stewards, get out of debt so you can be free from the commercialism and materialism that so consumes the world today. I took his Financial Peace University course and towards the end, he changes the slogan slightly. Once we’re out of debt, secure financially, and making prudent decisions with our finances, we can “live like no one else, so we can give like no one else!”

This fits the theme of Chapter 7 of Crazy Love by Francis Chan, “Your Best Life… Later”. It’s a lesson that needs to be repeated and shout from the rooftops. What we have does not define who we are. Our home is not our things. Our identity, our home, is set in heaven. When we remember this, little else matters.

Easier said than done. But look at the examples that came before. Francis turns our attention to Hebrews 11. He doesn’t pick out this particular verse, but it is a favorite of mine on this subject: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (v 13-16)

Or to quote from one of my favorite songs, “Make us feel like we’re still living, in a world, I know, is burning to the ground… It’s hard to stay here, but where do we go?”

Flashback Friday: God is Uncomfortable

Frank

***Originally posted in November, 2008 on the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. I’m reposting because the other day I posted a tweet from Paul Washer. For those unfamiliar, I thought I’d re-post a couple of his videos. The video quality isn’t that good by 2011 standards, but you’ll get the point.***

Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. We should all set aside some time to pray for those brothers and sisters in Christ who don’t live in countries with the religious freedoms we enjoy here in the United States. I posted earlier about how we take our freedoms for granted and suffer a persecution complex and gave a couple of examples of real persecution. I want to add to that that the American Church (TM) is also lazy and comfortable. And our faith suffers for it.

Below is a controversial sermon brought to my attention a while back by another blog. If you don’t have the patience to watch the whole hour of it, I posted an interview of this brother (that’s right, I’m calling him ‘brother’) with Kirk Cameron that’s only ten minutes. And if YouTube isn’t your thing, check out his ministry.

And the interview that cuts right to the heart of it (check out Kirk Cameron’s reaction at the end!)

And if your faith isn’t challenged enough by all of that, check out what’s really going on overseas, where it’s not comfortable to be a Christian. Voice of the Martyrs catalogues persecution in the global church and HOPEworldwide gives inspirational stories of Christians serving where it’s least comfortable to do so.

Today is a day to challenge our comfort level, to challenge our faith. Pray not only for the Persecuted Church, but also for our own faith, and for God to provide the opportunity to be uncomfortable for the cause of Christ. That’s a hard prayer, and we might not like His answer, but that’s the only way for the American Church (TM) to grow, Christ to be preached, and God to be glorified.

“Everything is possible for him who believes.”

“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mk 9:23-24)

What’s the Point?

Frank

There are times I want to just walk away from this blog and never look back. Times I’m discouraged that some things never seem to gain traction, other times I’m discouraged that I can’t spend as much time as I want on it. Admittedly my posting has been sporadic at best recently. I just made it through my “busy season” at work and I followed that up with a nice relaxing vacation. So maybe I’ll fully get back in the saddle… or maybe I won’t. But you’ll still find something up here to provoke thought, challenge, and hopefully encourage. Thank you for being patient, whether waiting for follow-up posts that haven’t come, or guest blogs that I haven’t delivered, I appreciate your readership.

So why the lament? Well a couple of things I read last week caught my eye and stirred my heart. The first is this tweet from Paul Washer (tried to do the twitter blockquote, but the text doesn’t show):

Why do so many young men spend time blogging about theological nuances while the world dies without the Gospel? Why?

Then there’s this blog post from Dad Edelen at Cerulean Sanctum: How Would Jesus Blog? I agree with every point of his and I refuse to contribute to the increasing vitriol and hate that is spewed in the name of Christ.

Interestingly, this hate sounds the same regardless of which side you’re coming from politically. I may of written about this before. If not, I’ve certainly thought it. But Get Religion nails it, comparing Westboro Baptist with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

So what do I glean from all this?

  • This blog is just electrons on a screen unless I’m actively doing something. (This is an ongoing struggle for me)
  • I will do everything I can to approach topics in a non-denominational, non-partisan way. My doctrine and politics spill out every now and then, but I assure you that both are rooted not in the particular name of a church or political party, but in the Word of God.

The election cycle is about to heat up again, so expect to see the return of more posts. Also expect to hear about me putting more of what I write about into practice. Hopefully you’ll hear about the latter sooner rather than later.

More Like Falling In Love

Frank

Last week, I compared Michael Spencer’s Mere Churchianity to Francis Chan’s Crazy Love. Both address the same problem but come at it from different directions. Yet I think both come to the same conclusion: Jesus is the focus, loving God is the motivation.

Chapter 6 of Crazy Love hits on the motivation. If you’re reading the book, you might feel beat up and let down after chapters 4 and 5. Francis leaves no doubt that we “all fall short” (Romans 3:23) regardless of religious or denominational affiliation. The examples of the seven churches in Revelation reminds us that no church is perfect because they are made up of imperfect people.

So what do we do?

When I started reading Mere Churchianity, I had been reading book after book looking for that certain “what” to do to fix the broken church. I read a lot of observations I agreed with while I didn’t read much for solutions. The thing is, there isn’t a “what”. It’s about “why”. Why do we even bother attending a church? Why do we read our Bibles? Why do we turn to God in prayer? Why should I repent of this sin that I enjoy so much?

My Crazy Love group is made up of a diversity of seekers (and I’m categorizing all of us in that description). Some are dedicated disciples that lean towards the legalistic side, some have backslidden (if that’s a word?), some are just hungry to grow deeper, some are looking for fulfilling fellowship. But all of us have the same question: why? If I were to reduce the study to a list of to-dos, we’d eventually break them. If I gave a list of do-nots, we’d go ahead and do them at some point as well. I wish I could say I’ve been perfectly sinless since I began the group, but I too fall short.

So we need to change our expectations of this study, or any study really, from a list of “whats” and “hows” to focus in on “why”. We need to fall in love with God.

Flashback Friday: Where To Now?

Frank

This Flashback Friday is a little different. I’m pulling an excerpt from a previous post but expanding on it.

Before I started reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan, I was reading Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer. Both are similar in theme: there’s something wrong with the Church. For Michael, it is a lack of being “Jesus Shaped”. For Francis, it is being lukewarm. I think both are right, but they have different solutions. Michael encourages to pursue Jesus whole-heartedly, even if that takes you away from you present church. Francis encourages us to fall madly in love with God and do something where we’re at.

I’m not going to say one is wrong and one is right. I’ve come to learn that each of us has our own circumstances that require a response unique to our own walk with Christ. But I do have an observation. I think Revelation 3:20 is one of the most misused verses in the entire Bible. It is the foundation for salvation doctrine for many, though it is written to believers. Michael Spencer somehow uses it to justify leaving your church to pursue Jesus. My excerpt:

It is worth noting that Jesus’ condemnations of the Seven Churches in Asia found in Revelation came only a generation after Jesus’ death. In other words, it didn’t take long for these early churches to become “church-shaped” instead of Jesus-shaped. Michael reminds us of Revelation 3:20, “I stand at the door and knock…” The implication is that for our churches to return to being Jesus-shaped, we need to invite Jesus back in as the focus of our church. Ironically, Michael follows up with the admonition to “pursue Jesus-shaped spirituality [that] won’t take you to a building with a sign out front.” (pg 210) In other words, “go and do” to seek Jesus-shaped spirituality. However, I think the lesson we can draw from Revelation is instead to “stay and invite” Jesus in to where we are. That may be too passive, and I see Michael’s point, but I think Jesus-shaped spirituality is not a matter of going to find Jesus, but of inviting Jesus in. You could argue that the former is divisive and rebellious in the context of organized religion while the latter is individualized and subjective.

Francis Chan, focusing as he does on the lukewarm passage in verse 16, makes the appropriate (by my reading) interpretation by connecting the problem (lukewarmness) with the solution (inviting Jesus in). The important thing to remember, according to Francis in Chapter 6, is that we cannot overcome our lukewarmness through effort. We can’t try harder, or we will burn out. Instead, we need to remember our first love (Rev 2:4-5).

I’ll have more on this Monday before my Crazy Love group discusses Chapter 6. Stay tuned…

Jesus Saves… Everyone?

Frank

Careful, Rob Bell knows you’re reading this post! Last week I blogged my obligatory Rob Bell Love Wins post bringing up the ongoing debate over whether he espouses universalism and adding a wrinkle to the discussion. Moments later, my email account spammed all of my contacts. Then later someone tried to break into my house. Seriously. Coincidence? I think not! That’s some serious marketing strategy right there. Actually, I’m not sure whether to blame Bell or Kevin DeYoung, because my link to his magnum opus review of the book redirected to an ads.doubleclick site. Hmmm maybe it’s the Gospel Coalition covering their tracks to make me think it was Bell? Diabolical!

So I removed the post, changed my passwords, and updated my privacy settings. I’m also not hyperlinking anything on this one, in case all the bugs aren’t worked out yet. And no, I don’t really think the events of last Friday had anything to do with Bell, his book, or my post. The spam I blame on the hotel computer I used before I caught my flight home. The attempted break-in was simply because someone noticed that I hadn’t been home in a week. Not too hard to figure that one out.

Anyway, I took the post down but I still want the discussion. I don’t count myself in the universalist camp, yet I can see some of the arguments. The discussion I wanted to raise draws our attention to Jesus’ completion of the Old Covenant through his crucifixion. To quote from my deleted post:

If we contend that the God of the Old Testament and New Testament are the same (some argue He is not) and Christ is the completion of the Old Covenant, then we need to go back to that Covenant to put Christ’s sacrifice into its proper perspective. My argument is this: if Christ is the sacrificial lamb, the ultimate sacrifice, and that he died for one and all, then aren’t all of our sins forgiven given the Old Covenant? (see Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17, and 2 Corinthians 5:14) Isn’t that, after all, the point of Jesus’ sacrifice? Under the Old Covenant there were no prerequisites for faith in the lamb in order for that lamb to be offered up for one’s sin. So if Jesus died for all of our sins, shouldn’t everyone’s sins be forgiven?

If our sins are forgiven by Christ’s sacrifice, then does not the shedding of his blood save everyone? And if this is the case, then what is the point of the resurrection as it relates to our salvation?

I have my own thoughts on this, but I’m interested in what you think.

Under the conditions of the Old Covenant, Jesus’ sacrifice should atone for all of our sins, therefore all of our sins are already forgiven independent of faith in Christ. If so, what then, does the resurrection mean?

Always and Never

Frank

One of the first things I learned when I got married was how to fight. I didn’t know there were rules! I just thought whoever raises their voice the loudest wins and whoever walks out first loses. But there are actual rules, believe it or not. And those rules are meant to prevent fights like I just described. The first rule is do not use absolutes. For example, “he never takes out the trash” or “she always leaves the cap off the toothpaste”. Don’t use absolutes because they often aren’t absolutely true.

But that’s marriage. Living our lives in faith through Jesus Christ requires us to accept absolutes. We live in a world that likes to be grey. We don’t like black and white, cut and dry distinctions. We explain away things and rationalize and make excuses because always and nevers are uncomfortable.

But Jesus isn’t wishy-washy. He is absolute. And if we really call ourselves his disciples, that means we cannot explain him away. And that makes us want to squirm.

A couple of his always and nevers (from the 2010 NIV):

Luke 14:26-27 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Imagine Jesus telling you that you cannot be his disciple. Or that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for you to get to heaven? Absolute. There is nothing wishy-washy here.

Paul gets his licks in too:

Romans 14:23b “…everything that does not come from faith is sin.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

And not to be left out is Jesus’ brother James:

James 4:17 “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”

As challenging as these are, this list is not exhaustive. The Bible is full of always and nevers, anyone and everyones, will nots and cannots. Absolutes.

Are you living your life absolutely for God?

Worship Wins

Frank

Football and Jesus go together like America and apple pie. In Texas, football is a religion. Some high school stadiums are larger than small colleges. In the Bible Belt, who you root for is as important a question as where you go to church. Georgia Bulldog coach Mark Richt had a cameo role in the Christian movie, Facing the Giants. Further north you find Touchdown Jesus at Notre Dame. Tony Dungy has made a name for himself as the NFL’s spiritual mentor based on his outspoken beliefs and willingness to take troubled players under his wing.

It is against this backdrop that the news Tuesday out of the Ohio State University came as a shock. But if you follow college football (or make random blog posts about how the priorities of college ball are all out of whack) it really comes as no surprise. It turns out Ohio State’s head football coach, Jim Tressel, knew about the allegations I mentioned in my earlier post all the way back in April. That means he let his players, who weren’t just being investigated by the NCAA but by the FBI, participate the whole season capped by their appearance in the Sugar Bowl. His penalty for lying to his university and to the NCAA? A two game suspension and a $250,000 fine. The fine sounds like a lot until you learn that Tressel makes more than $3 million a year. His excuse of an excuse? He didn’t want to breach the confidentiality of the investigation. (Sorry, that’s not when you choose to stay quiet, it’s when you choose to call your lawyer. There’s this thing called privilege, coach.)

The irony is that to face the music, coach Tressel had to cancel a book signing tour. The book? Life Promises for Success, Promises from God on Achieving Your Best. This isn’t his first Christian book either. He is also the author of The Winners Manual (which includes a forward by John C. Maxwell). I don’t follow Big Ten football that closely, so I have no idea if Tressel wears his faith on his sleeve, but I’m not sure I want to learn about God’s promises on achieving my best from someone who is now known to cheat, or follow a manual on winning from a coach that plays a soft schedule every year just to choke in the BCS. (Sorry, had to throw that jab in there)

In America, we worship a lot of things other than God. We worship money, fame and fortune, gadgets, status, and on and on. Add sports to that mix. In the cathedral of football, we worship at the altar of wins and losses. If a coach doesn’t meet expectations, bring out the pitchforks. (A few years ago Nebraska fired a coach who had just won 10 games. And don’t get me started on how Arkansas ran off Houston Nutt.) Churches change their schedules around on Super Bowl Sunday while attendance drops during the NFL season. Christians in America are more likely to strike up a conversation with someone about sports than about Christ. We wear jerseys, hats, and other apparel signifying our allegiances, but hide our faith in the public square. I’m not casting stones. We are all guilty. The scandals that keep piling up require us to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask the honest question: in the heart of the playoff race, who do we worship?

20-80 Rule

Frank

An axiom that appears to be an organizational truth: In any organization, 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. You might think of this as a skewed bell curve, with a small percentage over achieving, most doing just enough to get by, and the remainder under achieving.

Why do you suppose that is? It might be sheer laziness and a lack of desire. It’s easy to “pass the buck” and figure someone else, somewhere, somehow, will pick up your slack. And excuses are like armpits, everyone has them and they stink.

But does this principle apply to our churches? Look around. Is it the same one or two people there early every Sunday morning? When you have an event serving the community can you predict exactly who it will be that shows up to volunteer? Do you struggle finding teachers for your children’s Sunday school? (and who doesn’t!)

Ephesians 4 is one of the scriptures on which I plant my flag. I will choose to die on this hill, so to speak. The first section of the chapter, “Unity in the Body of Christ” in the 1984 NIV, concludes, “From [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (v 16)

In the fourth chapter of Crazy Love, Francis Chan challenges us by defining the lukewarm christian (intentional little-c). I’ll let Jesus define it here:

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16)

This is written to a church. A community of believers. A religious organization. And Jesus wants to spit them out of his mouth.

Look around. Are you the 20 or the 80?

Integrity of the Game

Frank

It has become painfully obvious that amateur collegiate athletics are as much about money as their pro counterparts. Although it took years to conclude, the NCAA finally did strip USC of one of their championships and Reggie Bush gave up his Heisman Trophy because his family moved into a house paid for by a prospective agent. The mother of LeBron James, perhaps knowing he wouldn’t play a bounce of college ball, drove away from his high school championship in a brand new tricked-out Hummer. Cam Newton’s dad shopped his son around to the school that would pay the most, yet somehow Cam came out scot free with a Heisman Trophy of his own. (Funny that character is supposed to be one of the requirements for the trophy) Even if the NCAA determined he was clear (they didn’t, the case is still open) I’m not sure how he explains away the stolen computer found during the FBI’s investigation. Also during the last football season several players from the Ohio State University were busted selling championship rings and other memorabilia on eBay. They were going to be suspended for their Sugar Bowl game, but a prominent booster and the school president were able to convince the NCAA to wait until next season to implement the suspensions.

In this cesspool, Brigham Young University, the flagship school of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (you know, the Mormons), broke away from its affiliated conference to play football as an independent. The rationale given at the time (and the story has since changed) was that they better serve an evangelistic purpose as an independent, able to reach out to a national (and international with BYU-TV) audience.

For basketball they will align themselves with other private religious schools in the West Coast Conference (Gonzaga, St Mary’s, et al). But this season they continue to play in the Mountain West. In fact they played themselves to a #3 national ranking, boasting potential Player of the Year Jimmer Fredette, and controlled their own destiny to secure a number-one seed in the NCAA Tournament.

They controlled their own destiny. And they also control their message. They showed this week that the message is more important than the money. A team earns “credits” for each game they play in the tournament that pays out over five years. It is also distributed amongst their conference-mates. There’s also the free publicity of being a “Cinderella”. A study commissioned by George Mason after their improbable Final Four run concluded that they earned 650 million dollars worth of free pub. In this economic backdrop, BYU did the unthinkable. They suspended their third leading scorer, and number one big-man, for the remainder of the season. His transgression? Not for possession of drugs or some other high crime, but rather for having consensual pre-marital sex. As some have put it, he was suspended from the team for being a typical 19 year old.

But BYU is anything but typical. They are a religious school with a strict honor code. Pre-marital sex is a violation of said code. It is cut and dry and everyone knows what the expectations are when they sign on the dotted line. It would have been easy to sweep this under the rug, win a couple of more games, go into March Madness as a #1 seed and National Championship contender, raking in millions of dollars in the process. Any other school likely would’ve done just that. But sometimes, morality is more important than money. And examples are more important than fan expectations.

Whatever you think about the Mormon religion, or even the culture at BYU, as Christians we have to respect this decision. As one fan put it, “As a basketball fan I think this is the dumbest move ever. But I just found the college for my daughter.”

Respect the decision or think it’s a sin?