Questions and things that bother me

I’m hoping to motivate some thoughts in my mind for future blog posts…   So the following is a list of questions and things that bother me in some way or another.

  • Disunity in the Church
  • Misinformation in the Church
  • Is that Christian or just religion?
  • The above caused by poor communication
  • The above caused by assumptions
  • Relationship or religion?
  • People not willing to reconcile relationships
  • People stuck in poor relationships
  • Self-focused churches
  • Grace forgotten
  • Truth forgotten
  • When fear drives decisions
  • When God is not saught in decisions
  • Would Jesus really do that?
  • When people seem to think they are entitled to something
  • When Jesus’ follwers forgot to operate in the Kingdom
  • When Jesus’ people operate as the world does

Measuring “fruit”

Measuring fruit can be quite a chore, with so many different kinds of fruit.  What I mean is – you can’t measure the size of an apple and say it’s good just because it’s bigger than its neighbor… So the same is true when measuring ministry, and our peers in our Church families.

The New Testament makes it clear that we each have different gifts and abilities, multiple times.  We should do our best to encourage these abilities, as Paul says in Romans 12, if you are an encourager, encourage, if you are gifted in generosity, than give, and etc, etc…

So, why do we tend to measure success by mere numbers?  Numbers are easily understood, they reflect a certain about of truth.  Yet we also must keep in mind we are dealing with God, who provides when the numbers don’t show up.   If he orders it, he will pay for it.  So when we are dealing with the fruit of a ministry, and trying to determine if a ministry is “growing” the mere numbers matter, but we must also look at the character of the fruit, does it taste good?  We can have 1000s of apples, but if they are all sour, have no character, than it’s a bad crop.  A bad crop won’t reproduce and will ultimately die.  A small crop of good fruit will die without proper nurishment.

So as I move forward into what I know God has called my bride and I, I strive to taste the fruit, making sure it is good.  If the numbers are small but the fruit is good, it is good, but if the numbers of good tasting fruit reproduce themselves, it is best.

Why Church?

Today’s Church is a whole lot of everything, but to many its a whole lot of nothing.  With all the differences between churches, and all the crap that goes on, it’s a wonder we have a Church at all.  When I say “Church” I mean the family of God that calls themselves Jesus followers.

I believe in critical thinking, processing information in a holistic way, such as with peers, teachers, elders, and youth, getting other people’s perspectives.  It doesn’t mean we have to be in agreement, and it doesn’t mean we have to seek approval or confirmation from others – it does mean we need to have an honest assessment of our own thinking and how it may affect others, and for us followers, how it affects the Church.  We are all responsible for the state of the Church, when we decide to disconnect, slander, or be apathetic, we choose to allow poor behaviors to harm others – this is not love, this is not the greatest of the commandments that Jesus speaks about.  In fact, in my view, this is the complete opposite.

Lord,

I ask for your wisdom in living amongst your people, I get how to love you (or so I think I’m gaining in that area), yet I am grieved and disheartened by people, and to love on people who seem so bent on doing their own thing seems like a waste of time – and yet, I know I must continually act in Love and not on my own understanding.  So I ask for your heart, your words, and your love, for mine does not understand.  – In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Making my own religion…

I’ve come to a conclusion on something, I think a lot of Christians make up their own Christianity… it seems the basics of the Cross are always included, but that’s about where things end.  A lot of people don’t find value in meeting together anymore, they call “hanging” and “having a beer” as the fellowship… while I have really no problems with those activities, I don’t agree they are what the apostles did in Acts, or even most of the new testament.

There is a lot of value in meeting, talking, discussing with fellow believers.  While Church as we know has a lot of issues, it is what God has allowed to happen, therefore we need to both strive for new ways, and not forsake what God is doing.  We must allow ourselves to be challenged by others, and must love on others even when we are in disagreement with them.  Nowhere in scripture do we see permission to simply disconnect ourselves… yes we are given the choice, but we’re not really given permission, see the difference?

I could write a lot more, and I will.

Caught up in the moment

There is something for positive self speech.  Last night I spoke at our young adults group, I was fairly anxious about the message due to transitions and changes at our church.  The core of the message was about worship, and what worshiping with our lives looks like, a piece of that message was on tithes and offerings.  You see, our church, along with many others has seen a down-turn in giving, and one effect of this is staff cuts.  One of my best and closest friends on staff was cut, and while it was extremely hard to see it objectively, God is showing us all a bigger picture.

I have to remind myself of who God has made me, and that in hard times there is no reason to water a message down, that His timing is always right.  I also want to send the message, that this isn’t a problem with “church support” but something where people need to realize the relationship between “their” money and God.

The entire message was from Romans 12 – Let our bodies be a living sacrifice, holy – set apart, for Him.  Verse by verse I broke it down into the spiritual acts of worship.  I was surprised by the power and intensity that found its way through me; I suppose I had some emotion behind it.  I have more on my heart to say, I think there is some break through that will happen in this group – lots of people responded to what God is doing and wanting to do – amen.

Father, continue to bring freedom into these young people’s lives, making their lives a holy sacrifice to you.  In their speech, their work, their relationships, and in where they put their fruits (both figuratively, monetarily, and beyond).  We speak in your authority peace, love, and grace – Amen.

The power of family

The Church can be a very powerful thing, when in balance with God’s heart, word, and spirit amazing things happen; things that can bring the hardest person to a place of falling in love with Christ.  This past week I have seen the power of God’s family coming to life, in spite of what could be explosive, hurtful, and misunderstood.  Although there are some very hard realities to deal with, God is showing each of us that His good will is here to bring us a full life.

When we take steps to be Disciples of Christ first, in all ways, even when dealing with hardships in the Church, we begin to see the big picture, the miracles, and truly experience the Church for what Christ intended – A healing family, a loving family, and a living family.

The sex fight

For a lot of Christian men there is a struggle to keep sexually pure. Now I realize that there are a lot of definitions of “purity” out there, it seem that some think masterbation is okay, and others think dressing in a sexually attractive way is okay, while some believe that not talking about any of these things is okay as well. Yes, we’ve heard this over and over, and I am still not convinced that the Church at large (the full body of Christ) has really taken this on. As I speak to more and more men I realize the need for a new Church culture that speaks Truth and Grace into the suxual purity issue.

I guess I take a hybrid, or middle of the ground, approach to these things. I believe that most of the time people don’t take a deep look into the reasons behind these struggles. We, in the Church, have taken the appraoch of “think no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. When, from what I observe this has lead us to isolation, shame, doubt, and in many cases deep wounds that fester anger and fear, Jesus instructed us to not have even a hint of lust. Yet he forgives.

You see, I know that the enemy plays with this part of our lives because it is so destructive towards our ability to relate to God, and to others. We can easily become isolated and cut off and then allowing people to Love us, and for us to Love others becomes increasingly hard due to the shame that surrounds our heart. So I ask, what is the root of these “problems”, how do we replace these desires with healthy ones? What is a healthy desire?

I am far from the answer, only recently have I began to fully grasp the freedom of exercising true freedom in this area. My past makes it difficult, but I know that He who is in me, is stronger than he who is in the world.

Can we ever see the "both" in Christ?

I just read an article that made me sick, sick because it contains both truths and extreams… It also is down right un-graceful, last I checked, Jesus was full of grace. It is true that our God is both vulnerable and has authority. I’m sure that the quote from Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church – Seattle) was not meant to be what the article makes it out to be. The gospel makes it clear that Jesus wants us to be both weak and strong, to allow him to fill our weaknesses in faith, and to allow kill our pride (false strength) in order to love him and people.

In my observation most people in the Church have true points to make, but they get stuck on one facet, they see one side to the whole picture. We serve the infinite God, his ways are far beyond our ways, and personally I would rather keep my sights on serving him where I feel passionate instead of being critical of one another. I believe in correction, but overall I believe in pointing people to a more full picture. Let’s make our picture of Jesus bigger than ourselves, He’s vulnerable (weak in some people’s eyes) and strong, beyond our understanding.

Stay moderate, keep a healthy open view, while listening to the extremes, and gracefully speak truth to the areas that bring a more holistic picture of the true God we know.

NO WAY!

You know how many times I have heard people say “No way” when I talk about long term missions (heck, even short term missions)? I would say 9 out of 10 times. Sometimes I even get people laughing, like they think I’m joking. So, for those of you who have have laughed when I asked that, let it be known, I wasn’t joking.

It boggles my mind that people can be so closed-minded (in my opinion afraid of the unknown, which is what most of our life with Christ is) about serving God in another place.

And then God reminds me, just as much as I don’t understand “them”, “they” don’t understand me. So I digress, I drop little seeds with people to open their minds to hearing God’s heart for another people-group. I of course agree there is plenty of work to do here in America, yet if we all took a short-term trip to another place outside our culture, saw another part of the Church, then maybe, just maybe, we would have a bit more passion to be his hands and feet to America and beyond.

You want me to what what?

Life (or God, haven’t figure out which yet) seems to keep putting me in the midst of inter-relational unrest lately. For the most part this doesn’t freak me out, but when it happens at work, at home, at church, and amongst friends, than I get a bit fatigued.

It is in these times that I must remind myself and live by God’s prompting that true love is a love that loves through these things. A love that corrects, a love that remains faithful to God’s character, a love that is humble, and a love that has no end. Will everyone accept correction, no, but it is still my responsibility to speak what God puts on my heart, but it is not my responsibility for someone to correct themselves. I will speak truth in love with grace.

I will not continue to throw pearls to the swine, I will not continue to invest in those that can’t accept the loving truth, but I will plant the truth when the soil is fertile. Even when I am fatigued from the energy of it, for relationships are the fabric of life.