Giving Jesus or Demanding Morals

I was struck by something coming out of my pastor's message last weekend and some reading that I'm currently doing. I was struck by the fact that Christians have the reputation of requiring someone to be morally in agreement before they can come to Jesus.

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It's more than a reputation, really. It's a pretty accurate description. One of the factors that leads to this is our uncomfortable nature with messy spirituality. Take for example a good friend of mine I baptized not too long ago. I've known him for many years, however (like many followers of Christ) he didn't have a crisis point of faith. For him it was a journey of Christ revealing Himself. It wasn't neat and clean and well defined, but it was genuine and sincere.

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We have to have defined lines. You must believe this, this, and this in order to be accepted. Before introducing people to Jesus we introduce people to our sense of morality, or what we think it should be. The thing is, we're called to first introduce them to Jesus...to the love of God and the acceptance of sinners through the sacrifice of Christ...to the freedom from sin and bondage that Jesus brings to us. But instead, we offer them bondage to our senses of morality before introducing them to Christ.

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This speaks heavily to our understanding of the Spirit's work of sanctification. We feel the need to pigeonhole someone into a certain moral standard in our own time frame. Get saved, then get clean. Oh...I love this one...it's a slogan I saw on a church sign: "Catch em', Clean em', Clone em'. Nice and neat process, huh (by the way, I DISDAIN church slogans and cliches...they're utterly unhelpful).

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But this is not the way it works. Does it work for you that way? I have another friend who is a recovering addict. They also deal with a number of other issues. I've told them time after time - just allow God to work on one thing at a time. He'll work with you and deliver you from these addictions. And God has. But it's not been neat and clean and timely. It's been a long process and it's been a difficult one. But God is doing it.

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I say all that to say this: Share Jesus and demonstrate the moral you want others to live. Don't even speak it. Let your good works shine before men so THEN they may see and glorify our Father in heaven.

Clean Conscience

The following is a quote from Brother Lawrence from the book, The Practice of the Presence of God. What is helpful in what he writes is how he moves on from his failure, and how he acknowledges the Lord in all things that go well.

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I believe the former - moving on from failure - is a major challenge of the Christian disciple of Jesus. We have issues forgiving ourselves for the small and big failures of our lives. Granted, our sin has consequences we have to live with, and sometimes they have a big impact on our relationships with others. However, I think one of the biggest challenges followers of Jesus face is how to deal with the things few people (if any) know about. How do we handle our failure? How do we accept the grace of God and move on?

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The following excerpt from his book I find very helpful (and it's a good little read if you've never heard of it nor read it yet).

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When he (Brother Lawrence) had finished, he examined how he had discharged

his duty; if he found well, he returned thanks to God;

if otherwise, he asked pardon, and, without being discouraged, He set

his mind right again, and continued his exercise of the Presence of God

as if he had never deviated from it.

What the Prophets Have to Say Today

I have been thinking for some time that a good reading of the prophets of the Old Testament would prove fruitful and very relevant to the current situation in our western culture. I have finally gotten around to begin reading them, and I have started with Jeremiah. It is truly amazing how the predicament of Judah is not so far off from what we struggle with here in western culture...perhaps even more broadly as these are issues of sinful nature and the human race.

Take for example this passage from Jeremiah 8:

"I have listened attentively,

but they do not say what is right.

No one repents of his wickedness,

saying, 'What have I done?'

Each pursues his own course

like a horse charging into battle." verse 6

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One of the greatest comforts here is the ear of the Lord. God is listening to his people...He is listening for his people, but they are not saying what is right.

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Disturbing, and very telling of our culture today (especially church culture), is the lack of repentance because of the lack of reflection. In this short verse we see something very telling about Judah, and it speaks prophetically to us today as well. We charge ahead without thinking of the ways of the Lord. We don't reflect on how we live our lives to see if it aligns with how God calls us to live. We don't ask ourselves, "what have I done?", because we deem ourselves innocent.

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This innocence comes from a lack of holiness in the people of God. We no longer 'measure' (and I use that term in a very non-legalistic way) our standard of living to how Scripture instructs us to live, but rather we first measure our standard against classes and against our culture. What I mean is this: we don't think we're as bad as the next guy. So we measure how 'good' or 'godly' we are against those around us who are godless. We're all godless at heart. We can't understand holiness comparing ourselves to others. We can only understand holiness as we understand the Scriptures and as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling with the Sciptures, not in comparison with others.

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So today let us ask, "Lord, what have I done?" As the opening line to this verse states, God is attentively listening for us to pray this kind of prayer.

Changing Self

Back to the posts on change...

So there's unnecessary change...beneficial change...and now changing oneself. I'm not talking of reinventing yourself. It's not making a new you. This is the change I think few of us are comfortable with. It's the change that comes from examining yourself...from allowing others to examine you...from allowing God to examine you. It's the type of change that results from David's prayer in Psalm 139 that says, "Search me, Oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any wicked way within me and lead me in the way everlasting."

I've often wondered if I'm not just completely ignorant of my own faults. Do I treat people the way I should? Do I come off as good of a listener as I hope/think I am? I don't know really, but I want to (now if you're reading this and you know me and the answer is negative...be gentle!).

Change is certainly necessary in the process of our sanctification...our becoming more like Jesus. But this is change that is difficult and sometimes undesirable. It's sacrificial. Costly. Sometimes humiliating and humbling. But this is change that needs to be pursued in the way David did in his prayer above.

Jesus would have a much more honest representation if His followers were willing to make changes resulting from praying this prayer. It's a hard prayer for me to pray, but I know it's necessary (for myself and all of us) if we are to call ourselves followers of Christ.

8 Years and Counting

Today I celebrate my 8th anniversary, however I celebrate it alone! Doesn't that suck! Ruby is in Tuscon, Arizona for work this week, leaving me solo for our 8th anniversary. She left yesterday, and after dropping her off at the airport I proceeded to take my kids to my dad's place so they could spend two days there. The idea for me was to have time to get some work done around the house and then to be able to go into the office today...both those plans succeeded...however...I was alone.

Being alone is a funny thing. When you're a father of three and a pastor, time alone is a treasured thing...but when you really have time alone it feels like there's something missing. I sat in my empty house last night with no kids in their beds and no wife by my side. It's a weird feeling. As much as I crave time alone I feel uncomfortable when it comes like it did yesterday. I like the alone time better when I'm downstairs in my office and I hear the kids running around upstairs...screaming, yelling, and having a good time. There's life in the house. When it's just me it feels too empty.

All that to say: I love my family. I value their presence in my life. They literally bring life to my life. Even though family relationships are challenging at times, they are my family...they are the ones I intimately share life with. They bring a whole new meaning to life when we're together. So I'm grateful for what/who I've got.

I guess I have to update my profile now too...I'm married 8 years now instead of 7, and instead of a year shy of 30 I turn 30 next week! Now I can be an official pastor :-)

CNN and How Faith Should Be

Before church this morning I do what I do most days...turn on the news and see what's going on in the world. This morning's top headlines were speaking to the termination of membership between Barak Obama and his now former congregation of Trinity. When asked if he would be looking for another church Obama responded with something along the lines of wanting to be in a church where he could "sit and meditate and be part of the congregation" rather than being a political part of the church (If you know me, you know I am really bad with direct quotes, so you're getting a framework here).

In response to Obama's desire to sit and just be for awhile, the CNN commentator said, "Now that's the way things should be." That is a direct quote. That's the way things should be, huh? So instead of sticking your neck out do be involved and risk all for the Kingdom, we just sit around, meditate, and get fed? This is the impression of the faith I'm getting from this commentator who may not have thought much about what he was saying. However, this is very truth telling.

It's getting at the problem of Christianity in our country being a spectator sport, for lack of a better term. The perception people have of the Christian faith is us going into a building, sitting, listening, learning, and leaving. But this is not the essence of the Christian faith, at least not to me. What's sad is this is the impression people have. They don't have the one of works, service, sacrifice, long suffering, etc. It's a come and go faith to them...come on Sunday, and then go.

A few posts ago I described what I saw as the negative tendencies of this generation in regards to the Christian faith. Well, here's a positive one: they're done with this spectator religion. The young Christians of today want to make a difference. If their faith doesn't demand something of them they're disappointed and can sense it's not the real thing. The Christian faith necessitates cost, and this generation is willing to pay it. While there is still nominalism, I believe there is a great dedication to living like Jesus and dedicating oneself to the cause(s) of Christ...to the poor, the environment, injustices such as torture/economic sanctions/world debt/starvation/AIDS/etc. These are the things that are motivating my generation. They are the things that are motivating me.

So to the CNN commentator...that's not the way things should be. The person being an active representation of Christ to their community...that's the way things should be.