Life, Personal

What I do is what I do.

Sometimes I am simply overwhelmed by those who would drag me into a mindset that is just not where God would have me be.  I hear a million voices all crying in my ear to dissuade me from what I should be and what I should do. Do this, do that, give here, drive this, eat this, and so on. These voices tell me I should be something I am not. And because I am not what they think I should be or do what they would have me do, they fully expect me to feel guilty.  Their guilt trips are saunters I refuse to take.

My actions need to be metered by a firm foundation.   I believe the foundation stone of my life is God.  “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.  I dare not trust the sweetest sound, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”  He is unchangeable and my rock.

The second layer in my life cake is my morals.  Morals are those beliefs lines of behavior that set boundaries for me to live.  They, while not as rock hard as my foundation, but are based upon my foundation.  This morality dictates my actions and things I allow in my life. My morals are things I will not do, and the things I will not allow in my life.  Conversely, my morals show me what I can do and what I need in my life. They are very limited in scope and set by my understanding of God.  God does not change and therefore my morals do not change without long study and a fresh revelation of God’s will for my life.

On top of my morals are my ethics.  Ethics are based on the society in which I find community.  Like Paul to the Corinthians said about eating meat sacrificed to idols: if your brother is offended by it don’t have that meat for dinner.  In polite society, we crop our words to not offend, though the words themselves do not breach our moral compass.  While serving at our local food pantry serving those who don’t have food to eat, I don’t wear my “Make America Great Again” hat or eat a candy bar, because it might cause hard feelings. Never-the-less I still bought the hat and I enjoy a good chocolate once in a while.

The last level of my behavior and actions is my preferences.  These are determined by me.  As long as they do not hurt others, as long as they don’t violate my moral understandings, and as long as they are not an affront to the God I serve, I can do what I prefer.  It is not a willful breaking of God’s will, or my moral compass, or my ethical forbearance. My preference is my want to do and when I do it, it is good.

At issue is that the aforementioned million voices want to dictate my actions which are in my preference area, and push them into the ethics area.  Furthermore, they would push my ethics down to the moral and my moral area away from my God the foundation.  What’s more, they would do it in the name of humanity, globalization, political correctness, awareness, and whatever is the current issue of the day.

The voices cry out, “If we could all just become one, if we could get rid of our borders and prideful nationalism—sit at one table and get along, we could put our heads together and solve the problems. We could end world hunger; we could put an end to all the bloodshed and warfare. We could make this world a better place.”

I can understand how many would think that way and wonder how anyone could question it. If I have a new awareness of the terrible in my world, I should change my preferences. They would dictate what car I drive because doing so will save the planet.  I should give to every cause because I have so much.  We need to open our borders to everyone because the U.S. has always been a nation of immigrants. We need to install a sense of globalization; there is no need for borders.

All good thoughts.  But my God tells me the earth will be done away with someday and that I cannot save it.  All my personal preferences will not stop the end of the world.  I have a charge to do what I can and I do work and provide for the poor around me.  I give to those affected by great disasters in my country.  I feel the pain of those who are hurt around the world.  I give where I can.  But in reality it does not make that much of a difference.  Yet the Bible tells us that in the last days a globalization movement will produce just the opposite of all that. It will produce wars and famine and terrible suffering throughout the world like never before. In the book of Revelations, we see a globalization movement in both the political and religious world and it cannot be stopped.

So all those who would like my time or talent or treasure, make your pitch, I will listen and feel your pain and passion, but  if I don’t do something about it, it does not mean that I don’t care, it is just my preference which is following my ethics, which is following my morals, based upon the revelation of God.

I Timothy 4:1-5

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will [a]fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.

 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. (Italics added by me)

What do you think,  add a comment.

Life, Personal, Ramblings

Morality and Godliness

What has happened to our world in the last 75 years?  I am overwhelmed by the crowds of individuals all concerned about how we should live.  If I may I think it is a concern for morality without a concern for godliness.  They seem to say life is having a social conscience; it is doing the right thing, it is doing what is good for the country.  Evil is bad and therefore let us condemn it whenever we see it. We hear of those who do things to “raise awareness” about some injustice or inequity.  This world seems more concerned with how others live and not the reasons why they live that way.  All good and intelligent people should be alarmed by these revelations and awareness of the bad in life, but awareness is not enough.

One of the most foolish things which I see,  is standing at the sideline denouncing evil.  That is the easiest thing to do.  As we become aware of the dark side of life, we have a sense of disgust.  We turn away and say to ourselves, “how terrible!”  But awareness does not help anybody.  It is not enough to denounce bad.  That is simple morality.  It is not enough for me not to be cruel to animals and condemn those to do.  That is simple morality.  It is not enough to see a hungry person on the street corner, and feel badly.

All good, thinking, decent people must be alarmed at what is happening in this country… But here is the great and inevitable question: Why is this happening, and what can be done about it? What has happened is a divorcement godliness.  You cannot have morality without a base of godliness.  Without godliness, morality is simply brass trumpets and sweet violins.  It is a sweet and strong music signifying nothing.

The business of the gospel is not simply to denounce; it is not simply to restrain. The business of the gospel is to deal with the situation in the only way in which it can be dealt with radically. There must be a foundation of godliness behind our morality.  And the only way to do that is a regeneration of our morality with godliness.  It is the regeneration of God in our lives.  It is the gospel of regeneration, this power of God unto salvation, that can deal even with this seemingly hopeless situation and insoluble problem. That is the whole story of the New Testament… This is the only hope for society. And let men do what they will, let them multiply their educational and moral and social organizations, they will not touch the problem. You can have your awareness organizations, your morality crusades, and your moral councils, and a thousand other things, and you will not touch the situation. The evil involved is in the heart of men, and it is only a message that can deal with the heart of men that is adequate to meet the problem is the Gospel.  The Good news.

The whole gospel of evangelism is opening eyes; not that they should be entertained, or made to laugh and weep; but to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and to knowledge… We are only Christians because the Spirit of God has opened our blind eyes, and has taken away the darkness.

Personal, Ramblings

A cry for community

This world is simply out of its mind.  We rail against the minutia of “mini-aggressions” but seem not to worry at all about the millions of humans on the path to eternal damnation.  There are those who would tear down the historical symbols of the past because they were defending something that was perceived in the now to be wrong and yet we praise those who do not honor our country and its flag by not standing at a football game. I think the world is just losing it.

At issue is that life is not about the past, or symbols, or seeming inequity, or healthcare for all, or the rich getting richer.  Life must be more than that.  It is not about a lack of caring.  We care about it all. Never-the-less, we just care too much about the wrong things.

Listen carefully.  You may hear the muffled cry in the cacophony and din of all the things that would silence the call.  It is almost a whimpering in the night.  There is a call.  But that call is not for justice.  That call is not for the accumulation of things.  That call is not political, or religious, or which side to take.  The little voice within you that is being ignored in all the turmoil and judgmental actions, is simply a call for someone to care.  Someone to take a moment and listen to you.  It is a call for human intimacy.

There must be more than just being right.  There must be more than believing like all your friends believe.  All these things, all these wants are really tied up in simply wanting to be part.  A part of something more than self.  It is a call to community.  There is an inner need to be a part.  There is something within that cries out in the darkness of turmoil.

If a society wanted to change into anarchy how would you do it? First fragment family life.  Take our families and break them up with divorce, create single parent homes, find so many things to do that you don’t have time to do anything together.

Second, cut your roots.  Move to a place where you work in one place and live in another.  And make that commute so long that you don’t have time for your basic family unit.  They are probably not at home anyway; you know soccer, hanging out with friends, church, education.

Third, find something that takes your complete attention and requires no interaction.  The slavery of the screen.  Televisions with over 500  channels, phones that you can instantly know what your BFF had for lunch, computers that simply suck up every extra moment of the day to view the latest YouTube video of a horse with pink athletic shoes and a pink ribbon holding his ears singing the latest mindless, and meaningless song.

Let’s find a cause which gives us something to be against. Let us not be for anything just be against something else.  Become a Republicrat so I can condemn the Librsocialsts.  Let us not try to get anything done, just block everyone else.

It is no wonder that in the High Priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17 that the reoccurring petition is for relationship, for one being touching another.

Life, Sermon Illustration, Theology

Trials and our response

No one likes being tested.  No one likes being on trial.  No one likes discipline. But they happen.  It happens.  There is no one immune to them.  They just happen.  We have no control over them.  But for a Christian they must be seen as a “woe is me moments.”   Our response makes all the difference.

First of all , one way of responding to these unwanted events in you life is to REBEL.  I will fight back.  I will put all my strength into a response that is characterized by anger, deceit, vengeance all filled with an attitude of pay back.

The second way to respond is to simply REJECT.  You can push back from the situation and cloister yourself way from it all.  Dig a hole in the sand and stick your head in. You can simply pretend it does not exist.  But it does not go away.

The next response can well be characterized as RESIGN.  You believe that nay response is futile.  You shout to God “I give up, I am powerless.”  You lay down in the gutter and let the garbage of live cover you and drive you to the sewer.  In a way, it is a move forward from the other previous two responses because you are acknowledging your inability to meet the challenge on your own. But in there is little hope.

In my opinion the best response to trials is REJOICE.  This may sound a little strange.  You might well thing that is simply impossible.  Quoting Jesus, “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things about you (Matthew 5).”  God is still God and he has a blessing for you.

This does not mean to slather your problems with a sugar coating.  It is looking intently at that situation with clarity and reality and say, “I choose to accept this situation as a situation which God can work.”

It turns a prison to a palace.

It turns an heartache into a heart throb.

It turns a trial into a triumph.

It is the best choice.

What do you think?  Leave a comment.

Church, Music

A fundamental concern

I am open to change, I may not like everything that change brings, but I am willing to give it a chance.  I know that I have written on this subject before but here I go again.  It is about the new music in the church.  To me they all sound the same.  And I really don’t get the seemingly lack of theology.  I am old school.  If it is in the hymnal then it is what we should be singing.  But it just isn’t so.

I would fully suppose that the great hymns of the church were considered as out of the main stream when they were first introduced. I can imagine a congregation of devout and staid parishioners singing “It is well with my soul” for the first time and wondering if was a little out there.  Today’s music may well be tomorrow’s hymns.  Never-the-less, that does not quench the fire I have for “I stand amazed in the presence of the Nazarene” or “Victory in Jesus”.

There are two reasons for including a good old anthem of the church once and while.

First is the desire of the people to sing things familiar and now evoke great memories of revivals and spiritual victories. It is what the staid and true folk has heard are used to. To disregard or discount that desire is saying to them we simply do not have any concern about you.  Your preferences are not the current paths that the worship team has chosen. While these foundational songs of the past may not be easy to sing and some may not readily fit into the music being used in a contemporary setting, there is still a place for them.  Love calls for an effort to include some of these “Hymns” into the even the most energetic contemporary music genre.

The second reason is these pieces have passed the test of time. They’ve been used in the church for hundreds of years, surviving because there is something special about them. Disregarding that group of hymns means throwing out gold. Twenty years from now, the contemporary music will go through the slow and imperceptible winnowing process. Some songs I sang as contemporary music twenty years ago were not good enough to stimulate worship.  They no longer met the requirement of catching people’s hearts. Not all the Gaither music back then will ever be song in a hundred years if the Lord does not come back first.

Whoever plans the music for your church needs to plan for the very best.  That plan needs to include all the people.  It is a constant art for finding the right note for the right moment. Some may well be a hundred years old or the newest praiseworthy song from Hillsong. We must try for what helps all the people in the congregation to worship. It’s not an easy task, but it’s fundamental concern; for the life of the church, the whole church.

Life, Ramblings

Needed Change

Sometimes we just don’t like what is happening around us.  Politics seems more and more accusatory and petty. While gas prices seem stable the price of watermelon is up. Our cars are being made more comfortable yet the streets we drive them on are full of pot holes and ruts. I am trying to reduce my weight, but lately the digital scale will not change.  We want worship in the church to be a glorious and splendiferous experience but it doesn’t quite reach the edge of heaven on earth.

So, what are we looking for?  Do our cultural standards dictate our perception of how we should then live?  In Mark 8:27 there is a question posed by Jesus.  “Who do the people say I am?”

In response, they reported back what the crowd was saying.  They wanted to provide the cultural answer.  There was no condemnation, they didn’t want to offend their Rabbi. “A prophet, Eliljah, John the Baptizer.”

“But Jesus then asked, “And you— what are you saying about me? Who am I?”

Tough question for anyone.  Primarily because the response shapes everything else you do, everything else you believe, and everything else you are.  There is little excuse for snap decisions.  There is great importance in your response.  The answer you give will change how you react to the external. The world will be seen differently, politics become less important, our day to day existence becomes more in focus.  No snap decisions, no snap answers allowed here.

Everything becomes God’s business not our own.  And despite all our travail, we can’t change God.  You can’t change God’s will.  You can’t change God’s plan.  But you can change God’s methodology by working in and through you, instead of around you. You can change you.

Life, Ramblings, Sermon Illustration

Before a man can do things, there must be things he will not do.

2 Comments

Everything attempted is always at the expense of something else.  All effort requires sacrifice of something.  If you would lose weight, you must give up eating a whole banana cream pie.  Life is about trading one thing for another.  It is in the comparison that we have trouble.  What one thing is worth compared to the other.  Is the newest phone worth giving up part of my vast wealth?  Is wearing shorts to church worth the strange looks I would receive?

On the other hand, there are things we would just like to eliminate.  These things have no worth at all but we hold on to them because it would be painful to let go.  The last time I went to the local dump, I was amazed by the sheer magnitude of things be thrown away.  Some of it was simply disgusting due to its odoriferous aroma. I saw furniture, bricks, toys, and books.  All were unceremoniously cast off.  If I had the gumption I could fill a large truck with my own cast offs.  So why do we hold on to things?  Things that have no worth.  Things that just take up space.

I think it must do with disgust.  We must reach a place where the worth of simplicity outweighs the pile of junk.  If we are willing to put up with the stench around us, there is no motivation to do something.  Before a man can do things, there must be things he will not do. (MENCIUS)  The problem arises when we think time will make a difference.  I don’t need to do it right now, I well might need this extra computer cable someday.

Our society is like that.  Always expecting things to change in time.  The next election will take care of Washington.  The next technological breakthrough will solve all my communication issues.  The next scientific breakthrough will solve all environmental issues.  The next pay raise will put us over the edge to financial security. If I just wait long enough it will all work out.

But it is just a big lie.  Time does not change anything.  Time often makes things worse. We must rid ourselves of the rubbish in our lives and go on to the great simplicity.

Let go and let God.

Comments?

Church, Ministry, Ramblings

The CHURCH as a business?

I have seen and lived two worlds: the world of church and the world of business.  The disturbing point is when a church starts to act like a business.  This hybrid diminishes the Godly center for the external edge.  Pastors start to act like Chief Executive Officers marketing Jesus as a product. The Bible uses many colorful words to describe the church. It’s a family, a body, a fellowship, a holy people, a flock, and more.  However, it is never described as a business.

It’s not that there are no business aspects to leading a local church or denomination. Much like a family is better off when we manage our money and time more effectively, most pastors would serve Jesus, their church and their families better if we used good business principles to manage our time, energy and resources more efficiently, too.  But using wise business principles is not the same as running a church as though it was a business.

There are many things and/or attitudes that are simply wrong.

  1. A business is always about customers and sales. In too many churches, we tell our “guests” to sit back, relax and enjoy the service”, to be consumers of the heavenly juice that will be provided on que and in four-four time.  We provide the best coffee, the perfect temperature, the songs are on key, the sermon never exceeds the allotted time, and the pews are always padded.  There is little to challenge or, (heaven forbid) make our customers uncomfortable by talking about repentance and sin. While there’s a lot of finger-pointing at the rise of a consumer culture in new, seeker-friendly churches, the customer model happens in churches of all types. Big and small, old-school and new-school, high and low liturgy, denominational and nondenominational. Church members are not supposed to be passive customers. We’re supposed to be active participants in the ministry of the church.
  2. A business has a leadership hierarchy. Either the Pastor is the Chief Executive Officer with all its responsibilities and authority, or the Church Board wields this big stick. If the he pastor is seen and acts like he is the owner or manager, the membership feels restrained in doing anything without the CEO’s permission. When the pastor acts like they own the church, church members will either push back, give in, or leave.
    Conversely, if it is the board that is the ultimate business owner it is just as problematic. That form of church governing isn’t wrong (the church I pastor requires congregational approval for big decisions), but when it’s abused – as any good thing can be – the church members become more like passive investors demanding a return for their money. Board membership becomes more important than actual servanthood, pastors are afraid to take a potentially unpopular stand, and actual ministry grinds to a halt under the heavy hand of procedures and pettiness.
    Either extreme business model there is no expectation or encouragement to think outside of the stated and codified business statement. The result? Burnt out pastors and shallow members.
  3. A business is accountable only to shareholders. In every church, there is a special group of default members.  Those in this group could well be classified as shareholders.  They have been in the church since it began, they have paid their dues, they have served in every capacity possible, they have their own pew, and are the first to disapprove of any behavior that is not what they perceive to be within the norm.  They seem to hold sway over all.  Their displeasure is felt both in the offering plate and gossip. “Why does the (fill in the blank) do it my way?”
  4. Perhaps the biggest problem with these three skewed visions of the church is how we treat (or ignore) Jesus. If anyone in the church is acting like a boss, they’re crowding out the place where Jesus should be Lord. And when church members act like customers, they’re missing out on the extraordinary joy of serving Jesus.  Prayer is more important than process.  Servanthood in more important that bi-laws.  Faith is more important than fidelity to fragile feelings.

Businesses have employees and customers. The church has family members. Businesses have bosses. The church has a Lord. A head. A savior. And a king.

Comments?

Life, Ramblings

FOMO

We can easily become overwhelmed by a world that is most concerned about image.  A new term for it is FOMO.  Fear of missing out.  With this social malady comes the distraction of constant demand for more.  There is a craving of putting on a good front: a projection of a successful self.  More entertainment, more screens, more experiences, more of everything is touted as the solution to FOMO.  This solution is worse than the illness.  The external view point by definition is on the outside.  It does nothing for the inside.  The group of people that are hardest to minister to are those who seem to have their act together.  On the outside they seem to have it all but they live in poverty of the inner life.

But scratch the surface and you realized there is still pain.  FOMO can never be satisfied primarily because it is all external.  FOMO comes from inside and our culture is one of externals.  There is little in our world that offers much to build the cry of the inner life.

The continuance, strength, peace, depth and wisdom that flows from God is the only answer.  It is the inside that is crying out.  It is the inside that needs.  It is the inside that requires something.  And that something is an inner depth of God in us.

What do you think?  Leave a comment.

Church, Life, Psycolog, Ramblings

Church Attendance Pt2

There are segments of our Western culture that are flourishing.  Technology seems to ingrained into every part of what we call life today.  The world seems to be saying it can provide you everything you need.  “I can provide all things at a click of a mouse or a tap on the screen.”  It is a beautiful place that we have made.  You don’t have to go to the Grand Canyon to feel the awe, you can get virtual glasses and the latest program.  You can buy all that is needed to lead a full and exciting life.  If you are lonely just log on to Facebook,  if you are hungry call up UBER to deliver a gourmet meal in less than an hour.  A world of products are just a click away.  Special industries have popped up to provide vacations, amazing experiences, and gastronomic delights.  Entertainment can provide an endless supply of music, music, live sports and the latest shoot-em-up gaming experience.  There seems to be a constant hum in the air.  But it is so much driven by individualism.

It is about my experience, my location, my food, my dog, my witticism, and my life.  Happiness and stimulation without commitment.  It may not be George Orwell’s new world, but the outcome is the same.  Dull automatons marching to the glare of a screen plastered to your face.

This new found freedom is at the expense of something else.  One writer called it the vanishing of institutions.  If we can be ourselves, if we can life our lives in constant self gratification and self forfillment, what do we need with institutions?  What do we need with the Church?

The Church is our beliefs and ethics in the flesh. The Church is a bringing down from heaven the life of God to become a operating on earth.  There is a shared set of beliefs that the whole agrees and defines itself.  The Church exists to pass along our beliefs.  The Church exists as a place to turn our beliefs into action, in real behaviors, to educate.  It is more than a broadcast message hoping some would friend it.  It is not about information it is about values.

Values, including love, forgiveness, self sacrifice, the greater good, hope, acceptance and service, must be passed on.  And the passing from one generation to the next is one of the reasons the Church exists and will continue to exist.  When the Church stops passing on values and changes to a broadcast mode of information, then it fails.  Broadcasting of information without values becomes part of the hum and will die with all pet rock and the VCR.

Yes I go to Church.  It is an act of faithfulness to a value system.  Oh I love the old hymns and a well crafted sermon is a delight to my ears. Never-the-less, when you get down to it, it is more about legacy, it is more about passing something along.  It is about endurance of life.  It is about community.  It is about being a part of something that is more than elections across a screen.

What do you think?  Leave me a comment.

The Study of God and Life