Motivated by Grace and Glory, not Guilt

by | Mar 5, 2018 | church, Devotions, discipleship, Leadership, pastor, Pastor's Reflections

“For I testify, that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints…” 2 Corinthians 8:3-4.

A video of an impoverished village in a third world country with children displaying distended bellies from malnourishment…juxtaposed with a clip of a middle-class American community with two cars in the drive of a 3,000 square foot house and the top of the 26-foot Boston Whaler boat peering over the privacy fence to the backyard. Two cultures…two reference points…one purpose: to make the argument that there is something fundamentally unfair about some having so much while others lack the basic necessities of life.

There is truth in the assertion perhaps…but the motives for displaying the contrast give rise to the question…what should motivate generosity for the Christ-follower? Often times, the motivation is guilt…but the Scripture presents the case that the motivation should be gratitude for the grace of God in the believer’s life and the desire for God’s glory to be manifested…everywhere.

Yesterday I shared a message that included the text above and recognized that Paul was enamored with GRACE throughout the passage. In fact, he used the Greek Word charis seven times in the chapter. Charis is most often translated “grace,” though the semantic range can include words like “favor, thanks, gracious work,” and the like. The point is, Paul saw GRACE (or better-the understanding and appreciation of grace) as the motivator for deeds that touch human need.

To make this case, let me point out three things:

  • Wealth and possessions are not bad things. God gives them to people. It is not what you possess that is evil, but what possesses you.
  • The generosity of Paul’s example church (the Macedonians) was based on their grace-motivated kindness amid their deep poverty and great affliction (2 Cor 8:2). IOW- they had no connection to middle-class suburban American lifestyles, and were abundantly generous, even beyond their ability!
  • It was the JOY in the Macedonian church that overflowed in generosity. That is to say, they evaluated their circumstances (God’s grace toward them even in the midst of their trials and poverty) and were so joyful at its value, that they could do nothing but give generously to touch those who were in need.

Some may question if the Macedonians were a one-time example…or if their actions are intended to be exemplary for believers at all times. The Scriptures suggest that the generous display of the Macedonians is exemplary and not merely a one-time explanation. Beyond the fact that Paul actually used their story as a motivator for the churches of Corinth, the principle agrees with other places in Scripture: The boy who gave up his lunch that was used to feed the five thousand (Matthew 14:13-21), Mary’s anointing Jesus with her own funeral oil (Matthew 26:6-13), and even the words of Christ Himself that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

A true understanding of grace ALWAYS results in an overwhelming response of humility, gratitude, worship…and a physical response that springs up from the fertile soil of these elements. Grace begets grace. We receive grace and therefore we demonstrate grace! In most cases, we demonstrate grace and then we receive it back! After all, how could we really comprehend the grace of Christ toward us and it not rise up from our soul as a spring of abundant joy resulting in a wealth of generosity toward others.

It’s true…when we touch poverty. It’s true…when we love the unlovely. It’s true…when we communicate the gospel.

May the grace of God spring forth from your life today! Because He came, lived, died, was buried, rose again, and called you to tell the story…in both Word and Deed.

Don’t Discount the Difficulties…

by | Feb 27, 2018 | Devotions, discipleship, Faith, Leadership, Pastor's Reflections

Life is hard. Even on its best days, there are moments that test you, try you, and even grieve you. Some believe that difficulties are the times we must endure so that we can get back to God’s plan for our lives. In these cases, it is as if the difficulties are an interruption to God’s good favor on our lives. What if, however, difficulties were significant and good and glorious and God’s design?

I was meditating on Psalm 23 this morning and thinking through events of recent days. This verse arrested me: “Even though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because You are with me…” (Psalm 23:4).

No one volunteers for “the valley of the shadow of death.” That would be crazy; however, it was in the valley that David recognized God’s presence. (Because You are with me…)

This observation is not new. It is not trendy. It is not unique to the Old Testament. It is, rather, a consistent theme. It was under a Juniper tree in the desert when God sent an angel to minister to Elijah. It was walking on the waters of the Sea where Peter experienced Jesus’ salvation. It was in the prison that Paul and Silas, having endured beatings and humiliation that they were stirred in their hearts and sang hymns that ushered God’s saving presence into the jail and saved a household.

James opens his epistle by reminding us to “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” (James 1:2-3).

Perhaps a better view of trials and difficulties is required. When facing the trials, consider these five things:

  • What is God Doing? If this trial is intended to cause me to stumble, it is not a trial but a temptation…meaning that it is not God who is acting. (James 1:13).
  • Where is God working? God never wastes His time. Pause and pray, asking to see what God is up to. What areas of the trial are most heart-wrenching and prevalent.
  • How does this trial build on what I learned in the last one? In my experience, God doesn’t use a one and done (Like: Oh, you need some humility. Here is a humbling experience. Check. Ok, back to your regularly scheduled life—God).
  • What are you confessing? Often, our trials are connected to the sins we are confessing. For instance, “God I struggle to love others with a love like Christ. Forgive me…” This may be followed by a trial of loving an unlovely person or losing an opportunity to love someone…through death or disconnection.
  • Who is God putting in your path? If you read and reflect on 2 Corinthians 1, you realize that God is always shaping us through our experiences to be a conduit of comfort and grace toward others. Often, God teaches me compassion toward others by allowing me to experience a similar struggle. This really does influence my empathy.

Ultimately, if we hold to a correct doctrine of God’s sovereignty we must declare that God is sovereign both on the mountaintops and in the valleys. So…don’t discount the difficulties. They are gracious gifts from a loving and sovereign King.

I Did Not Know You Were Watching…

by | Feb 26, 2018 | discipleship, Faith, Leadership, parenting, Pastor's Reflections

It goes by so quickly. One minute, you’re warming up bottles of milk and the next, they’re in college. Well, maybe it isn’t quite that fast…but it sure seems that way. What I know to be true is this, it went faster than I imagined and the lessons of life that seemed most impactful to my children were not the “intentional messages,” but those they observed by my conduct. This is no small matter! I preach the gospel with words every week…yet the messages that resonated most deeply, that influenced most effectively, that influenced behavior most predictably were those that were less intentional.

If this is true, perhaps we would do well to consider, What am I teaching unintentionally? Better yet, “How can I use unintentional opportunities INTENTIONALLY?”

Here is what I mean:

No parent ever tells me that they hope that their children grow up to be apathetic toward God. That’s crazy…yet what if we are actually teaching apathy? Is it possible that our children learn about passion for God from observing our passion?

No parent ever says, “I hope my kids value sports more than Jesus…or work more than Jesus,” but our unintentional messages (example) may be teaching that very truth as normal and acceptable.

In a day and age when we are so shocked that, according to a recent study, kids believe it is a more morally wrong matter to “not recycle” than to tell a lie…we must ask, “How can we change the trajectory?”

Here are four suggestions:

  • Model Commitment to “best” things. We always had a rule in my house that if you signed up for something, you finished your commitment. When our boys signed up for band, they were expected to complete the whole season. When the joined a team, they were expected to compete for the entire season. What if we placed that same commitment on ourselves and our children regarding our faith? I mean…model being moms and dads who choose on Saturday night to worship on Sunday morning.
  • Model Service over Consumerism. I love to see families that serve in the church and have their kids alongside. Whether in the foyer serving as greeters or on a team caring for the grounds… service is elevated. The result will likely be that when they begin to choose these things for themselves, they will choose wisely.
  • Model Value for Worship and Small Groups. I know that time is precious, but can you believe that some families will only participate in a worship service or a small group for 90 minutes in an entire week? What happens then? Well, if you don’t insist on your child participating in worship, he or she will come to see corporate worship as optional. If they only come to worship, they’ll see small group ministry (which is vital…as optional). Who among us wants our children to devalue one of these while they are raising our grandchildren?
  • Model Dependency in Every Area of Family. Take time to be caught learning. Let the family catch you reading the Scripture according to a disciplined schedule. Let them see you pray for wisdom and insight on decisions–big and small. Let them join you in seeking the Lord’s answers and direction.

Leadership in these areas affects future trajectory. 3 John 4 reminds us of the joy in a parent’s heart when seeing his grown children walking according to the proper example.

Remember, we are always leading. The question is not IF, but WHERE and HOW.

Be Glad They Don’t Know What I Know About You…

by | Feb 21, 2018 | Devotions, pastor, Pastor's Reflections

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” John 13:1, NASB.

The times of God’s greatest developmental work in a leader’s life are often in the desert or the dungeon. While a leader can learn on a mountaintop, nearly all proclaim that the most formative experiences are sitting in a desert, under a Juniper tree, wishing to die. (1 Kings 19:4). This week, for me, has been one of great development.

Leaders experience criticism. By definition, leaders attempt to shepherd people toward an outcome that they might not choose on their own. Pastoral leaders (pastors) do the same, only having received their orders from God. Pastors, however, don’t get emails that are time and date stamped and wrestle with the same draws toward ungodly actions as everyone else. We KNOW that often the difficulties we face originate with the devil (yes, I believe in a literal devil/satan/slanderer/accuser); however, it is not always easy to distinguish the force behind a person’s actions from the actions themselves. In one sense, “the devil made me do it” is true; whereas, in another sense, the person always willingly participates in the plan.

This week has been one of pretty intense criticism. The details are not as important (from my perspective and for the purposes of this article) as the lessons I’m learning, so I am intentionally leaving them out. My hope is that a reader might be able to transfer some of the principles of the lessons I’m learning to their own situation, even if the circumstances don’t precisely line up.

After three days of anxiousness in my chest and alternating emotions of fear, anger, and despair, the Lord reminded me of a few things today:

  • Whatever they are accusing you of is far less severe than what I ALREADY KNOW about you. (Be glad they don’t know what I know about you…they would talk.)
  • They accused me of stuff I never did and of righteous stuff I did that they did not like.
  • Be like Me.

Well, I am not Jesus. The more I grow in Christ, the more I realize how far I have yet to go toward zeroing in on my own sanctification. On days I start to think that I am making progress, God simply unmasks another layer of my wicked and deceitful heart. Sometimes He does that in prayer or reading the Scriptures. Sometimes the enemy simply screams in my ear. Sometimes the Holy Spirit opens my eyes in the midst of my sin. At other times, God uses the actions of others. In each case, the enemy has a purpose and God has a purpose. The enemy seeks to destroy, discourage, and defame (John 10:10a). God seeks to give us abundant life through unmitigated dependence on Him (John 10:10b). He seeks to conform us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28-30).

So, this morning God graciously terrified me with part of that image: Christ on a cross, stripped naked, nail-pierced hands and feet, a crown of thorns, bloody from beatings and dried saliva all over his body…praying to the Father, “forgive them…for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). I’M A ‘THEM,’ that Christ interceded for. I’m one of those sinners…

So how can a sinner elevate himself to a place of judgment against another sinner? Sure, he can and must discern that sin has occurred and who did it and all of that…but to “judge” in that context is to withhold love toward that person. If a person withheld love he may find a perfect consensus from other sinners that he is righteous but Jesus says that to do so is to testify that you are not a follower of His. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35).

Wow, pastor…that’s hard!  Yes…it is. Well, surely God must only mean love those who are easy to love or those that are His own…right? If that were true, how could we reconcile that with “God demonstrates His own love toward us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, (Romans 5:8), and “Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and not our only, but also for the whole world (1 John 2:2). [Propitiation speaks of the satisfactory payment for our debt] Furthermore, it is specifically in the case of sinful offense that we are told to love and told that love covers sin. “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8).

Paul indicates that to harbor anger or resentment or to clamor or slander is to grieve the Holy Spirit and that we must resist this and walk in love, just as Christ loved us.

Ephesians 4:29–5:2 (NASB95)

29Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

30Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

32Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;

2and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

Back to the cross. If Christ can face what He faced, and ask God to forgive me for spitting on Him, whipping Him, crucifying Him, mocking Him, and prancing around in my self-righteous head-wagging strut…how can I not love, learn, and leave it at the cross?

So, as painful as criticism is…as hard as the days can become…I choose love, for love covers a multitude of sins.

Why I ask “Silly Questions?”

by | Feb 11, 2018 | pastor, Pastor's Reflections

Several years ago, I shifted the way I do baptism testimonies. As a pastor, I am constantly looking for ways to make the message of the Gospel connect in people’s lives. So, I am hopeful to use every potential avenue to do that.

For more years than I can count, I have required a written testimony for baptisms. If you came for baptism, I required you to take time to write out a short testimony:

  • What was your life like before Christ?
  • How did you become a Christ-follower?
  • How has your life been impacted since that time?

Ultimately, the goal was to equip believers with a tool they could share when communicating with others about this new Christian life. We would share the testimony on behalf of the candidate just before baptism. It was cool.

A few years ago, I changed the approach. I still encourage someone to write out a testimony; however, I also require a video-based presentation of the testimony which we play before the church. The format of the video is flexible. Some people want to read their testimony. Others prefer to answer questions. Still others…we do in interview form. This is really good for kids. I interview them by asking questions about their decision…but also about their understanding of the gospel and its implications for their lives.

I have noticed though, that some folks slip into “eye-roll mode” when I ask questions…as if the questions are “silly.” The fact is, some of them are. As such, let me explain WHY I do it the way that I do.

  • UNDERSTANDING. I use questions to check understanding. I want to know if a person realizes that they are a deeply-flawed sinner, and not just a person with a few indiscretions to their name. I want to know if the person thinks that baptism “saves” or if they recognize it more accurately as an act of obedience in identification with Christ.
  • APPLICATION. I ask questions about what a person did with the gospel. How did you apply that when you realized it?
  • IMPLICATION. This is maybe the category with the “silliest questions,” particularly with kids. I will ask a child: Would you marry an ugly person if Jesus told you to? Would you be a missionary if Jesus said so? Would you do your homework if Jesus said to? Honestly, I am driving at an understanding of Jesus as Lord. I could ask that directly, but what I’ve found is that by seeking to APPLY Lordship is often harder and more impactful. Do I know that Jesus calls everyone to be a missionary? Of Course! Do I think that God would say to a person, “Go find an ugly boy to marry.” Not really, but I do know that God’s standard of who we marry may conflict with what others think or what we might dream up in our hearts apart from Christ.

This practice of interviewing and asking application/implication questions is not a novelty. The ancient church embraced a form of this with the catechism.

What I believe for certain is this: A proper understanding of the gospel is essential and increasingly rare. While I don’t think the video and questions are a “be all-end all” solution, I hope they help. So, if you hear a silly question and conclude that the pastor is just silly, perhaps pause for a moment and think charitably toward him. Maybe, he’s just trying to ensure that the public commitment of baptism is a genuine and sure commitment on the part of the candidate.

Also, and this is just a secondary benefit…in the world of Facebook and other forms of Social Media…baptism testimonies are great tools for sharing.

If you have other thoughts, I’d love to hear.

Not Alone in the Dark…

by | Jan 22, 2018 | Devotions, discipleship, Pastor's Reflections

We never “really” get over it. That feeling that what we cannot see just might “get us!” When we were small children, our parents may have installed nightlights to show us that nothing was really in the room with us at bedtime. They may have inspected the closet and looked under the bed to demonstrate that nothing bad was there. They may have even explained to us all the reasons our fears were irrational and reminded us that they were on the far side of the house (away from us) and that if we needed them…we only needed to cry out.

The feeling never went away. We wondered if the object of our fears might be lurking in a shadow or may have been overlooked when inspecting the closet. Our real issue was not the darkness but the sense that we were alone.

How does one find peace from the fear and anxiety that bad things happen when we are alone?

I think this is the heartbeat of Jesus’ statement to His followers just prior to His ascension back to the Father in heaven… “and I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20).

Jesus never promised that bad people or bad things would not come against us. He never declared our lives to be filled with unicorns and cotton candy. He, in fact, declared the opposite, “In this world you will have tribulation!” (John 16:33). And at the same time, Christ indicated that we could experience a profound peace, even amid our difficult circumstance.

God’s PEACE is not experienced based on the absence of trouble but on the presence of God.

In Psalm 23, David declared, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me.” God’s presence put our “trouble” in perspective.

A boy was having difficulties with a bully on the walk to school. After several confrontations, he was so afraid of what would happen that he dreaded even walking that way again. His father, recognizing the real issue, did not promise to remove the bully but chose instead to walk with his son on the journey the next day. When they faced the bully kid along the walk, there was no issue. The bully was the same, but the son had confidence because his dad was bigger than the bully and HE WAS WITH HIM.

Today, as you face the challenges that are guaranteed to come, don’t fear the dark or dread being alone. If you are His child, you are never alone…not even in the dark. “Fear not for I am with you. Do not be discouraged, for I am your God.” (Isaiah 41:10).