gospel-conversations

Not the End of the World

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I don’t know if you’ve ever done something incredibly stupid that you instantly regret. I mean the very instant you realize what you’ve done you’re hoping for one of those supernatural remote controls that let you rewind 30 second and replay the scene. Just me? Cool.

I know I’m not alone. I’ve had plenty of those moments where I still have no explanation for what I was thinking or why I did what I did, but so far in every single case up to this point, the world has not stopped turning. Civilization as we know it did not come to a screeching halt. We are all still here.

I love the fact that God, to put it bluntly, factored in our stupidity into His plans. The fact that over and over again the Bible refers to us as sheep isn’t because they’re cute and cuddly. It’s not because of their warm and gentle nature or their great personalities. They’re kinda dumb, to put it mildly.

But they have a great Shepherd. That’s what we also have in common. We have a God who is able to take our worst moments and mistakes and work even those into good. Somehow, those memories you wish you could erase forever become part of your testimony and the very means God uses to fulfill His purposes.

So remember that the planet looks exactly the same before and after your colossal blunder. God is not reacting out of shock or surprise. He knew before you were born not only your name and the number of hairs on your head but also how many dumb things you would do and say in your lifetime. And not one of them ended up screwing up His plan or ending the world.

Think about that as you lay your head on your pillow tonight, and sleep well. God is still in control.

Hatch or Go Bad

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“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for a bird to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).

You’ve probably heard the age-old excuse for bad behavior — that’s just who I am, take it or leave it.

But the problem is that none of us can stay who we are indefinitely. We’re either moving toward or away from being better people. Or according to the Bible, we’re either becoming more like Christ or more like the world. Staying on the fence isn’t an option.

At some point, we’ve just got to hatch. We have to come out of our shells, so to speak. For many of us, that means becoming more vocal about what we believe, i.e. sharing our faith and having those gospel conversations. It means we can’t expect people to read our minds and our actions to guess what we believe. We have to tell them.

I can’t find where the Bible says that faith comes from seeing our faith acted out. While living what we believe is important and is what shows our faith to be genuine, what people need is to hear our faith proclaimed. We’re supposed to be ready to give an answer for anyone who wonders about the hope we have in Christ.

The problem is that many believers have never grown. They’re still babies in the faith. They never pray or read their Bibles. They don’t know very much about what they believe, much less why they believe it. Too many of them are fair fame for false teaching and cults. Too many are too willing to compromise convictions and doctrine over the illusion of peace and fitting in.

Basically, we all need to grow up. We need to move on from spiritual baby food to being able to feed ourselves on the Word of God and spiritually discern what’s good and what’s false. We need to live lives that will make others ask questions about why we’re different and what makes us different in the best way possible.

Lord, get us out of our shells, so that we can learn what it means to soar like eagles. Help us to grow up in You, so that we know what Your will is and what Your word says, so we can be faithful witnesses to those who need to know You. Amen.

Gut-Level Honest Prayers

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“God, listen to me shout, bend an ear to my prayer.
When I’m far from anywhere,
down to my last gasp,
I call out, “Guide me
up High Rock Mountain!”

“You’ve always given me breathing room,
a place to get away from it all,
A lifetime pass to your safe-house,
an open invitation as your guest.
You’ve always taken me seriously, God,
made me welcome among those who know and love you.

“Let the days of the king add up
to years and years of good rule.
Set his throne in the full light of God;
post Steady Love and Good Faith as lookouts,
And I’ll be the poet who sings your glory—
and live what I sing every day” (Psalm 61, The Message).

I’m up to the Psalms in my yearly Bible reading. They were originally the equivalent of a hymnal for God’s people back in the days before Jesus. You could also call the Psalms the prayer book of the Bible. Many of them were penned by King David, who never was one to mince words with God. They’re honest. They’re raw. They’re confessional. They’re sometimes not very pretty.

I think we lose something when we try to “pretty up” our prayers to make them more presentable before God. After all, He already knows what you’re thinking when you’re heart is breaking and you’re still trying to use flowery language because you somehow think those kinds of prayers are more acceptable to God. I confess I’m guilty of that one.

Prayer is the one place you can be honest. You can be real. I do think that you should still be reverent and not make Jesus your homeboy, but I also think God can handle your emotions and your frustrations.

Prayer doesn’t have to be pretty. Prayer doesn’t have to be proper. What prayer does need to be is authentic. Don’t tell God what you think He wants to hear. Tell Him where you are and how you feel and where you want to be. The key in every prayer is to say, “Not my will but Thine.”

That’s the prayer that never fails. You’re saying to God, “I know that You know better than I do what’s good for me and what will make me more like Jesus. You still work all things together for good, so I can trust You with my life.”

The best way to get good at praying isn’t to read more books about praying (although that can be super helpful). The best way isn’t to attend all sorts of seminars and listen to all kinds of sermons about prayer (which again can be useful). The best way to get good at praying is to pray.

I mean pray all the time. Pray whenever it comes to mind. Pray when you feel like it. Pray when you don’t. Pray when the words flow. Pray when there are no words. To borrow the old Nike slogan, just pray.

Another Post About Worship

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“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to feed the mind with the truth of God; to purge the imagination by the beauty of God; to open the heart to the love of God; to devote the will to the purpose of God” (William Temple).

My absolute favorite definition of worship is still the one by Louie Giglio. Worship is giving God His breath back. The more I think about that one, the more I love it. There’s so much to unpack with worship being our response back to God with the very breath He put in our lungs.

But this is a good one. I really like this one because it encompasses all that worship is. We do tend to limit worship to Sunday mornings or the occasional worship night. Most of us use worship and praise interchangeably, but worship is more than singing songs.

As I’ve said before, worship is declaring the worth of God in every area of your life. You proclaim the goodness of God in the workplace by doing your job well. You proclaim the goodness of God in your home by loving your wife and family more than yourself and loving God more than your wife and family.

I believe that you can’t just show up on Sunday and expect worship to happen. If it’s not already a part of your everyday life throughout the week, then when you show up on Sunday, you’re just singing songs and going through the motions. Anyone can manipulate a feeling, but true worship goes beyond an emotional experience.

Lord, help us to worship You in spirit and in truth in everything we do. May we declare Your worth every time we open our mouths, whether it’s in song or encouragement or exhortation or simply breathing back Your breath. Help us to remember that it all came from You and it all belongs to You and that we have nothing apart from You, but You love us still. Amen.

Transforming Not Conforming

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“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity” (2 Cor. 10:3-6, The Message).

I had a pastor who used to say regularly, “Don’t let the world teach you theology.”

I still think about that statement a lot, especially since so many believers get their theology from just about any any every source out there except for the Bible. We’re judging the Bible and God by our own humanistic standards of right and wrong. We have the mentality of saying that “God would never” because we would never, making ourselves the standard to which even God must abide.

But thankfully Romans 12:1-2 talks about being transformed not conformed. Being conformed means that eventually you cease looking like Christ and look exactly like the world. You end up with no message to give a sick society because you have become equally sick. But being transformed means that we no longer are carried along by every wind and wave. It means that we stand out as beacons of hope in a dark world that is desperately searching for meaning and a way out of the chaos it created.

Lord, help us no longer to be conformed to this world and the messages it is constantly sending us through the news and social media and advertising. Instead, transform us by the renewing of our minds through Your holy Word as we saturate ourselves with Scripture. May we be in the world but not of it. May we show the world not what it is but what it can be and be the means through which You can continue to rescue people out of a perishing world into a glorious Kingdom of Light. Amen.

The Christ We Preach

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“The One we preach is not Christ-in-a-vacuum, nor a mystical Christ unrelated to the real world, nor even only the Jesus of ancient history, but rather the contemporary Christ who once lived and died, and now lives to meet human need in all its variety today. To encounter Christ is to touch reality and experience transcendence. He gives us a sense of self-worth or personal significance, because he assures us of God’s love for us. He sets us free from guilt because he died for us, from the prison of our own self-centredness by the power of his resurrection, and from paralysing fear because he reigns, all the principalities and powers of evil having been put under his feet. He gives meaning to marriage and home, work and leisure, personhood and citizenship. He introduces us into his new community, the new humanity he is creating. He challenges us to go out into some segment of the world which does not acknowledge him, there to give ourselves in witness and service for him. He promises us that history is neither meaningless nor endless, for one day he will return to terminate it, to destroy death and to usher in the new universe of righteousness and peace” (John Stott).

That is the Christ we preach. This is the Jesus from the Bible, specifically from the Gospels. You can summarize it all up very neatly in John 3:16: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NLT).

If you go to a church that teaches you anything else, don’t walk out. Run. If your church preaches any kind of gospel other than the one from John 3:16 that Jesus and Paul preached, leave. Paul said that if anyone preached another gospel, even an angel from heaven, let that one be accursed.

The beauty of the true gospel is that it’s for everyone. It’s for anyone who will receive it. Anyone can be born again. Anyone can become a new creation. Anyone can be forgiven and set free from sin. Anyone can become a son or daughter of God through the adoption made possible through the cross.

That’s the Christ we preach and teach and worship and serve and love.

The Rock of Ages

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I learned something else new today. Or at least I made a connection that I hadn’t previously.

It’s from a daily email I get with snippets of writings from the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, former pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.

He starts off by describing the Israelites wandering in the desert, complaining as usual. This time it was a lack of water, which is a very real threat when you’re in the desert because the human body can only go without water for a very short amount of time and water sources in your typical desert are scarce.

But God leads them to Rephidim and commands Moses to strike a large rock with his staff. Lo and behold, water comes forth from the rock, enough to quench the thirst of every last one of the Israelites. 1 Cointhians 10:4 say that they “all drank from the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock, and that Rock was Christ.”

Fast forward to Jesus on the cross, the Rock of ages cleft for me (as the old hymn goes). What happened? After He died, the soldier stuck a spear into His side and what came out? Blood and water. Isaiah 53 says that He was stricken and smitten by God because of our sins, and what flowed out was water that gives life.

He had said earlier to the woman at the well that He was the Living Water, and whoever drank from Him would never thirst again. Once again, the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. We only have to know where to look and what to look for.

I’m thankful every day that the Rock of Ages was crushed and smitten for us. I’m thankful that He laid down His life for His people so that we could live. I hope I never get tired of hearing the Easter story as much as the Christmas story, because they both point to a Savior who came for me to rescue me from myself and my sin. When we couldn’t get to God, He came to us.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

On the Night Before Palm Sunday

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It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is Palm Sunday, which means a week from tomorrow is Easter Sunday. That will be when people who would normally not go to church will show up feeling uncomfortable and not knowing when to sit, stand, or kneel. Many of them will know very little about why we’re celebrating Easter again this year because mostly what they know is rabbits and candy and hunting for plastic eggs.

Although Christmas is my favorite, Easter is not far behind. It represents why Christmas has meaning. If Jesus died on the cross and remained buried in that tomb, then His birth has no meaning and His life has no value. Anything He said or did would in turn be worthless.

But because there is an empty tomb and a risen Lord, we celebrate. We come together to remember that Jesus laid down His life for us to make our salvation possible. He then rose again to make that salvation secure. We can trust that nothing can separate us from the love of a Savior whom the grave could not hold and death could not defeat.

I do love everything about Easter. I love how people still get dressed up in their best Sunday outfits. I love that little kids still get excited about Easter baskets filled with candy and other goodness as well as hunting for those plastic eggs filled with more candy and sometimes money. I love seeing the world explode in pastel colors as the earth comes back to life after having lain dormant for so long during the winter months.

Palm Sunday represents the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem when the people lauded Him with hosannas. Most of them were thinking He was about to instigate an overthrow of Roman rule and a return of kingship to Israel. They wanted a king just like all the other nations, just like another Saul who looked good and said all the right things.

But a few knew that Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world. They knew that His kingdom wasn’t just for Jews. His kingdom was for anyone who would put their faith in this Messiah. This road that led to a kingdom wasn’t covered with palm branches and hosannas laid down by the multitudes but instead lead to a hill with Him carrying a cross while multitudes jeered at Him and called for His execution. This road would lead to suffering and death, but we know that soon that crown of thorns He bore on the cross would soon be exchanged for a throne that He would never relinquish.

Easter Sunday is a reminder that the worst part isn’t the end. As one writer puts it, your story never ends with ashes. The resurrection means that no one is ever too far gone or too lost to save. It’s never too late to be who God made you to be or to live out His purposes for you.

May our hosannas ring out just as loudly as they did 2000 years ago, but may we also look to the cross and the tomb where Jesus lay for three days and remember that it was for us that He lived and died. But may we never lose sight of that Sunday when He rose again. May our song from now on always be an Easter song because we are an Easter people with a risen Lord!

No Cancel Culture for Me

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“I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God” (Oswald Chambers).

I am not a fan of cancel culture. I don’t believe in one strike, you’re out. Social media is full of people who look down from their holier than thou pedestals and condemn those who are perceived to be beneath them. I should know. I’ve done the same thing a few times in my lifetime.

But I think Mr. Oswald is on to something. When I’m honest about the thoughts that run through my head and the desires that sometimes pop up out of nowhere, I can’t condemn anybody. Whenever I am able to discern what lies in me apart from the grace of God, I freak out a little bit and then I thank God a lot for saving me.

There, but by the grace of God, go I. And possibly you. It’s easy for me to judge someone purely by actions while expecting others to judge me by my intentions. But that’s not how it works. Who knows? If I had the same experiences and background as these people, I might just do the same or worse.

What I know for a fact is that Jesus forgave me for every single one of my sins. He didn’t hold back forgiveness on any of them in order to be able to hold them over my head if I ever get out of line. He’s forgiven them. He’s cast them away as far as the east is from the west. Or as The Message puts it, “And as far as sunrise is from sunset, he has separated us from our sins.”

Who am I to withhold forgiveness? Who am I to deny grace? If I have been forgiven an infinite debt, how can I hold a small debt over someone else’s head and make them pay for it when I got off free?

Lord, You said that if I don’t forgive others, I won’t be forgiven. Help me to extend the same grace to others that you gave to me. Help me to love others the way You have loved me by seeking to bring out the best in me and compelling me to be my best self and a clearer reflection of You. Amen.

Staying Salty

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“For everyone will be tested with fire. Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other” (Mark 9:49-50, NLT).

I learned something new today. I had always wondered how salt could cease to be salt by losing its flavor? Maybe it goes bad? Gets stale? I had never really understood what that meant, especially in the context of believers as salt and light to our culture.

But my teacher explained that salt loses its flavor when it gets mixed with other things like sand. Basically, salt is no longer effective as salt when it is compromised and corrupted.

I think in the same way, the Church loses its status as salt when in trying to reach the culture, it becomes too much like the culture and loses its own identity. When the Church waters down the gospel or eliminates parts of Scripture that it deems offensive, then the salt becomes less salty.

Finally, the Church gets to the point where the message is no longer distinguishable from any self-help guru or quasi-New Age teacher. There is no actual gospel or Bible left in its teaching but human wisdom dressed up in spiritual clothing and marketed as Christianity.

The problem is that the Church too often has had the goal of being successful rather than faithful. We focus on numbers rather than growth. That leads to compromised convictions and doctrines, or basically what the Bible would call speaking what people want to hear instead of what they need to hear. That also leads to easy believe-ism where there is no repentance required and no sin to be repented from.

I heard a pastor say once that the world doesn’t hate Christians because we’re different but because we’re not different enough. If we look and act and speak just like those we’re trying to reach with the gospel, what good is our gospel message? If we have the same message that the world is sending out about love being about what you feel and tolerating anything and everything, then we cease to become the Church and forfeit our very right to exist in the first place.

The true gospel starts off with the bad news that all of us have sinned and that the wages or the results of that sin are eternal separation from God in a literal place called Hell. The good news is that God took on human flesh in the form of a Savior, Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect, sinless life that we could never live and died on the cross in our place. He died and rose again three days later and offers salvation to anyone who places their faith in Him as Savior and Lord, truly repenting of their sins and committing the rest of their lives to Him.

Lord, revive Your Church. Forgive us for not preaching and teaching the whole gospel for the whole person. Raise up faithful men and women who will not be ashamed to proclaim the name of Jesus and the true gospel. Help us not be a place where people can be comfortable in their sin but convicted and changed by the power of the Spirit to become sons and daughters of the living God. Amen.