grave

Being Different

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“The work of salvation means that in your real life things are dramatically changed. You no longer look at things in the same way. Your desires are new and the old things have lost their power to attract you. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the change very evident in your real life and thought. It is this complete and amazing change that is the very evidence that you are saved” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).

The gist of salvation is that you’re not who you were before. The Bible says that anyone who is in Christ is a brand new creation. It’s not old you with a new outlook. It’s not an improved you with better morals. It’s a brand new you with a new nature and a new heart.

One of my favorite sayings is that the gospel isn’t about making bad people good. It’s about making dead people alive. Before salvation, we’re all dead spiritually. We’re dead to the things of God and unable to respond to God’s call or even hear His voice. But when the call comes and we’re made alive, then it’s a whole new world opening up.

If you claim to be born again but there is not difference in your life, people have a right to wonder if your faith is genuine. I don’t mean you’ll be perfect or even close to perfect, but you should be different from before. People should be able to tell. You have a testimony to share, but the way you live should speak as loudly as the words you use.

Lord, make us different. Not in a weird or obnoxious way, but in a way that shows that we’re becoming more and more like You. May that difference be what draws people not to us but to You and makes them want to know more about You. Thank You for saving us. Amen.

An Excerpt from Prince Caspian

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Yet another excerpt from The Chronicles of Narnia. This time, it’s from Prince Caspian. Seriously, if you haven’t read these books, you need to start tomorrow:

“‘This castle is a thing of yesterday. Your great-great-grand-father built it. But when the two sons of Adam and the two daughters of Eve were made Kings and Queens of Narnia by Aslan himself, they lived in the castle of Cair Paravel. No man alive has seen that blessed place and perhaps even the ruins of it have now vanished. But we believe it was far from here, down at the mouth of the Great River, on the very shore of the sea.’

‘Ugh!’ said Caspian with a shudder. ‘Do you mean in the Black Woods? Where all the—the—you know, the ghosts live?’

‘Your Highness speaks as you have been taught,’ said the Doctor. ‘But it is all lies. There are no ghosts there. That is a story invented by the Telmarines. Your Kings are in deadly fear of the sea because they can never quite forget that in all stories Aslan comes from over the sea. They don’t want to go near it and they don’t want anyone else to go near it. So they have let great woods grow up to cut their people off from the coast. But because they have quarreled with the trees they are afraid of the woods. And because they are afraid of the woods they imagine that they are full of ghosts. And the Kings and great men, hating both the sea and the wood, partly believe these stories, and partly encourage them. They feel safer if no one in Narnia dares to go down to the coast and look out to sea— toward Aslan’s land and the morning and the eastern end of the world'” (C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian).

Worship Forever

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“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever” (John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions).

I’m getting to where I don’t even want to know what’s going on with the world. I don’t want to see news headlines or read any current events. I know from what little I’ve seen lately that everything just seems to be getting crazier and crazier with each passing day. Sometimes, it feels like evil is winning.

But then I remember the last few chapters of Revelation. One day all that evil will have its comeuppance. One day evil will be no more. In the meantime, it’s helpful to remember that those who are promoting the insanity are not the enemy. They are the mission field. They are among the ones Jesus sent us to when He told us to go and make disciples of all nations.

I’ve read all sorts of books on heaven and I still can’t wrap my head around it. I still can’t visualize what heaven will be like or what we’ll be doing there. I know it will be great. I know it will be better than my best moments here on earth, multiplied by a bazillion times a bazillion.

Still, the older I get, the more I long for heaven. How can I long for some place I’ve never been? How can I look forward to something I know so little about? I love the illustration of a doctor who was trying to comfort a man who was afraid of dying. He drew the man’s attention to a scratching and whining on the other side of the office door.

He opened the door and his dog came bounding in. He said in essence, “This dog had no idea what was on the other side of the door. He had no clue what awaited him, but he wanted to badly to be there because I was there. In the same way, we long to be in heaven because our Master, Jesus, is there.”

That’s enough for me. The end of all the insanity is a bonus, but the real reason is Jesus. And one day, I’ll be there. So will everyone who has ever bowed the knee and made Jesus Lord and Savior of their lives. Will you?

The Best Is Yet to Come

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“That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home” (Ephesians 2:19-22, The Message).

Just you forgot where your real Kingdom is, here’s a reminder. It’s easy to make this world feel like our forever home, but it’s not. As my pastor used to say, at best life on this side of heaven is like a very clean bus station (or airport terminal). You can enjoy the stay, but you wouldn’t want to live at a Greyhound or at the nearest international airport.

When you understand where your real citizenship lies, it makes elections way less stressful. You know that this world is passing away along with all the messed up brokenness and injustice. The world that’s coming is so much better not because of pearly gates or streets of gold or even all those people you love being there, but because Jesus is there.

By the way, the Kingdom of God isn’t only an after we die thing. It’s a here and now thing. Every time anyone is born again, that person goes from being a captive to this world’s Godless way of doing things to the freedom of being a child of God and a fellow heir with Christ.

So don’t let the doom and gloom get to you. Remember that the best is still yet to come.

Living Is Believing

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“When a truth of God is brought home to your soul, never allow it to pass without acting on it internally in your will. Record it with ink and with blood–work it into your life. The weakest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is liberated the second he acts and God’s almighty power is available on his behalf” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).

My pastor once said that if you don’t live it, you don’t believe it. If you say you have a private faith, but it doesn’t affect the rest of your life, then it’s not faith at all. Faith may be personal, but it is never supposed to be private. People should be able to tell by how you live.

Something else I’ve heard from the pulpit is that you need to take what you just heard in a sermon and immediately apply it to your life. Otherwise, it stays in the room, and you walk out unchanged. If it’s more head knowledge that has no effect on your behavior, you basically wasted an hour of your time.

The good news is that God is looking for a saint who is ready and willing to obey. You don’t have to have perfect motives or perfect results for it to count as obedience. You just have to be willing to step out in obedience to put into practice what you’ve learned.

Jesus says that the one who hears the Word without obeying it is like people building houses on shifting sand. It won’t last. But if you go out and obey what you’ve heard, you’re building your house on a solid foundation. No amount of storms or winds can tear it down when Christ the solid rock is the foundation.

So the takeaway is this: if you don’t live it, you don’t believe it. If you believe it, you will live it.

Stones

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I heard a very cool story in my life group tonight. It started when a group of believers was building a church in Russia. They didn’t have an abundance of money or resources, so they were using stones from a Gulag from back during World War II. The were using the stones that had formerly been part of a prison.

One of them discovered a letter inside of a cannister amidst the stones and took it to one of the Russians because they couldn’t read the writing. The Russian, who was a pastor, immediately started crying. He said that the letter was from a believer who had been forced to build the Gulag from the stones that had formerly been his church building.

He had prayed that one day those very stones would be used for God and for a church again. Little did he know that 70 or 80 years later, his words would prove to be prophetic.

The Bible says Jesus that the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. That was a prophecy about how the Messiah who was rejected by the religious leaders ended up being the foundation of the Church that is still going strong 2,000 years later in spite of all the attempts to eliminate God and faith.

I think G. K. Chesterton said that Christianity has died and risen many times over the centuries because it has a God who knows the way out of a grave. We may seem defeated at times. We may feel overwhelmed. But God has not stopped working on our behalf and we can be assured that the ultimate victory that matters has already been won.

We as believers are a Church of living stones, rescued from bondage and our own prisons. We were held captive by sin and the enemy but we are now free in the Lord and God’s own hands and feet to our world.

Another Spurgeon Prayer for this Sunday

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“We have no merit, no claim, no righteousness of our own. Dear savior, we look up to you. Oh, that some might look for the first time, and those of us that have long looked would fix our happy gaze again upon that blessed substitutionary sacrifice wherein is all our hope. Dear savior, we do take you to be everything to us, our sin-bearer and our sin-destroyer. We do not have a shadow of a shade of hope anywhere but in you, your life, your death, your resurrection, your ascension, your glory, your reign, your second advent; these are the only stars in our sky. Amen” (Charles Spurgeon).

That’s my prayer every Sunday — that many people will hear the gospel and believe. That many people will become disciples who make disciples and not just seat warmers. That God would call out missionaries and ministers to take His gospel to the ends of the earth. That we would fall more in love with the gospel and the Jesus of the gospel every single day until Jesus comes back to take us home to stay.

Room in the Inn

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Tonight was the appreciation dinner/information gathering/unofficial kickoff to the next season of Room in the Inn. It’s a homeless ministry where local churches provide a place to sleep and a warm meal during the colder months. Many of those churches, including Brentwood Baptist Church, also minister to their spiritual needs by providing a Bible study where we share the hope of the gospel with these men.

Room in the Inn is one of my favorite ways to serve. I’ve been a part of this amazing outreach for something like 15 years. I’ve seen a lot of men come and go through the ministry. I keep thinking that I’ll be the one doing the blessing, but so often I’m the one who ends up being blessed.

So many of these homeless men have a faith that puts mine to shame. They see their current status not as a hardship, but they see so many blessings and are so thankful even in the midst of not having a physical roof over their heads while I complain about my iPhone being slow.

I love being able to teach in our Bible studies, but I really love sitting down and listening to the stories. My whole outlook on homelessness has radically changed since I started serving in Room in the Inn all those years ago. Most of them are a lot like me. Many are where they are because of unfortunate financial hardships or because of making some bad decisions when they were younger. I keep reminding myself there but by the grace of God go I.

I can’t wait to see their faces and hear their stories. I hope to be more intentional about getting to know some of them and letting them minister to me as much as I hope to minister to them. So many have a kind of wisdom that you only learn the hard way through years of hardship and suffering.

Lord, bless these men and even now begin preparing their hearts to encounter you through the volunteers at Brentwood Baptist Church every Monday night. As much as I’d love to see them find permanent housing, I pray they find their true home in You and know You as a shelter and a safe place no matter what they face. Amen.

The Revelation

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The Book of Revelation is weird. It can be intimidating. A lot of people don’t like it because it gives them anxiety. Usually, that’s because they were taught to focus on the wrong things. Like what does this symbol mean? Are there tanks and atom bombs in this book? Are Russia and the United States in there somewhere, and when does World War III start?

But the book is not primarily about warfare. It’s about worship. It all centers around the throne room in heaven where all the saints and angels are gathered around the Ancient of Days. So much of the dialogue is familiar to a lot of people, especially if they’ve ever listened to Handel’s Messiah.

Once you understand that the main theme is Jesus ruling and reigning in victory, the rest makes a little more sense. At least I’m not nearly as concerned about what this dragon means or that woman giving birth. All of it points to how evil is finally getting its comeuppance. All the injustice in the world is finally vindicated. There is a battle, but it’s over before it even begins. Spoiler alert: Jesus wins.

I saw a quote a while back that sums it up perfectly: Revelation wasn’t written so that we’d build bigger bomb shelters in the back yard but so we’d build bigger tables and invite our friends over for meals and tell them about Jesus. John Piper says that missions exists because there are places in the world where worship of the one true God doesn’t exist yet. Missions leads to worship when everyone on earth has heard the good news.

Revelation is a celebration of the victory that is now and not yet. It’s about a Kingdom and a rule that is now and not yet. We see it in part and in certain places, but one day everyone will see it and every eye will see Jesus whom they pierced with the nails to put Him on the cross. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, whether in worship or under duress when they realize it’s too late to choose.

The enemy is a defeated foe, but he’s lashing out in his death throes, trying to take as many with him in his downfall as possible. But his time is short. All pain and suffering has an expiration date, and that date is getting closer and closer. And one day it will end. Death will end. And then real eternal life will truly start.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.

The Gospel

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“THE GOSPEL IS BAD news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy. And yet, so what? So what if even in his sin the slob is loved and forgiven when the very mark and substance of his sin and of his slobbery is that he keeps turning down the love and forgiveness because he either doesn’t believe them or doesn’t want them or just doesn’t give a damn? In answer, the news of the Gospel is that extraordinary things happen to him just as in fairy tales extraordinary things happen. Henry Ward Beecher cheats on his wife, his God, himself, but manages to keep on bringing the Gospel to life for people anyway, maybe even for himself. Lear goes berserk on a heath but comes out of it for a few brief hours every inch a king. Zaccheus climbs up a sycamore tree a crook and climbs down a saint. Paul sets out a hatchet man for the Pharisees and comes back a fool for Christ. It is impossible for anybody to leave behind the darkness of the world he carries on his back like a snail, but for God all things are possible. That is the fairy tale. All together they are the truth”(Frederick Buechner).

That’s the beauty of the gospel. The same good news that gets you in the door will be the path you walk up to heaven and the password that gets you in the gate. None of us ever outgrow our need of the gospel. We need to preach it to ourselves every day, multiple times a day, or we’ll start to think that we’re good enough for God or clever enough to believe in the right things or saintly enough to make it to heaven on our own.

But the gospel says this: You can’t, but God can. You tried, you failed, but God gave you His success and took your failure. None of us can ever get to God by any road or by any means, but God in Jesus has come down to us. That’s the gospel.