Prepared to Praise

If you think about it, worshiping God is central to our faith. Worshiping God, also, goes on into eternity. Worship requires a wholehearted commitment. Worship is more than our assemblies, but not less than our corporate services either. Our worship, in our assemblies, prepares us to worship throughout the week. If you'd like to be better prepared to worship as we gather on Sundays, here are a few thoughts off the top of my head:

1. Read the Text that drives the sermon/songs, before showing up. We post (at the end of my bulletin article) the title, text and the focus of our upcoming sermons one week ahead of time, so that you can be thinking about these before time. For example, you can read LK 16:19-31 this week. The sermon this Sunday is, "What ever happened to Hell?" and our focus is: Turning up the heat on an unpopular topic.

2. Resolve your conflicts, and help other people find closure with any issues they have with you. As Jesus says, "So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23-24 ESV) Think about how harmony and peace enhances our time together :-)

3. Humbly open your mind and your heart to God's moving. Worship is more, much more, than hearing a Scripture read or listening to a sermon. When we take the Lord's Supper, we are practicing unity with each other, and with God together. When God shows up in the Bible, people are different, people are moved. If you don't plan to be transformed during worship, you don't plan to worship: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." (II Corinthians 3:17-18 ESV)

I remember talking with a lady where I used to preach, she was well into her eighties and remembered well how she prepared to worship as a child... She told me about how as a child her family began preparing for Sunday's worship on Saturday night. They would lay out their dresses, comb their hair and get to bed early so they could be ready to meet God. In the winter time they would warm up bricks in the fireplace, and set those warmed bricks in the floorboards of their wagon. No snowstorms ever prevented them from attending services. What impressed me more than their determination to beat the bad weather was their dedication to meet God, by being ready the night before...

Forgetting about Hell

Forgetting about Hell

Hell isn’t some medieval fairytale. Hell isn’t a marginalized concept, referenced once or twice in the Bible. Hell is real, and the idea of Hell is spread throughout the Bible. Hell can be looked at and thought of as a reason believers modify their behaviors. Avoiding sinful choices, proactively serving in acts of kindness, ect. Forget about the personal motivation Hell offers to the believer, to stay on the straight & narrow and to be a good neighbor. Think for a moment of what those who have no hope, what they have to look forward to: damnation. And, those are real people that we have an obligation to.

At one time our movement was known for explosive numerical growth. After WWII, we were reportedly the fastest growing movement in America. We reached national recognition for our evangelistic efforts. By the 1980’s, though, statisticians and church-growth experts noticed our numbers plateaued, and ever since the turn of the century we’ve entered a continual decline. What happened?

I don’t know all of the reasons why, along the way, we went from being the fastest growing movement in America to a movement that is in decline. I have a hunch part of the reason we don’t reach-out to lost people as we once did, is because we we’ve lost sight of Hell. If we, in the Churches of Christ really believed there was a Hell, and that definitive doctrine of an eternal lake of burning fire exits, we would be focused wholeheartedly on persuading people to become followers of God. What else would matter?

Since we aren’t as evangelistic as we used to be, I see only two possibilities: A. Either we are cold-hearted people who could care less that countless multitudes of faceless people will burn forever (not to mention the people know at work, school, or our next-door-neighbors). B. Or, we don’t believe Hell exits. I see no alternative.

Most people will simply ask, Aren’t we really just complacent? No. Complacency is a byproduct of a bigger problem; so mere complacency simply isn’t it. Others might ask, Aren’t we simply being “seeker-sensitive” taking the sting out of the message to be more appealing? No, because we rarely adapt our congregational-setting to meet the “cultural” needs of those we want to reach; our comfort-zone hasn’t stretched too much through the years. Since we aren’t cold-hearted people; I see too many examples of caring concerned believers serving & extending love, we must have concluded that Hell isn’t real.

But, I don’t really think as a movement we’ve totally lost the belief that Hell is real. Instead, when it comes to talking about Hell, there’s a troubling perspective I’ve noticed that really bothers me. I think we’ve exchanged the names on the docket for who’s going to Hell from those who we don’t share our faith with, to those who we disagree with.

I hardly, if ever, hear fellow believers talking about how sad it is that “lost people” will suffer in Hell. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I’ve heard someone claiming to be brokenhearted over the fate of lost souls. I hear more about Bible believing people we disagree with being in danger of Hell far more often than I ever hear about the dangers awaiting the unevangelized. In other words, when “we” talk about Hell, we forget about lost people we have a responsibility to, who have never tasted salvation. No, instead, whenever I hear about Hell, the conversations are typically restricted to other Christians who are going to Hell because of (you fill in the blank).

So, I think we still believe in Hell, but I fear we are forgetting about Hell. I also believe we are authentically a loving people, who if we thought about it, we wouldn’t want anyone to suffer in a lake of fire for eternity. We are forgetting about our responsibility; we’ve been entrusted with the truth and we are supposed to distribute it freely...

If you think I’ve gone off the deep-end so far, then sit down for this last point: Hell is a unifying doctrine. Hell reminds us as believers that God is Holy and sin has consequences. Hell reminds us we are partnering with God to help snatch people from the fire and that our role in helping God reach people here on earth is bigger than the petty disagreements we bicker over in our auditoriums or conference rooms.

I remember visiting a family member who had two bluetick coonhounds. I noticed that they would snap and growl at each other when they were caged up in their pen. I went coon hunting one night with him and his dogs. I saw those two coonhounds, outside that pen, doing what they were bred for, and that made all the difference. That night I discovered that the “hunt” brought out the best in those dogs as they joyfully worked together. The next day though, when they were locked up in their pen again, those dogs were right back at it, growling, snapping, and fighting. I’m sure there’s a lesson in that dog pen, somewhere...?

Tackling Hell

This coming Sunday's sermon is on Hell. I have preached specifically on Hell, as the sole topic of the day, probably a 1/2 dozen times. I couldn't really say how many times I've referenced hell in sermons over the years.... maybe a couple of dozen times?

When it comes to the frequency of preaching on the topic of Hell, there's no sense in trying to please anybody. For some congregational members, the preacher never preaches on Hell enough. For others, they'd prefer not to hear about Hell, since they grew up on "a steady diet" of brimstone & fire sermons as a child...

So, I personally have two approaches to the frequency of preaching on Hell:

#1., Objectively: if the passage of Scripture I'm preaching through raises the subject, then that's an appropriate time to deal with Hell.

#2., Subjectively: if the congregation needs instruction on the subject of Hell.

Preaching, or not preaching, on a subject with frequency because of feeling pressured to/not to, never produces a quality sermon. People see right through insincerity... every time. The bigger question than the frequency of preaching on Hell, is the motivation...

Death is on my mind:

This week I'm preparing a sermon (with the corresponding small group lesson) on the Resurrection... I thought I'd share a joke I was going to use in the sermon but decided to edit out:

The old man had died. A wonderful funeral was in progress and the country preacher talked at length of the good traits of the deceased, what an honest man he was, and what a loving husband and kind father he was. Finally, the widow leaned over and whispered to one of her children, "Go up there and take a look in the coffin and see if that's your pa."

We often use the old cliché, live your life so the preacher won't have to lie at your funeral... I doubt that saying has changed too many people's life, because nobody plans to die, or at least thinks about the inevitably of one's own death.

This Sunday hopefully I can talk about death and resurrection in a way that isn't perceived as morbid, depressing or sad. I hope that we walk away with a sense of encouragement, even empowerment, when all is said and done!

Sweeping the dust off...

I'm almost embarrassed, not quite, but I'm almost embarrassed by how long it's been since I've posted anything on my blog. Three people, or their comments actually, have motivated me to get back in the saddle of blogging.

One comment was made by a guy we've helped off and on, and we've studied with. He recently made a comment on how he likes my blog. Then, this last Sunday before class, someone asked me about a posting I wrote on a book series. And finally, last week Rodney asked me about the two of us doing some blogging, maybe even a daily blog entry with a devotional focus.

The picture, you ask, what's with that? Just one more personal reminder of how well I handle embarrassing situations :-)

How do you offer a critique?

How do you offer a critique?

"Corrective Criticism" might just be one of the biggest self-deceptive-oxymorons of our times. I'm not saying giving advice, offering correction, or voicing your opinion/dissatisfaction is ever out of line, but, the term "corrective criticism" itself is a contradictory statement. Criticism tears down; Biblically we offer advice to build the other person up.

When you know that there's a need to tell another person they have room for improvement, how do you tell them? is an important question!

As you contemplate this question, here's a checklist I've put together, for your consideration:

• What is your tone of voice when you address others?
• Is it crystal clear from your language how deeply you love the other person? "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ..." (Eph 4:15)
• What does your body language convey about your attitude?
• Do you walk away knowing that the other person felt like you really had their best interest at heart, or are they left brokenhearted?
• After you leave will the other person miss you, looking forward to when they can see you again, or are they happy you are gone?
• Are people drawn to you by your words, or driven away?
• Have you balanced out your negative comments with several positive affirmations of how much you value the other person?
• Does the other person open up to you or do they cringe and squirm more often than not?
• What reputation are you developing among your brethren as a result of how-and-how often you criticize others?

(Prov 22:1 "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.")

What most people seem to forget is that there's a difference between a complaint and a criticism.

Complaints are healthy ways we verbalize a problem, on the other hand, a criticism is an attack on another's character...

It is legitimate to have a complaint, the way you handle it is what makes it healthy or unhealthy.

We have a Biblical command to handle ourselves, and our words properly, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." (Col 4:6)

Let me get to the point: Criticism is not a spiritual gift and being critical is not being spiritual.

When we talk to each other as Christians, remember Jesus promised when two or three gathered in His name, He is in our midst. So, when we talk to each other, Jesus is there listening to the conversation. I wonder how we'd temper our tone if we thought about His opinion more often???

What are you looking for?

What are you hoping to find?

When was the last time you changed your mind on a spiritual topic? What did that feel like? How often does that happen??? It's not often in our adult life that we can pin down a time where we had a new insight that really, drastically changed our point of view. I remember one of those wonderful moments, and in this article I want to share with you the very resource that I found extremely helpful in one of my personal breakthroughs!

First, I need to ask: How do you go about studying Biblical, spiritual, or eternal topics? Do you make sure you "leave no stone unturned" or do you avoid sources and ideas that make you uncomfortable? It's been said, there's more than one way to skin a cat... Well, while I've never skinned a cat, I do like to peal back the layers of the onion...

Secondly, I want to ask: Why do you study? Studying the Scriptures and investigating spiritual topics should have, minimally, a twofold goal:

#1. Increasing/enhancing our depth of knowledge. And, hopefully, #2. Experiencing some-type of transformation that helps us personally apply our new/increased understanding.

Third, I must point out: We are commanded in the Scriptures to be prepared to back up our beliefs and to continually grow in our studies. Read, for example, I Pet 3:15, II Tim 2:15, Heb 5:12-6:3 for admonitions on being lifelong learners...

The dangerous trap we need to be weary of, is that we "already know" all we need to know on the given subject and with a little study we can help verify what "I've always" thought... Or we surround ourselves with others who will "safely" repeat what we want to hear... There's not much room for growth there. Like my favorite Old Testament teacher at Harding, Tom Eddins, used to say, "The greatest enemy of learning is the illusion of knowledge." There's another danger too, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Just dumping everything we've been taught and starting from scratch. To turn our back on our heritage is not only disrespectful, it's foolish!

How do we stay balanced in our studies, not being so ridged we can't grow, nor being so open-minded nothing can stay in our mind? In other words, how can we avoid the detrimental-immaturity Paul warns of in Eph 4:14 "so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes." Here's how: Be willing to admit that possibly we could've been wrong (or incomplete in what we did know) and then sincerely examine the evidence.

Whenever we merely seek to confirm what we've always thought, while we don't have to work too hard at that, we can't expect much personal gain... When we want to sharpen our thoughts and examine another's point of view, we have to stretch ourselves somewhat. I'd like to recommend for your consideration a useful series of books that covers several extremely interesting theological topics. The books I highly recommend to you are the "Counterpoints" series by Zondervan Publishing. I have at least a dozen of these counterpoint books on my shelf and each one is excellent.

Here's how they work. The editor/s will determine a topic for discussion, such as: Worship styles, Divorce & remarriage, Creation vs. Evolution, Baptism, are there still Spiritual gifts today?, and difficult topics like Hell. The editor will usually have four different views represented (inviting two to five Christian authors interact on the given topic within the book). How the authors interact is by each one submitting an essay, articulating their view on the given topic, and then in turn each author will critique the ideas of the other authors. So, you read one essay which is immediately analyzed on the following pages by contrary/differing views, then, each view is represented and examined so-forth and so on.

It's not a book series of debates; it is an exciting exchange of ideas/views from a crosscut of varying perspectives. As the reader, if you already have formed an opinion on a topic you will have an opportunity to have your current idea on a topic defined/articulated, and then examined to see it's strengths and weaknesses. If you simply are wanting to lean more on a topic that you are interested in but you haven't come to a conclusion on it yet, there are several views that can help jump-start your studies!

I recognize that for some people this "comparison" of ideas could be too challenging; yet for others it can be exhilarating! Please keep in mind as you consider utilizing this series of books, Prov 27:17 states clearly: Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Remember, All Truth is God's Truth!