The conclusion of Grace

Dying can be scary. I’m not talking about the death of our physical body, or even of a spiritual death. I’m referring to the essential principle Jesus emphasized -- the denial of self, i.e., dying to yourself. To live for others at a personal cost, it’s more than noble, it’s at the heart of the Gospel.

This important christian practice could be perhaps the pinnacle of discipleship and the goal of Spiritual maturity. The ability to deny one’s self and to willingly serve others, it doesn’t come naturally, and sadly neither our culture nor our churches make it easy.

Culture, overtly, sends the message, “It’s all about you!” From advertisements to the unwritten “right” that you deserve “more & better” from this life. We are persistently being manipulated from several fronts to feed our wants & desires. The church isn’t innocent here either.

Churches foster a consumer-mentality, or we feed it, by catering to the idea that any church can/should meet everyone’s needs. When we idly sit by while self-centeredness increases in our masses, and we make promises to be a “one stop” spiritual shop, we are contributing to the decline of an authentic Christ-centered existence.

For example, leaders will snap to attention whenever anyone complains about a church service with phrases like, “I didn’t get anything out of...” you fill in the blank. Whether is was the music or the message or what have you, if it “didn’t move me” on a Sunday morning, then someone else dropped the ball, but it wasn’t my responsibility to participate. It’s as if the burden of pleasing everyone is the purpose of the church. But, then we see leaders go lax while members languish in an arrested development for decades, lapping up all kinds of energy from the church, asking what more can the church do for me? without ever considering that’s not the point.

Who knows? Was it out of fear, self-preservation, or savvy marketing? Somehow we’ve trained a generation to ask “What can I get out of church” instead of asking “how do I serve more?” Think JFK's, "Ask not..." and you'll get the gist.

Maybe this is why, nationally, “church” attendance seems to have atrophied. Church, shocking as this may seem, was never meant to meet all of your needs. Church, assembling as a body of believers, is meant to usher in God’s Kingdom presence in our lives as it transforms us into servants. Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of our purpose.

As Jesus washed the feet of the Twelve, He said, “Here’s your example!” Stinky. Demeaning. Bottom of the totem pole type work -- quite the opposite of glamorous, and Jesus just leaves it there for us, an object lesson in our true objective. No bells & whistles. Nothing too attractive for anyone with the wrong motives. Nothing that’ll impress the folks back home. No programs required either, just a, “Roll up your sleeves and do like I did.”

Ah, you got me, I must be selling you a salvation that we can work to earn? No. I’m not saying working harder or doing more is the way to heaven. An active faith won’t get you into the Kingdom, but when the Kingdom is is in you -- you’ll naturally imitate the Servant who washed the feet of His disciples.

Servanthood isn’t about earning your free salvation, or working harder to earn God’s unconditional love, and it certainly isn’t the opposite of Grace. You see, servanthood has nothing to do with the works of the Law.

Servanthood has nothing to do with religion or rituals, or doing religious acts or making sacrifices to appease an angry god. The works which the Bible condemn which contradict Grace and which violate trusting God’s sufficiency are the old works of the Law of Moses like circumcision and certain offerings for achieving atonement. You might want to re-read this paragraph before you move on.

I could say servanthood is a response to Grace, but from Eph 2:8-10, “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” from this passage, I’d say a servanthood-lifestyle is the conclusion of Grace.

The Constitution, Kavanaugh, and Christian Hypocrisy

At one time, we as a country could rally together around a common good. Think of WWII and the Victory Gardens, the willingness to sacrifice, and the way we were able to prioritize our resources. Why was this possible? The energy and the will for achieving a common good slowly coalesced by acknowledging a common threat, identifying a true source of evil, by agreeing on what the real problem was.

This isn’t to say we’ve always had a stellar track record. Slavery, which was allowable constitutionally, was hotly contested; it was partially the reason for our Civil War. The Constitution isn’t perfect, it’s a guide, it’s important, but being written by fallible men, it will never be the end-all resolution.

Our great nation has had dark periods of wiping out Native Americans and banishing their tribes to the reservation long after they were no longer a threat or of placing Japanese Americans in internment camps, and then again, we are known for doing incredible good for all of humanity in other periods. We are a mixed bag of embarrassments and achievements.

We are living in the best country on this planet, and we have so much to offer the world, if only we could agree on what is good & true. But, therein lies the rub.

It’s hard to settle in on a common good if we disagree about or ignore the real threat. And, you can see where this discrepancy has gotten us as a nation. While it’s nothing new for us, we are so polarized, we can’t replace a Supreme Court Justice without politicizing the entire process. We can’t gain any traction on the Russian interaction in an election that should be far removed from the news-cycle, and we have lost the ability to be bipartisan on nearly every front.

We as a nation have lost our ability to be objective. Why? In part, everything is “left” or “right,” it’s “liberal” or “conservative,” and “We the People” are at odds with the very people we eat dinner with.

Perhaps there’s a solution to our strife. A simple answer to the anger, hatred, and division. I’d like to say Christianity is, but how can I when we have dozens of denominational roadblocks that have segregated even us as the Body of Christ. Have we who confidently sit in our pews and piously observe the Lord’s day, have we really set the example for world peace and cooperation..., or love?

As long as we practically hate other churches while we hide behind our traditions and hang names over the doors of our structures that identify our theological/doctrinal correctness, we are no better than the politicians we criticize & their circus in D.C. I believe in the autonomy of each congregation to follow the Scriptures wherever they think God is leading them, but I don’t believe any of us has the right to feel superior or to condemn one branch or the other.

If we can’t love other folks who do call on the name of the Lord but meet in a different sanctuary, we will never love those who vote differently or speak another language or have a different color skin or sing to the tune of a different anthem.

Until our separate and individual congregations embrace our universal unity in Christ, and until we stop labeling other churches, and until we stop judging other believers, we have nothing to offer to this world except our hypocrisy. May God have mercy on our souls and may we take seriously Jesus’ words which He delivered to a very diverse group, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (JN 13:34-35)

Come Home

It probably didn’t happen overnight. It’s doubtful you saw it coming. A decade ago, you’d have sworn it could never happen to you. But it did, perhaps. Some life changes can creep up on us, and we hardly notice, at first, the subtle change. After all, it’s not like people wake up one Sunday and randomly say to themselves, “Awe heck, let’s skip church today and for the rest of our lives.”

I get it, once you are out of the habit of worshiping with a congregation on a weekly basis, it’s hard, really hard to get back into it. Maybe for you, you dropped out of church after you went off to college. Perhaps you had a child or started a new job, or maybe you moved. Maybe a hypocrite jaded your perspective of church. Who knows, but after a lifetime of being active in church, you found yourself drifting further away, until, you simply quit.

I run into people (usually it’s at the store) who feel like they owe me some sort of an explanation on why they are too busy for church. “Sunday is my only day off” “I’m really busy with....” “I’m too busy” “I really want to, but” and I simply smile and respond in love, “Sounds like you’re busy going to hell...” NO, that’s not what I say OR think.

I do smile, and I do respond lovingly, “You don’t have explain it to me, I hope when you get a chance, we’ll see you some Sunday.” Then, I continue to talk with them, maybe about about family, mine and theirs, work, and whatever else we have in common. Why? Because I do genuinely care. I could try to make them feel bad, but a harsh response or a critical answer isn’t going to help anyone. I see no reason to pressure, guilt, judge, or shame people who have disconnected from a local church.

I know many people who discontinue their relationship with a local church rationalize their behavior, thinking they are “okay with the Big Man upstairs” because they do a lot of good in their community, serving in various civic clubs, volunteering at the local schools or food banks, or because they help out certain members of their family. There’s a term for that....

The term I have in mind is usually reserved for Religious fanatics. It’s called a “Works-driven salvation.” Bible Thumpers & Pharisees are accused of a works-driven salvation because they think God owes them something for all the good they do. But thinking you’ll end up in heaven because you are good person and you do a lot of good for others, well that’s nothing short of thinking you are working your way into heaven.

Going into a fast-food restaurant won’t make you a cheeseburger, standing in a garage won’t make you a car, and sitting on a pew won’t make you a Christian. Conversely, I don’t think any of us will grow spiritually on our own. I think life is exponentially more difficult, it’s much harder, when we tough the storms of life alone. We need people to encourage us when we face struggles as well as to encourage us to strive towards deeper heights, and we need people surrounding us who will help us walk the walk. That’s simply the way God made us.

I know a lot of people tell themselves that they will go to church again, once they get their life straightened back out. That’s kind of like saying, I’ll go to the Emergency Room once the bleeding stops or the broken bone heals. Some people think they won’t be welcome in a church because of their past. If a heinous/offensive past disqualifies someone from congregating with the gathered saints on Sunday, I’m the first person that needs to go...

These ideas of inadequacy or disqualification miss the point of faith in Jesus. Love covers a multitude of sins, love gets messy, and love changes everything. The Cross cancels out our past, even when we stumble along the path. Consider I JN 1:7-10, “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

We can’t work our way to heaven, but neither can we ever drift so far away in this life to the point that God won’t accept us. Is “going to church” a requirement for getting into heaven? That’s probably a moot point, because the church isn't a building, we don’t “go” to church. We, the people, we are the church, a weekly gathering of weak, broken, fallible, vulnerable people who are striving to grow closer to the risen Savior, together.

Come home this Sunday. Someone special might cry when they see you, but I promise the ceiling won’t cave in and collapse.

When other churches...

There’s nothing wrong when another congregation gains some momentum or draws large numbers, but there’s nothing special about it either. There probably is something wrong with “church envy” though. We shouldn’t worry so much about the progress of other churches.

Unfortunately, many members of smaller congregations (the majority of churches in North America have around 75 members or less) harbor bitterness and resentment towards the churches that seem to grow. This is more dangerous for you than distracted driving.

If you are envious of the church down the street that is busting at the seams, please consider the following:

Most of the growth you think you are seeing isn’t necessarily an increase/net growth for the Kingdom. In other words, what you think you are seeing is most likely a reshuffling of the deck, so to say. To be clear, I’m certain souls are being reached/saved in the “popular” church, but most often what you are observing is merely a migration of the flock from one pen to another.

Dissatisfied people will leave one congregation and go to another based on a myriad of reason -- you’ll drive yourself crazy trying pinpoint why too... An attraction of bigger youth group, a younger more “exciting” Pastor, or an experience with church conflict or burnout back home can sway some. And to be honest, right or wrong, there’s something enticing about the scent of sawdust & fresh paint, and driving on new parking-lots too. Then of course there’s the “The padding is greener on the other side of the pew” syndrome. Also, never underestimate the appeal of a lifelong friend who after years of inviting you simply won’t take no for an answer.

That church you have your eye on that seems to be doing everything right while your congregation is languishing in the doldrums won’t be there forever, either. How do I know? How many of the churches which the Apostle Paul planted still exist? None. All churches go through a life-cycle. They are planted (or “splanted” in some cases) and they roll along for a period of time, and they eventually close their doors. Then again, sometimes a lamp-stand needs to be removed too.

I love churches of all sizes, but in a larger church even with all of the extra resources and capabilities, it’s too easy for people to fall through cracks. While on the other hand, in a smaller church there are more opportunities for you to use your gifts and you are noticeably missed when you aren’t around. Larger churches often can engage in more “big ticket” activities in their community, while people seem to grow more spiritually while serving in smaller churches. These dynamics aren’t evil or holy, they just are.

While we are considering this whole topic, this is probably a good time to reflect on what true “success” is. Are you basing your idea of your church’s success on a business model, or on something more substantial? We might think a hefty budget, well manicured lawns, big crowds and a large staff all indicate a church’s success. Hey, every once in a while hard work pays off, and sure the Spirit moves and we see a church “grow” as a result. Then again, Jesus never established a large campus and He barely kept a dozen followers together at any given time.

Did Jesus fail in your opinion or was He a success? Because based on the “mega-church” standard that most congregants establish for their church, Jesus wouldn’t score very high at His annual evaluation....

Actually, Jesus indicated success was about authentic transformation, i.e., when the disciple becomes like the teacher (Please read LK 6:40). That might happen in a large stadium, an auditorium..., although it could take place more than likely while drinking coffee and studying the Bible in your mentor’s livingroom.

Remember, some people who are looking for a church like all the bells & whistles while some people like church to be simple. Some folks love the KJV, others enjoy translations like the Message. Your church has a particular niche to fill, and you can’t appeal to everyone -- it’s just impossible to reach the engineer and the artist with the same slogan and the octogenarian isn't interested in pizza night or the whitewater rafting trip either.

The church across town or down the street isn’t your competition, quit judging them and be happy for them. Don’t question their motives or methods, and please don’t be jealous of whatever accomplishments they are experiencing. The bedrock reality is, we are all on the same team no matter what size church we attend. We should celebrate any healthy growth another congregation in our community experiences. So embrace your roll in the Kingdom, you have your own field to labor in, and God has you right where He planted you for a reason.

Can we debate issues without misusing the Bible?

Chances are, you’ve recently had a disagreement with someone over the border/immigration situation. My guess is, both of you were passionate about whichever stance either of you took. It’s good to have firm convictions, but can you share your convictions without condemnation? And more importantly, can we debate issues without misusing the Bible in the process?

You see, I’m not so much interested in your stance or even in sharing my position here regarding the border, as much as I am in a greater principle which is at stake: How most of us attempt to use the Bible to backup our views. Do you find it interesting how nearly everyone who is commenting on both sides of the border crisis, whether is about the families who were separated or how we should treat refugees, they are all referencing the Bible to convince others of their stance?

You might be asking, “But shouldn’t we backup our perspectives with the Bible?” It might sound heretical, but maybe not -- at least not in the way most people mean. For example, the question, “How do we know when the Bible actually supports what we think?” is more than likely the wrong question, and it’s that type of thinking that gets us in trouble. Instead, we need to ask, “Are our thoughts in line with the Scriptures?” not the other way around as in “Does the Bible support my stance...?”

Why is it tricky to “use” the Bible, for example, to backup our position on the border? For starters, as far as governments and nations go, the Bible was written in a different context and cultural situation than ours. Namely, the ancient world of Bible-times was governed by Theocratic governments and dictatorial empires. Those forms of government were very dissimilar to our modern day democracies, and lest we forget, America is a Republic.

So, if you say the Bible instructs us to obey our government, we are all in trouble in America since we rebelled against Great Britain during the Revolutionary War... And if you say, the Bible commands us to treat refugees a certain way since the children of God were wanders, that’s tough to support too since not many of us can trace our lineage to those who wandered through the desert for forty years.

It is extremely difficult to “use” the Bible to defend a political position on most of our current events. It’s nothing new for people to twist the Bible to say whatever they think is the most accurate point of view. The fact is, in America during our Civil War we had preachers on both sides of the Mason-Dixon who were guilty of cherry-picking passages of Scripture to support their views on slavery.

It requires humility to submit to God’s word, not a hostile heart that is aggressively trying the be the champion of truth. Please don’t misunderstand me, I believe in absolute truth, and I think relativism has done more harm than any other ideology, but most of the people who think they have a monopoly on the Truth are usually the most judgmental and mean-spirited people I’ve ever met.

To interpret the Bible and to apply it to our everyday life is a prayerful enterprise. We need to ask questions based on which genre we are reading because the Bible has many styles of literature: Narrative, Law, poetry, wisdom, apocalyptic, Gospels/parables, epistles. We need to also ask questions about the author and the audience, asking what did a passage mean to the original audience comes before asking what does it mean for us.

It’s healthy to acknowledge we could be mistaken about many of our opinions on a host of subjects. It’s healthier still to immerse ourselves in the Scriptures and study the Bible in such a way that it guides our thoughts, not the other way around. If you are opening up the Bible to find a verse that supports what you already believe, close your Bible and open your heart to the Spirit.

Sadly, our nation is presently divided and polarized into extreme ideological camps, both on the “Right” and “Left” over a multitude of issues; the border issue is merely the latest debate du jour. It may be unfortunate that these days we can’t even have a civil dialogue about our views with the “opposing” side, but actually, the real tragedy happens whenever we recklessly wield our Bibles like a hammer.

Why does enforcing/not enforcing the borders anger people?

I don't know anyone who has "all" the answers for how to handle our immigration situation, at least answers that match up with how they function in everyday life.  But if you want to impress me and convince me that you are serious about open boarders, start leaving your front door unlocked at night.  That would get my attention.

Until you teach your kids to leave the keys in the car, and until you give away your pin numbers and passwords, you can't authentically say you believe in open boarders.  That's okay, because most of us are inconsistent.

What you can say is, you believe in some open boarders, just not the ones that personally impact you too much.  The vast majority of the people whining about the boarders, live elsewhere.  This isn't to say immigration remains an issue only at the boarder.  Still, this debate seems like the latest hip bandwagon to jump on.

I don't remember any of the people who are presently criticizing how our government is dealing with our boarders, opening their homes to immigrants to live there for free until they can afford reasonable housing, or volunteering to teach an ESL class, or simply cooking a meal for a refugee family in need.  It's easy to gripe and moan about how bad we are in America, how terrible our president is, how we are repeating the Japanese Concentration camps all over again, while offering only one "solution" which is to just open the borders.  Again, please dismantle your locks and open all of your windows too.

I have several friends from south of the boarder, people who I deeply respect.  Some of the hardest working, morally-balanced, family-centered, good people I know speak Spanish as their native tongue.  Many of these folks followed a process that led to citizenship.  You should ask some of them what they think about this situation and how they feel about the folks who don't try to follow the rules.

But what about the families that are being ripped apart?  Many voices are crying out about justice and mercy, and fairness.  I get that, we all want what's fair.  But what's fair about millions of people who disregard the rules that have kept society together and civilization whole for thousands of years, knowingly putting their children in harms way when they chose to break the law?  Borders that aren't enforced, aren't borders.

Please, someone, anyone, please tell me why sanctuary cities lock up City Hall at night?  Why does the Mayor of a sanctuary city lock his office when he's out?  Why do they lock the janitor's closet?

Again, if you say let's jettison our borders, please feel free to take the front door off of your house.  Please don't protect any of your personal property if you think an open boarder or blind-amnesty is the solution to our present crisis.   It's our inconsistencies that have us upset, angry, and mad at each other. There are plenty of hypocrites on both sides of the fence on this issue, don't add to that list. 

What happens when you wait on the past to return

I’m sure you’ve been here too, so try to guess where I am. When I walked in the room I saw a large welcoming fireplace of to my left. On one wall, there’s a set of wooden golf clubs hung next to an old accordion with yellowed keys. The are sepia colored portraits scattered around the room. Most of the memorabilia hanging on these walls are like the metal advertising signs too, they are from a generation or two ago and refer to items which are no longer manufactured or sold. I see an old crosscut saw near an old washboard, all next to old vinyl albums recorded many years ago by artists who are long gone. I really like the tin potato chip container; I can remember those from my childhood. I take all of this in before the waitress even asks for my breakfast order.

We don’t live in Mayberry, Floyd isn’t our barber, and sadly, the world isn’t like Cracker Barrel. There’s nothing wrong with watching Andy Griffith or with sitting down to eat while you’re surrounded by old Seed signs and oil cans. Nostalgia is one of the most powerful emotional experiences known to us, so beware of its appeal.

The dangers of living in the past are legion. The old days we are so fond to remember, well they probably aren’t as well polished as we tend to think. And, even though we know we can’t go back in time, you might not know that walking into some of our sanctuaries. I’m not referring to our architecture as much as our nomenclature and methods.

The Gospel is eternal, but how we deliver it and how we meet each generation isn’t. The crippling shackles of legalism constricts us into a certain form, and soon that form becomes more important than the function. The results? Well, just like in biology, that which never changes dies.

Raising an awareness of the sway the past holds over our churches can be costly. For example, I knew a preacher back in the Midwest who wanted to demonstrate to his congregation they were “stuck in their ways.” One Sunday morning, to make his point, before communion, he switched the purple Welch's grape juice to white grape juice. Before anyone in that congregation ate their fried chicken that day, the Elders let him know it was time for a change in the pulpit and sent him packing.

Part of the “problem” people had with Jesus was His style. His content made people uncomfortable, but His style and His approach raised eyebrows everywhere He went. You can’t change the message of the Cross and save the world, but you have to change your methods and your language to reach different people. Sadly, some of us holding the life-preservers missed the boat on this one.

So to be clear, we need to quit living in the past, like Eccl 7:10 says, “Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” Also, introduce a few new songs occasionally -- music is the heart-language for many young people, i.e., the next generation. You do realize even the oldest classics like Amazing Grace were once new songs. It wouldn’t hurt to switch up your Bible translation every once in a while too, there’s a good reason we have newer translations; words change their meaning over time. The Bible is inspired, not your translation. And finally, try seeing “church” from an outsider’s perspective. If we aren’t careful and purposeful, everything we do becomes about us and can seem dated, antiquated, and out of touch -- not because Jesus will ever lose His relevance but because you don’t find good news in a time-capsule.