Here's a link to it:
http://www.myutmost.org/07/0706.html
Ignore the tragic background.
Post your thoughts, as short as they may be!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
vision and reality
So Bailey was reading My Utmost for His Highest and she read the July 6th devotion to me. I think you'll really enjoy this. It's entitled "Vision and Reality", something relevant considering the big dreams that we have and the reality that we live in.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Two quotes
"We do not approach a need with the idea [serving others in the community] that this really should be someone else’s job. If someone is hurting, then the Church should be the first to offer help."
- Dino Rizzo
"How wonderful it is that we need not wait a single minute before starting to improve ourselves and our world."
- Anne Frank
Amen and Amen.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Why the wait?
I'm sure we've all fallen guilty to this, and I think I've been staring, motionless, at this for quite some time: the temptation to wait.
It's the plan/worry first, do second. Doing something crazy for God surely requires to be debt free...right? Or at least financially 'stable'? Or to have a life plan? I am having more and more trouble with this (perhaps because I am none of these things). But really...is it 'smart' to go off on some grandiose adventure to serve God when there's a nickel in your bank account?
I've found myself consumed in worry about money. It's the lens through which I view life. And I know, right now, after writing that, that the lens of money is a lens of slavery. It's a lens that's sinful. It displaces the lens of God. How can I help this guy when I'm broke? How can I start anything?
Part of me feels like if I could only be free from the 'bondage' of worry I could find joy. I think this is an American infection. At least a Western one.
I think my other reason for waiting is that I feel like the calling of God will overcome all of these fears, though I am afraid these fears muddy the call of God. Catch-22.
I read some of the Sermon on the Mount this morning, when Jesus preaches about worry and I was really challenged. I find myself so consumed in 'what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, how to spend' that I miss the what to do and wind up waiting. I've probably missed a thousand what to do's because I've waited. What's the fear? Do I not trust in God?
May God deliver us from these fears and may we hear the call.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
bringing Christ.
I finally finished the Chronicles of Narnia. I've been told for the past several years that "the end was their favorite part" and now I can finally agree.
It paints an absolutely beautiful picture. Narnia is falling, clearly conquered, but the kids are still fighting, ever so hard, for what they know is true and beautiful...for Aslan. Though their fight is futile, though they have no shot at victory and many have turned against them, they stick it out to the end and are immediately delivered to Aslan at their deaths.
The New Narnia, Heaven, is more glorious than the last. It was clearly something worth fighting for, clearly something worth working to bring to the old earth.
Ross and I talked a bit a girl who had begun to doubt the purpose of Christianity after a mission trip to Africa. I believe this is a common stumbling block for a lot of people. Christianity seems so irrelevant when kids can't get to food and their parents are dying of AIDS or even curable diseases. How relevant is it trying to get a kid to pray the prayer?
I think that while bringing Christianity can seem irrelevant, bringing Christ is not.
That, after all, is what we're called to do. To be ambassadors for Christ, not Christianity. When we begin to make a choice to bring Christ to darkness, to bring hope to somewhere hopeless, we put ourselves in the middle of the fight. We have to choose the hard choice, to fight, when others say all is lost, when others don't see a reason for fighting, when fighting is 'uncool', but dressing like a warrior is.
So fight. Even though it's not cool. Even though it's not glamorous. Even though it's so EASY not to, and so EASY to ignore it.
And slow down and pray. It's hard to find a fight when you're going 60 miles an hour on your way to work, running five minutes late, in your Passat. Hard to even believe there IS a fight...but there always is.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The Art of Ancient Quotation
The great thing about the New Testament is that if you take all of the controversial passages out or all of the controversial books out (had their been stricter canonization or something like that) then nothing has changed. All of the books are really trying to portray the same Gospel message. You could even take out a whole chunk of the thing and the same principles would still be there in text. I find this amazing by the way.
Same goes for quotations (and translations for that matter). The exact wording is not important to the story of the redemption of God's people, Jesus' triumph over death at the cross. Basically, no matter how you swing it, you can't escape the Gospel in the New Testament.
But check this out. I was thinking about this while reading Luke recently.
Exact quotations don't seem very likely. After all, though we now think the Gospels were written within one generation of Jesus (i.e. the writers would have been able to interview eye witnesses) it's not like they were going to his sermons with pencil and pad like these days. They didn't take their recorder or replay it later that night on the podcast to make sure they got the wording correct. However, what if it were possible that these quotations were exact or even almost exact (at least in the Greek)?
We all know how shocking what Jesus said is to all us here today. And we understand that it would have been more shocking to his audience back in the day. So given the oral customs of the society and the shocking nature of what Jesus said, people may have actually remembered exactly what he said. Furthermore, the Gospel writers may have been able to even corroborate these quotes with other eye witnesses. How rad is that to think about? I think I just might have remembered exactly what the man said if I had been there and heard him speak once. How about that for the providence of God. So maybe all the Gospels have similar quotations and stories and what not because they all interviewed the eye witnesses. Whoa. That would pretty much ruin anyone who doubted the Bible's credibility. Or maybe they are so similar because of Q. Whatever.
Just a provocative thought I had.
Same goes for quotations (and translations for that matter). The exact wording is not important to the story of the redemption of God's people, Jesus' triumph over death at the cross. Basically, no matter how you swing it, you can't escape the Gospel in the New Testament.
But check this out. I was thinking about this while reading Luke recently.
Exact quotations don't seem very likely. After all, though we now think the Gospels were written within one generation of Jesus (i.e. the writers would have been able to interview eye witnesses) it's not like they were going to his sermons with pencil and pad like these days. They didn't take their recorder or replay it later that night on the podcast to make sure they got the wording correct. However, what if it were possible that these quotations were exact or even almost exact (at least in the Greek)?
We all know how shocking what Jesus said is to all us here today. And we understand that it would have been more shocking to his audience back in the day. So given the oral customs of the society and the shocking nature of what Jesus said, people may have actually remembered exactly what he said. Furthermore, the Gospel writers may have been able to even corroborate these quotes with other eye witnesses. How rad is that to think about? I think I just might have remembered exactly what the man said if I had been there and heard him speak once. How about that for the providence of God. So maybe all the Gospels have similar quotations and stories and what not because they all interviewed the eye witnesses. Whoa. That would pretty much ruin anyone who doubted the Bible's credibility. Or maybe they are so similar because of Q. Whatever.
Just a provocative thought I had.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
A New Evangelism
Why are Evangelists among the most hated people groups in the world? I'm sure you have seen the statistics before, that evangelists are hated more than a number of horrible groups, and not without good reason I might add. But isn't the Gospel supposed to be the good news? Does the Gospel really inspire hatred? Not the Gospel I know. RD you mentioned the Gospel was something worth sharing, a source of hope and life through reconciliation and redemption. What the heck have these have evangelists been sharing with the world then?
One thing I realized early on in college, due largely in part to the wisdom of our Engage brethren, is that there is a big difference between conversion and redemption. And the church I grew up in was all about conversion, but not so much redemption. What I mean by that is that the marriage doesn't stop at I do and our job as a church doesn't end with this magical prayer we are always having people recite. You know the one...ask Jesus in to your heart, yada yada yada. We have dropped the ball on this big time. We seem almost more concerned with numbers than life change. Have you ever overheard a christian you didn't know talk about how successful their mission trip was. They say something about how they built 3 houses for local families to live in and built 2 genuine relationships with local leaders or influencers in the village and plan on following up over the phone right?
No not all. They actually say something like, we had 17 people give their lives to Christ the first night and then 21 the next night, for a total of 38, which of course was 3 more than Jimmy's group last summer. (Ok the last part there may be a little much but you know what I'm talking about). I'm not trying to downplay the importance of sharing Jesus with others. I just don't think that this is what the great commission meant when it said to make disciples. Making disciples is more than saying a prayer. We are just breeding spiritual halflings. Can we actually expect someone to experience a complete life change because of one encounter with God (well God is big enough to do that so there goes that arguement). But 6 weeks later has the effect faded? If so have we really accomplished anything? As a church we cannot just abandon people once "the prayer" has been evoked.
True redemption requires relationship, commitment, accountability. A perfect picture of this was our junior roommate, Derek. When he was over in Central America somewhere for a mission trip or vacation or who knows what, he had apparently put a roof on a guy's house. And every couple of weeks he would talk to him on the phone in spanish to check up on him and see how is family was doing. And every other month he would host a party or gathering to raise money for this guy and his family, so they could pay their electric bill, pay for house repairs, and have food every night for their kids. THAT is redemption. That is life change. He has turned this guy's life completely around. I don't think any of that will soon be forgotten.
Ergo, here is my idea. I call it the New Evangelism (well actually we should probably get away from that word wherever possible because of its extreme negative connotation but oh well). Maybe the best way to make disciples of all nations is not by having them convert or even trying to convince them that Jesus is Lord. After all, only God can bring them to a place of true repentence. We have no control over their heart (and need to stop acting like we do). And given the amount of damage that has already been done using this model and how misrepresented Jesus is within it, maybe we should take a different approach.
Craig Groeschel says that to reach people no else is reaching, we have to do things no else is doing (a motto for us perhaps. I vote yes).
Maybe our aim should be more directed toward getting people interested in Jesus and then following up through relationship (Ok so this idea may not be that revolutionary but it's a start). If we could just get everyone to take a deeper look, then God will do the rest. He will engage them where they are. The beauty of this approach is they may just be surprised by what they find when they seek.
As we all learned in our bible study on the hall, Jesus was one radical dude (one wild and crazy guy). People would be astounded as I am everyday by what Jesus actually says and not what we have been taught he says or what we think he says. We need to just let the man speak for himself.
Tim Kellar makes a great arguement for why everyone needs to take a look at Christ by pointing out that due to the magnitude of the claim (no one else in history has both been accused of being divine and claimed to be divine) you have to KNOW that he must be a fake. You can't just assume that he is a fraud or take someone else's word for it. You HAVE to see you for yourself because the consequences of the claims of Jesus are too great not just for eternity but for today (ridiculous sermon by the way, free on his website). Today, one of our biggest battlegrounds is the apathetic, those who don't want to bother thinking about it or don't have the time. Maybe all we have to do then to get them to take a deeper look is to show them the magnitude of the claim.
Oh and if we want to redeem God's people, we have to follow up.
One thing I realized early on in college, due largely in part to the wisdom of our Engage brethren, is that there is a big difference between conversion and redemption. And the church I grew up in was all about conversion, but not so much redemption. What I mean by that is that the marriage doesn't stop at I do and our job as a church doesn't end with this magical prayer we are always having people recite. You know the one...ask Jesus in to your heart, yada yada yada. We have dropped the ball on this big time. We seem almost more concerned with numbers than life change. Have you ever overheard a christian you didn't know talk about how successful their mission trip was. They say something about how they built 3 houses for local families to live in and built 2 genuine relationships with local leaders or influencers in the village and plan on following up over the phone right?
No not all. They actually say something like, we had 17 people give their lives to Christ the first night and then 21 the next night, for a total of 38, which of course was 3 more than Jimmy's group last summer. (Ok the last part there may be a little much but you know what I'm talking about). I'm not trying to downplay the importance of sharing Jesus with others. I just don't think that this is what the great commission meant when it said to make disciples. Making disciples is more than saying a prayer. We are just breeding spiritual halflings. Can we actually expect someone to experience a complete life change because of one encounter with God (well God is big enough to do that so there goes that arguement). But 6 weeks later has the effect faded? If so have we really accomplished anything? As a church we cannot just abandon people once "the prayer" has been evoked.
True redemption requires relationship, commitment, accountability. A perfect picture of this was our junior roommate, Derek. When he was over in Central America somewhere for a mission trip or vacation or who knows what, he had apparently put a roof on a guy's house. And every couple of weeks he would talk to him on the phone in spanish to check up on him and see how is family was doing. And every other month he would host a party or gathering to raise money for this guy and his family, so they could pay their electric bill, pay for house repairs, and have food every night for their kids. THAT is redemption. That is life change. He has turned this guy's life completely around. I don't think any of that will soon be forgotten.
Ergo, here is my idea. I call it the New Evangelism (well actually we should probably get away from that word wherever possible because of its extreme negative connotation but oh well). Maybe the best way to make disciples of all nations is not by having them convert or even trying to convince them that Jesus is Lord. After all, only God can bring them to a place of true repentence. We have no control over their heart (and need to stop acting like we do). And given the amount of damage that has already been done using this model and how misrepresented Jesus is within it, maybe we should take a different approach.
Craig Groeschel says that to reach people no else is reaching, we have to do things no else is doing (a motto for us perhaps. I vote yes).
Maybe our aim should be more directed toward getting people interested in Jesus and then following up through relationship (Ok so this idea may not be that revolutionary but it's a start). If we could just get everyone to take a deeper look, then God will do the rest. He will engage them where they are. The beauty of this approach is they may just be surprised by what they find when they seek.
As we all learned in our bible study on the hall, Jesus was one radical dude (one wild and crazy guy). People would be astounded as I am everyday by what Jesus actually says and not what we have been taught he says or what we think he says. We need to just let the man speak for himself.
Tim Kellar makes a great arguement for why everyone needs to take a look at Christ by pointing out that due to the magnitude of the claim (no one else in history has both been accused of being divine and claimed to be divine) you have to KNOW that he must be a fake. You can't just assume that he is a fraud or take someone else's word for it. You HAVE to see you for yourself because the consequences of the claims of Jesus are too great not just for eternity but for today (ridiculous sermon by the way, free on his website). Today, one of our biggest battlegrounds is the apathetic, those who don't want to bother thinking about it or don't have the time. Maybe all we have to do then to get them to take a deeper look is to show them the magnitude of the claim.
Oh and if we want to redeem God's people, we have to follow up.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
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