The Mountainside

The Gospel According to Wall-E

2009-09-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

I was actually planning on attending So Hills' HIP (High Impact Praise) tonight, but logistics kept me shut in. So we ate homemade burritos (even though we had Taco Bueno for lunch) while we watched Wall-E. Whether it was the beans--and the effects thereof-- playing tricks with my mind, the slow detailed study of the gospel of John in Greek, or whether the message is blatant; I couldn't help noticing the gospel message (particularly as told by John) in the movie.

Syopsis: A tight knit culture is exposed to an entity completely foreign to them. This entity (here represented by Wall-E and the plant) represents life. Although the community aboard the spaceship is technically alive, none of them are really living. They are surrounded by thousands of fellow human beings, but are completely isolated and bored. They are bound by protocol, directives, and the status quo.

Then LIFE comes aboard their ship. It pays no attention to the strict protocol being observed by the masses, except to oppose and expose it. Many come into contact with this life. The common people and common robots are drawn to HIM and begin to experience LIFE for the first time. No longer are they content with their dull existence. As the captain succinctly declares, "I don't want to survive! I want to LIVE!!!"

But this new life has it's foes. The forces that control the community are bound by FEAR and the LAW. Instead of embracing this new life, they seek to destroy it because of the threat it poses. In the battle for life, Wall-E (the bringer of life), gets crushed, but in doing so, opens the gate that allows everyone to experience real life. Wall-E sacrificed himself, so that all may have life and have it to the full.

But that's not the end, Wall-E is resurrected as he is returned home to prepare a place for the rest to live. And as they work, they find community, they find purpose...they find LIFE!

OK so tell me I'm not the only one who sees it this way.

I Will Kill You

2008-12-19T12:47:00.002-08:00

As I was reading through Exodus, something occurred to me that never did before. Beginning with the Big 10 in Chapter 20, there is a long list of commands. The ten commandments are stated without any reference to punishments for lawbreakers. Through the next couple of chapters there are several offenses for which there are prescribed penalties from fines to death. In all cases, the sentencing and punishment is to be carried out by the Israelite community. However, in Exodus 22:22-24 God himself intervenes to pronounce the judgment, the sentence, and carry out the punishment.

"Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children- fatherless."

The sudden shift is unmistakable and the implications are equally clear. Don't mess with the helpless ones of this world.

People who mistreat those who have no voice, will find God has become their enemy.

And the Snakes Remain

2008-12-19T12:47:00.001-08:00

As I walked to work this morning, I was listening to Numbers. The highlight of what I heard, was the story of the venomous snakes. It is set towards the end of the 40 years of wandering in the desert. The Israelites had grumbled, complained, and rebelled repeatedly since God had delivered them out of slavery. On the other occasions that they grumbled about food or water, God provided what they were asking for. This time, however, the Israelites had taken it too far. So God sent venomous snakes among them as a punishment. When they realized they had sinned, they prayed that God take the snakes away. Instead, God had Moses make a bronze snake and put it on a pole so that when anyone was bitten, they could look up at the snake and they would be healed and not die (Thus the medical symbol for healing--snake on a pole).

What strikes me most is the snakes (pun intended). Why didn't God take them away like they asked. Wouldn't it have been much simpler to remove the snakes instead of having to cure the people as they continued to get bitten.

But as I look at the history of God's relationship with people, it becomes obvious that it was necessary to let the snakes remain. Anytime life is easy, the Israelites forget their dependence on God. When they have all they need, they forget that they would starve without God's providence. And without tangible reminders of their sin, they would forget that they require God's healing and forgiveness.

I hope we can always be thankful for God's providence, forgiveness and healing without the aid of snakes.

Vanishing Mist

2008-12-19T12:46:00.001-08:00

When asked where I am from, my reply is usually determined by how far from home I am at the time. While in Korea, I would simply say that I was from the U.S. While in Tennessee, I have to specify that I am from Texas. Among the Churches of Christ, I can specify further and say that I am from Abilene. This is partially true, since, for the most part, I went to school in Abilene, did our shopping in Abilene, went to church in Abilene, and went to college. The truth of the matter is that I actually grew up in a town called Tuscola. I rarely cite this as my home town because with only 600 people in the town, it is not likely to register on many maps. Yet from the small town of Tuscola, TX comes the most talked about College football player this year, Colt McCoy. I wondered how much pride that would give a little town like Tuscola, which has little else to brag about. How long will that little town be telling stories of the great McCoy's humble childhood.
I now live in Troy, TN--a slightly larger small town of 1200. I have been walking to work recently and on my way, I pass through a cemetary. On one of the tombstones was written, "Pete 'Toe' Gudauskas, NFL, Chicago Bears". With my curiosity aroused, I made a note to look up this name on the internet. I found that Pete was a kicker for the Chicago Bears in the 40's and one year he made more PAT's than anyone else in the entire NFL. In his entire NFL career, he only missed 2 PAT's. I have asked a few if they had ever heard of him, but so far, none have.
The memory of Pete Gudauskas' considerable athletic achievements have faded even from this small town in which his body rests. I daresay, that Tuscola will easily forget the name of Colt McCoy before the end of the century.
Our lives are truly a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. There is little chance of any of us carving out an enduring legacy, nor is there much point if we succeed. But while our lives fade like the grass, we can find our place in the eternal story, by joining in the story of another boy from a small town a world away from here. A tiny village has held it's head high for 2000 years (and will continue to do so for as long as this world lasts) all because of a baby born in stall, who became the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God. It was he whose name swept away the memory of the great empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome in Daniel's vision. The infant who was called Jesus, Immanuel, God With Us, born in the little town of Bethlehem, he will be remembered for all eternity, and if we align our lives with his, so will we.

Back to Business

2008-08-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

This has been a great but crazy summer for me. I don't think I have ever traveled so much in so short a time ever in my life. I traveled 13,150 miles which included 127 hours of driving and 3 plane trips, and I spent 38 nights away from home. While I don't regret having traveled so much, I am certainly glad to be home.

One of the main reasons I am glad to be back is so I can find some routine in my life. It was nearly impossible to keep any sort of schedule this summer. Because of that, my bible study, prayer life, eating and exercise habits, family structure, etc., has all suffered.

A sermon I heard while in Malibu convinced me that I desperately needed structure and discipline in my life in order to grow spiritually. I have been frustrated at my lack of spiritual growth for quite some time. What I didn't realize, was that I was not actively pursuing spiritual growth. How absurd would it be if someone expected to excel in basketball without ever practicing? How crazy is it to expect to get straight A's in school without ever paying attention in class, without reading your textbooks or doing your homework? It's ridiculous! And yet this is exactly what I was expecting in my spiritual life-- growth without effort.

Beginning today, I am actively seeking to bring discipline back into my life. I will no longer wait for Jude's cries to wake me up, but will wake myself up in time to exercise, read, and pray before the day gets underway. Reading the bible and praying are probably the two most important spiritual disciplines. If you aren't familiar with the spiritual disciplines, they are grouped into 3 major categories (according to Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline), Inward Disciplines, Outward Disciplines, and Corporate Disciplines. The Inward Disciplines are Meditation, Prayer, Fasting, and Study. The Outward Disciplines are Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, and Service. And the Corporate Disciplines are Confession, Worship, Guidance, and Celebration.

I am first committing to incorporating Prayer and Bible reading into my daily routine. When I have consistently been reading and praying daily for 3 months, I will add another discipline. Then, when I have successfully incorporated another discipline into my daily routine for 3 months, I will add another. In this way, I hope to do all I can to train myself for godliness, "for physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

Leave it All on the Field

2008-05-24T12:41:00.001-07:00

I remember being told this in high school before football games. The idea was that we would play so hard that our reserves of strength would run out precisely when that final whistle was blown. As I have been reading through Acts, it is obvious that these Christians were exhausting themselves for Christ as though there was no tomorrow. As for Stephen and James, their race was run with such reckless abandon that their lives were snuffed out very quickly. The rest of them lived as though it could happen to them at any time. They truly made the best of every opportunity. It is especially evident in Paul. I love the example in chapter 20, where Paul had been in Troas for a week and on Sunday he preached. Because he was leaving the next day, he preached until midnight. If I were him, I would have kept it short and gotten some sleep before the journey, but he preaches all night. Paul and the others left it all on the field, and the world was turned upside down. That is the kind of 1st century attitude that is worth restoring.

Holiness (Final product)

2007-12-05T11:27:00.000-08:00

This is the sermon I preached on holiness on November 18th. It's long, so proceed with caution. Thanks to all of you who helped me work through this subject.

I don’t think I would make a good full time preacher because I can only preach about something I feel strongly about. Fortunately for all of us, I am very passionate about this morning’s subject, and I truly believe God has guided me through the preparation of this sermon, and I truly believe that what I have to say to you this morning is a word from God.

I say that very hesitantly, because I am always afraid that what I share from the pulpit is more from me than it is from God. You see, we all have our hang ups and pet peeves, and if we aren’t careful, we can preach those rather than sharing a word from God.

With all of that said, this morning I will be speaking on holiness. Last week, when I told Sarah that I was going to speak on that subject, her reaction was, “I don’t want to hear that, I already know I need to be better.” If your response is similar to Sarah’s, then be encouraged, this is not going to be a fault finding sermon. To be honest, I think I was leaning in that direction when I first began working on this lesson. I asked myself what this congregation needed to hear. After thinking about it for a while, I decided this church needed a call to holiness. Which at the time meant to me, a call to stop sinning- a call to stop getting drunk, a call to stop gossiping, a call to stop any sexual activity with anyone other than your spouse, to stop viewing pornography…and the list could go on. This attitude was in large part due to my recent study of the prophets and particularly the exile, but was also due to things that I had feared was going on among our congregation. And while God most certainly wants us to put those sins behind us, I was missing the larger picture. I began the process wanting to preach about your sins, but the more time I spent with God, in prayer and in His Word, the less I saw the faults of others and the more I saw my own sinfulness and brokenness. You see, all the sinful things I listed before, are all things that I have been guilty of- on numerous occasions in some instances. And in each instance, I knew that what I was doing was sinful, I didn’t need a preacher to tell me that, and my guess is, neither do you, especially a fill in preacher.

What is Holiness?

As we get started, we need to refine our understanding of holiness. I used to think that holiness was the measure of how well you obeyed God’s commands. I thought that being holy was the same as being righteous or godly. It’s not. If you look at this verse, you will notice that holiness in this case is a result of their obedience.

Exodus 19:5-6

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession, although the whole earth is mine, 6 you ^[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

Now if you viewed holiness like I did, then that would sound pretty redundant…and repetitive…and as though it was saying the same thing over again. (Did I miss any synonyms, Bill?) It would be like saying, “If you go home and take a nap this afternoon, you will go home and take a nap.” But righteousness and obedience are not the same thing as holiness. This verse is more of a cause-effect statement like, “If you go home and take a nap, you will enjoy peaceful dreams.”

This verse comes right before the 10 commandments, and God is inviting the people into a relationship with himself. The commandments and the laws were the conditions of that relationship. “If you obey me…then you will be a holy nation.”

So if holiness is not the same thing as righteousness, then what is it? Well it literally means set apart. It doesn’t mean that you have a halo around your head, or that your face glows from your godliness. It just means that you are set apart from the rest.

Over the months leading up to our trip to NYC, Sarah and I would set apart some of my paycheck to save up for the trip. It didn’t get used for Los Portales, it didn’t get used for bills, it didn’t get used for anything that we typically use our money for. It was set apart for a special use. And now as we approach the holidays, we have started over, setting apart some of our income to use for special gifts and expenses. The twenty dollar bills that we set apart aren’t any greener than the ones we use to pay rent, they aren’t worth more than the ones we use to pay our gas, they are just set apart for a special purpose.

That is the first thing I want you to remember, we are holy, first and foremost, because God set us apart as holy. Now the main difference between money and us, is that we have the choice as to whether we want to be used for the special purpose or not. That’s where the if comes into play. “If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then… you will be…a holy nation.” Again, in II Timothy 2:20, Paul says,

“In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.”

Money has to do what we tell it to. That is what Dave Ramsey has been teaching us in that Financial Peace University. It has no choice but to do our bidding. God, on the other hand invites us to a place of prominence but we can choose to live mundane, ordinary lives.

And THAT is what Satan wants us to choose. Since the creation of the world, God has been calling us to an extraordinary life full of honor, praise and contentment; meanwhile, Satan has been trying to get us to settle for a cheap imitation of life full of pain, regret, sorrow, shame and loneliness.

How do we choose holiness?

We talked earlier about how to be holy, just means to be set apart. But now we need to ask, set apart for what? What is that special purpose that God has gone through so much trouble to set us apart for? Is our purpose in life to follow rules? No! Is our purpose to be active in the church? No! Is our purpose to get to heaven? Not really. The purpose for which God has set us apart, is to have an intimate relationship with Him! That is why He created us. That is why He called Abraham. That is why He gave us the law. That is why He came in the flesh. That is why he destroyed the barrier between us on the cross. That is why he conquered death. That is why he is preparing a home for us in heaven.

The ALMIGHTY creator of heaven and earth, He who formed the Grand Canyon, He who gathered the oceans, He who put the stars in their place, HE wants to be yours and for you to be His.

How do you accept an invitation like that!!!?

First, humbly. Anyone who looks at a relationship with God as something deserved or earned, either has no idea who God is, or has no idea who they are. We need to have the attitude of David in II Samuel 7 when he God reveals His plans for blessing David and His family.

"Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD ? "What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign LORD. 21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant. "How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.

And also in Psalm 8

3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

Second, do things that bring you closer with God. These are things like reading the bible, spending time in prayer, following the example of Christ. I have said it before and I will say it again, if you are reading the bible to discover rules and how to follow them, you have missed the whole point of the Bible. The Bible was given to us so that we may know God. If you are praying in order to get your will accomplished, then you have missed the whole point of prayer. Prayer was given to us as a means to bring our wills more closely in line with God’s. And if you are truly following the example of Christ (loving the unlovable, forgiving the unforgivable, giving selflessly, living a life of self-sacrifice), then you need to be preaching instead of me. Following the example of Christ is the ultimate way of knowing God and knowing how to have and intimate relationship with God.

Third, avoid things that will separate us from God. Sin is a departure from God’s will, and therefore a departure from walking with God. Anytime we choose to go our own way, it strains our relationship with God. With guilt comes shame. With shame comes secrecy, and with secrecy comes separation. Anyone who has watched kids going through adolescence understands this. Elementary kids will tell you any and everything. But somewhere between that age and High School, they start becoming more withdrawn. They are more selective about what they disclose and what is kept secret. This is nothing more than guilt taking a hold of their relationships. In elementary school, they know right and wrong, but if they do something wrong, it doesn’t alter their self perception. This is primarily because they draw their self worth from their parents. When they become adolescents, they begin to care more and more about what others think of them, and if they have done things they are ashamed of, then they will wall themselves off.

This transition is obvious in the garden. Adam and Eve were naked and had no shame, but as soon as they sinned, they ran for cover and hid from God. When we sin, it is easy to think that God turns His back on us in disgust. But what really happens, is that we hide from Him, so that we don’t feel His presence. Shame is one of the most effective tools of Satan. When we feel ashamed, our prayer life suffers, our Bible reading suffers, and our fellowship with other Christians suffers. And so when we need God and godly influences, we find ourselves alone and helpless.

It is very important to remember that failing does not terminate our relationship with God no more than it would a marriage. If Sarah and I got divorced every time I treated her poorly, we would have Dr. Phil breaking down our door, or more likely, Jerry Springer.

So, What happens when we fail?

We are forgiven completely! And then we can stand Holy and Blameless in God’s sight.

Hebrews 10:10-18

“And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16"This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds."^[b] 17Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more."^[c] 18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.”

We are forgiven, and there is no longer any need for sacrifice. Jesus paid the price and with his sacrifice made us perfect forever, as we are continually made more holy. That is good news. In fact, that is The Good News, the core of the gospel: sinners like you and I can stand before God with our chins up, because Jesus has made us perfect in God’s sight.

But even as I say that, some of you are probably thinking, “Then why are we put through the ringer and made to suffer for our sins?” That is not an easy answer, and I don’t want to oversimplify it, but we are ALLOWED to suffer the consequences of our sin, because of God’s unfailing love for us. If that seems backwards, then just hear me out. I gave this example to the Middle School class Wednesday night and they seemed to understand so I’ll use it again. If my dog Buffy goes and plays in the street, I will discipline her. She doesn’t like it, it hurts. But if by allowing her to feel that pain, I can keep her from getting run over by a truck, then I have saved her from much worse. In the same way, if I never discipline Jude for the things he does wrong, then his life is likely to be filled with much more pain and frustration than spanking or grounding could have ever caused. And if my sin is never exposed so that I can continue in secret, I am not likely to turn to God so that I can be healed. One of the things that has blessed my marriage with Sarah the most, was the exposure of a sinful area in my life. It was a painful event to go through, but the exposure brought healing and intimacy that we had never known before. Looking back, I can see God’s hand in bringing my shameful deeds into the light. David, the man after God’s own heart, went through the same thing. He had some terrible skeletons in the closet, sins that he thought he had gotten away with. On the outside it seemed as though everything was going well for him, but as we read in Psalm 32, David was anything but happy.

1 Blessed is he
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.

2 Blessed is the man
whose sin the LORD does not count against him
and in whose spirit is no deceit.

3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night
your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
Selah

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, "I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD "—
and you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
Selah

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you
while you may be found;
surely when the mighty waters rise,
they will not reach him.

David says that when he hid his sin, “ my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Anyone who has been in his sandals knows exactly what that is like. But God loved him too much to allow him to continue in this way. God took the initiative and exposed his sin for him. He sent Nathan the prophet to confront him with his sin and free him from the agony that he was going through. There were probably countless Jews in David’s day who had committed adultery and murder and were not exposed, but God loved David and was willing to put him through the ringer so that he could come clean and begin life anew. David still had some very painful consequences to go through, but God remained faithful and blessed him through it all. Throughout the Bible you can see God pouring out great blessings while delivering punishments. Adam was told that he would have to work the ground, the good news is that the ground would indeed produce fruit and that Adam would get to enjoy the satisfaction of a hard day’s work. Eve was told that her pains would increase in childbirth, the good news is that she would indeed have children and be the mother of many nations. Moses was told that he would not enter the promised land, the good news is that he was finally relieved of the burden of the Israelites and was given a personal funeral by God and taken home to the real Promised Land. David was told that his child would die, the good news is that immediately afterwards, Bathsheba gave birth to his heir, the one who would build the temple.

Hebrews 12:5-11 reads

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Finally, What happens when a brother or sister fails?

Remember, we are all under sin. None of us is righteous. The only way we can look righteous, is by comparing ourselves to others that we view as worse than we are. For instance, when the majority of us fill out a form that asks for our race, we check the box that says, “White/ Caucasian”, because, compared to the other races of the world, we are comparatively white. But even the palest of us would look brown against freshly fallen snow in the sunlight. In the same way, the holiest among us, and the most righteous acts, appear as filthy menstrual rags when seen in the light of God’s holiness (if that grosses you out, don’t blame me blame Isaiah, he is the one who said it in chapter 64).

If we are to truly be holy, it will be seen in the way we treat those whose sins are exposed. If we are to truly follow Jesus, then you will hurt with the broken, you will comfort those who are suffering, you will lift up those who have fallen; for Jesus came to save the world, not to condemn it. In Revelation 12, Satan is called the accuser of our brethren. So if you find yourself pointing the finger when a brother or sister falls, it is not Jesus’ footsteps you are following, it is Satan’s. Mercy, humility, love, and hope are at the core of what holiness is all about. I am afraid that our church has not demonstrated these qualities very well, or at least we are not perceived as having these qualities. In the three and a half years I have been here, I could count on one hand how many people have come forward in public confession. That either means that we are a remarkably sinless congregation, or we have not nurtured a loving, accepting environment where people feel free to confess their sins. Until we are willing to admit our brokenness and help each other struggle through their sins, this congregation will not grow as God intends.
This morning I am going to do things a little differently. In a moment Clay will lead us in an invitation song, the difference is that we are going to break it into two parts and offer two invitations. This first invitation, is for those who view themselves as holy. There was a group in Jesus’ day that viewed themselves as holy. In fact, that is what they like to be called publicly, Holy Ones, or Separate Ones. The Hebrew word for that is Fae-rus, what we call today Pharisees. They saw themselves as holy. They were quick to point the finger and condemn. They loved their reputations more than they loved the children of God. They would do nothing to help those struggling with sin, and in their arrogance would even make it harder for them to come to God. When sin was exposed they were the first to pick up a stone. If this describes you, then you are in the greatest need of repentance. And I beg you, come forward now, confess your sins, and lay down your stones as we stand and sing these first two verses.

Vs 1-2

Now, I take it that there are none among us who are still holding stones. Before we offer the other invitation, I want to ask you a few interactive questions. I am going to ask you to make a few promises so that we can all be on the same page. After each question, if you can, I would like you to respond with “I Do”.

Do you promise to do your best to build up the body of Christ? I Do

Do you promise to love, accept and encourage those who are struggling in sin? I Do

Do you promise to pray for each other? I Do

Do you promise to avoid talking about your brother or sister in an ungodly manner? I Do

Do you promise to keep yourselves holy to God and strive for deeper intimacy with Him? I Do

Now, all of you who are wasting away with hidden sin, you have heard the promises made by this congregation. We are a broken people. We are a people who want to do what is right, but too often find ourselves tangled in sin. We want to help you with your burdens. We want to give you the opportunity to start anew. As followers of Jesus Christ, we ask that you let us walk beside you as we all strive to grow closer with God. If there is any weight that you need to get off your chest, any sin that is tearing you down, come out into the light, and let us love you for who you are…a child of God.

Holiness (pt 2)

2007-11-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

If I am correct (which doesn't happen very often with me) the literal meaning of holiness is to be set apart. With this in mind, a call to holiness, is a call to be set apart...for what? As I prepared for tonight's devotional (God became flesh), I found that a primary reason for God coming to pitch his tent among us is to allow intimacy. Throughout the OT, God's people learn about God (only a few seemed to really know Him), but with this divine invasion, God makes Himself known to the masses (see Jer 31:34).

The invitation to Holiness, seems to be an invitation to exclusive intimacy. Know me, Love me, Imitate Me, be holy because I am Holy. Jesus calls the people to a place unattainable by the righteousness of the Pharisees. A place only dreamed of by the prophets of old. This priviledge is made available to the weak who have never known any priviledges, yet hidden from those who have grown accustomed to a life of priveledge and power. Maybe the whole call to holiness is simply a valentine from God that reads, "Be Mine".

If we truly accept this invitation, then what we view as holiness (the outward evidences of Christ living in us) will flow out of us.

Please continue to comment, or Dave, if you would like to make just a slightly longer comment than your last one, I can go ahead and make a powerpoint for it and I will have my sermon.
Thanks.

Holiness (pt. 1)

2007-11-12T11:49:00.001-08:00

6 days from now, I will be preaching on the subject of holiness. It is a subject that has been in the forefront of my mind over the last few months as I have been studying the prophets. It seems to me, that if you are looking for the main event contained within the OT, it would be the Exile. It is not a subject that is taught to our children much, but if you look at the OT as a whole, a huge portion of it focuses on the Exile. Moses prophesied about it nearly 1000 years before it came to pass. And ever since then prophets had been hinting about it, and and even telling exactly how it was going to happen. God warned the people over and over and over about its coming in hopes that repentance would happen without such drastic measures, but to no avail.
So, with so much of the OT centered around the Exile, I began to meditate on what God is revealing about Himself through this pivotal event. (This view comes from my fairly recent perception that the primary function of the bible is to reveal God to us. If this is true, then God is loudly proclaiming some of His core qualities to us through the exile.)
The first and most obvious quality revealed through the exile is His holiness. For a thousand years, his people had been content to follow God half-heartedly. They had held on to the worship of God, yet mixed in the worship of pagan God's. Regardless of what God did through the judges, the kings and the prophets, the people were never changed for more than a generation or two.

Then, THE EXILE.

Through the exile and through prophets like Daniel, Zerubbabel, and Malachi, the people finally got it. God is holy, and his people must be holy as well. This is so clear when looking at the temple. Before the Exile, it was not uncommon for one of Judah's own (Davidic) kings to set up pagan idols within the temple itself. Yet, I don't recall reading about any kind of averse reactions of the people. Then, after the exile, when Antiochus IV Epiphanes erected an idol of Zeus in the temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar, it caused so much outrage that a 24 year war known as the Maccabean revolt ensued and ultimately overthrew Greek rule. Then, when Jesus arrived about 430 years after the last group returned from exile, there was no hint of pagan worship among God's people.

The people finally got it...GOD IS HOLY...HIS CHILDREN MUST BE HOLY

Unfortunately, they got that message to the exclusion of some of His other, and greater attributes, namely Love and Mercy.

Please write any thoughts you have on this subject, as it will help greatly in my preparation for Sunday's sermon. Answering these questions will be of especially helpful.

How are we to uphold the holiness and justice of God while keeping God's Love, Grace, Mercy, and Freedom center stage?

What does NT holiness look like?

Thank you for your help.

Baby Propaganda

2007-11-10T11:35:00.001-08:00

The idea of teaching lessons to children through song and story is age old. Aesop's Fables (not to be confused with Aesop Rock) are classic examples of fun stories with deep meanings. I don't mind these deeper meanings as long as they 1) Are consistent with the Truth 2) Are consistent with other stories and songs 3) Aren't ridiculous.
Unfortunately, the Fisher Price Little People Sing Along, has not satisfied my baby propaganda criteria.

For instance, here are a few excerpts
"Bam, Bang, Crash, recycle ALL your trash"- All trash is not recyclable, especially in Troy TN

"The clock struck 7-go straight to heaven"- This is a little too morbid for my child's ears

"There were ten in a bed and the little one said roll over, roll over. So they all rolled over..." Since when did 9 sleepy children listen to the runt of the lot to their own detriment. One of the voices apparently sees the incredulity of the situation halfway through the song because he yells, "This is getting ridiculous."

"That bear was fast when chasing me, but glory be I found a tree." First, it is rarely a good idea to run from a bear. Second, bears are much better tree climbers than your average child.

"Alice the camel has no humps, now Alice is a horse." NO NO NO!!! Alice is dehydrated, or undeveloped. I would hate to hear what they would tell the young sister in Song of Songs chapter 8.

One of the all time worst is during the song "Here we go round the mulberry bush..." On the fifth verse they are going around the cabbage patch. Then after they sing that verse one of the kids (who is most likely an adult trying to sound like a kid) says enthusiastically, "Cabbages are fun!" That is taking it too far!

Apathy worse than hate?

2007-10-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

I have often heard it said that many kids will act out in order to get attention...any kind of attention. They don't mind so much if they are hated, they just don't want to be ignored. I see it played out all the time in the teens at our church. Kids don't mind if they are the fat kid, or the dumb blond, or the nerd, in fact they are most often the ones who encourage the labels. It is difficult to create new niches for these kids where they can feel unique. I thought the villain on The Incredibles had a great point when he said, "If everyone is super, then no one will be." So how do you make a kid feel unique with out pointing out their oddities.

It is strange, though, that most Christians are content to meet the status quo with God. They don't want to be God's enemy, but they don't want to be a stand out follower either. I don't want to be content with blending in. I don't want God to see me as Luke warm. I want Him to look at me in the same way Jesus looked at the centurion and say about me, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith."

Sorry, if this post is scatter-brained. I am juggling Jude and am having a hard time focusing my thoughts. I am writing this mainly so I can go back later and try to work through these thoughts in a coherent manner. Your thoughts will help.

Dooma Video

2007-09-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

Communal Sin

2007-09-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

In Daniel 9 he writes down a lengthy prayer of confession. What strikes me most about this prayer is that Daniel makes no distinction between himself and those who have sinned, have rebelled, have been wicked, have not listened to the prophets and have not sought the Lord. For Daniel (and Isaiah) just being counted among the sinful, is the same as being sinful yourself. This idea of communal sin is all but lost on our culture.

I would like to hear any thoughts on how we could encourage this attitude among Christians today.

The Wisdom of This World

2007-09-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

There are few things that annoy me more than listening to or reading the words of "Biblical Scholars" who have no faith.

A while back I took a graduate class on the Gospel of Mark. One of the commentaries we were assigned to read was written by a man who did not believe in the Resurrection. When I learned this, I no longer cared about anything else the man had to say. The professor and I did not see eye to eye on this point.

Now, as I read through Daniel, I am faced with a similar problem. I have two commentaries on Daniel. The two commentaries date Daniel's authorship very differently. One says it was written shortly after Cyrus' capture of Babylon in 539BC. The other dates it in the 2nd century BC. I was confused by this until I read my NIV Study Bible explanation of the two dates. The 2nd century view is held by those who believe long range predictive prophesy is impossible.

I am now torn about what to do with the commentary: do I give it away, or do I burn it?

If you don't believe that God can speak eternal truths that are impossible to come by through any human means, you need to read the bible a few more times through, and FOR MY SANITY'S SAKE, DON'T VOMIT YOUR FAITHLESSNESS ON THE REST OF US THROUGH YOUR COMMENTARIES!

Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become the fool so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness", and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."
I Corinthians 3:18-20

Iron Deficiency

2007-09-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17

One of the main reasons for starting this blog is so that I could share my thoughts with Godly men who would test and approve, reject, modify, or scoff at them. I currently work in a situation where there is very little interaction with other men on a day to day basis, and so I need this to be my iron supplement.

HOWEVER

Nobody is commenting. I am not benefiting from this as I had hoped. I am still getting alot out of it as it helps me think twice about the bible verses I read, but there is so much more to be gained if a few good men (or women) would contribute their voices.

If you think I got it wrong on something, give me a good descriptive comment about how wrong I am.

If you think I hit it on the nail, say so and elaborate.

If you think my comments are on the surface and lazy (which is probably the most likely scenario), say so and challenge me to go deeper.

Thanks in advance for your insights.
Drew

Nearsighted

2007-09-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

In Daniel 7, visions are revealed to Daniel regarding the future of God's people. In these visions he sees a great persecution of God's people but it is revealed to him that ultimate victory and salvation belongs to the saints. Even with this knowledge, Daniel said he was "deeply troubled by my thoughts and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself."

A commentary on the chapter suggests that the burden could largely be because he kept the matter to himself.

Daniel had trouble looking past the persecutions to see the ultimate salvation. I have the same problem (see "Dry Bones" post). A good friend of mine who is a Youth Minister in Kentucky, shared with me the same sentiments. Only recently have I been able to articulate and share my concerns for the future of God's people, but perhaps by sharing these fears, we can be built up and en-couraged to meet the future head on.

Blameless

2007-09-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

As I read through Daniel, my respect for that man is growing tremendously. When reading Ezekiel, I had to do a double take. Two times in Ezekiel, it holds up Daniel as the epitome of Righteousness next to Noah and Job. Another time it holds him up as the epitome of wisdom.

What struck me upon finding that was that Daniel and Ezekiel were contemporaries. The events of Daniel were going on during the writing of Ezekiel. Ezekiel began writing only 12 years after Daniel was sent into Babylonian captivity. If it is true that Daniel was only 15-16 (as some have suggested) when he was sent into captivity, this would mean that he could have been about my age or just a little older when God, through Ezekiel, compared his righteousness with that of Noah and Job.

Equally impressive is the fact that even though the 120 or so satraps were doing their best to find some dirt on Daniel, they came up empty handed and said, "We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God." (ch 6:5)

This contrasts starkly with political candidates today. No matter how good a candidate appears, there is always some dirt that can be dug up against him/her. But not with Daniel, he was truly blameless.

I sometimes wonder what they would dig up on me if I ran for office. I can certainly think of several things that would be shameful enough to get me disqualified from running, but I wonder how they could find it.

There is one who can always find the dirt on me. He always throws it in my face to discourage me from running my race. He even points these fallacies out to God so that I will lose my election.

However...

I have one who stands in my defense, one who is blameless in every way. He does not listen to the accusations, not because he thinks I would never do such a thing, he knows, he just refuses to let me be bound by my failures. He has set me free, he has washed me, he has declared that I am BLAMELESS.

The Lord Is There

2007-09-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

As I was finishing Ezekiel today, I got bogged down with the details of a Temple that was never built. I was having difficulty understanding why God devoted such a large narrative to describing everything about the building.

Then in chapter 43 it tells Ezekiel to describe the temple so that Israel will be ashamed of their sins. I suppose that hearing the wonderful plans God had in store for them would make them ashamed that they ever turned their backs on Him in the first place.

It describes the Glory of the Lord returning to the temple and dwelling among them. It describes a River of Life flowing out of the temple. Then it closes with the name of the city that houses the temple:

The LORD Is There!

What a place to live! Who wouldn't want to live there! Real Estate values would skyrocket.

And yet...

We carry around in our bodies the Living God. The same sign should be on our clothes. People should be flocking towards us to share this gift from God!

Do people recognize that the Lord is here?
Do you feel ashamed of your sin when you realize the plans God has in store for you?

These are just some of the questions I have wrestled with in the closing chapters of Ezekiel. Next up is Daniel. I am looking forward to that.

Dry Bones

2007-09-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

In my walk through the bible (literally since I listen while walking with my son Jude every morning), I have come to Ezekiel 37. This verse is not one that is new to me, having known of the Dry Bones ministry in Denver for several years, which centers it's philosophy of ministry around God's supreme ability to raise to life the dead in any situation(the picture above was copied from their website). It just so happens that those dry bones where only MOSTLY dead.

I think that most Christians believe that principle at some level intellectually. I also think that it is proportionally easier to believe with the increase of distance. I have no trouble believing in the great revivals of China and Africa, but it is very difficult for me to see hope in the churches of America.

There are such vast forces arrayed against us that it often appears to be a hopeless situation. When I was young, school kids with regular access to pornography were in the vast minority. Recently, I had to confront a parent with the fact that their 9 year old was viewing hard core pornography on their home computer. And this is one of the good families, one of the best. It terrifies me to think of how many children are growing up with unchecked sexual addictions. Just like any drug, pornography leads to heavier doses, and more fatal drugs. I fear that the sexual crime rate will be skyrocketing very soon.

I also recently heard a statistic that only about 10% of children today are growing up in a family with both biological parents. 1 out of 10 children are being raised in a family like the one God designed. The numbers of fatherless boys is at an epidemic level.

What can the church do in such times?

Even the ideal church would be hard pressed to serve the world in times like these. But look at the condition of our church. We are so utterly divided, we are almost unrecognizable as the body of Christ. Of the 15 or so Churches of Christ in the county, there are only two that we can fellowship with. There are much more splits than mergers, and so many issues that divide those who still worship in the same building.

I do feel like Elisha's servant when surrounded by Arameans. I pray that God opens my eyes so that I can see HIS ARMY with my own eyes. I believe he can raise up these dry bones, I just need help overcoming my unbelief.

The Deeper Meaning

2007-08-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

In one of the books I have been reading (The Crux of the Matter), there was a great quote about communion.

The New Testament connects the Lord's Supper to many different things- sacrifice, covenant meal, lifeblood, fellowship meal, marriage feast, thanksgiving, church unity, manna, the messianic celebration of heaven, and more. If we open up all of its Old Testament connections, we get a picture bursting with meaning. Yet some churches rarely hear the Lord's supper linked with anything other than...that of memorial.

This statement couples perfectly with the metaphor of the Bible as a telescope-(you can know everything there is about the telescope[lens sizes, focal points etc.], but if you don't use it to search the galaxies you have missed the whole point. In the same way if you can quote the Bible forwards and backwards but have never used it in a way that helped you search out the mysteries of God and to know Him better, you too have missed the point.)

The Bible is to be treated with far greater respect than we typically give it. It is alive and active and yet we settle for knowing its vital stats instead of having an intimate relationship with God. The way we myopically treat communion is a prime example. We were commanded to do it in remembrance and so that is what we do. We have met the status quo and there is no need to dive deeper.

I have heard of Christian married couples who treat sex in this manner. We were commanded to be fruitful and multiply and so we do it. Meanwhile there is an atheist who wrote a book called The Passionate Marriage who says there is a huge well of intimacy that is there for the taking for those who will explore their spouse through the regular activity of sexual fulfillment.

When it comes to God, and the religious activities associated with Him, where do you stand (or lie as the case may be)?

Restoration: What is worth restoring?

2007-08-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

This is a question that has been on my mind for quite some time now, though I have not been able to verbalize it. I see the question in many of the ministers that I interact with, in many of the blogs I read, and I see it in the church. I think the vast majority agree that there are some very important ideals represented in the 1st century church that need to be emulated. However, there are some very different ideas about what needs to be preserved and how.

I am in the process of reading three books: The Crux of the Matter (an essential read for any restoration Christian trying to make sense of today's Church of Christ), Searching for God Knows What (A great follow up to Blue Like Jazz that challenges readers to look through the surface into the heart of God), and The Simple Church (a call to a simple discipleship model in the Church that gets everyone on the same page with "One Spirit and One Purpose").

These are three very different books with very unique authors. But as I have been reading them, they all seem to shout that there is a gravitational center to the Bible and the church must share it. One book calls it the core and the crux, another calls it the heart, another calls it the focus. Elsewhere I have heard it called target theology.

Call it what you want, but it is clear that there is a central theme that all else must revolve around. We must be a church of concentric circles. All of our ideals, practices, stances, and ministries must share the same gravitational center, or else our efforts become jumbled and unclear. If you happen to near a body of water while it is raining, through a small rock in and see how long you can keep your eyes on the point of entry. It gets lost quickly due to the hundreds of other ripples that are focused on where each drop of rain struck the water. But if you throw a small rock into a pond on a calm day, you can see clearly where the source of the ripples is long after the rock is thrown; even though the ripples can reach over the entire pond, the center is still discernable.

We must first restore the core of the bible, before we can ever attempt to restore biblical church.

That center is clearly LOVE.

God IS LOVE

God LOVEs mankind

We LOVE God in return

We LOVE those who God LOVES

From Genesis to Revelation the theme is clearly seen.

First and foremost, let us restore dynamic, revolutionary LOVE.

If we get that right, I think our churches need not fear their candle being snuffed out, and we as it's members need not fear the day we are laid bare before God in judgement.

The Huggable God

2007-08-23T09:52:00.001-07:00

One of the things that fascinates me about our God, is that he came down to our level so that we could have a relationship with Him.

In youth ministry I get to learn a lot about a student when they are given some responsibility. There are those who, when given responisbility (such as Junior Counselor at our youth camp), they separate themselves from the campers to as if to emphasize their superiority. I would have to admit that my first experience as a Junior Counselor was in this mold. Then there are the others, those who are more secure in their leadership. These take the responsibility as a personal obligation to befriend every camper, especially those who aren't treated well by the others.

The first example is a great parallel to the idols and foreign gods found throughout history. They demand obedience without relationship. Disobedience is punished most severely without pity or restraint.

The second example reflects the heart of God, who, after consistent disobedience and rebellion for thousands of years, made himself human so we could wrap our arms around Him. What a feeling that must have been! Can you imagine what it must have felt like to hug the creator of the universe. To feel pure love in all it's potency beating in the chest pressed against your own.

Completely safe.

Completely secure.

Completely known.

Completely loved.

COMPLETE

The Call

2007-08-18T15:54:00.001-07:00

I have always been apprehensive when asked about my "call" to ministry. Did I hear a voice from God charging me with the task of full time ministry? No. Was I reading the Bible and with sudden inspiration it hit me that I will be a youth minister? No.

But, I have received many other calls into ministry.

The most recent was a call from the father of a Sophomore in my youth group. Not just any girl, the one who brings joy to everyone she's around, young or old. The only one in the youth group who wants nothing better that to have sleep overs with Sarah and I. The one who teared up at the mere mention of us moving away some day. Anyone who has visited with us will know the one.

This call informed me that a recent biopsy revealed the possibility that she might have lymphoma. It is a call that sent me into immediate tears...and into immediate action. Sarah and I began praying our hearts out for her. We made ourselves as available as possible to her and her family. Those are calls into ministry that I receive. Hearts calling out for God's love. Love that God allows me to dispense in His name.

Pray that my phone is never busy or run down and miss those calls.

P.S.- After blood work, they have ruled out cancer, but there is still a scary possibility out there. Please pray for her.

Filthy Rags

2007-08-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

Our best efforts at righteousness, our most charitable donations, our most degrading service, our most selfless sacrifices, our greatest sermons (and writings for that matter), are nothing but bloody menstrual rags in the sight of our Awesome and Holy God. Sound harsh? Take a look at Isaiah 64:6. “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” At first glance this seems as though it would fit in well with Paul’s compilation of OT assertions about mankind’s irreparable sinfulness. (“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18)) However, if you look closely, you will notice that Paul’s compilation denounces the wrongdoings of evil men, whereas this statement in Isaiah dethrones the righteous acts of men that we are quick to honor. How can he bring such an indictment against our righteous acts? Simple. The theory of relativity was around long before Einstein. The prophets, as they spoke the words of God, were given a clear view of the true nature of things. Things that appear tragic and loathsome from the human standpoint are actually good and pleasing in the sight of God, whereas the things that appear great and good from the human standpoint are seen as feeble and detestable through the eyes of God. For example, only a few chapters before the “filthy rags” comment in the beginning of Chapter 57 we find this paradox. “The righteous perish and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.” It is all a matter of perspective. In regard to righteous acts, even the best are tainted with selfishness and impure motives, and are based on woefully incomplete knowledge and understanding of God and His righteousness. This is why the Hebrews writer says that without faith it is impossible to please God. We can never give something to God that earns His respect by its own merit. It is like trying to impress Michael Jordan with my basketball skills, or showing Lance Armstrong how fast and long I can ride my bike. Nothing I could possibly do can come close to impressing them. This is the point God was trying to get across to Job. Job was so proud of His righteousness that God finally had to shout in a 4 chapter monologue, “YOU THINK I’M IMPRESSED!!!” So, if nothing we can do or accomplish can please or impress God, what does that leave us with? It leaves us with humble, childlike faith. Like a toddler’s artwork, our heavenly Father will take our filthy rags with joy and pride, if they are offered in humble faith, reverence and fear.

DELEGATE or DIE

2007-06-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

This needs to be my motto. I have been told more than once lately that I am taking too much on myself. There are many gifted people at our church who would love the opportunity to help, but they are rarely asked. I now find myself only two weeks from the day we leave for our mission trip to mexico and I have Camp classes to plan, and then we have jr impact followed by sr impact. Which means, I only have today and the next two that I wont be on a youth trip. If I have any hair or sanity left by the time July gets here, I will consider it a blessing.

Funny Story (also happens to be confession pt4)

2007-05-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

It has indeed been awhile. I have been dreading this post for reasons you will soon know. I truly appreciate the help all of you have been in digging through this topic of confession. It has been a great blessing to me and, Lord willing, to many others some day. I thought that day was to be May 6th, however...

On Monday April 9th, I went to our preacher and asked him if he knew what subject I could preach on in three weeks that would fit into his series on spiritual growth. He left it up to me so I told him I would like to speak on confession. He agreed so I began my preparations. This is when I enlisted your help and did my best to lay out the foundations of the sermon to be. I tried to think through everything well in advance because the week before my sermon was going to be jam packed with trips and events. With your help, I had my entire sermon ready to put on paper by April 22. But, when I arrived early that Sunday morning, I was stunned to see the title of that morning's sermon, "Confession".

That morning I realized that I had a long way to go in controlling my temper. There are now some knuckle holes in the wall of our sound room and some paint off of the door stuck to the back of my song book as reminders of my shortcomings in that area. I was amazed that anyone could be so thoughtless. But as I read his sermon, I realized that very little of what I was going to say was used in his sermon. So I decided to press on with what would now be the second installment of a two part sermon on Confession.

Friday, April 27th
I get an email from one of our elders asking me if preparations were going well for our Missions Sunday on May 6th. And this whole time I was thinking Dustin was inexcusably forgetful.

In the words of Homer Simpson, "DOH!!!"

I now had to scrap the Confession sermon and save it for a later date and come up with an entirely new Missions sermon. The problem is that the 28th-29th we were on a retreat to meet with the other groups going with us to Mexico. The 30th- May 2nd was a Youth Ministers retreat hosted by Lipscomb. May 4th-5th was our 30hour famine. Also on May 5th was a city wide service day hosted by 2 baptist churches, 1 methodist and our church. The 30 hour famine ended at 10pm Saturday night. Then I had some cleaning up to do so I didn't get home until about 11:15 the night before I was to preach. Fortunately, I believe God worked through me that morning. I was perhaps more bold in some of my statements than I would have been if I had been more prepared. All in all, things worked out for the best.

Since there is not much material here for discussion, lets see if any of you can figure out the connection between this post and the picture above.

Confession (pt 3)

2007-04-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

In my experience, I have noticed that when the need arises for me to confess, I am met with formidable opposition. Just thinking about wording my failures to my wife makes my breathing labored, my heart pound, and my temperature rise. The effect on my mind and body is identical to how I react to an unexplained noise during the night that makes me wonder if someone has broken into our house.

Ironically, Sarah explained to me that when she realizes that I am about to confess, she reacts the exact same way.

In essence, when my sin is exposed, we both feel under attack.

We feel vulnerable

We feel defensive

A recent conversation with my brother has been very enlightening.

He said that when we sin there are two basic consequences; shame and fear (as illustrated in Genesis 3). For simplicity, I will focus on the shame aspect

When we sin, we are filled with shame. At this point there are only three options available to us.

Option 1: Rid yourself of the shame.

This option is often taken even before the sin takes place, but after it becomes clear that our sin is imminent. The only way to do this without exposing our sin, is to rationalize. It is possible for us to convince ourselves that what we have done (or what we are about to do) is not something to be ashamed of and so effectively eliminate the shame.

The main problem with this option is that it lowers our standard of holiness and further separates us from God who is the source of true healing.

Option 2: Hide and fix

This option is best illustrated by the change in parking habit I have noticed when our preacher returns the church bus to its spot. For quite some time he and I would always park the bus in the same manner, backed into the space with the passenger side facing the church entrance. A couple of weeks ago he made a wide right turn causing a driver in the right lane to crash into our passenger side. Since then, I have been parking the bus as I have been, but I've noticed that anytime our preacher drives the bus it is parked with the damaged side facing away from the church entrance where no one can see the damage. This will probably continue until we are able to get the bus fixed.

While this is great way to deal with damaged vehicles, it is completely unworkable for the damaged life. I have tried many times to conceal my sin so long that when I finally confessed my sin, it would only be as a distant memory when I used to be screwed up. As you can probably guess, I never achieved a great enough distance between myself and my sin to be able to confess without shame. In fact, it seemed that when I hid my sin and tried to fix it secretly, my sin only increased. While this option is better than option 1 in that it recognizes the sin and attempts to deal with it, it is not a viable option in dealing with our sin and subsequent shame.

Option 3: Expose

This option is the most difficult route to choose because it makes us incredibly vulnerable and breaks through our facades. More importantly, it is met with the most opposition because it is the ONLY route to true healing, and there are vast forces arrayed against us that do not want us healed.

And so it is that when we seek to expose sin, or when sin is exposed by our loved ones, we feel under attack. But if we have died to our sinful nature, we recognize that it is no longer we who sin, but it is the sinful nature within us. Therefore, when we confess our sin, we are standing with God agreeing that the sin is wrong and shameful, but we do not let it identify us. If we let our standing with God be the source of our identity, we can be free to confess our sin without the attack on our identity, for it is in Christ's righteousness that we stand.

Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ that rescues me from this body of death.

Please continue to share any thougths on the subject as I strive to better understand the nature of sin and confession.

Confession (pt 2)

2007-04-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

...the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (Rom 10:9-10)

If I did nothing else but read this scripture in front of our congregation, it would make many people uncomfortable and nervous...Why?

In a devotional I gave recently, I listed the FIVE STEPS OF SALVATION (the all caps indicates that this phrase sounds best by the horror/ suspense movie trailer guy...you know, "Coming this summer...are you ready for the...) The point I was making in my devotional is how little we actually DO in these five steps. Hear- pretty passive. Believe-unquantifiable. Repent-very subjective. Confess-just words no real action. Then there's the main point that the whole thing is leading up to; BE BAPTIZED-PASSIVE. I have never heard of anyone baptizing themselves, and as John Risse said, "Unless God meets you there, all you have done is taken a bath." The whole point of the devotional was to point out that our salvation is not something our actions, doctrines, or formulas can achieve. That point was apparently lost on one of our older gentlemen (whom I respect and love dearly), seeing as how he came up to me afterwards and congratulated me on giving the FIVE STEPS OF SALVATION.

The reason I tell that story is because we get really nervous and defensive of our FIVE STEP formula when we see a TWO STEP. It is not because God is being challenged; how could he be challenged by his own Word? It is not because scripture is being challenged; it takes a greater respect for scripture to look at verses like this than to skip over them as we are tempted to do. No, we are defensive because our traditions and interpretations are being challenged.

We are afraid that if we admit the validity of anothers stance on baptism, that we will undermine our own confidence in the truth. After all, if we can't confidently stand on our views of scripture, how can we dare to expect others to take us seriously when we teach on it?

Confidence in our interpretation of scripture is confidence in the flesh.

Confidence that God's love and grace can not only cover over a multitude of sins but a multitude of doctrines as well demonstrates a humble confidence in the one who saves.

To confess that Jesus is Lord means we have to:
Confess that our congregation, denomination, our formulas or doctrines are NOT lord.
Confess that we have fallen grievously short of perfect attitudes, perfect practice, perfect behavior, and perfect understanding of scripture and therefore desperately need salvation.
Confess that we have much to learn from ALL our brothers and sisters who seek the ONE LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.

Confession (pt 1)

2007-04-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sin separates, confession reunites.

When Adam and Eve first walked the earth, they had an intimate relationship with God, sin destroyed that. They began to hide, put up barriers. They were afraid of being exposed. Every child walks this same path. Children have the interesting habit of saying exactly what is on their mind, regardless of whether or not they should. But then they stumble across sin. They find that they don't want others to know about some of their feelings and actions. This is when they enter into the secretive teenage years. I have heard so many parents complain that they just don't know what is going on in their teenagers life.

These early teenage years can be very lonely, insecure and isolated.

Then it happens.

For me it was about my junior year in high school. There was a shift. I no longer felt ashamed of my acne, my crooked nose, or my gut. I no longer felt ashamed for my shortcomings as a Christian. I began to let people in. I don't think I ever had fun in school until my upperclassmen years at Wylie High.

We are seeing it occur all over our church. There have been several people at our church with secret sin. When we started our small groups, we took turns laying it all out on the line. Afterwards, we made it a point to tell each other we loved them. It has been a freeing experience for all. It is an incredible feeling to be known completely, and still be loved. This is how God loves us, but we can't come to grips with that until we let another human love us completely.

David says it this way:

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
When I kept silent my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer
THEN
I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord
AND YOU FORGAVE THE GUILT OF MY SIN
Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found
surely when the mighty waters rise,
they will not reach him.
You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
(Psalm 32)

Confession (Intro)

2007-04-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

You might think by the title of this post that I am about to share with you some dark reason why I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. And while I am sure I could have put something down on this page, the reason I haven't been on here as much lately is because I have been out there much more. It started with spring break. We took a group hiking in the smokies and then took a group to the infamous Bible Bowl. I had nothing to do with planning either trip, but as the youth minister, I get to go along for the ride and take the credit (or blame in many cases). Below are some of the pictures from the week.

After spring break, I have been wrapped up in a Rick Atchley series called United Kingdom. It can be found at the Richland Hills Church of Christ website. Search the sermons back to last spring and summer. It is an 8 sermon series that I keep listening to over and over. I feel there is a great deal in there that needs to be boldly proclaimed in our area churches.

With all of that said, I will be filling in for our preacher on May 6th. He has been going through a series on Spiritual Growth so I asked if I could speak on confession.

I want to pour out some of my preliminary thoughts here, so that anyone who is interested can help me work through this subject.

To Be CONTINUED

Communion

2007-03-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

I have been reading in Leviticus.

For the first time in a long time I have been finding it very interesting.

It is amazing how much sacrifice was required for sins.

It also struck me how there was a voluntary fellowship offering.

It reminded me of communion.

When we commune, we recognize:
The sacrifice required by our sins
The body to which we belong
And the suffering that we fill up in ourselves that was lacking.

We seldom think in terms of community, even in communion.

I think it is part of the curse of being in the modern world.

If we are to succeed, it is up to us.

If we are to fail, it is because of our shortcomings.

It was not always so.

Wouldn't it be great to have a Christian community where we rely on God and each other.

I think I'll be Amish.

or Davidian

The Woes of God

2007-03-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

I am sick

Not just in a sinful perverse human kind of way

But physically ill.

There are many drawbacks of being sick that really get me down.

I can't exercise even though the weather is perfect for the first time this spring.

I can't help Sarah around the house

I can't help the teens load up the skateboard ramps

I can't do many of the things make spring so amazing

But none are as bad as the separation from my family

I can't hug, kiss and hold Sarah and Jude like a husband and father should.

It is this fact above all else that makes me despise my condition.

In times like this, I think I can see a little bit into the heart of God.

Maybe this is why God hates sin so much, because it separates Him from us...

HIS CHILDREN

I long to be well so that I can be close to my family

I long to be whole so that I can be one with my Father.

What do you REALLY need?

2007-03-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the long absence of posts. I have been experiencing some technical difficulties that have hindered my devotional time. My mp3 player that I use to listen to the bible has been malfunctioning and my internet filter decided to block the blogs that I use to go deeper in my devotional time. It has been a difficult time with many things to do, but little foundation with which to do them. I have come to realize that my dependence on these things should not be limiting. I was griping about the mp3 player when a friend informed me that the bible now comes in hard copy. Then Miller reminded me that the word should be written on my heart and I should be able to draw strength from that. As for the blogs, I have many books on my shelf and a pen and paper that would suffice during my devotional time.

I can relate to Miller's paraphrase, "woe to you who are filled up with your things."

I have mentioned many times that Sarah and I NEEDED to get a car with more room, but then I saw these pictures and it made me think what do I really need?

Do I need more Cargo space?

Do I need more seating?

Do I need room for a Childseat?

I am pretty sure the Lord has blessed me with all that I need!

Jules' Calamari

2007-02-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

I came across this story in the news the other day.

This Colossal squid is 39 foot long and weighs 990 pounds.

The article said that if you were to make calamari rings from this squid, they would be the size of tractor tires.

What an amazing creature.

I remember as a kid being amazed when my dad would flex his biceps for me.

I remember being in awe of his strength.

I love that God enjoys amazing us in the same way.

But unlike the fishermen in the story, I had no desire to kill, and dissect my dads arms.

Know what I mean Verne.

To Be a Hoe

2007-02-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

I've got Moses on the mind.

As I have been reading through Exodus, I can't get past Moses' call.

I feel a great connection with him. I feel his doubt as he argues against God's persistence that Moses isn't worthless.

And like Moses, I want to look God in the face and tell him to promise me that he will be there blessing my efforts. I think it also has to do with the time of year.

It is about that time of year again.

Sometime in the near future, I believe my elders will meet with me to evaluate my ministry role at our church. It is time of great insecurity for me.

I have yet to get a bad report and yet I feel that there is so much more I could be doing.

A minister friend said he feels like God could use a stick to do his job.

My reply was that God is using a stick; a carefully grown, honed, sharpened, and shaped stick that God has developed for a specific purpose.

Yet even as the words left my mouth, I felt the creeping insecurities enter my own mind.

What good AM I doing?

My concern is not that I have no talent. It is that I bury my talent.

Not in some unassuming humility sort of way, but in a lazy servant sort of way.

I know that I am no more than a stick that is nothing without God, but a hoe is only a sharp stick until it lets itself be used by the master and breaks the ground.

I'm tired of being a sharp stick, I want to be a hoe.

Asleep at the Teet

2007-02-24T14:09:00.000-08:00

It occurred to me that much of my life is spent asleep at the teet.

God is always there

He is always wanting to pour out his blessings on me

He wants me to grow

He wants me to trust

He wants me to love

He wants to nourish me with all the fullness that comes from life in Him

The nipple's in my mouth

But I just don't suck

Victorious Retreat

2007-02-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I was in a place where I often am.

In this place, there are many computers and little accountability.

Due largely to my family situation, it had been a long time since I have been faced with my old archenemy, the temptation to lust.

However, as my tired brain began to wander, the old feelings returned and I found myself staring it in the eyes.

SO, having read much of Edridge's material I decided to be a real man...

And ran out of there like a bat out of hell

with my tail tucked between my legs.

I felt weak,

I felt defeated,

Upon arriving home

I kissed my wife and son

And when I told my tale, it could not have been clearer

I was her knight in shining armor who had just slain his dragon.

"A Christian empties himself in order to be full,
Admits he is wrong so he can be declared right,
Goes down in order to get up
Is strongest when he is weakest
Richest when he is poorest
And happiest when he feels worst.
He dies so he can live,
Forsakes in order to have
Gives away in order to keep
Sees the invisible
Hears the inaudible
And knows that which passes knowledge."
A. W. Tozer

Jude Owens Baker... Or Jude-O...or JOB (the man, not the occupation)

2007-02-12T11:41:00.000-08:00

He is finally here. We are so proud to announce the birth of our first son, Jude Owens Baker. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. They were definitely answered as everyone is healthy and we didn't have to have a C-section. Next time I will remember to ask for less pain or shorter time in hospital. He is the most beautiful baby, here is some proof.

Baby Time!!

2007-02-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Last night was our last baby-less night at home. Tonight we will go into the hospital for cervidil and be induced in the morning. Please pray for us- that we can avoid a c-section if possible, but ultimately that Sarah and our baby are ok.

What If?

2007-02-05T12:31:00.000-08:00

Last night three area churches had a devotional before the Superbowl festivities, and before I prayed that the meal of saturated and trans fats go to the nourishment of our bodies, I challenged the teens to allow others to go first in the food line. I told them it would be a beautiful thing if everyone insisted that someone else go ahead of them. One of the middle schoolers piped in with the question, "What if no one goes first?" I told him that unfortunately, that has never been a problem I've had to face- a fellowship hall full of teens where no one wanted first dibs on pizza and buffalo wings.

What a wonderful problem to have, a building full of people who considered others better than themselves. What would that youth group look like? What would the church look like if it was filled with people who were REAL living sacrifices? What would the world see if the church existed to serve and love with a complete disregard for personal wealth, health or reputation? What if instead of trying to be right we focused on being righteous in everything we do?

What if?

I groan with eager expectation for the TRUE sons of God to be revealed, then the creation itself will be liberated from it's bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

I'll Do What Is Right...later

2007-02-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Why is it so easy to procrastinate when it comes to doing the right thing?

I was watching the Count of Monte Cristo last night and it struck how long it was until Dantes did what was right. He had sought his own path to the end before devoting anything to God. In the above scene, he has exacted revenge on everyone who had wronged him, THEN he devotes all that was used for revenge to be used for good.

Another kind of procrastination is ridding yourself of undesireables, Pharoah said, "Tomorrow" when asked when he would like the plague of the frogs to be removed. WHY NOT TODAY! (I think there is a book about this). I often put off dealing with my sin in the same way. But my greater struggle is to do good now and not wait around for it to fit into my schedule.
James warns against making grand plans for tomorrow and neglecting today ending with, "He who knows the good he ought to do, and doesn't do it, SINS.

Why do we squander the time God gave us in waiting for a tomorrow that might not be there. I remember as a Youth Ministry student being placated by the thought of future ministry. It freed me to do what I wanted to do now. This attitude has not left me. I see those with more wealth than I and privately yearn for the day when I will have that much to give. All the while, my pockets are full, and others are going hungry. What am I waiting for?

I resolve to change this lazy attitude in myself...tomorrow.

Christian Apgar

2007-01-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

One of the many sections of scripture that frighten me is when Paul states that we who teach will be judged more strictly. In another verse that closely relates, Matthew says that the way in which we judge others will be taken in consideration when we ourselves our judged. There seems to be a flexible grading scale by which we will be judged. But, it is not entirely objective. There are some basics that will be expected of everyone. To my surprise, it is mirrored in the APGAR test for newborns. I feel that this test is a good starting point for self evaluation for a Christian.

ACTIVITY
Are you stagnant or are you actively striving to bend and change as you are molded into Christ? Do you act out your faith or are you content with talking the talk?

PULSE
Is your heart strong? Do you hurt with those who hurt, rejoice with those who rejoice and have compassion on all? Do you love God and love your neighbor with a fierce persistence?

GRIMACE (REFLEX RESPONSE)
Do you hate sin? Are you fed up with Satan's lies? Are your reflexes developed to where you shun evil as quickly as your hand would jerk away from a hot stove?

APPEARANCE
When people look at you, would they say you're the spitting image of your dad?

RESPIRATION
Are your lungs filled with the breath of the Spirit. Are you alive with the Pneuma (wind, Spirit, breath) of God? Are you led by the Spirit, are you empowered by the Spirit, are you counseled by the Spirit?

In each of these categories, grade yourselves from 0-2. The following is the exact wording from babycenter.com. I don't feel the need to make a commentary in order for you to see the significance of what is said about the scoring.

If your baby scores between 7 and 10, it usually means he's in good shape and doesn't need more than routine post-delivery care. (Don't be disappointed if your baby doesn't score a perfect 10, though. It's unusual for a baby's hands and feet to have good color one minute or so after arrival.) If your baby scores between 4 and 6, he may need some help breathing. This could mean something as simple as suctioning his nostrils or massaging him, or it could mean giving him oxygen. If your baby scores 3 or less, he may need immediate lifesaving measures, such as resuscitation. Keep in mind, though, that a low score at one minute doesn't mean that your baby won't eventually be just fine.

Here's To The Underdog

2007-01-30T10:42:00.000-08:00

It struck me as I was continuing my study in Genesis how God continually works through younger brothers. Adam's first son- bad; his second-good but killed off too early; third son-ancestor of Noah and through him everyone else. Then we have the family of promise. Abraham's oldest, Ishmael was sent out as a 'wild donkey of a man', while his next child was the blessed one. Then Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. And even though Esau was born first, in the four thousand years that have followed, Jacob is listed first because he is the blessed one. Then Jacob marries 2 sisters, the younger is the favorite. He has 12 boys with four women and his favorites are the last two. Joseph has two sons and the younger, Ephraim, is blessed ahead of is older brother Manasseh. Even though there have been countless changes in the millennia that have followed, I am certainly glad that this divine priority hasn't changed:)

Sour Grapes

2007-01-25T09:04:00.001-08:00

"I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me and the cost is more than I can bear."

As I read this morning in Genesis I found it frightening the way sins are transferred from father to son. I'm not speaking of original sin, but rather of the tendency of children to repeat the mistakes made by their parents. Example, Isaac using daddy's lie "she is my sister" when referring to their wives. Later, Joseph's brothers deceive Jacob into believing his son was dead by slaughtering a goat. When their dad, Jacob was younger, he deceived his father into blessing him by slaughtering a goat. Four generations of lies and deception with very strong ties between Abraham's and Isaac's sin, and Jacob and his sons' sin. This is a scary thought to me as I expect the birth of my first son any day now. Will he be doomed to repeat his idiot of a father's failures? Will he succeed where I have failed only to fail in some 'new' way that I am not prepared for? In Exodus 20 God promises punishment for the children of the disobedient, and love to the children of the obedient. And while Jeremiah and Ezekiel both state that the one who sins is the one who will die, I have to believe that parts of Exodus 20 still hold true. My son will sin in terrible ways, probably in very similar ways that I have sinned, yet because of God's faithfulness, I know that God will love my son and see him through to the end. So even though I have eaten sour grapes, my son's teeth do not have to be 'set on edge'. Praise God who shows love to a thousand generations of those who seek Him!

Resolution

2007-01-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

In order to remain focused on the purpose of this blog (to aid in my devotion/ reflection and to stretch and grow in my thinking and my love) I have decided to be more intentional in my approach. One of my resolutions is to break down the separation between what I write and what I do. SO...I resolve to post a blog ONLY after doing three other things: praying, reading God's word, and reading recent posts by other Christians. This way, I will never come to a discussion unprepared. It is a technique utilized by many of my professors; make all students read ALL of the material for the section, test us over that material, and then we could all enter into valuable discussion because we all have something to offer.

In addition, I will not post a blog if I have not put my faith into action by going out of my way to serve someone in the last 7 days. I know it is a pathetic thing to go an entire week without serving, but that's where I am and so that is where I must start...this is my ground zero. Hopefully I will one day be able to up the ante to not posting unless I have served someone in the last 24 hours. Till then, be praying that I will keep these commitments. I trust that God will grow me in countless ways during which I hope he will open my eyes to a whole new realm of potential growth.
Also, hold me accountable. If I haven't posted anything in a while, you can be sure that my relationship with God is not where it should be. Call me on it!

A New Approach (For Me At Least)

2007-01-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

Last week I gave a devotional on being "slow to speak, quick to listen, and slow to become angry". It was then that I realized that I was quite the opposite. I wanted to sound wise to others, and I wanted others to sound foolish. All the while, the depth of my bible study was hardly ankle deep, and my prayer life was pathetic; barely remembering to pray for my own family on a regular basis. This stems from a foolish pride that I am commiting to destroy in my life. I realize that I have been camped out at an oasis in the desert; not the desert that Miller envisions (a place where you are doing all that you should do, and walking with God in close communion), but more like the "arid places" where the demons are sent when they are cast out. I also realize that my oasis was only a mirage, or a Matrix, if you will, to hold my mind captive and blind me to the spiritual warfare all around me. I am done trying to sound wise (not because I am humble, but because I am truly an idiot). From here on out I will be using this blog as a tool for my personal devotion. I will be striving to learn and change, so what I need the most right now is constructive criticism, and tough questions to spur me on. I will be doing a lot more reading than I will be writing, and when I do write, it might seem elementary or foolish and rightfully so, but hopefully with the help of other Christians who are further along in their walk with God, I can grow to know Christ more fully, and learn to imitate Him in every aspect of my life.