Where is freedom found?

Galatians 5:13-15

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Freedom, it's not just a pipe dream, it's a calling. Thinking about that statement, that we were called to freedom. It means that when we live in some kind of bondage, we are not fulfilling our calling. Again, Paul issues a disclaimer, the freedom he speaks of is not a freedom of the flesh. It is not an absolute freedom to live as we please, do as we please. That is so opposed to the gospel message of surrender, sacrifice, and carrying our own cross. No, it is the freedom to live out what is innate in all of us, being created in God's image. It is the ability to not be under the control of some compulsion or sin. It is the freedom to honestly seek and obtain our heart's desires.

So where is this freedom found? It is found in submission, of all the ironical places. Submission to God and to one another. It is found in love. Not ooey gooey love, but Godly love that lays down its life for the sake of others.

It is not the kind of freedom that some want. But it is the only true freedom some will ever know.

T or F: Jesus hates everything secular

So where would we find Jesus, at a Casting Crowns concert, or the Grateful Dead?

Again, I am not saying there is anything wrong with Casting Crowns. In fact, I love their music. But the question is not if the music is good or bad, it is where would Jesus be? I think an honest look at his ministry says he's at the Grateful Dead concert, hanging with the sinners. No, he's not taking a toke from blunt that is being passed around, he is just being himself, talking about life and his Father, intriguing some who are listening while others continue about whatever they were doing.

I think of Zacchaeus, a tax-collector who was curious about Jesus. He wanted to see Jesus without being seen, but Jesus called him out, and then had dinner with him. Now Zach was no small sinner. He was a hated sell-out, helping the Romans finance their control over his people. And yet in the midst of the dinner, Jesus proclaims that salvation has come to this home.

Jesus did not hate the secular, he embraced it. He went out into it and attracted people to himself by the strength of his living the truth. He embraced it without letting it attract himself to it. That is tough for us humans. Anytime we surrender to the satisfaction of this world over our satisfaction in knowing God, we have fallen short. Some would say, "Then why take the chance? Why not just avoid the world?" My answer is, "Because then we are already defeated."

I read today in Matt Chandler's book, The Explicit Gospel, how we have changed the Great Commission. Instead of going out into the world, we want to invite the world to come to us. While that is a sweet idea, it is not what Jesus commanded.

Jesus did not hate the secular, he embraced it. What about us?

15 Reasons to Stay.

Found this here. I added a few comments in bold print, so those are not from the original author.

1. I believe that there is no such thing as Church (with a capital “C”) without church (with a lower case “c”)--as messy and as difficult as that may be. I think that many churches believe that they have to have a pristine appearance to attract clientele, or perhaps the "right" clientele. Anything that smacks of ugliness is often quickly and quietly discarded.
2. I want to be the change in the world that I seek. And that means engaging the problems closest to me. Like in the next pew. Like in this pew. Like in my own seat.
3. I believe that reconciling nations and people starts at home. If I can’t work toward reconciliation in my own church, there is no way I will be able to accomplish it on a broader level anywhere else. Amen!
4. I’m not a militant separatist. I don’t believe that everybody has to think EXACTLY the way I do before I will worship with them. Even if they are more conservative than I am. Again, I see too many churches who have adopted a "cookie cutter" mentality. If someone holds to a different position, we dismiss them as hard-headed or not unified with the body. But I wonder sometimes, do my toes always agree with my fingers?
5. I don’t expect the church to be anything other than it is—a group of difficult, broken people plodding their way to glory. The kingdom of God is coming; it isn’t here yet.
6. I believe the church is bigger than political parties even if the people attending it don’t understand that. Even if the people who leave it don’t seem to understand that either.
7. I believe Jesus can and wants to redeem Pharisees as much as publicans. You have to believe this, or you become one of the Pharisees!
8. I believe by staying in the church I earn the right to speak about the problems I see. It’s the old adage that you can criticize your family but no one else can. By staying with “my family,” I can speak about our failures and the doubts I wrestle with. I think that is why churches seek to get rid of problem children quickly. Don't let the take root!
9. I believe that 2000 years of church history holds a bit more weight than my personal experience.
10. I have brothers and sisters in Christ who have been imprisoned and lost their lives for doing the very thing that I would be giving up. And they do it JOYFULLY. At one point, someone confronted me and asked about my happiness. I said that my happiness is not my concern, but my joy in the Lord certainly is. If my peace comes from having everything in place, it is a fragile peace indeed!
11. I do not want to lose people I love and who love me and my family. And while there are times that conviction must trump relationships, these relationships act as a grid to help me determine whether my convictions are sufficient enough to risk losing these people from my life.
12. I need the church to regularly remind me about the things that I don’t like in the Scripture. Things like God’s anger and my sinfulness--things that if left to myself, I would conveniently ignore or rationalize. Hopefully, the church is up to the task!
13. I am not an island. My choice to leave church affects everyone else in the congregation. Remove one part from the whole and it is no longer the same entity.
14. I have children. And while I’ll be the first to admit that it’s dangerous to raise your children in a church that distorts the gospel, it’s equally as dangerous to raise them apart from church altogether. One way the gospel is expressed is in the loving covenant relationship that happens in the church – I want that to be part of the warp and weave of their experience. I want them to know that real commitment means taking the good with the bad. Amen!
15. Jesus hasn’t left the church. No, of course, I don’t mean this in a sanctimonious way. (If I had, I would have put the word sanctimonious in asterisks.) I mean simply that after he threw out the money changers, Jesus continued to worship and sacrifice in the temple. His work is to purify and redeem, not to alienate or destroy.

I just couldn't resist..

Story found here.

News flash: Atheist group uses unholy water to unbless a highway! Does anyone else find this ironic?

First, if they wanted to unbless it, does that not imply that it was previously blessed? So when the Christians sought to seek God's favor upon this stretch of highway, the atheists sought to undo what they do not believe in.

Seond, they claim to have unholy water. To have something be unholy, does that not imply that its opposite exists? And if something is holy, does that not imply the existence of God?

So, these people had nothing better to do than to go out on a day of the week, gather together, and do something about something that they really have no practical belief in.

Sounds like church to me.

Holy Justification, Batman!

I read this quote here, refering to divorce, but I want to take it in a little bit different direction.

I plead with you to reconsider this and to understand that when you give account before the Judgment Seat of Christ, these “counselors” you have around you will not be present, and their cowardly justifications for sin will ring quite hollow.

Wow! I had never looked at it that way before. When we stand before God, our pastor is not going to be standing there beside us, saying, "Well, he was just believing what I told him, I really gotta take the blame for this." And even if he were there, do you really think that God will let him take the blame? I really gotta go with a NO on that one.

There is only one who will be standing there besides God and us, and that is Jesus. And I sure don't want him quoting Matthew 7:21-23 when it is my turn. We need to be aware that when we listen to a preacher, that does not fulfill our responsibility to God for that week's reading of the word. No more than putting an offering in the plate relieves us of caring for those in need around us.

Just thought we should know.

Mind Blowing

Found this little snipet here.

In the story that we Christians believe, God actually sends prophets to His people. Not to the unreligious, but to the religious people of the day. Our own story has a history of God calling us back to who we were meant to be. If you are a Christian, you believe that God critiques the very religion He started, sometimes in surprising ways and through surprising people.

I recommend reading the entire article if you have time. It seems that we do spend a lot of time speck hunting, when we should spend more time in log removal. Now, where did I put my chain saw?

Update and stuff

I sit here in the hospital as my daughter continues to get treatment for her "disease." Yeah, that is the term the doctor used today. He was pleased with her response to treatment. After only one day, she has significant strength back. Yay God!

I think about this. In order to get better, my daughter must suffer pain. I don't like it that she has to be stuck by needles, it makes her cry. But if she did not get this IV treatment, she would continue to get worse.

Sometimes, when we try to protect that which we love, we actually do more harm than good. I think of the elders of the church I attend, as they in my opinion, form a protective barrier between the pastor and any who would challenge him. So now, he does not have to defend himself, he is not challenged to grow outside of where he chooses, and the "unity" of the church is preserved. Or is it?

My daughter cried today. She will cry again tomorrow as she takes another IV for another treatment. But I am grateful for her tears, because they reveal a precious gift from God that will ultimately heal her and make her stronger.

Money Can't Buy Everything - Part 3

Just some questions or thoughts about one more statement made during the message.

Around the 13:20 mark, referring to the parable of the talents, he says, "And the moral of that parable is to make the most of what you have and you will be rewarded for it."

Read the parable here. Please read from verse 14 all the way to verse 46 to get the full message.

Now, I suppose one way to read this parable is to look for a moral lesson. Some "thing" that I can do to make me a better person. And there are many people who believe that Jesus was a great moral teacher. But I don't believe that Jesus came to give us moral lessons about being better people. He came to transform us, from the sinners we are to lovers of God we should be. He came to reveal God's presence and glory to us. So in this story, we have two men who respected and obeyed their master. One received five talents and the other two. These two men took their talents and honored their master with them. He gave them a task and they performed it to the best of their ability. And they were successful. But the third man, who only received one talent, did not honor his master. All he thought of was himself. He thought about how his master was cruel, how he would not benefit from his own labors, maybe he was even jealous that he had not been given more responsibility, so he took the talent and buried it. It sounds as if he hated his master!

It is in verses 31-46 where I believe we find the application to this parable. Jesus tells us that on judgement day, the sheep will be separated from the goats. The sheep are those who feed Christ, who give Him drink, who go out of their way to care for Him. And all the while, they don't even look at it as serving Him!

 WHY??????

Because it is a natural part of who they are! They love and respect their master and their lives have been changed. They are not trying to live up to a moral code, but are responding to Christ without thinking about what they are doing. So when He says "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me," they respond by saying, when did we do this for you? They were not trying to earn his favor or live better and more moral lives, they were just living a life that reflected the love of their master, a most natural thing for them to do!

But the goats, they hate the master. Not outwardly. Outwardly I believe even they think they love Him. Outwardly they do what they believe is right things for right reasons. Outwardly, they are very clean dishes and whitewashed tombs. Yet they too did not even realize what their actions revealed. But their selfish burying of their resources, their refusal to reach outside themselves, their inward focus blinded them not only to how they should live, but how they should love. Look at the third man's response. "Here is the talent you gave me." Perhaps he is saying, "Look, this is all that you should expect from me, just what you gave me and nothing more. Take this, it is yours. Now give me what is mine." But that is a very sad and inappropriate response.

Look at it this way. Say my wife is going to be gone on a Saturday, laundry day. She asks me if I can help her out. I say yes. So after she leaves I put a load of laundry in the washer and turn it on. There, I have helped her out. And that was tough, because I hate doing laundry. Or, do I wash, dry, fold and put away the laundry, do the dishes, tidy things around the house, get dinner ready, and even get the lawn mowed and the driveway swept. Both choices reveal my heart. Which response do you think is going to get her to say, "Well done?" Sure, I could justify the first response, because I have my "man" things to do. But when love rules, there is a strange joy that is found, even in doing the laundry. (Please note: It is not the deeds that matter, but the heart behind the deeds. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command," not "If you obey what I command, you love me." Both may look the same, but the difference is huge.)

So in a sense, yes, this parable reveals a message that says, "Make the most of what you have and you will be rewarded." But that is so simplistic and misses teaching the point. The real message here is one of a deep and abiding trust and love for the Master, living a life that honors Him and lives according to the law without the weight of the law crushing us. And I am afraid that a life that does not honor God is this manner, a life that does not see Him as beautiful and wonderful, is a life that just might be damned.

Yeah, what he said...

Tullian Tchividjian, in his book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything, makes this statement in the acknowledgements: "I'm beginning to realize that the gospel is way more radical, offensive, liberating, shocking, and counter intuitive than any of us realize ...the gospel is good but not safe."

It makes me think about the gospel I used to believe. The one where all I have to do is follow a formula like, "Hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized" or any of the other formulas that pronounce us "saved," and the gospel I have come to believe. The one where I actually have to love God and be more and more filled with him thereby emptying myself more and more of self.

The more I dig into the life of Jesus and God's word, the more I see the lunacy of my previous beliefs. It was as if I believed that I could hold God accountable for my interpretation of His word. Like I could get to the pearly gates and argue my way in.

ME: I'm here, and here is my baptismal certificate. Open up the gates!
GOD: What else do you have there?
ME: I got my diploma from seminary. Signed, sealed, and Cum Laude.
GOD: Nice. You learn a lot there? What is that paper?
ME: Tax returns. I tithed on all I earned. After taxes. That is right, isn't it? I really gotta plead ignorance there, the Bible was not clear on that one.
GOD: Anything else?
ME: Certified letter, long-time church member, signed by the Pastor and all the Elders. Got all my Sunday School attendance pins stuck on the bottom. All that metal, almost didn't make it past the metal detectors on the way here. (Chuckle) So what do you say?
GOD: Next!

NEXT: (Trembling, face down, face down, drenched in blood)
GOD: Welcome, my child, enter into paradise.

ME: Excuse me, why does he get in? I saw no certificates, tax-stubs, nothing. Just a dirty man covered in blood.
GOD: That blood he was covered in was the blood of my Son. It is the only thing that you need to get in, and without it, you have nothing.
ME: Where can I get that?
GOD: You don't get it, I already gave it for you. But your hands are too full of those other things. I am truly sorry.
ME: (At a loss for words, knowing it is too late. Finally trembling. Face down. Covered in sweat.)

Matthew 7:21-23  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"