He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
(Micah 6:8)
Over the weekend San Deigo running back LeDanian Tomlinson broke the longstanding NFL single season scoring record held by Green Bay legend Paul Hornung. MSNBC is reporting that Hornung is not happy. "If someone finishes with a greater average than mine, I'll say, 'Fine, he broke my record", Hornung said in a phone call from Louisville.
Contrast this reaction by Hornung to the following story that comes from Sports Illustrated September 10, 1990:
When the Lions, leading 31-24, took possession with barely one minute remaining, Barry Sanders, their blockish, Scripture-spouting rookie running back, had 158 yards. Ten more and he would clinch the NFL rushing title.
On the Detroit sideline, this was brought to the attention of coach Wayne Fontes, who called Sanders over. "I said, 'You're 10 yards from leading the league in rushing,' " recalls Fontes. "
'Do you want to go in?' "
Sanders responded by parroting one of Fontes's favorite maxims: "Coach," he said, "let's just win it and go home."
"I even asked him if there was anything in his contract that said if he led the league in rushing, he got more money," says Fontes. "He said, 'Coach, give the ball to Tony ((fullback Tony Paige)). Let's win it and go home.' "
Sanders could not have cared less about winning the rushing title. "When everyone is out for statistics -- you know, individual fulfillment -- that's when trouble starts," he says. "I don't want to ever fall victim to that." So he stayed on the sideline, and the Lions won the game and went home. Christian Okoye of the Kansas City Chiefs won the rushing title.
Asked if he had any regrets over the summer about not winning the rushing title, Sanders shook his head. "I satisfied my ego last season," he said.
Biblical humility, often translated as "meekness" may be difficult to explain, but you know it when you see it. Or when you don't see it.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
joy and community
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete (1 John 1:3-4).
God Himself lives in perfect community in the Trinity. To be drawn “into Christ” is to begin to understand the kind of community that is in His nature. As the Father loves the Son, and the Holy Spirit reveals that love, the experience of God’s love is realized more fully as we relate to one another. Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart… and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:34). Could it be that the two are related? Jesus said, “They will know you are my disciples by the way you love one another (John 13:35).” John put it this way:
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love (1 John 4:8).
To nurture an “in Christ” lifestyle, the church must create multiple environments, not just for witness, but for “withness.” Not just for discipleship, but for fellowship. This is why our church is putting a lot of time, resources and energy into a structure of Sunday morning Bible study connection classes and home community groups that meet Sunday nights and throughout the week. We recognize that our product is changed lives and that life change happens best in small groups. We are creating multiple discipling and fellowshipping environments. Our goal is that every member and attender will be in a small group of some type.
It is in the small group that we fellowship and do the hard work of discipleship with others, and it is in those groups that we do community missions together. We are, in other words, swept up together in the movement of the Holy Spirit, accomplishing the work and calling of the Father, modeling the life of the Son. We are joining God in His perfect community and inviting others to join with us. This is how our joy is made complete and our mission accomplished.
God Himself lives in perfect community in the Trinity. To be drawn “into Christ” is to begin to understand the kind of community that is in His nature. As the Father loves the Son, and the Holy Spirit reveals that love, the experience of God’s love is realized more fully as we relate to one another. Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart… and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:34). Could it be that the two are related? Jesus said, “They will know you are my disciples by the way you love one another (John 13:35).” John put it this way:
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love (1 John 4:8).
To nurture an “in Christ” lifestyle, the church must create multiple environments, not just for witness, but for “withness.” Not just for discipleship, but for fellowship. This is why our church is putting a lot of time, resources and energy into a structure of Sunday morning Bible study connection classes and home community groups that meet Sunday nights and throughout the week. We recognize that our product is changed lives and that life change happens best in small groups. We are creating multiple discipling and fellowshipping environments. Our goal is that every member and attender will be in a small group of some type.
It is in the small group that we fellowship and do the hard work of discipleship with others, and it is in those groups that we do community missions together. We are, in other words, swept up together in the movement of the Holy Spirit, accomplishing the work and calling of the Father, modeling the life of the Son. We are joining God in His perfect community and inviting others to join with us. This is how our joy is made complete and our mission accomplished.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
huh?
In the "what was he thinking?" department, recently a pastor in Africa drowned while trying to play Jesus' in front of his congregation.
An evangelist who tried replicating Jesus' miracle of walking on water has reportedly drowned off the western coast of Africa. Pastor Franck Kabele, 35, told his congregation he could repeat the biblical miracle, and he attempted it from a beach in Gabon's capital of Libreville. "He told churchgoers he'd had a revelation that if he had enough faith, he could walk on water like Jesus," an eyewitness told the Glasgow Daily Record. "He took his congregation to the beach saying he would walk across the Komo estuary, which takes 20 minutes by boat. He walked into the water, which soon passed over his head and he never came back."
We shake our head in wonder at these kinds of stories, but is it any different, really, than our own foolish attempts to bring glory to ourselves?
I wonder how often I do even good things, not out of pure motive, but because it serves me well and brings me glory.
Sometimes I am a nice guy, not necessarily because of the Spirit of Christ working in me, but because I want people to like me and see my glory.
Sometimes I am more concerned with how I am percieved than whether I reflect the image of Christ.
I am not good at saying, "not my will, but yours".
I often long for attention and affirmation more than I affirm His glory and His name.
If I'm honest, I usually seek my own comfort and my own needs more than I seek His glory.
I want you to like this post so that I can get the glory for it.
To cut to the chase- If I ever tell you I'm gonna walk on water- bring a rope and a life jacket.
An evangelist who tried replicating Jesus' miracle of walking on water has reportedly drowned off the western coast of Africa. Pastor Franck Kabele, 35, told his congregation he could repeat the biblical miracle, and he attempted it from a beach in Gabon's capital of Libreville. "He told churchgoers he'd had a revelation that if he had enough faith, he could walk on water like Jesus," an eyewitness told the Glasgow Daily Record. "He took his congregation to the beach saying he would walk across the Komo estuary, which takes 20 minutes by boat. He walked into the water, which soon passed over his head and he never came back."
We shake our head in wonder at these kinds of stories, but is it any different, really, than our own foolish attempts to bring glory to ourselves?
I wonder how often I do even good things, not out of pure motive, but because it serves me well and brings me glory.
Sometimes I am a nice guy, not necessarily because of the Spirit of Christ working in me, but because I want people to like me and see my glory.
Sometimes I am more concerned with how I am percieved than whether I reflect the image of Christ.
I am not good at saying, "not my will, but yours".
I often long for attention and affirmation more than I affirm His glory and His name.
If I'm honest, I usually seek my own comfort and my own needs more than I seek His glory.
I want you to like this post so that I can get the glory for it.
To cut to the chase- If I ever tell you I'm gonna walk on water- bring a rope and a life jacket.
Friday, December 1, 2006
the truth about christianity and divorce
In the scripture we are studying this week in John 14, Jesus asks,
"Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?"
You can know a lot about Jesus, and not know Jesus. There is a difference between mere religious knowledge and genuine Christianity. Religious folks make Christianity one part of their life; they seek a church affiliation in order to be a fully orbed person. Christians, on the other hand, recalibrate and refocus their life based on their love for Christ. They see all of life through the lens of their commitment to Him.
There is a big difference between the two.
Consider the studies on divorce and religious affiliation. For years we have heard that "church people" have a higher divorce rate than normal folks. Especially depressing is this one that says Baptists are more prone than anyone to cut the ties.
Have you walked with me so long and not know me?
A careful look at these studies reveals that when you look at the "church people" who are actually living out their faith, the story is much different. The University of Virginia recently completed a study that is very instructive. When the principles of Christianity are actually put into practice in the home, this study reveals, the marriage is healthy and happy. The difference in this study and others is that the research went beyond just asking about religious affiliation and probed into actual religious habits and lifestyle.
Spouses who share weekly [church] attendance had happier wives. Spouses who share a strong, normative commitment to marriage—that is, who are opposed to easy divorce, who believe the kids should be reared in married households—have wives who are markedly happier. This factor is as strong as who works outside the home or who earns the lion's share of the income. It's also extremely important that the wife considers the division of housework to be fair to her. A sense of equity is extremely important, but equity is not equality. Women want things to be fair in their homes, but they don't equate fairness with equality.
The impetus here is especially on the man. If a man is living the biblical principles of manhood, and serving his wife, loving his kids, leading in a godly way, the home is healthy and functional.
Make no mistake- there is a wide variance between the man who says he is a Christian and the one who actually lives it out in the flesh- where it counts, in the home.
"Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?"
You can know a lot about Jesus, and not know Jesus. There is a difference between mere religious knowledge and genuine Christianity. Religious folks make Christianity one part of their life; they seek a church affiliation in order to be a fully orbed person. Christians, on the other hand, recalibrate and refocus their life based on their love for Christ. They see all of life through the lens of their commitment to Him.
There is a big difference between the two.
Consider the studies on divorce and religious affiliation. For years we have heard that "church people" have a higher divorce rate than normal folks. Especially depressing is this one that says Baptists are more prone than anyone to cut the ties.
Have you walked with me so long and not know me?
A careful look at these studies reveals that when you look at the "church people" who are actually living out their faith, the story is much different. The University of Virginia recently completed a study that is very instructive. When the principles of Christianity are actually put into practice in the home, this study reveals, the marriage is healthy and happy. The difference in this study and others is that the research went beyond just asking about religious affiliation and probed into actual religious habits and lifestyle.
Spouses who share weekly [church] attendance had happier wives. Spouses who share a strong, normative commitment to marriage—that is, who are opposed to easy divorce, who believe the kids should be reared in married households—have wives who are markedly happier. This factor is as strong as who works outside the home or who earns the lion's share of the income. It's also extremely important that the wife considers the division of housework to be fair to her. A sense of equity is extremely important, but equity is not equality. Women want things to be fair in their homes, but they don't equate fairness with equality.
The impetus here is especially on the man. If a man is living the biblical principles of manhood, and serving his wife, loving his kids, leading in a godly way, the home is healthy and functional.
Make no mistake- there is a wide variance between the man who says he is a Christian and the one who actually lives it out in the flesh- where it counts, in the home.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
In Africa every morning ....
| A few weeks ago I quoted the famous African proverb about the Lion and the Gazelle. After watching the above video, how would you finish this sentance?: Every morning in Africa the lion wake up and knows that he has to run faster that the gazelle to eat and survive, every morning in Africa the gazelle wakes up and knows that the has to run faster than the lion to survive. But ... | |
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
the importance of "with"
And I pray that your love will have deep roots. I pray that it will have a strong foundation. May you have power with all God's people to understand Christ's love (Ephesians 3:17b-18).
Recently another high-profile pastor was revealed to be living a double life. Sadly, his story is just one in a long line of stories about spiritual leaders and pastors who have had very public failures.
What do we make of this?
First, it is a good reminder that the potential for human evil and failure is in all of our hearts. Pastor's are not exempt- it is just that because of what a pastor does and stands for, he is under more scrutiny and therefore his failure is much more scandalous. So when we hear of these kinds of things we say, "there except by the grace of God go I!" Like Paul we say, "those things I don't want to do I do...wretched man that I am!"
As Francis Schaeffer once said, "he who thinks he has arrived, never will."
Second, it is important also for us to remind ourselves that we are only as sick as our secrets. There is a reason that God calls us to live in fellowship. Biblical community is absolutely necessary for a godly life.
In the passage above, Paul said, "I pray that you will have power WITH all the saints". This is an important distinction. The reason it is easy for even people who look the part and attend church to live in hiddenness and not change is because they are not truly on the journey with people who can challenge them with the "How are you- really?" question.
In American Christianity we are often guilty of defining the Christian experience as something lived out in isolation. We talk about a "personal relationship with God," or we claim, "My religion is a personal matter, between me and God" or "I keep my religion to myself".
What these cliche's have in common is that none is a Biblical concept.
The truth is that Scripture rarely contemplates faith living without community. It is true that each of us is personally responsible for his or her own salvation and spiritual maturity. None of us will stand before God and give account for anyone else. But the teaching of Scripture is that to be "in Christ" is to be "in His body," in Biblical community.
It is in Biblical community that we bear each other's burdens (Gal. 6:5), hold each other accountable (Heb. 10:24), encourage one another (Phil. 2:24), serve one another (Gal. 5:13), confess our sins to one another (James 5:16) and love one another as Christ has loved us (John 13:34).
In fact, what we find in Scripture is that God created us for community. The one thing God said was "not good" in the creation event was that man was alone.
"Incompleteness", in other words, is directly associated with "aloneness". We are incomplete in our isolation. To be alone is to be unhealthy. The worst punishment for a prisoner is to be put in solitary confinement because it has the most torturous and debilitating effect on the emotions. God created us emotionally and spiritually to live life together. There is, in fact, a direct correlation between physical and emotional disease and isolation.
Condemnation in the literal sense is to be isolated from God- to exist without the full beam of God's love. Hell is eternal separation from God. We create our own personal hell as we isolate ourselves from His love and the love of others. death is seperation- first our body and spirit separate and then our bodies "de-compose".
To be isolated is to decompose, and the more we separate from God the sicker we become. All of us know people who isolate themselves from others and from God and the more they are apart from Him and others, the more they come apart. Sadly, this is the peril of many pastors, who feel as if they must stand alone and hide their weakness.
We must not forget that we are wired for community. So, the church is not merely a place you go to, it is a movement you are a part of and that you participate in WITH others.
It is not a building in which isolated and alone people gather together to pat each other on the back and empower their varying degrees of aloneness and isolation and denial. It is a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit, lived out in Biblical community.
Recently another high-profile pastor was revealed to be living a double life. Sadly, his story is just one in a long line of stories about spiritual leaders and pastors who have had very public failures.
What do we make of this?
First, it is a good reminder that the potential for human evil and failure is in all of our hearts. Pastor's are not exempt- it is just that because of what a pastor does and stands for, he is under more scrutiny and therefore his failure is much more scandalous. So when we hear of these kinds of things we say, "there except by the grace of God go I!" Like Paul we say, "those things I don't want to do I do...wretched man that I am!"
As Francis Schaeffer once said, "he who thinks he has arrived, never will."
Second, it is important also for us to remind ourselves that we are only as sick as our secrets. There is a reason that God calls us to live in fellowship. Biblical community is absolutely necessary for a godly life.
In the passage above, Paul said, "I pray that you will have power WITH all the saints". This is an important distinction. The reason it is easy for even people who look the part and attend church to live in hiddenness and not change is because they are not truly on the journey with people who can challenge them with the "How are you- really?" question.
In American Christianity we are often guilty of defining the Christian experience as something lived out in isolation. We talk about a "personal relationship with God," or we claim, "My religion is a personal matter, between me and God" or "I keep my religion to myself".
What these cliche's have in common is that none is a Biblical concept.
The truth is that Scripture rarely contemplates faith living without community. It is true that each of us is personally responsible for his or her own salvation and spiritual maturity. None of us will stand before God and give account for anyone else. But the teaching of Scripture is that to be "in Christ" is to be "in His body," in Biblical community.
It is in Biblical community that we bear each other's burdens (Gal. 6:5), hold each other accountable (Heb. 10:24), encourage one another (Phil. 2:24), serve one another (Gal. 5:13), confess our sins to one another (James 5:16) and love one another as Christ has loved us (John 13:34).
In fact, what we find in Scripture is that God created us for community. The one thing God said was "not good" in the creation event was that man was alone.
"Incompleteness", in other words, is directly associated with "aloneness". We are incomplete in our isolation. To be alone is to be unhealthy. The worst punishment for a prisoner is to be put in solitary confinement because it has the most torturous and debilitating effect on the emotions. God created us emotionally and spiritually to live life together. There is, in fact, a direct correlation between physical and emotional disease and isolation.
Condemnation in the literal sense is to be isolated from God- to exist without the full beam of God's love. Hell is eternal separation from God. We create our own personal hell as we isolate ourselves from His love and the love of others. death is seperation- first our body and spirit separate and then our bodies "de-compose".
To be isolated is to decompose, and the more we separate from God the sicker we become. All of us know people who isolate themselves from others and from God and the more they are apart from Him and others, the more they come apart. Sadly, this is the peril of many pastors, who feel as if they must stand alone and hide their weakness.
We must not forget that we are wired for community. So, the church is not merely a place you go to, it is a movement you are a part of and that you participate in WITH others.
It is not a building in which isolated and alone people gather together to pat each other on the back and empower their varying degrees of aloneness and isolation and denial. It is a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit, lived out in Biblical community.
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
deep roots
I pray that your love will have deep roots. I pray that it will have strong foundations (Ephesians 3:17).
Many years ago Teri and I built a house on top of the highest plateau in Wichita County, Texas. (Not saying much!) The locals knew the hill for two things—strong winds and rattlesnakes. (Neither was mentioned by the guy who sold us the land, by the way.)
It wasn’t long after we built our home that the hill began living up to its reputation. Our family has many wonderful memories of Rattlesnake Hill, but the wind is not one of them. I planted many trees, as had generations before, I am sure. I planted pecans, oaks, elms, cedars. They all succumbed to the punishing wind. One tree survived. One tree, in fact, thrived. It was the one tree I didn’t want—the mesquite.
The mesquite tree is a sorry excuse for a tree! It looks like an overgrown weed and is the bane of every Texas rancher. Its thin leaves, winding branches and long nail-like thorns make it the tree from hell.
The mesquite survives the punishing wind, drought and cold of west Texas for one reason: roots. As anyone who has ever tried to clear mesquite will tell you, the roots grow deep and wide. They can encompass a huge tract of land and are almost impossible to kill. The hardy mesquite is a great example of “rootedness.”
On a recent trip to the Holy Land, I noticed there is a tree in the Judean hills that grows as wild as the mesquite. The olive tree grows hardy and wild in the harsh conditions of the near eastern desert.
Deep roots in hard terrain—the tenacious olive and mesquite trees. These are great symbols for what our spiritual lives should be. Paul thought of the many friends he had in the Ephesian church who were new believers and wrote, “I am praying for deep roots for you!”
It’s tough out there. Life is hard! Crazy, counterfeit doctrines are everywhere, competing for your attention and loyalty. “Grow those roots deep!” Paul is saying. It is important that a church nurture a maturing process that grows deep roots. Our “rootedness,” our foundation, is found in the depth of our understanding of His word.
Blessed is the man… (whose) delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers (Psalm 1:1-3).
A person “in Christ” has rootedness when he or she “delights” in the word of God—when the regular, sustained study of God’s word and doctrine brings joy. Rootedness is the result of purposeful study and meditation that goes beyond occasional reading.
A deep understanding of God’s word means knowing the essentials of the faith. Someone rooted in Scripture knows the difference between the essentials and the non-essentials. The roots grow deep as he gains clarity regarding what is most important and what is really not all that important. Immature Christians are notorious for majoring on the minors. A rooted “in Christ” believer majors on the majors. She knows the mountains from the molehills.
Many years ago Teri and I built a house on top of the highest plateau in Wichita County, Texas. (Not saying much!) The locals knew the hill for two things—strong winds and rattlesnakes. (Neither was mentioned by the guy who sold us the land, by the way.)
It wasn’t long after we built our home that the hill began living up to its reputation. Our family has many wonderful memories of Rattlesnake Hill, but the wind is not one of them. I planted many trees, as had generations before, I am sure. I planted pecans, oaks, elms, cedars. They all succumbed to the punishing wind. One tree survived. One tree, in fact, thrived. It was the one tree I didn’t want—the mesquite.
The mesquite tree is a sorry excuse for a tree! It looks like an overgrown weed and is the bane of every Texas rancher. Its thin leaves, winding branches and long nail-like thorns make it the tree from hell.
The mesquite survives the punishing wind, drought and cold of west Texas for one reason: roots. As anyone who has ever tried to clear mesquite will tell you, the roots grow deep and wide. They can encompass a huge tract of land and are almost impossible to kill. The hardy mesquite is a great example of “rootedness.”
On a recent trip to the Holy Land, I noticed there is a tree in the Judean hills that grows as wild as the mesquite. The olive tree grows hardy and wild in the harsh conditions of the near eastern desert.
Deep roots in hard terrain—the tenacious olive and mesquite trees. These are great symbols for what our spiritual lives should be. Paul thought of the many friends he had in the Ephesian church who were new believers and wrote, “I am praying for deep roots for you!”
It’s tough out there. Life is hard! Crazy, counterfeit doctrines are everywhere, competing for your attention and loyalty. “Grow those roots deep!” Paul is saying. It is important that a church nurture a maturing process that grows deep roots. Our “rootedness,” our foundation, is found in the depth of our understanding of His word.
Blessed is the man… (whose) delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers (Psalm 1:1-3).
A person “in Christ” has rootedness when he or she “delights” in the word of God—when the regular, sustained study of God’s word and doctrine brings joy. Rootedness is the result of purposeful study and meditation that goes beyond occasional reading.
A deep understanding of God’s word means knowing the essentials of the faith. Someone rooted in Scripture knows the difference between the essentials and the non-essentials. The roots grow deep as he gains clarity regarding what is most important and what is really not all that important. Immature Christians are notorious for majoring on the minors. A rooted “in Christ” believer majors on the majors. She knows the mountains from the molehills.
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