Every Day - devotional for June 1

There are a lot of people who can work hard for a while, care for a while, love for a while, give of themselves for a while. They leave behind them a legacy of inconsistency and frayed or broken relationships with people and with God. 

In their jobs, they can’t be counted on. 

As parents, they raise kids who never know what the boundaries are. 

As husbands or wives, they tend to make everything about them – the “me” trumps the “we” that makes marriage work.

What’s the answer?

24 Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. 

25 Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.  Matt 16 (MSG)

The secret to a life that leaves a lasting legacy is in those verses. 

Let Jesus lead.

Embrace life’s hardships. 

Follow Jesus every day. 

EVERY DAY. 

Do it and find peace.

Plan B Is A Blessing

Well, we at New Hope sure had to be this weekend, as an electrical problem caused us to lose the use of our sanctuary's air conditioners - and we're in Florida - so we need to know we can call on them. That meant we had to move to the fellowship hall for worship. Very different but we pulled it off. Plan B only changed the location, not the object of our worship - Jesus.

Here's the YouVersion link for this week - YouVersion

And thanks to Jonathan McGee, here's a very rare (but hopefully not so rare from now on) video of me delivering the message.

Hopefully we'll be back in the sanctuary come Sunday, but if not, we'll not lose anything in the sweet fellowship, warm worship, and the presence of the Holy Spirit with us.

Honor

We live in a military community, so it's easy to hear an echo of "Duty, Honor, Country" here. But I want to step away from that right now and go directly to the way we live out our faith.




Looking back to the very foundation of God's written communication with man - the tablets that Moses was given on Mt Sinai, the word "honor" comes up.

“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Ex 20:12 (NLT)

The first few commandments deal with man's relationship with God. They are crafted to outline man's responsibilities to God. Left alone, we are so prone to turn to lesser gods of no worth whatsoever including our own selfish desires. So a loving God gave us guidelines to keep our hearts focused on what is best for us.

The next commandments give us guidelines to govern our human relationships. Why would that be necessary? Can't we simply do right by God and know we'll treat each other well?

When I was thinking about this, I realized that mankind is the only species that lives on earth that takes care of their aged. All kinds of animals take care of their young. A blue-jay will take you on regardless of your size should you get too near the nest his young are in. Left to our own animal nature then, we would do the same. Take care of our young and ignore the needs of the aged.

So God,again in love and calling us to what is best, in the very first of the guidelines - says "honor your father and mother." And by honoring the aged we rise above the base urges and step into the life of loving obedience to God we were created for.

The fifth commandment has more to do with medical care, old-age pensions, and retirement homes than with using the last phrase as an aid to discipline your children into doing what is right. It means quite simply when your Mama and Daddy have to depend on you, don't let them down. Honor your father and mother. When age begins to take its toll, you must step up and do whatever you can.

Although Social Security, Medicare, and pensions can do much to help us, no system can honor your parents for you. It means giving them every dignity you can. The root of the Hebrew word for honor means to "weigh heavy." The people who have "weighed me heavy" are those who have contributed most to my life: my parents, my wife and my children — to them I owe great respect and honor.

Don't miss your opportunity to give honor to your aging parents. It is through such acts of kindness that we say no to a culture in which the newest is put in preeminence, and follow the way of Christ.

Satisfied?

I read
In a book
That a man called
Christ
Went about doing good.
It is very disconcerting to me
That I am so easily
Satisfied
With just
Going about.

- Toyohiko Kagawa

Struggling

There are times when I think, "maybe I am there - maybe I have it down." Just when I think I'm making progress in following Jesus with my whole life, I trip over the reality that I am still not where I think I should be.






I thought the second picture described just how hard it is for me to put aside David and all his wants and desires and follow Jesus. No program is going to overcome my innate selfishness. I may go along for a while, but though I want to change, at some point I WILL rebel.

BTW, how do you think that whole "dog adoption" thing is going for the guy who took this picture?

Good words

Was just reading Group magazine and read this from Ned Erickson

"Get to know Jesus well because the more you know Him, the more you will love Him.

And the more you love Him, the more you'll want to follow Him.

And the more you follow Him the more you become like Him.


And the more you become like Him, the more you become yourself."

Another great thought from the same magazine, a quote from George MacDonald.

"One chief cause of the amount of unbelief in the world is, that those who have seen something of the glory of Christ, set themselves to theorize concerning Him rather than to obey Him. In teaching men, they have not taught then Christ, but taught them about Christ."

MacDonald's prime directive for followers of Jesus? "Do the next good thing you know to do."

No One Seems To Want To Teach It, But...

... learning how to deal with failure is one of the most crucial skills any pastor needs to acquire.

How do you acquire it?

By failing.

Now what?

If failing brings you to the realization that your capabilities, intelligence, likeability and everything else you count as yours - isn't enough, then you learn to depend on Jesus. That my friends, is what Peter had to learn. Not to depend on his leadership abilities, and it appears from what we read that Peter was a natural leader, even though he had never been to seminary - (sarcasm noted) But to depend on Jesus.

Just a couple of examples -

Everyone who comes to your church is not going to grow as a follower of Jesus. Some may even be pretending to be what they are not. If your expectations are that everyone who faithfully attends and participates will prove to be mature when the going gets tough, then you are fooling yourself. People will fail to follow when pressure is applied. They will act in ways that reveal the shallowness, or even complete lack, of faith.

So if they have circled your discipleship bases and you are counting them as home free, the sudden realization that your youth group super star has impregnated the homecoming queen, or your deacon has been caught messing around may shatter you.

However, if you see your part of the work of the church as working with God - not in place of Him - then you'll be equipped to handle whatever comes.

I am not advocating a lowering of our desire to see everyone saved, nor am I saying we should stop working with all we have to see God glorified. What I am saying is to remember that we are all sinners.

We will fail.

It is then Who we call on, and Whose strength and wisdom we turn to when that happens that will determine whether failure makes us a more complete follower of Christ, or a disappointed and discouraged disciple.

Life Is A Test

I'm telling you,people are always picking on me. :)













"The difference between school and life?
In school, you are taught a lesson and then given a test.
In life, you are given a test that teaches you a lesson." - Tom Bodett

How Much Should We Expect?

If you've been reading the last few weeks you're probably aware that I have been seriously questioning the current discipleship model that we and most every other church is using. I've been investigating what has been and is being used in every nook and cranny of the internet as well as on my shelves.

Day before yesterday, I was thinking and praying about our youth and it suddenly occurred to me that I could not confidently call on any of them to give a sincere, coherent, and unforced testimony of what God had done in their life.

So last night with the permission of the husband and wife leading the current youth study, I stepped into the room and basically told the youth that they needed to step out and step up.

Told them it was time they ramped it up and became part of the Body. That every Christian should be able to give a testimony of what they were, what Jesus did, and what He's doing in their life to make them more like Him. That I wanted to see them lead this church out and into service and not just sit back and let everyone else do the work.

Last thing I did was issue a challenge for them to tell their story on Sunday morning to the whole church. That I would make time available anytime one of them wanted to tell the rest of us what Jesus was doing in their life.

Then I was out with a quick look at the leaders and a "let me know who's willing to do what a Christian does."

Craziness. Totally unplanned. Not from me. So we'll see what the HS is up to.

But dear readers, shouldn't we expect every follower of Christ to be able to tell their story of what Christ has done and is doing in their life? I feel as though we've lowered the standards to met the population at large and walked away from what a disciple really is.

What do you think?

A Blank Sheet of Paper - Discipleship

I've been discussing this with my friends on a pastor's online forum all week. Thought I'd toss it over here and get some feedback. I'll drop come of the comments from over there in too.

Got home from another Wed night and Bunny and I had a long talk about what she perceives the kids and youth know of faith and the Bible, combined with my little talk with the adults last night on functional atheism.

So I went to bed praying about changes and woke up with it still on my mind.

I have a blank sheet of paper in front of me. Limiting this to discipleship and not veering off to preaching, fellowship etc...

What programs/structure/benchmarks/times and venues would you draw up if you were starting from scratch?

For children

For youth

For adults

And what would you use for a curriculum in large or small group situations?

I'm really trying to get a handle on what I need to see getting done wherever God has me in this area.

I know, I know - but this is really important to me. I got to the point in Romans 4 last night and realized that precious few have anything like the faith of Abraham.

Just a note, if you are looking for info on Bill Martin, formerly at FBC McMinnville, or need to contact Bill, LMK by email.

Religiously Educated Consumers Part 2 - the Questions

So...

What's the best activity tied to church to help people grow to love Jesus and learn to live for Him?

What's the minimum requirements for a person to be involved with in their daily life to grow? (I'm thinking spiritual disciplines but feel free)

What's the best venue for transformational discipleship? (SS, small groups, 1 to 1, other?)


How do you discern whether people are growing?

Is there a point when a person shouldn't be in a SS or small group class? A BTDT point? And if so, what for them?

Inquiring minds who are a wee bit fed up with the status quo want to know. I'm developing some thoughts and ideas but really would appreciate some input.

Are We Making Disciples Or Religiously Educated Consumers?

One of the management "tricks" I was taught years ago was "Management By Walking Around". The idea was if you got out of your office and went where the work was being done, you might pick up some ideas on what was right about what your company/dept/unit was doing, or identify some things to improve.

So I've tried to stay accessible and tried to pay attention to what is happening not just in the church as a whole, but in the units that make it up. Last week I overheard one person say to another "you know the lessons are basically the same. They repeat every so often. And it's not like we are getting any new insights. Besides, it is the discussion that really makes the class."

The person who said it has probably been in Sunday School for 40 years. He leads an important ministry at our church. I have no reason to doubt that he's biblically literate and doctrinally sound.

But for him, Sunday School apparently has become the "same old, same old" routine without merit.

I've been bugged for years that SBC churches give their people too much information to process every week, and see very little of it translate to action. Most SBC churches have two Sunday services, Sunday School and a Wednesday night Bible study. And typically, they are totally unrelated in content. So a person receives 4 "life changing" messages. Which one do they follow?

My deep conviction is this - most SBC members know a tremendous amount about the Bible and do not live lives that correlate with that indoctrination. So what should we do about it?

Geiger and Rainer's "Simple Church" may be where to start. Do away with anything that doesn't support the overall mission directly. Use time and volunteer hours carefully. If I started a church, we'd have no Sunday night service (unless it was for a different crowd), and no Sunday School - at least on Sunday morning. We'd run children's church at the same time as worship, and do our children's Bible activities on Wednesday night. Adult Bible study would be a continuation and exposition of that Sunday morning's lesson. People would go deeper and work through the application in small groups held in their homes.

Yes we have activity. Yes we get a good turnout. But are we making disciples or just adding facts to equip our people to win Bible Trivia Pursuit? I keep hearing "yea, I tell you that not everyone who can fill in the blanks on the sermon outline will inherit the kingdom of God."

Perhaps this is one of the reasons new church plants that meet in theaters or schools get such a boost. They are forced into doing less, and doing small groups in homes. Simplification adds to focus and focus leads to effectiveness.

I'm currently looking for examples of churches - established churches - that act like church plants in this area. Give me a shout out if you know of one with a pastor or education guy who'll let me pick their brains.

David

Why Can't We See?

I'm typing this on a Mac today. It's the first blog post I've ever typed on this quirky device that was gifted to me by a friend who felt my computer universe could use some expansion.

So in the past few weeks I have been diligently trying to make it work for me. Instead of... against me.

For the most part, I've succeeded, but there are still things it does and doesn't do that drive me nuts.

I know that if my friend, who has decades of experience with Macs were here, he would patiently instruct me in how to achieve my goals. But he's not. And even simple keyboard tasks can quickly escalate into war, and my decision to walk away for a while.

This morning I was thinking through some names. Names of people who were part of our fellowship for a while, but just walked away. It would be so easy to decide that it's all on them - they weren't committed, they didn't care enough, or even that they really didn't have a saving relationship with Jesus.

But what if...

they just didn't know how to make it work?

What is it about us that we can't even see that option?

And see it before their walk carries them too far away?

The Sound of Crickets

On two occasions in the last week, I've found myself feeling as if I overran the base while teaching. Sunday night in men's group we somehow wandered into predestination and election, and the result was I got a phone call at home later from a deacon who was completely turned around and staggering to comprehend what seemed so clear to me.

Those of you who are SBC are probably laughing right now, because our beliefs (the traditional ones anyway) are sort of a hash. The Calvinist has the advantage of having a cool acronym and we don't. But I tried to help the guys get through it and felt like I had, until the call.

Then last night as I was finishing last Sunday's teaching on the myth that you can't trust the Bible, I went after some of the normal attacks on its veracity. I pulled up the Joshua 10 passage where the writer describes the sun standing still to help Israel win the battle and went from there into examples of figurative language.

"I watched a beautiful sunrise." A misstatement but it sounds better than "did you see the way the earth rotated this morning?"

"I have a friend down under." Down under what? The earth is round.

"They searched the four corners of the earth but couldn't find him." Uh, the earth, she have no four corners.

So I suggested that it was possible here that the writer was using figurative language to describe the event.

*crickets*

My goal is to help people in their ability to read the Bible and understand the ways of God. Sometimes in going to those places that might be more obscure, I wonder if I overrun. Thing is, that's exactly where the critics of the Bible live, so I'm trying to preemptively attack their arguments before they lead someone I love astray.

Anyone else hear crickets on occasion?

The Book Stack

Just thought I'd mention what books I have stacked on my desk right now.

Since I'm working through the life of David on Sunday Mornings:
A Heart Like His, Beth Moore
David - Charles Swindoll

Since I'm working on the life of Christ within this David:
My Utmost for His Highest, both original and updated versions
disciplines for the inner life - Benson
So You Want To Be Like Christ? - Swindoll
He Speaks Softly - Benson
No Holds Barred - Mark Roberts
Posers, Fakers, and Wannabes - Brennan Manning
Ordering Your Private World - Gordon McDonald

Since I'm Desperate To See God's Church Succeed In Its Vocation:
Out of Their Faces and Into Their Shoes - Kramp
Radical Reformission - Driscoll
The Church of Irresistible Influence - Lewis
How Should We Then Live - Francis Schaeffer
Simple Church - Thom Rainer
The Disciple Making Church - Bill Hull
Conspiracy of Kindness - Steve Sjorgen
Church Planting Landmines - Rohrmayer
Natural Church Development - Schwartz

And some others working their way into the reading rotation:
Living the Questions In Matthew - The Navigators
Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods - Rick Warren
The Incredible Patience of God -Adams
The Preaching Event - John Claypool
The Jesus Creed- Scot McKnight
Traveling Lightly - Eugene Peterson

I read everyday, a lot. I'll pick up one book and read it a while, then another. If I'm in study mode for a sermon or series, I'll devour everything I can on that text, context, and culture. So these are just the books that are here today. Stay tuned.

Blue Tuesday

Yesterday I spent some time in a rare posture for me - with headphones on. Bunny was watching a movie that I didn't want to see, and in our home noise travels. So I put the headphones on and for over an hour, listened to "The Blues".

I heard B.B., Albert, and Freddie - the three Kings. I went through Clapton, SRV, and Jonny Lang. And for a music named the blues, I got the opposite, just hearing the raw authenticity of the music.

Today is Tuesday, and we're beginning to follow-up on our strays from this weekend. One explained "I just couldn't get up", and another told a tale of family woe. From now on, if I want to wallow in the Blues, I'll know what "music" to listen to.

The lack of commitment in people who should be farther along is stunning. And the lack of concern about how a parent's actions (or inactions) affects their children's understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus just blows my mind and makes my heart heavy.

Eugene Peterson, in an oft-quoted piece from "Working the Angles" says that a pastor's main job is "to keep a congregation attentive to God." Well, Gene, some of those we try to prod to be more attentive just can't be bothered or see every raincloud as a hurricane.

Christians should be known as people who move toward need and truth and justice, not toward comfort and security.

Life is hard. Make no mistake about it. Jesus said "in this life you will have trouble."

But God is good.

And Christ is strong to help.

For He finished that remark by saying "but take heart, for I have overcome the world."

I have to remind myself of that, when it's Blue Tuesday.

On the Journey

When I'm trying to unpack the call of Jesus on a person's life, I talk a lot about "the Journey" with Him. The idea is to separate the lifelong process of following Him from the "event" of beginning the journey. Not because that first step isn't important - it is, but that so many seem to linger close to where they began all their lives.

So I work to make people understand that we are to give our lives as testament and testimony to what God has done and is doing in and through us. I was reading today about the work of Robert Webber, who went home to be with the Lord just this week. Webber's call to an Ancient-Future faith resonates with me. I cannot see my part in the story as unrelated to all those followers of Jesus who went before.

Yet, as a present day follower, I rely far more on the written Word than my forbears in the first century did. Sometimes I worry about that. But a quote given by Webber in an interview with Christianity Today a few years back made me understand just how that worked then, and how it should work today

Currently, worship seems to be divorced from the story. It is programmatic and narcissistic. If we resituate worship in the story, then worship tells and enacts the story of God. And God is the subject of that worship rather than the object that we worship. The subject acts on us in worship and forms us into Christ's likeness and thus affects our spirituality.

And today, spirituality, like worship, is divorced from the story. Spirituality is shaped by psychology, shaped by focusing on the self. It's very narcissistic instead of being our continual embodiment of the story. Spirituality is ultimately not having some sort of esoteric experience, but becoming what God created us to be and making the world what God created it to be, a place of his glory.

Hans Urs Von Balthazar said that we need to take a passage of Scripture and so internalize it that we become it. If somebody asks where's Matthew 25, we should be able to say, "Oh, it's walking over there."

Can we point to one another and cite ourselves as a scriptural reference?

Lord, have mercy on me a sinner and give me what I lack to delight your heart.

The Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup and the Masters

Well, it seems like that way.

It's Holy week.

Even people who don't think about church the rest of the year think of it during Holy week. Maybe it's the blizzard of invite cards from churches. Maybe going to CVS for Easter candy stirs their memory. But it is one of those times of opportunity.

At New Hope we're working through our people, equipping them with invitations for their friends, coworkers, neighbors and loved ones, and asking them to personally invite them. We prepared two types, one for adults, and another for youth and older children. Personally, I like "Come Hang Out With Your Peeps", but that's just me.

Later this week we'll have a family time of communion on Thursday and then our Service of Shadows on Good Friday. That is a time of darkness and reflection on the cost paid for our sins. It is my favorite service all year. I need to remember.

And then Easter - CELEBRATION!!!

But after the crowds, then what? I was grateful for Gary Rohrmayer's blog post on how to follow up on Easter. "The "Next Steps" Principle" is an excellent primer on just how to make Easter the jumpstart you want your church to experience.

What "Next Steps" are you going to offer this year?

What's the Big Idea

"What was church about today?"

My friend Arnold Hendrix and I have had this conversation a number of times. How many messages can we throw at people and expect to "stick" in their hearts and minds? The article lays that question out there in a compelling fashion.

I've looked seriously at ideas such as what Randy Frazee was doing in Texas (before he went to Willow). The idea he was working involved setting out the core principles that needed to be taught each person and each year. That broke down for me because of repetition and the need to essentially go topical in the presentation of those concepts.

We've tried using the Lifeway Sunday School as a guide to tie the morning's lesson and the preaching together. The idea behind that was to take what was presented in class and expand and apply it. It worked fairly well in a limited way, since not everyone here uses the same quarterlies. (Baptist word alert!)

If we are seeking transformation though doesn't the idea of delivering a cogent, targeted, biblical concept each week that isn't diluted by minutia make sense? Here's the meat of the article:

Well, let’s review a typical experience at church. Is it too little or maybe too much? The average churchgoer is overloaded every week with scores of competing little ideas during just one trip to church.

Let’s try to keep track.

1. Little idea from the clever message on the church sign as you pull into the church parking lot
2. Little idea from all the announcements in the church bulletin you are handed at the door
3. Little idea from the prelude music that is playing in the back¬ground as you take your seat
4. Little idea from the welcome by the worship leader
5. Little idea from the opening prayer
6. Little idea from song 1 in the worship service
7. Little idea from the Scripture reading by the worship leader
8. Little idea from song 2 in the worship service
9. Little idea from the special music
10. Little idea from the offering meditation
11. Little idea from the announcements
12. Little idea from the first point of the sermon
13. Little idea from the second point of the sermon
14. Little idea from the third point of the sermon
15. Little idea from song 3 in the worship service
16. Little idea from the closing prayer
17. Little idea from the Sunday school lesson
18. Little idea from (at least one) tangent off of the Sunday school lesson
19. Little idea from the prayer requests taken during Sunday school
20. Little idea from the newsletter handed out during Sunday school

Twenty and counting. Twenty different competing little ideas in just one trip to church. Easily! If a family has a couple of children in junior church and everyone attends his or her own Sunday school class, we could quadruple the number of little ideas. So this one family could leave with more than eighty competing little ideas from one morning at church! And if we begin to add in youth group, small group, and a midweek service, the number easily doubles again. If family members read the Bible and have quiet times with any regularity, it might double yet again. And if they listen to Christian radio in the car or watch Christian television at home, the number might double once more. It’s possible that this one family is bombarded with more than one thousand little ideas every week explaining what it means to be a Christian. No wonder when the parents ask their kids, “So what did you learn?” the answer goes something like this: (Silence.) “Ummm. . .” (More silence.) “Ummm ... “

We have to do better. I'm going to do better. Anyone who reads this and who is doing better, zip me an email. Let's partner to be more effective for Christ.

Telling the Story

"Do you think the way to tell the story of the Christian journey is to describe its trials and tribulations?

It is not.

It is to describe God who preserves, accompanies and rules us.

All the water in all the oceans cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside. Nor can all the trouble in the world harm us unless it gets within us.

'God guards you from every evil.'... None of the things that happen to you, none of the trouble you encounter, have any power to get between you and God, dilute His grace in you, divert His will from you."

-Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience In the Same Direction