The River

The New King James Version

2005-12-14T07:15:00.000-08:00

Dear church family and friends,

Maybe you have noticed over the last couple weeks that the Bible I am reading out of when I teach is different. There is a reason for that.

I have changed the version I am using when I preach.

I am now using the New King James Version (NJKV) of the Bible.

The decision to make this change did not come easy, or quickly. I have “grown up” on the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible (the “thee” “thou” version). The first sermon I ever heard preached was out of the KJV. The first sermon I ever preached what out of the KJV. It was a version that I feel in love with and have used over the course of my almost four years of ministry here with Pigeon River.

None of that has changed.

What has changed is that I have learned that a more “up to date” translation is more comfortable in my teaching, and for some of my audience, especially for people who are not used to 16th century Elizabethan English. I knew I wanted to change versions for over a year or more but wasn’t sure to which version I would switch.

Through much study, conversation and consideration, I have decided to switch to the New King James Version. Why the New King James Version? The main reason is that it has the same feel and structure of the King James without the “thee’s” and “thou’s” and the archaic language (if you don’t know what “archaic” means then you’ll be glad for the switch!). It is more contemporary without have the feel of many “modern” versions, which feel and flow differently than the King James.

My decision was also made in consideration of our getting pew Bibles. I wanted to have Bibles that were easier to read for visitors, and I also wanted them to be able to follow along with me when I read out of the Bible I was using during my teaching time.

I am comfortable and excited about the change because I feel I am more comfortable when reading the Bible publicly and privately, and I am confident that there is clarity in what is being read by visitors and I know those who prefer the King James can easily follow along with the New King James and maintain the feel and flow of the old English version (meaning, if you use the KJV you wont need to go out and buy a NKJV – unless you want to…).

Thanks for your time and allowing me to share with you these things.

Centering lives on Christ,

Pastor Toby

The Goodness of God

2005-11-22T22:26:00.000-08:00

A long time ago in a land far, far away God created a Garden; he called it Eden. In this Garden God created man, whom he called Adam, and then he created all the animals, and Adam named them all. God then gave Adam completion, and Adam named her Eve. In this Garden God said everything was good for them to eat, accept the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Of course, they ate from it. Because they fell short, we all now fall short -- it's what we know. It is called sin.

Sin spread through the world God made by the people whom God made. These men who fell short of God's standards took it further than that, they decided to live their lives in absolute independence from God. These men were once good men, called "the sons of God", but they soon became evil men and the very thoughts of their imaginations became evil.

God ended up destroying all of them (they left him with no choice). But one man and his family
survived - they were not as the others. They had found grace. They survived this cleansing flood that God sent crashing upon and bursting out of the earth.

When this flood ended, God told Noah that he could now eat all the animals. They were all good. This was new to Noah and his family, but God said it was good, so they partook, and found out he was right!

Many years later God spoke to a descendant of Noah whose name was Abram. Abram was told by God that out of him would come a great nation, so Abram followed God as a sojourner, or as he became to be called, a Hebrew. From Adam God made the nation of Israel.

It was to this nation that God eventually gave his law. He made them his people. He made them his nation. In these laws God told them what they could eat and what they could not. What was clean and what was unclean. What was good and what was not good. And so Israel lived under these laws for many years.

Until Jesus came.

Jesus fulfilled the law. He was the law! And now people live by him.

One of Jesus’ early followers, Paul, taught that everything is good to eat, and nothing needs to be refused as good/bad, clean/unclean, right/wrong, as long as it is eaten in thanksgiving. Paul saw that in everything the goodness of God can be seen, and he taught that people need to look for this and be thankful for what they see.

God is good. The goodness of God can be seen in everything he has made and in everything he has given. Therefore we give thanks to him for his goodness to us and in us. We give thanks because it’s all good.

Happy Thanksgiving.

2005-11-07T06:38:00.000-08:00

What Does the Leadership Council Do?
Purpose: To discuss, decide, delegate and do

Why Have the Leadership Council?
Reason for implementation: The Leadership Council (LC) was developed and implemented to...
1. Give council to the leadership of the church (elders, deacons)
2. Help provide a path to get things delegated and done
3. Help provide a path for leadership training and experience
4. Build a group of men together in unity and Christlikeness, hoping to spread it to the rest of the congregation
5. To support, not subplant Biblical leadership in the church

Who makes up the Leadership Council?
The LC is made up of several men in the church that are picked by the lead pastor (elder) to support and coucil the leadership of the church. Currently the LC is made up of both young and old in age and faith. It is made up of deacons, an elder, aspiring elder, and some who have no desire for either but what to see the church move forward and get things done.

What has the Leadership Council done so far?
Minor things have been worked on, and copies of the LC meeting minutes are available for members to view upon request. But for a quick overview:

- Moved Communion to the Morning Service to better accomidate the whole
- Changed Sunday morning gathering time to 10:30 to lengthen our time together, and lengthen our time between services on Sunday
- Doctrinal Class to begin in December taught by two members of the LC. This class will be designed to bring doctrinal unity (not uniformity) to our church.
- Mission Fund structure adopted and presented to the church in Quarterly meeting
- Youth Leadership group detailed and planned to start the first Sat. in December
- Lifestyle Addictions program detailed and planned to start the first Sat. in December

When Does the Leadership Council Meet?
The LC meets bi-weekly, on Wednesday nights.

What Is the Logo for the Leadership Council?
The logo pictured above is simply a round table with men sitting, discussing, deciding and delegating so things can get done. The small circles are their coffee cups...*wink*

Men as Fathers

2005-10-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

Advice from the fathers who read The River Newsletter

The most difficult part of fatherhood is letting go! - Michigan

****
Speaking mostly as a son and very little as a father.....

Love. Kids can handle a lot as long as they know they are loved and the dad is doing everything out of love. That may not ring with kid at the moment but they eventually catch up with it.

Never stop trying to teach your kids. We, the kids, be dumb and unfocused at times. We tend not to want to listen for any number of reasons. Again, eventually we catch up with the parents and ask to be taught; fathers should try to be open to the kids because when we do come around to ask it may be the only opportunity for the dads. The prodigal son was an excellent example of a father being prepared and waiting. I really miss not being able to share with my dad and ask his advice and just talk with him.

Note to the kids: Talk to your parents! Get to know them. You'll never know how much you'll miss them until they are gone.

Fatherhood isn't easy; there's an understatement. It's only by God's grace that our kids are completely messed up. Were it solely up to us fathers, our kids would be in a tailspin that they'd never recover. Praise be to God that we are able to lean on him and he is able to direct parents' and kids' hearts and minds towards him. Without divine intervention we'd be all messed up.

- Michigan

Advice in the arena of fatherhood. I would say one of the toughest things for me is in the area of proper and profitable conversation and communication. No substitute for lots of interaction and conversing with your kids. They need to be able to see a realness in your life. Be as transparent as you can with discretion. Don't be afraid to side up beside them when they have problems and not to lord over them. They need to see a real you that has been down possible similar paths. Sharing and bearing of one another's burdens--lightens the load. One of the key things is to be a good listener. We as parents have way too much to say and sometimes what's not said is the most effective communication. Show outward affection to fill the needs of physical touch that most every kid longs for. Lead by strong example in standards that create patterns of character and life. What you watch, what you listen to, what you say, and what you do. One of the biggest things to focus on is always show a love and respect for your wife before your children if you ever expect them to do the same. Don't stop showing outward affection with your wife that is visible to them and thereby establishing a visible love affair, not just in words only. Show them a gracious heart and good work ethic. Our society just gets lazier and lazier every day. Encourage the surrounding of themselves with wise counsel through the aged or gray haired, which is scriptural.

- Michigan

One thing I have learned well as a result of remarriage. Being a father to stepchildren is the hardest thing in the world. It rarely works.

However, there is good news on that score. The secret is to NOT HAVE step-children. With that in mind, I gathered all our children together the day

Barbara and I were married, and laid down one simple rule - there would be no step-children in our home. They were to all consider themselves OUR children on an equal footing, and they would be introduced to friends and family as such. I told them if they had a problem with that, they needed to deal with it because that rule would be set in stone as long as they lived in our home. They could introduce Barbara and I anyway they felt comfortable, that was their own choice.

They never once referred to either of us as step-parents, and they were thrilled with the status of being simply "our kids".

We even became fanatical about it. When other people would ask "which ones are yours and which are hers (or his), we would tell them "they're all ours", and we never would make a distinction no matter how hard they pressed. We even had people get mad and stop speaking to us because of it, but we never once compromised, and it worked like the Brady bunch.

I think the lesson carries over to unbroken homes with more than one child. Make very certain that the playing field is level, and you will pre-empt a heck of a lot of problems before they ever come up.

Hope this has been of some help.

- Michigan

I have instilled in my beloved son is the fact that you want a "Proverbs 31" woman. To get that woman, you need to be a, "Proverbs 31" man and all that entails. That's a sermon all by itself.

Secondly, I will share a story...personal...but I would bet it reflects every father you know. When my kids were first born and even for a very long time thereafter, they wanted little to do with me. I was the money winner and very little else. It made me have a negative emotion. Depending on the day determined how upset it made me. Even when I tried, it was always, "I want my Mommy." I hate that phrase.

Anyway, since then I have learned something from Dr. Jimmy Evans who did a series on marriage and other things called, "Marriage on THE Rock." He teaches that "women are designed to raise small children. But it’s difficult for them to deal with bigger ones. There are 2 reasons for this…First, older boys do not want a woman telling him what to do. He will resent her. Second, older girls will feel Mom is another woman trying to control her life. Older girls don’t want someone telling them what choices to make (like boys, makeup, clothes, etc) But this is ok from Dad when they are older. Mom is designed to nurture when the child is young." This was such a comfort the first time I heard it. I thought they were lost to me forever. Scripture is loaded with examples...Adam and Seth, Isaac and Jacob (and especially Esau), Jacob and Benjamin, and David and Solomon. Outside of the 8th day ritual, there is nothing mentioned of these men having much to do with their sons until, at least, teen years. But then they are inseparable. Something to ponder.

- California

I'll give you a "p" that no other father will give you. You ready for it??

Be a philosopher to your children, daddy-o. Be a philosopher. If you can't figure out what I mean, let me know. The world is being a philosopher to your children, you be one, a Baptist Christian Bible philosopher, asking and answering all the little and big "why's" of life. Tell me what you think, bro.

- Texas

Who Is My Neighbor

2005-10-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

"Who is my neighbor?” This question was asked by a man who was trying to justify his lack of love for others to Jesus. To answer this question (and to challenge the man’s justification of his lack of love) Jesus tells a story, the story of the Good Samaritan.

In that story who is the neighbor? The beat-up, left for dead Jew? Or the Samaritan who helps him? (I don't have time to go through the whole story; I'll take it for granted that a lot of you have heard about it. Google it. Read it in Luke 10:25-37).

In that culture, the Jews marginalized the Samaritans. Considered them dogs. In that culture, no Samaritan would help a Jew. They'd rather leave them for dead. A dead Jew is better than a living on any day to a Samaritan.

Jesus’ point then is that our neighbors are those who have been marginalized, and who marginalize others. Many Christians today have marginalized homosexuals. Our culture has marginalized them to. My neighbor is the homosexual. Those who marginalized the homosexual are his neighbors as well.

To take it a step further, the Jews were right (ideally) for considering the Samaritan's "unclean". The Samaritans had intermarried with pagan's contrary to God's command. (from what I have studied this does not have anything to do with interracial marriage today – in other words, because I say the Jews were right “ideally” does not mean I believe it is wrong for a white person to marry a black person) The Jews disliked the Samaritans because the Samaritans believed that their holy mountain was where God would have them worship. The Jews knew that the Temple was God's worship place.

Our neighbors are those who live contrary to God's commands. Our neighbors are those who worship differently than the Bible says they are supposed to.

Further more, The Samaritan's doctrine was different than the Jews. Their view of God was different, even opposing. Now, none of this made the Samaritans right. In fact, in John 4, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman, "you guys don't worship the right way, the Jews have it right". The Samaritans were wrong. Flat out wrong.My neighbors are those who have differing even opposing views of God than I do. I am the neighbor of those who have differing even opposing views of God than I do.

Our neighbors are those who are flat out wrong, those whom Jesus says are flat our wrong. I am the neighbor of those who are flat out wrong; those whom Jesus says are flat out wrong.

The responsibility to love like, from applying what Jesus says, rests on both parties (The Jews and the Samaritans). However, Jesus is teaching this to Jewish people. Who is the one who displays the kind of love Jesus is teaching on?

The Samaritan! The one who has been marginalized. The one who lives contrary to God's commands. The one who worship differently than the Bible says they are supposed to. The one who has differing even opposing views of God. The one who is flat out wrong, those whom Jesus says are flat out wrong.

I believe this means that we can’t marginalize. How does love marginalize? Love doesn’t marginalize, love wins. I love them as I would myself. They are to love me as they would themselves. Who do you marginalize? Black people? Followers of Islam? Who do you condemn because of difference or ignorance? Vegetarians? Right-winged Evangelicals? Who do you avoid because of practice? Homosexuals? Those are the very people you are to love and care for!

WOW! This kind of love would be radical! It would be the kind of love that would change the world! Jesus said when people practice this kind of love then the whole world would know they were his disciples!

High Culture, Low-Lifes and Judgement In The Household of God: Answering That Tattoo/Piercing Question

2005-10-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

This is going to IM sometime tomorrow after the Piper traffic drops a bit. Thought I would post it over here today for you folks.

Because I work with students, many of them not Christians, but mostly with some Christian background, I get a lot of questions about certain topics. I could probably post a "Ten Most Frequently Asked Questions From My Students" and you would be surprised at what is not on that list. Understanding that I am campus minister, frequent preacher and Bible teacher, the questions are usually related to what my students have heard from preachers or family members regarding subjects they are interested in. I'm supposed to confirm that Brother Billy Bob or Grandma were right or wrong. It's a big responsibility, because....well...there's not much way to avoid making someone angry with the kinds of questions students ask me.

"Is interracial dating wrong?" I get this a lot because a fair amount of parents disapprove of it and send their daughters to boarding school to avoid it. Trouble is, we've got more interracial couples than any school our size I know of. I know some of our older employees and mountain people struggle with this, but we've always done the right thing in saying nothing. When I answer this question- "The Bible doesn't have anything to say about skin color as a factor in relationships"- I probably run the risk of some redneck dad coming to straighten me out, but so far, I've survived.

"If you commit suicide do you go to hell." A lot of my students know someone who has taken his or her own life. This idea- based on the Roman Catholic notion of final absolution and last rites, I suppose- fascinates students who are sure it's in the Bible somewhere. When I tell them that no one goes to hell for taking their own life, but because they are sinners, they rarely get what I mean. When I say that Christ forgives suicide, they are aghast.

"When the anti-Christ comes.....(fill in the blank from here with any of a dozen questions.) Students are full of Left Behind and all the malarkey they've collected from pastors and youth ministers who've shoved those books at them. I generally refuse to answer any questions about the anti-Christ until the student looks up all the verses in the New Testament that refer to the anti-Christ. If they return from that adventure, I give them my Young Person's Guide To The Book of Revelation.

None of these, however, is the #1 question on my all-time hit list. The top question I get from my students is...

"Is there anything wrong with getting pierced or tattooed?"I've actually used this question to my advantage. Early on in my Bible Survey class, we look at the only verse in the Bible that mentions tattoos, Leviticus 19:28 ("You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD") as an example of how to rightly interpret the Bible.
We locate this verse in a book, learn all we can about the various contexts, study the words, get a sense of what is going on at the time the verse occurs, then we venture some idea of what the verse says and what the Bible teaches on the subject.

As my regular readers can appreciate, I use this as an opportunity to show that the "magic book" and "grocery store" methods of reading the Bible are insufficient. The question becomes, "How is all of this about Christ?" There's a question that needs to get asked a lot more than any question about tattoos.

That's still the most important question. How is a "rule" about tattoos or piercings about Christ? Is the Christian life a set of rules and expectations, or is it loyalty to Christ? Is it all about how to not be "rebellious" and "immature," or is it about being conformed to God as he is revealed in the incarnation of Jesus? When a Christian evaluates a cultural practice, what does he/she look at? What is God doing in laying down a rule about tattoos in Leviticus? What do we do with it now, especially since there are so many rules in Levitical law that we ignore?

Blogger Phil Johnson recently addressed the issue of tattoos and piercings in a post where he responded to a letter-writer challenging his views on piercings. Johnson makes many excellent points. He is a fine thinker and an excellent writer. His guidance is pastoral and practical. The letter-writer was using an evangelistic justification for piercings, and Phil pointed out the problems with that approach.

As you have described it above, body modification and combat boots are a significant and deliberate part—if not the very centerpiece—of your evangelistic strategy. You seem to imagine that if you try hard enough to fit into the punk culture, you might actually win people by convincing them that Jesus would fit nicely into their lifestyle, too.

But wouldn't you yourself actually agree that there is—somewhere—a limit to how far Christians can legitimately go in conforming to worldly culture? Surely you do not imagine that the apostle Paul's words about becoming all things to all men is a prescription for adopting every vulgar fashion of a philistine culture. Do you?

Can we agree, for example, that it wouldn't really be good or necessary to get a sex-change operation in order to reach the transgendered community? OK, you might dismiss that as something inherently sinful and wrong for that reason. Well, how about pulling a few teeth and adopting the trashy patois and tasteless lifestyle of Jerry Springer's guest list in order to have a more effective outreach to the underbelly of the cable-TV community? How serious are you about your strategy of accommodation and conformity?

And why is it mainly the lowbrow and fringe aspects of Western youth culture that this argument is invariably applied to? Why are so few Christian young persons keen to give up video games and take up chess in order to reach the geeks in the chess club? or give up heavy metal and learn the cello in order to have a ministry to the students who play in the orchestra?Phil is exactly correct. Paul certainly knew what he was doing when he "became" anything and he didn't pursue that as a "blank check" approach. Reaching a subculture requires some common ground, and some pragmatic conformity, but attempts to "make Jesus cool" by total immersion are usually misplaced and ineffective.

Later, however, Johnson says,
The most effective way to minister to any culture—and this goes for every culture, from highbrow society to white middle-class suburbia to the urban street gang—is to challenge and confront the culture instead of conforming to it. "Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean'" ( 2 Corinthians 6:17)...Yes, I know Jesus was a friend of sinners, and His enemies accused Him—wrongly—of participating in their excesses. The truth is that He became their friend without adopting their values. That's the example we should strive to follow, not the example of worldly culture itself.It wouldn't be hard to amen this as well, but I'm not sure I can. What Phil Johnson is describing- the confrontation of culture- is exactly right....IF by that we mean the culture is confronted with Christ and the Gospel, and not simply another culture.

The standard fundamentalist response to "low" culture has not been "Christ over culture," but a fully enculturated version of "Christian" culture that is just as much part of the human cultural phenomenon as piercings, tattoos and combat boots. Seeing this Christian culture with the same eyes we see other cultures proves difficult.

All we need to do is look for a moment at Rick Warren's Hawaiian shirts. That's culture, and it's no different from a teenagers shirt with a favorite band, at least as far as its fashion value. (If the kid's shirt has a message, that is another consideration.) Visit TBN and look at the hairstyles on everyone from Benny Hinn to Laverne Tripp to Jan Crouch. How is this different from the hair styles you would see on kids with piercings and tattoos? (It's, frankly, considerably weirder.)
Gospel quartets? If we turn the sound off and just look at the uniforms, the movements, the hairstyles, the motions....could we put the Beatles or Mxpx on parallel screens and see any "Christian" difference in the culture? Dress codes at Christian schools? Acceptable behavior during Pentecostal worship? Christian culture is everywhere, and seen by everyone, except those who swim in its waters.

In the comment thread on Phil's article, the first commenter has his personal picture on the comment. He's a young pastor. He also has gelled and spiked hair. I see gelled and spiked hair all over evangelicalism these days. Of course, back in the 80's, gelled and spiked hair was the domain of punk rockers. What was once a symbol of rebellion now shows up on the head of conservative evangelical pastors...without anyone thinking "skater!"

My point is that we have to be "culture savvy," not strictly confrontational. We must be culturally aware in all our environments. I can't talk to my young people about their piercings as if my wife doesn't have earrings. I can't talk about his combat boots if I'm not aware of my own "suit and tie" subculture.

Growing up, my fundamentalist Baptist church was steeped in its own culture, and they preached against "hippy" culture all the time. But their hair, clothes, music and customs were no different, strictly speaking, than much of the hippy culture they critiqued. They had accepted and enowed their culture with the mantle of "Christian," and the culture of young people with the label of "rebellious." With the advent of the "Jesus movement," Christianity easily adapted to much of that youth culture, even while it critiqued other aspects of it, like smoking weed and premarital sex. The rebellion of the 70's became the old guy on his motorcycle going to a Calvary Chapel across the street. WIth his own TBN program, of course.

The admonition that our encounter with culture is summarized as "Be ye separate" reminds me of one of the passages I use to help my students understand what is happening in Leviticus 19 with rules against tattoos and commands to not cut your side locks.

Leviticus 18:1-4 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God.From the beginning, the situation was not so much about confronting culture as it was about becoming God's people. God was creating his own people, and preparing them to be the people of the Messiah. As I have said elsewhere on this blog, God is about the creation of a Christ-centered counter-culture in the church. That counter-culture is not marked by outward signs any longer.

Romans 2:28-29 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.Ironically, the word "Jew" here can simply be replaced with the idea of "Christian" today, as we believe God has made a new people in Christ, and the believing, faithful, old covenant community is part of that people as well.
I do not believe God cares any more about a butterfly tattoo on an ankle or a pierced nose than he cares about Jan Crouch's hair or the music styles heard at a Gaither homecoming. Both are culture. Neither are sinful. Neither commend us to God. Are there legitimate questions of "high" and "low" culture? Yes, but we must be careful to not identify Christ with culture, whether high or low. That one cultural expression might reflect some objective value- like beauty- is not guranteed simply because I like it. I enjoy high church organ music and find hours of African drumming unnerving. Does God really choose one over the other? Conservative evangelicals would do well to not trust their own preferences so much, and to subject everything they do to the values of the Kingdom of God, where many things are upside down from our viewpoint.
Finally, on the subject of Jesus, I truly want to comment Phil Johnson for bringing Jesus up at all in this kind of discussion. It's a rarity in evangelicalism these days. It is discouraging how Jesus is omitted from almost all evangelical debates about anything. In an examination of faithful living in a particular culture, Jesus matters more than any exegesis of Leviticus!

Phil is right that Jesus was wrongly accused if he was accused of using prostitutes for sex or of being drunk. But Jesus did participate in "low life" culture, at least as it was defined by the dominant Pharisaic Judaism of the time. Everything about Jesus was "low life." His town. His region. His friends. Their jobs. Jesus' didn't use prostitutes, but he allowed them to follow him and to touch him. This was horrendously scandalous and would have been labelled "rebellious" and "purposely provocative" by those concerned about a good witness. The Pharisees would have said much of what fundamentalists say today: You don't need to have followers from among the dirty, filthy sinners to be a reforming rabbi. You don't need to touch lepers to show compassion. Send them to the established authorities. You don't need to go into the houses of those people to show God is merciful. You don't need to frequent those parties. You don't need to hang out with Samaritans.

Jesus knew exactly what he was doing when he made Matthew a disciple and accepted the lavish worship of a sinful woman. He knew exactly what he was doing in not washing his hands, refusing to fast, breaking traditions and associating with the politically and religious fringe.

Jesus broke laws that defined "high, decent, Christian" culture all the time. He broke food laws, sabbath laws, laws of association. He had his own version of the holiness code that would have sent the fundamentalists of his day scrambling for all their best rhetoric to condemn him as being needlessly, immaturely disrespectful of things that made up a good witness.

I only mention this to say that Jesus was "culture savvy" and purposely confronted the RELIGIOUS CULTURE of his day for their blindness to their own meaningless cultural acrustations to the truth of God. Tithing your mint and cumin was a good witness. Avoiding lepers was a good witness. If some of our Christian brothers and sisters provoke us the same way, let's be careful we understand what is really happening. Are they attempting to "convert by being cool?" Then by all means, tell them what Doug Wilson does: the rebel soul is a geezer. Then let's remeber that Jesus is a rebel to any aspects of culture that turn us away from the truth of God and true human experience. Making sure we aren't blind to our own cultural trappings is crucial in making sure we don't present Jesus as simply a white, suburban, American, Republican, evangelical version of what we think "good people" ought to look like.

How do I answer the question of tattoos and piercings? It is a complex question. It has to do with all kinds of issues over which Christians will disagree. I tell our kids under 18 that they should submit to their parents on this one. I tell anyone over 18 to look closely at what Jesus did and didn't do, and to not rush into a decision that they will later regret. I harshly critique the idea that such things are "evangelistic." God isn't mocked or manipulated by fashion. But he isn't manipulated by Gospel music either. Or by Reformed worship. Or by Warren's books. God isn't obligated to any of our cultures. He came as Jesus Christ for us and for our salvation. How we live on earth is about loyalty to Christ. It's a life devoted to Jesus as Lord, serving others in love. That isn't a tattoo and it's not cool. It's a life created by the Spirit and formed by the Word. Whatever our culture, let's put it under the constant judgement of the final Word...Jesus Christ.

Posted by Michael Spencer at September 28, 2005 06:29 PM

An Open Letter to Pat Robertson

2005-09-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. Pat Robertson,

I am writing this to introduce you to a friend of mine that may be able to help you both to get out of the mess you have made and to never get in it again. He will probably help you help others not to make the mistakes you've made as well.

My friend's name is Jesus.

No, not the Jesus you know; he's different. Evidently, the Jesus you know would actually prompt you to say and do the things you say and do. Not the Jesus I want to introduce to you. He would never advice you say what you said.

In fact, he would never want you to think such a thing. (He's really into how you think, too!) See, my friend Jesus lives by this Creed, and wants others who know him to as well. His Creed: "Love God with all that you are, and love your neighbor just like you would yourself." In fact, you follow Jesus by loving God and loving others.

See, Pat, that would mean a huge change in your thinking and actions, because the Jesus you know evidently wants you to love "God" and try to love others the way you wouldn't want to be loved. The Jesus you know seems more concerned with reforming America back to its "Christian" roots that he is with following his own Creed.

That's why I wanted you to meet the real Jesus. Well, actually, he wants to meet you. He knows the mess you have made, and how it's given him, his Creed, and his followers a bad rap. He's not thrilled with it, but he's the bigger man, and knows people will get past it - even though it will be tough. In fact, he's pretty good at cleaning up our messes.

Jesus wants to know you, and for you to know him, and for you to give up your agenda, assimilations, and assasinations, and follow his Creed: love God and love others by following him.

So, would you be willing to meet him? Soon? Give him a call - he's always available to talk to people who want to know him.

Sincerely,

Toby Neal

Prince Griffin and the Golden Unicorn

2005-09-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

My kids love a PBS cartoon called "Dragon Tales". It's a great educational show, that is filled with good values and they deal with a lot things kids deal with. On today’s episode the cast goes to school only to find out that their usual, and favorite teacher, will be absent, and a substitute will be teaching them. This doesn't go over very will with the young students. These kids don't like change. They're used to things the way "they've always been done."

The first thing the teacher does is says, "We're going to go on a field trip this morning!" Much to our surprise (after all what kid doesn't like a field trip?) the students in Dragonland complain, saying, “Our teacher always starts the day with a story…the story of Prince Griffin and the Golden Unicorn.” This teacher is going to tell them a story, and it is going to be the story they want to hear and love to hear, only they wont realize it till the end.

Their first stop on their field trip is a place called Shady Hallow. There the kids listen to the “rhythm birds” play different rhythms. A majority of the kids still complain that this isn’t the way their teacher does it. Some of them are even pretty grumpy about it. The teacher isn’t. She’s the happy-go-lucky, annoying type of person. Their disapproval doesn’t seem to bother her.

Next stop on the complain-trip? A place where the Hunting Horns grow. There the kids play some cool-sounding Hunting Horns. This time less kids complain about it not being “they way they’ve always done it”. In fact, a couple of the kids who crossed-over, are actually encouraging the kids who are still disgruntled – “come on, it isn’t that bad.”

After this it is lunch time, so the kids stop for a snack which their substitute teacher has prepared for them. Of course the snack isn’t like anything they have ever had before. All but one of the kids enjoys it. Quite a change from all the kids not wanting to do this. After much discussion and description they finally decide the snack tastes like some kind of cheese wrapped in pancake.

Finally, the sole disgruntled kid asks the sub (for the fifth and final time in the show), “when are you going to tell us the story about Prince Griffin and the Golden Unicorn?” Much to their surprise, she says, “I don’t need to, I already have.” Looks of confusion adorn the dragon-kids faces.

She quizzes them concerning the details of the story since they hear it daily from their regular teacher. “So, where does Prince Girffin go first as he searches for the Golden Unicorn?”

“Shady Hallow!” One of the kids says with glee! “That’s where we went today,” another adds! “Yeah, we saw Shady Hallow today!” Another one shouts.

The disgruntled kid still isn’t convinced. After all, she didn’t tell them the story how he had always heard it.

“And,” the sub continues quizzing, “what happens next?” The answer comes quickly, “He caught the Golden Unicorn by blowing the…” Another kid interrupts, “the Hunting Horns!” “Yeah, he blew the Hunting Horns and the…hey, we blew the Horns, just like Prince Girffin did in the story!” The kids are digging it now.

Even the disgruntled one is starting to come around, but he still isn’t there yet, because he can’t quite figure out if this “new” way of telling the story is good enough to replace the old way. Although, what he fails to see is that it doesn’t have to.

In fact, it is the disgruntled kid that offers the final piece of the story, “And when he catches the Unicorn they eat a shared meal together…one that tasted just like what we ate!” He smiles. They cheer. I think they got it.

Finally the teacher speaks up. “I wanted you to experience the story for yourselves not just hear it again. I wanted you to walk through the Hallow, blow the Horns and taste the food they ate. I wanted the story to come alive to you in a new way, a different way.”

To this the kids agree that even though they were upset, skeptical, and didn’t want to do it in the end they realized that this day was better than they could have imagined it. And so was the story.

Fellowship

2005-08-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Building on our "Binding and Loosing" conversation a couple weeks I go, I wanted to further engage us in how Luke describes a church body's returned, submitted life together.
The next thing on his list is: fellowship.

Acts 2:42 - "And they devoted themselves to the apostles teachings (Binding & Loosing) and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

Fellowship comes from the Greek word "koinonia" meaning in essense "to have in commmon". For a great read, and detailed description of what "fellowship" means in its historical and grammatical setting check out this link: The importance of fellowship in the New Testament Church

The point I brought things to last night was not the same as the point in the article above (although I did use some of their research). I wanted to focus us on the "holding things in common" and that the main thing we held in common was: Jesus.

If we do not have the same Jesus, we have nothing in common as a church body. In fact, we can't be a body. You have to have a head to be a body.

Without Jesus there is no church.

Without the Groom there is no wedding.

Fellowship at its core is an "interdepent relationship" with others. Me, you, Jesus. I wanted to focus us on that relationship with Jesus. So I gave the following questions out to help you and I focus this week on that relationship:

1. Who is Jesus to you?

2. How do you know him?

3. Where’d you first meet him?

4. What were your first impressions?

5. What are your impressions of him now?

6. Has he changed (don’t get theological here)?

7. How? For the better? For the worse?

8. Does he still love you?

9. How do you know?

10. How much time and energy have you spent on your relationship with him?

We can not focus on our relationship with each other outside of our relationship with Jesus Christ - we have no fellowship with each other without Jesus! These questions are relational questions. They are questions you would answer in a marriage counciling setting. They are questions you think about in all your other relationship. They need to be ones we consider with our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Binding and Loosing

2005-08-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

A week ago we discussed, as a church, what it meant to be a church, and what would result from us being a church. (You can read more about it here) Ultimately, a church is a group of returned followers of Jesus Christ who have submitted themselves together under the Lordship of their Savior & Rabbi, Jesus. Acts 2:42-47 describe what results from them being that.

This past Sunday I wanted to follow up on that, believing that we should begin to figure out what it means to move into that description, to be a church, as a church. As I prayed about it, some things I have studied of recent came to my heart to share with the church. Rob Bell in his book, “Velvet Elvis,” articulates what I have always believed, and does so much better than I could. Some people take this as coping, and it is, but I tend to view it as, “this guy is saying what I know and think a whole lot better than I can, so I will use what he is saying and communicate it to others a whole lot better than I could!”

In essence, if we are live life together, than I think it means we have to come to a knowledge and application of Scripture together. I know this is true. How it practically works itself out, I don’t know. So this past Sunday I laid out what I believe to be at the heart of figuring out Scripture together, Rob Bell style.

Here are my speaking notes…

*****

How is that the Bible can be so many things to so many people?

Someone said to me, “As long as you teach the Bible, I have no problem with you.” What did they mean? “As long as you teach my version of the Bible, I have no problem with you.”

Clarity on what the Bible is and means begins with what Jesus believed about the Scriptures.

Example: Lev. 18:11 – How do we live this out? What does it mean to love? What isn’t love? Who decides what is love and what love isn’t? Who is your neighbor? What if you have differing opinions about love? Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Who decides who is right and who is wrong? Who decides if whoever decided is right or wrong?

The Point: In order to live it out & not just talk about it, someone somewhere has to make decisions about Lev. 18:11. Someone has to decide what it looks like to put flesh & blood on this command. The Bible has to be interpreted.

Rabbis
Example: Laws concerning work on The Sabbath (Things permitted/things Forbade)

A Rabbi’s set of rules & lists, which was his interpretation of the Torah, was called his Yoke. When you followed a Rabbi you did so because you believed his interpretation was closer to what God intended. You took on his yoke – Matt. 11:30

The intent of the yoke was to live out the words, not just interpret them correctly.

“You have abolished the Torah, you have fulfilled the Torah” – Matt. 5:17

Rabbi’s could only teach with authority (had two in authority lay hands on them). Those who did could make new interpretations of the Torah. New Rabbis, with new views or set of interpretations were rare (Jesus!). People would travel for miles to hear (wanted to have a clearer interpretation of the Scriptures) – Matt. 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44 (this was called “Binding & Loosing” (forbidding & allowing) – Rabbis with authority could do this!

When a Rabbi gave his disciples authority to “bind & loose” it was called “giving the keys to the Kingdom” – Matt. 16:19 (Jesus is giving them authority to make new interpretations of the Bible). He is giving them permission to say, “Hey, we think we missed it before on that verse, here’s what it actually means” (they would have to do this a lot – e.g., Peter’s sermon in Acts 2). When they did this, somehow the God in heaven was involved (16:19).

Our Turn – Acts 15:28

The Bible is a communal book – meant to be interpreted in community. This is contrasted today by how we do things (personal devotions, study, worship, prayer, etc).

1. Binding and loosing can be done in community – but only with those who are equally passionate about being true to God’s word.

In Jesus’ culture they believed you had as much to gain from the discussion of the text as the text itself. You can’t off the deep end in community; some one is there to pull you back!

2. Binding & Loosing takes honesty about our interpretation – nobody is objective. There is no way to read the Bible agenda-and perspective free. It sounds nice to say “I’m not giving you my opinion, I’m just telling you what it means.” But, it isn’t true.

Churches that grow because “they preach the Bible” grow because what is preached resonates with certain people. A YOKE.

3. Binding & Loosing takes awareness - We have to be aware that everyone’s understanding of the Bible rests on somebody’s binding and loosing.

Example: Holy Kiss. Romans 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26 Someone binded and loosed about these verses. Someone said to you and me, these do not apply today.

Not only are we resting on someone else’s binding and loosing, but also that was new for his or her day. What is accepted today as tradition was at one point in time a break from tradition. When a Rabbi said, “You have heard it said, but I say to you,” they were breaking tradition and making new.

4. Binding and loosing demands a balance of conviction & humility – Acts 15:28. It means saying, “We don’t know if we have it exactly right. It may change, because this book is alive!”

5. Binding and loosing can only be done if you believe the Bible is alive – the Bible is a book about what happens not what happened. Their story is our story.
In order to bind and loose we must understand the Bible was written by people in a specific time and in a specific place for a specific purpose. Context is KEY (not the verses before and after but also the historical and grammatical context).

6. Binding and loosing takes FAITH & TRUST in the Spirit.

7. Binding and loosing can only be done if we are willing to wrestle. The Rabbis had a metaphor for this: Jacob and the Angel. This wrestling should be done under:
- Subjection/Dependence to the Spirit
- Subjection to authority
- God uses the teaching pastor to speak the YOKE (Acts 6)
- Through Prayer

“How do we get from POINT A to POINT B?” was asked of me last Sunday in consideration of the vision I set forth for our church to be a together-group of returned people under the Lordship of Jesus. I don’t have all the answers. I am not even sure of what our next step should be, but I know it has something to do with that I have laid out tonight: wrestling with the text, faith & trust in the Spirit, understanding the context, believing the Bible is for me, today, conviction & humility, awareness, honesty about our interpretations, and it has to be done in community: by those who are equally passionate about being true to God’s word & seeking to know it to live it, not knowing it to have it.

Your thoughts are welcome...You can post here, or over on the discussion board on our website, or you can e-mail your thoughts/questions to me!

The Sermon on the Amount

2005-08-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

Matthew 22:36-40
'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

And he said unot him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (ESV)

All your heart – all your soul – all your mind. That's the amount.

John Maxwell, the famous speaker on leadership wrote: My 14-year-old son, Joel Porter, has a job this year. He got his first, official paycheck. Boy, was he thrilled. He came home and showed me his paycheck. Then he marched into the room where Mom was and said, "You know, I've thought it over and I'm not sure I can afford to tithe."He has more money in his hand than he's ever had before, and what happens? All of a sudden we say, "I really need this money for something else." Out of the mouth of a 14-year-old boy, true to his human nature, comes this whole question, "Where do I put God?" Is he first? Is he second? Is he fifth? Is he twenty-third in my life? Where is God? Citation: John Maxwell, "God's Trust Test,"

The Primary Principle we must acknowledge is this: God owns it all.
Deuteronomy 10:14 – “To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it”
1 Cor. 4:7 - ". . . what do you have that you did not receive? "

God owns it all and gives us responsibility here in trust for Him. The question then is, "How does He want us to handle that responsibility?" Let’s let the Bible help us learn how to live and give.

The Priority of Giving - 1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Priority giving is giving God the first part of our income, not the leftovers. It is putting God first.
- First Day of the Week - I Cor. 16:2
- First Fruits of your Labor - Ex. 23:16
- First Commandment: love God - Matt 22:36-40
- Seek First the Kingdom - Matt 6:33

Making it a priority – putting it first - is part of loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

For contrast, what about this attitude? A church member stopped the pastor and angrily complained that the church had purchased five new brooms—an expenditure that he thought was completely unnecessary. The pastor was surprised at the man's reaction and mentioned it to the church treasurer, who said, "It's understandable. How would you feel if you saw everything you gave in the past year tied up in five brooms?"

Proportionate in our giving – 1 Corinthians 16:2
Proportionate giving means setting aside a predetermined percentage of our income, dependent upon several factors, with 10% as a benchmark.On every Lord's Day, each of you should put aside some amount of money in relation to what you have earned and save it for this offering. 1 Cor 16:2 (NLT)

Giving should be a forethought not an after thought!

I want to encourage you to shoot at the target that is in front of you. If you are not giving regularly, start there. If you are giving regularly, step up to tithing. If you are tithing, move on to give sacrificially.Maybe you’ve gotten in debt and cannot move up to the initial level without being in jeopardy with your creditors – begin with what you can give and do it every week.

If your heart is right, then you’ll be looking to do more. If it’s wrong, you’ll always be thinking of excuses. There is no other time for giving but now. It will never be easy. But it will always be right.

Start today.

A preacher paid a visit to a farmer and asked, "If you had 200 dollars, would you give 100 dollars to the Lord? "Sure would," said the farmer. "If you had two cows, would you give one cow to the Lord?" "Yeah, I would." "If you had two pigs, would you give one of them to the Lord?" The farmer replied, "That's not fair. You know I have two pigs." Is that where you are?

So if we give priority to God with our gifts and offerings, if we give proportionately to Him according to how He has prospered us, then the next thing for us to do is to give progressively.

Give Progressively - 2 Corinthians 9:6
Progressive giving is that when God increases our ability to give, we do so with joy and the knowledge that we are making a tangible difference in the lives of everyone around us. That gets us back to Jesus’ second commandment doesn’t it – love your neighbor as yourself.

Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be. Matthew 6:21

If you truly love your neighbor, you’ll look for ways to reach Him for Christ.

God’s chosen instrument to do that is His church. So we give as God has prospered us. As we rise in wealth, our giving should increase as well.

Someone once said that : Our faith becomes practical when it is expressed in two books: the date book and the check book. Citation: Elton Trueblood.

So we’ve seen we should give priority to God, give proportionately to God, give progressively to God, and now we’ll see we should…

Give Sacrificially Out of LOVE Back To the One Who First Loved You With His All – 1 Corinthians 8:3-5

Fred didn’t know what made him stop the church van at that house. It sure didn’t look like church folks, he didn’t really know if anyone lived there. But he saw a bike propped against the stoop and thought maybe there was a child there he could pick up and take to church. He walked to the door questioning his decision all the way. Ramshackle was the word that popped into his mind as he knocked on the door.

He was just about to turn around and leave when the door opened and a little boy looked up and said, “yes sir, can I help you?”Fred asked if his parents were home. “Nope, gone fishing. Do that every Sunday.” What about you? He asked. Said I’d get in the way. Left me at home to watch my sister. So Fred started to say his goodbyes, but something told him to ask, “Would you like to go to church with me? If you check with your parents, I could come by and get you each Sunday. You and your sister too.” “Don’t know much about church said the boy – never been. Is that a Jesus church?Fred looked at the boy in his ragged t shirt and torn blue jeans. He’d never felt such empathy for a child before. He said a quick prayer – Help! And said, Yes, we love Jesus there and He loves us. Would you like me to tell you about Him? Sure!

So Fred explained to Tommy about the man who came to help people live to please God, and to help them go to be with God in heaven when they died. He asked Tommy if he knew what sin was, and why God couldn’t let any of that into heaven. He explained it all, and Tommy got it. He knew he did because tears began to form in his eyes and he asked, could Jesus love me like that?Just then the parents came, and Fred explained to them who he was and why he was there. They weren’t very interested, but agreed to let Tommy go with Fred Sunday. Then they went inside, leaving Tommy on the step.

The next Sunday, Tommy was waiting outside when Fred came. He loved SS and sat with Fred in worship. He went down front and asked the pastor to help him have Jesus as his friend and savior, and came back grinning from ear to ear. Now in this church, they took the offering up at the close of the service. When the ushers got to Tommy, they were just going to hold the plate in front of him, but Tommy pulled at it until they let him have it. He stepped out into the aisle, put the plate down, and stood in it. Fred gently pulled him back to the pew. He asked Tommy what he was doing, and the boy said, “well, I don’t have any money, so I’m just going to give God me.”

Love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul. Then the giving is easy.

Pledge Info & FAQ's

2005-08-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

In instituting a pledge as a way to begin our budget work, keep giving in the forefront of our minds, pray as stewards, and cause us to faithfully consider the estate of our finances I have realized that changing what we do does not come easy for us as a church. Especially in the area of money. So many fears, problems, and misconceptions come as a result of our unclear view of money (unscriptural?). Scarier yet is the fact that the Bible talks more on money than any other subject – and we have it screwed up! I am forced to think, what else to do we have wrong?

So much of our misunderstanding about money has been given to us by “financial experts” and preachers who have passed information on to us that they have received second hand. That is not to say that we have everything wrong, but with such a vital issue facing us, we ought to be make sure what the Bible says about giving, not just pass on other people’s opinions. Some people say we should tithe, give 10% to the church. Does it say that in the Bible? “Well, it’s inferred.” Inference is subjective. The list goes on…

So, how is one to know what the Bible says about giving, saving, investing – money? I think that if we study it in context, compare Scripture with Scripture, discuss it, pray about it, and let it breath in our minds for a time, we will know as the Lord gives us understanding.

A church should operate its finances on Biblical principles with varying methodology. A pledge is a varying methodology. The idea of a pledge is a method to help us fulfill the principles on giving in the Bible.

(Below is an adapted & edited e-mail that went out to the members of Pigeon River Baptist Church this past week. If you have read this letter already, I suggest re-reading it here, as it has been added on to, and some questions have been given more detailed answers)

Giving is to be at the forefront of our activity and hearts as Christians. The ideal in Scripture is that as believers we give cheerfully, generously and regularly. The amount is not the issue of primacy. In placing the pledge before you I have attempted to put giving before you, in hopes that you would hold it before you every week as a generous, cheerful, regular giver. If you are not such, I hope for you to become one.

As Christians we should be operating our finances according to God's word. This means in diligence. Having to consider your annual giving in the middle of the year is a GREAT opportunity for you and your family to consider the "state of your herds and your cattle". When's the last time you checked to see if you were on budget for the year in your spending and savings? Do you even have a budget? This provides the opportunity to look at it.

Church leadership should be proactive in coaching fiscal responsibility not reactive. This Pledge allows the leadership of the church to be proactive in initiating a concern and responsibility on the part of its members to be fiscally responsible to their Lord for the stewardship of his money. Only the financial officers of this church will view the Pledges. The financial officers are Kenny and Scott as deacons and me as the pastor.

(Can I make a note here about how you give? Some of you give via checks, others cash. I want to speak to both here for a second, but first to those who give in cash. When you give in cash, please consider using an offering envelope to do so in. Putting your money in an envelope and marking on it who gave it and how much is in it is an excellent way for us as a church to keep record of giving, and it is also a legal way for us to do so. The IRS requires that we have, on file, two paper copies of individual giving. You’re envelope, filled out, would be one copy. That’s the best we can do. But, it is a step in the right direction. For those of you who give us checks, consider putting your check in an offering envelope and signifying who gave and how much for the same reasons. Your check would be one copy and the envelope in which the check was placed would be two. Offering envelope can be found near the offering box on the information table.)

As Christians we are Stewards of God's money. So many Christians do not fully realize that their weekly paycheck is God's. "The earth is the Lord's and fullness thereof; the world, and all they that are in it" (Ps. 24:1) As a steward we are to ask God what we should give. We do not determine that amount based on anything but prayer and God's word. This Pledge allows us the chance to go before God and ask him what we should be giving - it helps us be good stewards!

Members of a church hold the majority responsibility to fund the ministries of the church. This Pledge is a reminder of that privilege. We understand that some people are able to give more freely because of lack of debt, etc. If you are in debt, then you should be focused on getting out of debt first. However, I can honestly say from personally testimony that when I was 30,000.00$’s in debt, that I faithfully gave 10% of my gross income per pay check. I believe I was blessed for doing so. I am not saying everyone should do as I did. The decision to do what needs to be done with God’s money is up to God and you. Do what he says.

So, in reality this Pledge asks you to do nothing more than you already do, in essence. Do you give? You will still be giving after this pledge - this pledge just lets the financial officers know before we budget how much we should be expecting you to give under the leadership of God.

Let me conclude this with a list of some FAQ's and try to answer them for you.

Do you already know how much I give? Yes, the financial officers know from week to week how much and who gives. This pledge will not change that.

Will I be bugged, billed or bullied about my giving or lack thereof? No! Once every three months you will be given a receipt of your giving and it will show how it lines up with your pledged amount. We will be tracking this because we want to make sure we are keeping within budgeted limits as we try to be fiscally responsible as a church. This receipt is not a bill! It is to be used for your records (perhaps to be used as a praise item - "See, God really can use us to give like this, and he has blessed us so!"). Please understand that as a member, if you are not giving you will not be bullied about it. You will be pastored about it. That means you will be loved, it will be looked into, and we will seek to build one another so that each of us is obedient to the commands of our Master as his stewards.

What if I can't give or my giving will be low? Did Jesus push away the widow with only a mite to give (a dollar)? No, in fact, because it was all she had, he praised her, and made her an example of what a Kingdom Steward is! Amount money is never an issue in God's eyes - amount of heart is. If you pray, consider your finances, and seek the Lord, he will tell you what to give as his steward. If it is 10 dollars a month, then it is exactly what we need and what God wants you to do. Write it down, and turn it in, and watch God bless you!

Is this considered a prideful display of giving? No! Giving in the Bible has always been a public thing. However, it has never been a prideful thing. Consider that everyone in Israel knew who was giving what sacrifice, and depending on what animal you brought, your fiscal status was made evident. For more public examples consider the building of the Tabernacle and Temple – the exact amounts were brought before the financial officers of Israel, and recorded for us in Scripture (we know how much Abraham owned, Jacob owned, Isaac owned, David owned & gave, Solomon owned & gave, etc). In the New Testament we know exactly how much Jesus paid in taxes, we know how much Barnabas gave, how much Ananais & Sapphira didn’t give, etc. Of course there is the one verse where Jesus berates the Pharisee for publicly announcing his giving, but please notice that what he gave was what was required giving – the difference? He made it a pride issue. Giving has always been public, but never to be prideful.

What if I can’t plan in advance for my giving? The first thing I would consider doing is praying about what you should give this year. Ask the Lord to lay the amount on your heart. If you are married, pray with your spouse about it. Then I would look over my giving from the previous twelve months, and add what was given up and divide by those months. The average would be what I put down unless God tells me to up it or decrease it. What you have been giving is probably what you will be giving unless you see significant debt decreasing or a pay increase coming in the future.

What if this Pledge goes against my convictions on giving? Will I still be able to be a member and not do the Pledge? If this Pledge goes against your convictions, then you should not do it. However, please understand that a conviction is something you will die for, a preference is something you desire to do and not doing it makes you feel uncomfortable. In the end, if you do not do the Pledge, then you will still be a member, but please know that as a member you are still required to be giving cheerfully, generously and regularly as the Lord leads and supplies.

Why not keep things the way they are? The leadership of the church does not feel it is fulfilling its responsibility to shepherd the flock in the area of finances. So, we are taking planned, progressive steps to help make that happen. In January we are planning on making offering envelopes available with the weeks of the year numbered on them so you can prepare your giving ahead of time and keep track. Things like this are steps in the right direction.

Why the Pledge? Because we feel it is a way for us to put giving in the forefront of our thinking as a church, to help us pray as good stewards should, help us move in the right direction in fiscal responsibility, and to make it known that we are serious about the commitment we make to being a member of a local church. Pigeon River desires to be a church that challenges and loving moves its members to practical and passionate obedience to God so their lives are centered on Christ. Would you want to be apart of a church that didn't?

If you have any further questions, please voice them to me. Don't shy away from this type of thing. As we grow as a connected and committed church family we need to be able to share how we feel about these types of things. Okay?

Centering Lives on Christ,

Pastor Toby

Sharing Truth with an Ever-Emerging Culture

2005-07-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

By Rick Warren
In ministry, some things must never change but others must change constantly.

Clearly, God's five purposes for his church are non-negotiable. If a church fails to balance the five purposes of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism, then it's no longer a healthy church, and it's in danger of becoming simply a social club.

On the other hand, the way or style in which we fulfill these eternal purposes must continually be adjusted and modified because human culture is always changing.

For instance, when I first started Saddleback Church, fresh out of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, personal computers were in their infancy, the Internet was just a crude academic network, and nobody had even heard of e-mail. Now I often sit in my pajamas and have e-mail conversations with people across the globe. The times, they are a-changing, and they'll keep right on a-changing whether we want them to or not.

Our culture has moved past the MTV generation into the Internet generation, and yet many of us are just now responding to the TV generation! Our message of transformation must never change, but our presentation should be continually transformed, adapting to the new languages of our culture. One of the strengths of Saddleback Church is that we're constantly adapting; we've changed styles of worship, programming, and outreach many, many times in the last 25 years, and we'll continue to do so because the world keeps changing.

The only way to stay relevant is to anchor your ministry to unchanging truths and eternal purposes but be willing to adapt continually how you communicate those truths and purposes.

As an example, let's look at evangelism, one of the five New Testament purposes of the church. In many traditional churches, evangelism remains confrontational rather than relational. There is planned visitation of this sort: "We'll all come Thursday night and go knock on doors."

Would it surprise you to know that in 25 years at Saddleback, we've never had a planned, organized visitation program? Yet we've baptized more than 1,000 people a year for the last decade! We reach them through relationship evangelism. Our members are constantly on mission to bring their friends and neighbors to our weekend services, where we reach out to non-believers -- particularly those who have no real church background.

You might wonder if we attract these visitors by watering down the Gospel, but we don't. We simply communicate it in ways that non-believers understand. Jesus drew enormous crowds (called multitudes) without compromising the message. He was clear, practical and loving, and he presented his timeless message in a contemporary fashion.

Lost people have a need for meaning, a need for purpose, a need for forgiveness and a need for love. They want to know how to make right decisions, how to protect their family, how to handle suffering and how to have hope in our world. These are all issues we have answers for, yet millions are ignoring the message of Christ because we insist on communicating in ways that don't connect with people any more.

In a sense, we've made the Gospel too difficult for a changing culture to understand. Imagine a missionary going overseas and saying, "I'm here to share the Good News, but first you have to learn to speak my language, learn my customs and sing my style of music." You can immediately see why this strategy would fail. Yet we do that all the time in a culture that is in radical flux.

If we want to reach people in the 21st century, we must start thinking differently. Paul said, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22b, NIV).

We Baby Boomers have tended to see the church as an organization, but the emerging generations are desperately looking for community (a major secret to Starbucks’ successful strategy: community in a coffee cup). We need to present the church as a place where you belong, a family where, as they sang on "Cheers," everybody knows your name. Now, you and I may know that the church is a community, but emerging generations have never seen it that way. They've seen a list of rules, not a loving community. We need to restate the eternal truths of the Bible in a fresh, contemporary way.

Emerging generations also are focused on the experiential, and that means we have to adjust the way we teach and preach. Rather than preaching simply for information, we also should preach for action. Our message is not meant to just inform, but to transform the lives of those in our congregation. In almost every single sermon I preach every point has a verb in it -- something to do. What are you going to do now that you know this godly truth?

Why do I do it this way? Because God says, "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1:22, NKJV), and our entire purpose driven process at Saddleback is designed to move people not only into intimacy with God, but also into service for Him, where they'll experience a deep and broader faith in the midst of community and ministry.

I've never seen more people so hungry to discover and develop the spiritual dimension of their lives. They are hungry for symbols and metaphors and experiences and stories that reveal the greatness of God. Because seekers are constantly changing, we must be willing, like Jesus, to meet them on their own turf and speak to them in ways they understand.

Remember: the world changes but the Word doesn't. To be effective in ministry we must learn to live with the tension between those two.

Rick Warren is pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of "The Purpose-Driven Life."

The Death of Community

2005-07-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever read the book of the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible? It comes after the four accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry at the beginning of the New Testament. “Acts” as it is commonly referred to is the fifth book in the New Testament. It picks up where Jesus left off (literally - the Mount of Olives) and takes the reader on a fast paced ride through the history of the early church, focusing mainly on the ministry of Peter and Paul.

The book begins with Jesus’ ascension and commission and then the disciples are endued with powerful from the Holy Spirit to preach the word and build the church. On the day of Pentecost (meaning “50” because it was a holiday fifty days after the Passover) 3,000 people become converts to the Way. Shortly 5,000 more, and the church grows and grows. Historians tell us the early church in Jerusalem was upwards of 60,000 in membership!

In the midst of all of this a strange event takes place in chapter five. Two of the church members are killed, by God, for lying about how much they sold their house for! Well, that isn’t exactly how it goes. A man named Barnabas, who was an encouraging guy to be around, sold his home and gave all the money from the sale to the poor in the Jerusalem church. A couple named Ananias and Sapphira thought that was neat, and thought the recognition Barnabas received from it would be nice to have, sold their home and gave half the price to the church. The kicker (literally) was that they said that the half they gave was all the money they made from the home.

They lied.

Not to men, but to God.

Ananias was on time for church that fateful morning, while his wife was running behind. After all, she needed to look her best when she stood arm in arm with her husband at the front of the church receiving the accolades of the apostles for giving so much. She was late because her make-up didn’t look just right. Ananias decided to give the money; he wasn’t sure when his wife would show up. He did. He lied. He died. Then Sapphira came in, late, and God killed her to.

Is this a weird story or what? Of course, those liars got what they deserved, didn’t they? Okay, who in the group hadn’t lied before and was still alive? Peter? Check. John? Check? James? Check. See what I mean? All those churchies had lied, and none of them died, so why did Ananias and Sapphira?

“God was making a statement! He wanted people to fear him – you know, make sure they knew he was serious.” Maybe. But didn’t they know that from watching him float into heaven weeks prior to this?

And, if God was sending a message (which, indeed he was) then was it “take me serious, or else?” If that was the message, then I think perhaps God was saying he didn’t like people using his name to gain an audience or praise. But, if that were true then wouldn’t Captain Hair-due (Benny Hinn) and all the other phony-bolognas on TV have died cruel deaths by now?

I have this sneaky feeling that God’s message really didn’t have as much to do with that than it did with something else. I believe God was protecting the early church’s community. I think God wanted people to know that life together, genuinely and authentically lived out was of the utmost importance.

Hypocrisy, playing church, lying, and holding back from your brother when he is in need are all things that are in direct disobedience to God and they destroy community.

Community takes honesty and humility: “Guys, we sold our house, and we’re going to give half – we’re just not there faith-wise to do the whole thing yet.”

Community takes giving and receiving: Jesus said when someone asks something of you your response is to be to give it to them. Jesus said if someone asks you to walk a mile with them your response is to walk two miles with them. He said we do this because “freely you have received, freely give”.

Not doing this and being this brings death to community. Ananias’ and Sapphira’s death prove this. Let it be a warning to us. Let us continue to cultivate honesty, humility, sincerity, and generosity in our lives and relationships to preserve and grow authentic community.

How God Accomplishes His Mission: the body

2005-07-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

Several weeks have passed now since I made one of (what I believe to be) the greatest statements I have made since I have been preaching. That statement? “The greatest evangelistic ‘tool’ God has given us is community.” In context I made that statement while preaching through John 17, and based it off of the following verses:

- John 17:11, “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.”
- John 17:21, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also many be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

Jesus’ prayer shows us that the divine desire is us to be one, like the divine is one. Triune-community, or tri-unity. Jesus says that our community (as reflection of the divine community) will cause the world to believe that Jesus was sent from the Father.

The world will see the incarnation by us being incarnation. I have a sticky note taped (the stickiness wore off) to my lamp on my desk. It simply says, “beincarnation”. I listened to an on-line message by Rob Bell where he drove home that point to his people. I loved it ever since.

In other words, the world will know Jesus actually came because they will see him in us. Not in you, but in us.

The reason for this is that as a church we are “the body of Christ.” Notice how Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 12:27, “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” Just as Jesus’ incarnation revealed the Father, so his body, the church, through the Spirit, reveals Christ.

It was to his body, the church, that Jesus gave the great commission (a.k.a., “the great omission” in many churches today). Matthew 28:18-20.

Together, as we live out Christ in this world, the world will know the Father sent Jesus. They will be unable to deny Christ came for them because we are coming for them. They will know Jesus was sent by the Father because we will live out “sent” lives by Jesus. They will know the love of God because they will see us loving one another (community).

John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know ye are my disciples, if ye have lobe one to another.”

While we see individuals evangelizing in Scripture (in fact several are called “evangelists”), the missional work of God is never done apart from his body, the church. The greatest evangelistic tool God has is the church! Only the church can show the love of God. Only the church can accurately incarnate Christ to the dieing world! Only the church is commissioned, the church is Christ’s only body!

How can a church do this, though? Through its meetings, it’s gatherings on Sundays? Well, Scripture teaches that when we are gathered together, worshiping God, it does have a salvific effect on unbelievers. 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, “But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.” A community in corporate worship is a powerful evangelistic tool in the hands of the Spirit! (this is an article for another time!)

But how we are to soar in evangelism is not by flying on the one wing of cooperate worship. Rather, we need two wings to soar with.

If the church, Christian community, is God’s greatest tool for fulfilling his mission, then how can we harness community and be used as that tool for God’s glory and others good? As a church we already know that God uses individuals to evangelize, and we have just seen that God uses our cooperate worship setting to do this as well. But there is one aspect that we have never dived into – and it is in this aspect where community is the powerful tool of God in fulfilling his mission. Community is the second wing that we must have if we are to soar to new heights as a church. Luke writes about it in Acts:

Acts 2:46-47, “And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple (corporate worship), and breaking bread from house to house (the second wing!), did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

The New Testament church was a two-winged bird, a great net (insert your analogy here), that God used to bring in his lost sheep. They had the 1 Corinthians 14 thing going on “in the temple” and the Acts 2 community thing “house to house”. In fact, Paul tells us that this was the two-fold ministry he had in planting churches with two-wings:

Acts 20:20, “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publically (temple, corporate), and from house to house (Acts 2:46, cell groups, community).”

In this way community can be lived out (as it was meant to) and evangelism becomes a natural thing, used by the Spirit, to bring many to Christ (“daily such as should be saved”). It is community life like this (“house to house”) where unbelievers can see the love of God (John 13:34-35) and can see us be one like the tri-unity is (John 17:11, 21). It is in community where people will know that we are his disciples and will know that Jesus was sent by the Father – they will see it in us.

This is how God accomplishes(ed) his mission in Jesus’ life (Jesus’ ministry echoed Paul’s in Acts 20:20). This is how the early church was used by God to accomplish his mission in their time (Acts 2:42-47). This is how Paul planted churches and how God used those churches years after Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 20:20). I believe the Bible does not set up a model for us to use (models are subject to culture, context, and Christians), but rather a design for us to be.

Every bird is a different model, but they all have the same design – and, they all FLY! Jesus wants us individually to “beincarnation”. He wants our gatherings to “beincarnation” (1 Cor. 14:24-25). And, He wants us to live life together, in community, and in community “beincarnation”. This is how God accomplishes his mission: as we live out what it means to be “the body”.

Defining the Mission

2005-06-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday night we gathered together to sing some songs to and about our God, the we shared some things that the Lord was doing in our lives: answered prayers, praises for his goodness, thankfulness for his Son, open doors for witnessing, etc, then we moved to our laid-back teaching time where I explained our church’s mission and how that mission is derived from the desire to see people have a right relationship with God, believers and the world.

After than we discussed the importance of knowing what the “final product” should look like from Scripture. What does a right relationship with God, believers and the world look like, from Scripture? We broke up into three groups, and one group discussed one of the following questions:

1. What does a right relationship with God look like?
2. What does a right relationship with each other look like?
3. What does a right relationship with the world look like?

One person was designated to write out the groups answers and when the time limit was up that person shared the groups answers with the congregation as I wrote them on the overhead. Here is the way we answered them:

What does a right relationship with God look like? Group One’s Answers:
- Prayer
- Listening
- Obedience
- Study
- Action
- Purity
- Repentance
- Dependence
- Faith
- Consistency

What does a right relationship with each other look like? Group Two’s A’s:
- Mercy
- Forgiveness
- Unity in heart & action
- Love
- Honesty
- Openness
- Respect
- Esteeming others
- Joyful
- Sharing praise
- Accountability
- Submission
- Fellowship
- Good Food
- Family
- Encouraging
- Uplifting
- Treated as siblings (with respect & honesty)
- Digging beneath the surface
- Children (involved with the kids)
- Living it out!
- (From Ryan, age 7: no breaking windows, destroying others things, don’t be mean…lol)

What does a right relationship with the world look like? Group Three’s A’s:
- Friends with sinners
- Involved in the lives of lost people
- Love the sinner, hate the sin
- Compassionate
- Heal/help people even though they don’t become followers of Jesus
- Sensitive to their needs (real/felt)
- Be an example
- Longsuffering (not condemning)
- Humility
- Accepting (community attitude)
- Forgiveness
- Spirit-led/filled life
- Fruit of the Spirit exercised
- Not casting pearls before swine

All three groups felt that the answers listed in questions two and three could be used in either one. In other words, they felt that the same way you treat a Christian you should also treat a non-Christian.

I was (am) thoroughly excited about this exercise! I am excited because as a body of Jesus’ followers we at least know what we need to be and do. The hard part is applying it! But, what encourages me is that I know that a lot of PRBC is applying these things!

The thing we need to ask ourselves now, as a church, is: what are the best ways for us as a church to fulfill these things in people’s lives?

Joining the Mission of God

2005-06-21T05:27:00.000-07:00

Last week I listed the three options that ultimately sit before us as a church. Those three options are:

1. We can fight to reestablish our church as a physical place where certain things happen.
2. We can work harder to compete with society, to out-entertain and lure people in with as much pomp and circumstance as our church can afford.
3. Or, we can lead our church to become a church on mission.

M. Scott Boren says, “God is not interested in returning to yesterday and he does not have a maintenance strategy. He is a God on mission. He is going places and doing things that we would never imagine. And he longs for his church to go with him.”

He’s right. The church of tomorrow has to be a missional church. Pigeon River Baptist Church has to become a missional church. I have said, and printed, that we are missional in our core values, but I am not sure that is the case. As I spoke about this past Sunday, what you do reveals what your core values are. If we say we value God’s mission, but do not partake in it, we are but theorists – we are hearers, but not doers, and ultimately, self-deceived.

Jas. 1:22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (NKJV)

Honest examination is the key to identifying where we are and where we need to be, by God’s grace. We say we value evangelism, but how many of us are actively “on mission” for God? When is the last time you shared & showed Christ with someone? Why don’t we? Because we don’t value it. Being a practitioner comes from truly valuing that which you are practicing.

We need to understand the value, change our thinking about the value, embrace the value as ours, and act out on the value.

David Bosch says, “Mission (is) understood as being derived from the very nature of God…the classical doctrine of the mission Dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit (is) expanded to include yet another “movement”: Father, Son and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world.”

God is a God of mission. This is what is exposed to us in Philippians 2:5-8:
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (NKJV)

God did not wait for people to reach up to him; he came down to them, in mission – first sending his Son and then the Spirit with a mission to reveal himself to us, and now we, the church, join him, and are sent by him, to reveal Christ to the nations according to 2 Corinthians 5:18-20:
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (NKJV)

Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5 to “let this mind be in you”; the missional mindset. Our values must change! We must understand that God is on mission, and has included us in that mission – we are the “sent ones” of God! We must change out thinking (“let this mind be in you”) about this value, and embrace it as ours (“let this mind be in you”). Notice what Jesus did as a result of this value: he gave up his rights and privileges and became a servant for the sake of bringing people into a right relationship with God, others, and their world! We must give up our rights (do we really have any?) and become servants for the sake of centering people’s lives on Christ by transforming their relationships with God, others and their world through connection and commitment!

“We have a mission to give away the life that we have received.” – M. Scott Boren

John Piper once wrote, “These is missions because there is no worship,” and I would add to that, “there is a church because there is a mission.”

Once we embrace being missional as one of our core values (from the heart of God – it is his core value!), then we can act on that core value. From what I have learned this is where many churches fail – and where we have failed. We try to take on the form of the core value without embracing the core value as our own. How many “evangelism programs” have we tried, anyway? If I was to announce a “outreach ministry” meeting this Sunday night, how many of us would be like, “oh no, not this again”? Exactly. Our door-to-door efforts, flyers, etc. have been “failures” not because they don’t work, but because we don’t value evangelism, ultimately.

I have heard people say, “All you need is a good outreach program to grow your church,” “What you need is to properly follow-up with people,” “If only you had small groups, then…” None of these things “work” until we have understood, changed our thinking about, and have embraced the core value of our mission with God. Once we do that, then we can act out the best form that mission should take as a church.

The change that I am suggesting through these articles is transformational change. It is the transforming of our core values – perhaps the hardest thing for us to do. I am asking you to consider the information presented (and there is more!) about being missional (being on mission with God), changing your thinking about it (“let this mind be in you”) and embrace it as your own (“let this mind be in you”) and then act out on it by following the leadership of the Spirit by sharing and showing Christ in your daily life. It is then, and only then, that we will become a missional church (what God intends us to be!). Then we can join God on mission.

The Church of Today & Tomorrow

2005-06-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

In 1963 the FOX Theater ran a picture show on a Sunday night, marking the first time in our nation’s history that a movie theater had done so. When my brother-law told me that he did their marketing/advertising in one of Detroit’s big newspapers I just had to share my knowledge with him! I told him that some church historians mark that year as the difinitave year when “Christendom” died in American culture (or at least that we knew it was dead anyway). He thought that was interesting; so did my grandmother-in-law. She was apart of the church of yesterday (as I spoke of in last weeks article link )

The church, like it was yesterday, is no longer the center of our culture. The church of today is no longer the church of yesterday, it has changed. It has been marginalized. It has been relegated to the place of equality among every other facet of our culture. It is in competition for time, influence and power in our culture today.

Just as certain things characterized the church of yesterday, so also the church of today is similarly marked. M. Scott Boren, in his book, Making Cell Groups Work (which provoked these articles) describes the church of today like this:

View of Information: We are in an informational age. We are in a post-modern society. There is no dominant respected source of information. The Gospel of the church today is in competition with the internet, television, fashion magazines, movies, etc.
Influence: The church of today becomes a small voice compared with that of cultural icons, and sports heroes. Shaq has more influence of young people than the church does.
Role of the Minister: Us pastors are no longer the most educated or articulate leaders, even in small towns like we were in the church of yesterday. I know that the town meetings I have attended (very few) that I felt like I was good for the prayer, but not for the practicalities of life.
Authority: The church of today has sought to find its authority (voice?) by adopting good business and marketing strategies. We have even tried to compete by embracing the practices of the entertainment world. Many well known large, good, evangelical, churches have done this.
View of Faith: Faith, like it was in the church of yesterday, is no longer a private matter. Jesus is cool again. People talk openly about faith. You don’t have to go to church to find Jesus today. The church of today is not the sole provider of the spiritual like it was in the church of yesterday.
Ministry Method(s): Ministry now includes high-class production, entertaining music, expensive promotions, etc; anything that will attract people to attend a Sunday morning service is fair game. The church has become a vendor of religious goods and services. Or, as my old pastor in Frederic used to say, “today we have cafeteria-style Christianity”.

Now, I don’t necessarily think any of this is wrong (it may be viewed as wrong through the eyes of the church of yesterday, though), but I see it as survival methods that the church of today has adopted. Culturally we have just (and are still) moving through a vacuum of competing worldviews (i.e. modernism vs. postmodernism), and when that happens many things fill the gap. Thus the church of today. It really doesn’t know where it sees itself; it’s just trying to make it through the storm, really.

From this many churches have effectively learned how to compete with the options of life. Many churches are seeing great results and winning many people to Christ by using the ministry methods of the church of today. These churches are the exception to the rule, however. Most churches are failing to compete with the forces that pull people in so many directions in today’s world. While few can compete, most can’t even keep up!

Does the church has to compete with the world like this to survive? No! Our preservation is a promise of Christ (Matt. 16:18). I believe our preservation lies not in competing with the world but in our commission to the world – “go into all the world and make disciples” (Matt. 28:18-20). (That may be one the greatest things I have ever said, seriously) It is at this point that Boren suggest that there is a model of ministry rising that sees the church on mission, taking “church” to the ordinary stuff of life. He says this:

“The view of the church on mission requires a mental shift in our understanding of the church. Church is no something that people do once a week. Church is something people belong to and take with them wherever they go. Church must become a way of life, not just a meeting. Church can be held wherever two or three are gathered, not just in a building specifically set aside for religious purposes.”

Then he goes on to describe (in the same format as above) the church on mission, the church of tomorrow.

View of Information: This kind of church realizes that the church cannot compete nor can it convince; therefore it seeks to demonstrate.
Influence: Personal relationships must become the primary means of having influence because ministry positions are no longer respected in society. People will discuss their beliefs with their friends.
Role of the Minister: The minister becomes a equipper, rather than the paid, do-all in the church.
Authority: The church does not seek to attain authority in the world. Instead, it understands that authority is found in weakness (humility). Humility leads to dependence upon God. God is our authority.
Faith: Faith is understood to penetrate all of life, all the time. Christianity is holistic.
Ministry Model: The church on mission chooses, mentors, and releases people for ministry. It does this by building community in relational small groups and then helps people practice their gifts. In this way, the church becomes a body of people sent on mission. The sent people of God!

The church on mission is the church of tomorrow. Its purpose is to equip and send people to act as missions in culture, not to limit itself to inviting people to come to a building or to just provide excellent professional ministry. The church of tomorrow is not limited to any specific type or size. Its focus is not upon building a huge church but on following God to reach the world for Jesus Christ; for their good and for his glory.

According to Boren this leaves us with three options. I will close this lengthy article with those options, and in next weeks article, I will deal with them in greater detail. The three options are:

1. We can fight to reestablish the church as a physical place where certain things happen (the church of yesterday).
2. We can work harder to compete with society, to out-entertain and lure people in with as much pomp and circumstance as a church can afford. (the church of today)
3. We can lead our churches to become churches on mission. (the church of tomorrow)

I got the title “church of today” along with some of the information in this article from a book called “Making Cell Groups Work” by Scott Boren. www.touchusa.org

The Church of Yesterday

2005-06-06T07:45:00.000-07:00

This past memorial day I was talking to my brother-in-law about his job. During the conversation he was telling me that he handles FOX Theater’s advertising in the Detroit Free Press. I told him that the Fox Theater helped play a roll in the diminishing of Christianity’s influence on the majority culture. My grandmother-in-law’s ears perked up then; her husband was a Baptist pastor for over twenty years. In short I explained to them what I am about to explain here. I told them about the church of yesterday.

My grandmother-in-law can recall the “good ole days” when Christianity was the moral center of our society, when neighborhoods, small towns and big cities all over America held Christianity in high regard, when churches were built in the center of communities, and not just for worship, but for things like town meetings, social gatherings, and even school. They were days she still wished were here. Those days represent the church of yesterday.

What my grandmother-in-law grew up in was what some historians refer to as “Christendom”. Christendom simply refers to the institutionalization of Christianity. It began when Emperor Constantine made the Edict of Milan in 313 declaring Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. For the next 1,650 years, the church lived within the safety of Christendom, where it held much prominence, authority, influence, and respect of the people.

Christendom was (as we will see in coming articles the past tense is more than opinionally used) a period when Christianity was a cultural establishment, a union with the majority culture, which came in two forms. First, state churches created governmental Christianity. European Catholicism, German Lutheranism, British Anglicanism, and Swiss Calvinism embraced this as the predominant model. Second, social Christianity was developed into the American form of Christianity. Denominations arose that were independent of the official government, which comprised what we refer today as “Protestantism,” which has historically been equated with Americanism. This is why everyone you meet in America is a “Christian” even though they don’t attend church, etc.

Throughout history, countless events occurred which illustrate this union. Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as emperor in 800. Frederick of Saxony protected Martin Luther from Catholic persecution for political reasons more than religious one (by-the-way, if you get a chance, rent “Luther” on DVD or VHS, you wont regret it!). Because Henry VIII of England could not obtain permission for divorce from the Pope, he established Anglicanism. The Pilgrims founded Massachusetts Bay Colony to escape persecution from England, as well as to create a truly Christian society. The First Great Awakenings were not limited to the church; the movement also gave rise to the American Revolution. All but one U.S. President has claimed membership to a Protestant church (J.F.K was Catholic). Because of this the lines have been blurred between where the majority culture stopped and the church started.

As our society’s moral center the church was the most respected institution in society. The church informed, advised, and taught people how to live in society. As the culture expanded, the influence of the church expanded. Clergymen were often the most educated and respected men in society. The churches of yesterday grew in authority as they grew in size, thereby increasing their ability to influence the agendas of society. The Christian faith of yesterday was a private affair; often the term “personal” described growth, salvation and the Christian life. Church was viewed as a place where certain things happened. A church plant I heard of made the point to describe themselves as “a people not a place” to illustrate the difference between them and the church of yesterday. Church was then the building on “1st and Main” where official services were held, led by official leaders.

Although many in my generation look down on the church of yesterday, listening to my grandmother-in-law talk about her experiences in it makes me have a great respect for it. In some ways I have been involved in churches of yesterday, even in my day. I know people are being saved in those types of church. The U.S. was founded on the principles of Christendom. I am thankful for what he has done through the institutionalized church of Christendom.
But, the age of Christendom in America is over. The aim of Christendom was to make “faith credible to the powers-that-be so that Christians might now have a share in those powers.” That was yesterday. The “powers-that-be” could care less about what the church has to offer today. In essence this is what “post-Christendom” is. We are living in an age wherein Christianity is no longer the center of our culture.

Now that you’re all cheered up, let me say that there is hope in all of this! As I have said many times to the people of Pigeon River Baptist Church, “The darker the night, the brighter the light.” Next week I want to write about “the church of today,” and give it some attention (I’ll also get to the importance of the FOX Theater in that article, in case you were wondering). I do not believe the church of today is going to last. It is filling the void in the cultural vacuum, but it has no lasting substance, no staying power. The church of tomorrow is perhaps our best hope (I speak as a man). I will address it in detail the following week. Stay tuned!

I got the title “church of yesterday” along with some of the information in this article from a book called “Making Cell Groups Work” by Scott Boren. www.touchusa.org

Adam's Addiction

2005-05-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

(Not to be confused with the band, Jane’s Addiction)

I just got done wiping cookie crumbs off my fingers so I could type this. I helped a family move a piano and I was rewarded with the joy of helping them and with a dozen of the most delicious chocolate chip cookies I think I have ever tasted. They are simply amazing, and I have eaten several of them today. I have had to say “no” to them all day yesterday as my eating plan didn’t call for them (does any?). But today I could say, “yes” and yes I did!

I have an addictive personality. Not just with food (which I am getting past), but with just about everything else too. Any woman who is reading this can testify that I am not that much different from the average Joe. Men, by nature, are addictive creations. We are prone to be addicted. That’s not to say that women aren’t, they are, but just not as badly. How many hobbies do women have? How many men sit at home wishing their wives weren’t out doing this and that every night of the week? “Sorry, guys, I can’t come out and play my wife is having her poker night. Yeah, and tomorrow is her b-ball night. Then, she’s golfing tomorrow, and going bike riding that night. Does she even realize she has a husband and kids at home!?” Exactly.

Houston, we have a problem.

While it would be safe for you ladies to blame us, it also needs to be noted that we come by it honestly; by our father Adam. God created Adam with an addictive personality. Seriously. God created Adam to be addicted to him and to Eve and to his family and to the world and responsibilities he gave him. Of course, now a-days men are addicted to exactly the opposite of that. Hmm, I wonder why that is? Oh, yeah…sin!

Sin has caused men’s God-given addictive personalities to become self-centered rather than God-centered, and when God is out of place, everything else is to. But, for the follower of Jesus, he has been redeemed to become what he was intended to be. God has bought us back through Jesus, and we have been “born again” being delivered from the penalty of sin and being set free from the power of sin. God saved us so we could become what we were intended to be. God saved us so that we could once again be addicted to all the right things.

If you’re a follower of Christ then your addictions should be what God intended them to be. They should be to God, to your wife, to your family, to your church, to your world. Men, we should be like Stephanas and his household who Paul says “have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.” (1 Cor. 16:15) What are you addicted to? Are you addicted to the things God re-created you (redeemed you) to be addicted to, or…?

Turn off the sports, and turn on your wife.

Put away the clubs and take your kids outside.

Be cautious of your God-given addictive personality and channel it the way God intended.

Counter American Christian Culture

2005-05-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

American Christians have abandoned the following values, according to researcher George Barna: radical obedience, holistic stewardship, church loyalty, submission to authority, accountability, diversity, discipline, persecution, biblical knowledge, theological purity, salvation by grace alone, elder care, family spirituality, holiness, patience, and confession of sins. Barna writes: “Perhaps the most significant revelation emerging from an examination of our values is to realize how extensively we have shaped our worldview and values around the indices of worldly success and acceptance.”

I have often said from the pulpit of Pigeon River Baptist Church that our problem with worldliness is not dress, hair length or musical preferences, but rather we think like the world, thus we act like the world. Religiously, albeit, but still like the world. Christians today are enslaved by isolationism, consumerism, and individualism, according to pastor and author Randy Frazee. Christians no longer seek to develop community with each other, shop from church to church to seek which one best fits their values, and are busy developing their own lives and their personal relationship with Jesus proving they have taken on the mindset of the world.

As a pastor I have often seen this, and sometimes even in myself, and have tried to fight against it with developmental and transitional changes at Pigeon River. Developmental change, according to M. Scott Boren, is a linear process. Boren describes developmental change this way: “Churches experience developmental change when they seek to improve what they are already doing. Pastors’ read a book on preaching. Sunday school teachers attend training courses every year to become better teachers.”

Transitional change is generally more complex than developmental change. “In a church,” writes Boren, “transitional changes transpire when leaders discover that current methods do not work and that new methods are required. Examples might include the adoption of a new worship style, hiring a new staff member, adding a second worship service, replacing the Sunday evening service with a training center, or building a larger worship center. Transitional changes have set beginning and completion dates. They can be managed with the use of budgets and time lines.”

Developmental and transitional changes are good, and what they change most often helps, but what they are unable to change is the values of someone. According to Barna, the majority of American Christians need their values changed. They need to be re-aligned with the Word of God. They need transforming, and transformation only happens one way: through transformational change.

Transformational change deals with two levels and at both of these levels is where values are shaped. Again, I borrow from Boren: “First, it deals with external structures of programs, training, and systems. Second, it deals with the human values that drive the church. Unless God changes the human values that drive these external structures, the people will not be transformed and will continue simply to go through religious motions.” In essence, it is not enough to change the structure (transitional change) or train people better (developmental change), a deeper change has to take place: transformational change, the changing of values.

I have often believed that by changing the structure of something, people would change. I no longer believe that. I do, however, believe that a change in structure must accompany a change of values. If our values are wrong, our structures will be wrong as well, because the systems we have in place will support the wrong values.

So, then how does transformational change happen? I believe that it can only happen through repentance. If Barna’s research is right and the majority of American Christians have embraced the thinking and values of the world rather than Kingdom values, then the only way to change is through repentance. We must seek God for spiritual renewal. Do we see these worldly values in our church; in our families; in our selves? Let’s go through the list and see:

- Radical Obedience…? (Is your first thought, “Does this glorify God?”)
- Holistic Stewardship…? (Knowing God owns everything and spending/giving accordingly)
- Church Loyalty…? (Why do you go to this church? Why did you leave your last one? And the one before that? And the one before that?)
- Submission to authority…? (Parents, Bosses, Pastors, Elders?)
- Accountability…? (Whom do you answer to? If you say “Jesus” or “God”, then you are lacking accountability!)
- Diversity…?
- Discipline…? (Do you do the right things the right way, consistently?)
- Persecution…? (Do you stop because it is too hard? Or because of how others might think of you?)
- Biblical knowledge…? (Do you seek to have a better understanding of what the Bible says so you can “do all the words of this law” – Deut. 29:29?)
- Theological purity…?
- Salvation by grace alone…? (How many ways are there to heaven? See John 14:6)
- Elder care…? (Do you respect your elders (elders as in older people)? Do you care for them as needed?)
- Family spirituality…? (What are you doing to help your family center their lives on Christ?)
- Holiness…?
- Patience…?
- Confession of sins…? (Not a priest, but to others, see James 5:16)

As Christians we often talk about the need to be “counter cultural” in many areas. We have mistaken this to mean in how we dress and what we watch (which is important), meanwhile, Satan has slipped in the backdoor and pulled the wool over our eyes and we have believed the lies of isolationism, individualism and consumerism. We have robbed Peter to pay Paul. We look like good Christians on the outside, but on the inside we are no different in our root philosophy of life than the guy next door.

Jesus did not save us so we could look good and smell good, but so that we should go and bear fruit, and that our fruit should remain. (John 15:16) He called us out of the world to be sent into the world, missionally, to bring the message of salvation to the world by sharing and showing Christ. (John 17) He called to be in the world and not of the world. He saved us so we could be interconnected to each other, and know R.E.A.L. (reciprocal, empathetic, authentic, lasting) fellowship. He saved us so we could love, worship and put him first in everything. All these go against the world’s thinking; they go against isolationism, individualism, and consumerism.

How are we, as a church, going to bring transformational change about? Repentance. We need to turn from our way of thinking to Christ’s way of thinking. We need to put off our American values and put on Kingdom values. This can only be done through Christ’s presence with us. List to how Boren states it:

“Jesus said, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskin will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved” (Matt. 9:16-17).

These words have been used to argue that new structures (new wineskins) are needed in the church. While this interpretation is not wrong, it is incomplete. The key to understanding Jesus’ message here is understanding the preceding verse. “Jesus answered, ‘How can the guest of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.” Jesus used a parable to answer questions about the lack of fasting by his disciples. In the parable, Jesus is the bridegroom; his presence has inaugurated a reason for celebration, not mourning. When he stated that new patches cannot be put on old garments and new wine cannot be put in old wineskins, he was pointing to his presence, not to the new methods of ministry. Without the new wine of his presence, there is no need for a new wineskin.

Jesus wants to create new wineskins in the church, but new wineskins are dependent upon the presence of the new wine, Jesus. When he comes and pours his Spirit into the hearts of people, the new wineskins provide a container for him.”

What I believe I need, my family needs, and our church needs is the presence of Jesus, fresh, anew! And his presence will be with us when we repent of life our way, and of our worldly thinking and actions, and empty ourselves so he can pour new wine in us. New wine brings life! Resurrection life! But, resurrection does not come without death. Therefore, we must die to our old thinking, old philosophies, old values and seek Christ to fill us with new thinking, new values; Kingdom values.

Doing and being this we will be counter cultural.

In light of this, I am proposing, as the pastor of Pigeon River Baptist Church to promote, instill and model Kingdom values by making changes on the three levels I described.

First, I will make developmental changes by continuing to study and submit to right thinking in the areas above, and I will be leading the church through a study of Kingdom values in the near future to promote transformational change.

Second, I will be asking the church leaders to consider what transitional changes we may need to make in light of Kingdom values. What new wineskins do we need to instill to hold the new wine of Christ’s presence?

Third, I will be pushing the church to make the transformational changes necessary to be Kingdom people; to have Christ’s presence. I will be motivating the church to seek Christ’s presence through repentance and obedience. Together, we will be asking Christ to pour his new wine in us.

In doing this we will be counter American Christian culture as well.

References:
- George Barna and Mark Hatch, Boiling Point: Monitoring Cultural Shifts in the 21st Century (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2001), 89, 91
- Randy Franzee, The Connecting Church: the trust of the book is developing Christian values by fighting the three major strains of worldly thinking: isolationism, individualism, and consumerism.
- M. Scott Boren and Don Tillman, Making Cell Groups Work: Navigating the Transformation to a Cell-based Church (Houston, TX: Cell Group Resources, 2002), 187, 188-189, 195-196

Concluding Thoughts & Call for Commitment

2005-05-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

Stewardship Series, pt. 3

Money is important
There is no question that money is important in the world we live – often too important. Wars are fought over it, lives are lost in the pursuit of it, families are devastated by the lack and the excess of it, people consume their lives in the desire and management of it, and churches loose focus in pleading for it.

At Pigeon River Baptist Church we desire to center our lives on Jesus Christ. This has implication on all areas of our lives, including money. While the issue of giving of our money is an important part, it is not the only part.

The Christ-centered life calls on how we spend our money, how we view money, what we pursue in our lives in relationship with money and of course the giving of our money.

Certainly many communities of faith have lost their way in the pursuit of the right use of money and we should always live in recognition of this. With that humbling realization clearly in mind, we must seek as a community to center our lives on Christ with money both collectively and individually. Money must never become of focus, but it almost must never fall from care.

The history of the church and the Bible teach more about the issue of money than it does about many other topics. The Bible says more on money than it does on love (over 800 verses in the O.T.; 25% of Jesus’ teaching was on money). The right understanding of money and the right behavior with money is crucial to following God and centering our lives on Christ. The Bible is at times explicit about the care that should be given in people’s relationship with money.

Phrases such as these are not uncommon in the text of the Bible:
Psalm 15:5He who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent, he who does these things will never be shaken.

Proverbs 17:16Of what use is money in the hand of a fool, since he has no desire to get wisdom?

Ecclesiastes 5:10Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

Matthew 6:24Jesus Said, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

1 Timothy 6:10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Hebrews 13:5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."These kinds of warnings are not intended to makes afraid of money, but should serve to keep us from pursuing money and the power it can bring in our lives. There is little question that this is easier said then done. So, in the Community of Solomon’s Porch we are seeking to create ways that will help us be people who relate to money in ways obedient to God and in service of others.

Giving 10%
The example set for followers of Jesus in the Bible and throughout history includes a giving of 10% of their income. While this is not a hard set number, and some may chose to give more, the giving away of 10% of what we have control over has served as a starting base for followers of Jesus. At Pigeon River Baptist Church we seek to find ways to encourage and provide ways to give at least 10% of resources to the care of others and the efforts of God.The issue is not the amount of money given, the issue is a perspective of money that it is not ours to consume, but it is ours to give and share for the efforts of God. It is much more an issue of having real-life ways of following the teaching of God and to give tangibly to the efforts of God.

Not Only To Pigeon River Baptist Church
The giving away of 10% of our resources is a good amount with which to start and we encourage those who of the Pigeon River community to begin there. There are many worthy efforts that are doing the work of God in the world, and there is not an expectation that the people of Pigeon River only give to Pigeon River Baptist Church. But for those who are part of this Community there is an expectation that they will join with the others of the community in our efforts.

The Opportunity of Community
We Are Called to Join Our Lives Together.

The Book of Acts in the New Testament of the Bible records in the second chapter that in the early days of Christianity the followers of Jesus met together and sought ways to live their lives in obedient patterns of Jesus. Central to this effort was their sharing of money, homes, meals and all of life with one another. (Acts 2:44-45; 3:6; 4:32)

While we live in a different time and culture than the first followers of Jesus, their way of life with one another should be encouraging and instructive for us in how we ought to live.

We are called as followers of Jesus to share what we have with one another and to collectively give and spend our money. That is why as a part of our community we give money and set a collective budget for that which we are collectively about in our community. Not Control, but accurate Information.

In Christian giving, there is no room for the giving of money with the notion that it is still your money which you have control over. The giving of money means that the control of the money is also given away. This does not mean however, that we should give blindly or foolishly. Therefore, we attempt at Pigeon River Baptist Church to make the spending of money an open and informed process that we all participate in.

Thoughtful Spending
We seek to be thrifty and thoughtful with our money at Pigeon River. While money is not the most important thing in life, it is an important thing and we seek to be good stewards of that which is put in our care. To this end we make every effort to be thoughtful and effective in the use of money. It is with careful consideration that money is spent.

We are Called to Give, Not to Consume
The clear call of followers of God throughout the Bible is that we live as a people who are a blessing to others and readily design our lives around the understanding that it is God who is central and it is God who provides.

In the earliest of days in the recorded history of the Bible, God calls people to give in response for what God has given them and for the care of the needy.

In the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the nation of Israel is given specific instruction about important, timely, societal patterns of giving in series of gifts each of 10% of their income (the first to God, the second to the poor, the third to the work of the Temple) which totaled some 28% of their income. This was the basis not only for things of faith, but the establishment of a particular governmental and societal structure. A nation was being created that gave and did not simply consume all that was at their disposal.

While in our day we live under a different social and economic structure with the government taking on some of the roles of the Old Testament Temple, the understanding of the followers of God to give to the poor and to the efforts of God are none the less important for us.

The pressures we face are as daunting as ever to be a consumer. The call of the Gospel of Jesus however, is that we not be a consumer people, but a giving and blessing people.

Thoughtful Giving
We believe that the giving away of money is best done in a thoughtful and prayerfully considered way. But there are different ways that people may choose to give their money.

Some give weekly or monthly or annually. Some give by cash, writing checks, automatic deposit or check card. All these ways are legitimate and should all be taken with consideration and prayerful intention. At Pigeon River Baptist Church we are trying to establish online giving to help in this.

Our Commitment
Our desire is that our community would live right with God, one another and the world in all areas, including money. To that end I am calling us to covenant with one another:

To not consume all we have (with money and all things)
To give our money to the efforts of God, including special concern for the needy
To join our resources together in the efforts of Pigeon River Baptist Church
To use 10% as the norm for our giving

I do not know where you are in your commitment in these areas, but I am calling you to raise that commitment to these levels. I am calling you to continue centering your life on Christ by committing your view, beliefs and actions about money to what was presented in this article today. Will you take the challenge and enter into the commitment with me?

What is "Tithing"?

2005-05-09T06:21:00.000-07:00

Stewardship, pt.2

In the Old Testament God’s people paid no taxes while they were under a theocracy, though they did have to pay taxes when they had kings (I Samuel 17:25; II Kings 23:35; Ezekiel 4:13, 20; Nehemiah 5:4).

At the time of Jesus, the combination of state and religious tax was roughly 40%. (And I think I have it bad!) Jesus also paid His taxes (Matthew 17:24-27, 22:15-22) and Christians are to do likewise (Romans 13:7).

In addition to taxes, God’s people in the Old Testament also had various tithes (basically religious obligations) that are listed below:

· 10% Funded the Levite priests ministry (Numbers 18:21-16, 27:30).
· 10% Paid for the festivals to build community & celebration (Deuteronomy 12:10-11, 12:17-18, 14:22-27)
· 3.3% Helped the poor (Deuteronomy 14:28-29)
· Additional was given as gleanings for the poor and foreigners (Leviticus 19:9-10)
· Plus, there were occasional additional tithes (i.e. Nehemiah 10:32-33)

Summary: The total mandatory OT tithe was over 25% of gross income.

Also, above this there were offerings that were not required but to be given above and beyond the tithe out of love for God and particular needs that arose (i.e. Exodus 25:1-2 cf. 36:2-7; Numbers 18:11- 13).

Will A Man Rob God?
Nowhere in the OT is there a punishment for not tithing, so tithing is not technically a law. However, God does speak of consequences for His people who do not help fund His ministry in the world.

Malachi 3:8-10 says, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

Proverbs 11:24 says, “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.”

Check Our These Stats:
“While many Christian churches teach the biblical principle of tithing – that is, giving 10% of one’s income to the church – relatively few people follow the practice. One out of every six adults (17%) claims to tithe, but a comparison of the amount that people gave to churches and their household income revealed that just 6% actually donated one-tenth of their income (pre-tax or post-tax) to churches. The level of misreporting among born again Christians was just as prolific: 32% reported tithing, yet only 12% actually did so in 2000” (Barna).

“16% of born-again Christians gave no money to his/her church during 1999” (Barna).

Church members give on an average of 1.6 to 2.5% of their income. The Average American loses $100 per year in change and 23% of church members give less than that. The more money a person makes, the less likely he/she is to tithe (Barna).

The Reality
From these statistics what we find is that many people claim to be stewards of God, but are not, because they have not fully given themselves to him which is demonstrated by not using God’s money in a wise and responsible way. When God has our hearts he will have our wallets, because both our hearts and our wallets are God’s!

Answering Common Questions About Tithing

1. My finances are completely out of order, what should I do?

First, you should repent to the Lord for any sins that may have caused our situation. Then, you should seek wisdom about how to remedy your situation. To do this you can schedule a meeting by calling the church office (989-983-3015) to help you organize your finances and get yourself back on track.

2. What should I do if I cannot afford to tithe?

You should do what you can and seek to grow in financial wisdom. If your financial situation is strained because of an unusual need (i.e. injury, elderly, single parent etc.) then the church may need to assist you. 2 Corinthians 8:1-4 And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.

3. Should non-Christians tithe?

The Bible is clear that non-Christians are welcome in church and are not expected to give any monies.

4. Should I Tithe Off My Gross or Net Income? Should I Tithe Off All My Income or Only My Salary?

Proverbs 3:9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops…

5. Can I Get A Tax Deduction For Tithing?

Yes. If you give in a way that we can record (i.e. check, cash in a marked envelope) then our treasurer will keep accurate totals of your giving. We can send you a receipt letter at the beginning of the year (upon request) certifying the amount of your total contributions that are tax deductible.

6. How Can I Tithe At Pigeon River?

By check or cash placed in the offering box, or mailed in to the office (we will soon be also adding an on-line giving opportunity at our website, http://www.pigeonriverbaptist.org/).

7. How Much Should I Tithe?

This matter is between you and Lord. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

8. How Much Does Pigeon River Tithe?

Last year our church tithed 24% of it’s annual income to support mission work and help those in need.

Who Owns Everything?

2005-05-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

Stewardship, Part One

Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed…

1 Chronicles 29:14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.

Exodus 19:5b …the whole earth is mine…

Job 41:11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.

Ecclesiastes 5:19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work--this is a gift of God.

Psalm 50:10 …for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

Haggai 2:8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty.

What is a Steward?
Romans 1:6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 4:7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

A steward is simply someone who belongs to God. Do you belong to God? If so, then you recognize that God owns everything, including you. Does God own you? Are you his? Do you realize that everything you are and have belongs to God and has been given to you by him? That is the essence of stewardship. From that heart flows the ability and activity of enjoying the gifts given from God and investing those gifts in others and the future by distributing them wisely. This includes everything from time, money, skills (“I don’t have any skillz” – N.D.).

Who Owns Everything?
To truly enjoy the Christian life is to live as a steward, realizing and enjoying that God owns everything, and that includes you, and from that living a life that reflects that as a steward of what God owns. Investing and distributing the gifts God has given wisely can only come from a heart that is truly God’s. Investing and distributing the gifts of God wisely is done by God’s Spirit through the heart of his stewards.

Next week I will be talking more indepth about our stewardship as it relates to giving to the local church, and then we will be discussing our “skillz” and how we know them and can use them as stewards of God. Stay tuned!

The Purpose-Driven Covenant

2005-04-25T05:19:00.000-07:00

I came across this article on the Purpose-Driven Covenant from pastors.com. This covenant was made by the members of Saddleback Community Church in Orange County, California. Saddleback is pastored by Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose-Driven Life and The Purpose-Driven Church. I thought that the readers of The River would enjoy the challenge the covenant makes…

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On April 17, more than 30,000 members of the Saddleback Family gathered in Angel Stadium to celebrate our congregation's 25th anniversary. But we did more than just rejoice in the way God fulfilled the original vision he gave me for the congregation in 1980. I also shared a new vision God has placed on my heart, one for mobilizing all God's people -- all over the world -- to tackle the giant obstacles that keep people in spiritual darkness.

At the end of the celebration, we all stood together and read the following declaration that I wrote to help us express our radical commitment to this global spiritual revolution. Please encourage your church members to share this declaration with their friends.
THE ANGEL STADIUM DECLARATIONApril 17, 2005

Today I am stepping across the line. I'm tired of waffling, and I'm finished with wavering. I've made my choice; the verdict is in; and my decision is irrevocable. I'm going God's way. There's no turning back now!

I will live the rest of my life serving God's purposes with God's people on God's planet for God's glory. I will use my life to celebrate his presence, cultivate his character, participate in his family, demonstrate his love, and communicate his Word.

Since my past has been forgiven, and I have a purpose for living and a home awaiting in heaven, I refuse to waste any more time or energy on shallow living, petty thinking, trivial talking, thoughtless doing, useless regretting, hurtful resenting, or faithless worrying. Instead I will magnify God, grow to maturity, serve in ministry, and fulfill my mission in the membership of his family.

Because this life is preparation for the next, I will value worship over wealth, "we" over "me," character over comfort, service over status, and people over possessions, position, and pleasures. I know what matters most, and I'll give it all I've got. I'll do the best I can with what I have for Jesus Christ today.

I won't be captivated by culture, manipulated by critics, motivated by praise, frustrated by problems, debilitated by temptation, or intimidated by the devil. I'll keep running my race with my eyes on the goal, not the sidelines or those running by me. When times get tough, and I get tired, I won't back up, back off, back down, back out, or backslide. I'll just keep moving forward by God's grace. I'm Spirit-led, purpose-driven and mission-focused, so I cannot be bought, I will not be compromised, and I shall not quit until I finish the race.

I'm a trophy of God's amazing grace, so I will be gracious to everyone, grateful for everyday, and generous with everything that God entrusts to me.

To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I say: However, whenever, wherever, and whatever you ask me to do, my answer in advance is yes! Wherever you lead and whatever the cost, I'm ready. Anytime. Anywhere. Anyway. Whatever it takes Lord; whatever it takes! I want to be used by you in such a way, that on that final day I'll hear you say, "Well done, thou good and faithful one. Come on in, and let the eternal party begin!"

"Lord, Teach Us to Pray"

2005-04-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

Why A Series On Prayer?

This Wednesday night I will begin to lead the church through a study on prayer, entitled, “Lord, Teach Us To Pray”. I believe this series to be important to us for several reasons.

1. The essence of the Christian life now is communion with God through dependence upon God and living for God in submission to God. Prayer is a vital component to that communion. In my mind, prayer is where it all begins. Therefore, we must understand prayer so that we can deepen our communion, dependence, submission and obedience to and with our Lord.

2. God is really doing a great work in our church! Our church is growing by 30% over last year! Our current facility is barely meeting our growing needs, and as we prudently look to the future we will need more room if we want to continue to worship together corporately and begin to administer some of the ministries we believe God is calling us to as a church body. This means we have to know where God is going, and the only way to know that is to…ask! Ask in prayer. Therefore, we need to prayer.

3. Our mission as a church is becoming clearer to us; how it applies to the structure of our church as we grow isn’t. Therefore it is important to ask God how he wants us to fulfill his mission and be open to his leading. Thus, “Lord, Teach Us To Pray”.

4. The heart of being a Christian is following Christ. To be a follower of Christ means you give up your rights, submit to him, and surrender your life to be lived out in dependence upon him and empowered by him. This is the will of God for us. Prayer brings us into agreement with God’s will. Prayer changes, not things, nor God’s mind, but us. Therefore, we need to learn how to pray so we can change, in agreement with God. Prayer is agreeing with God.

For these reasons I decided to lead us in a study on prayer. Although I am leading this study, please understand that I do not consider myself to have mastered prayer, nor do I feel my “prayer life” is what it ought to be, or needs to be. I, too, therefore, and longing for and looking forward to this series. Even though it is entitled, “Lord, teach us to pray,” my heart’s cry is, “Lord, teach me to pray!” I hope that it is yours as well.

The Right Side of the Grass

2005-04-11T06:58:00.000-07:00

Seeker-sensitive

Four old men were out on the golf course one day, each complaining in turn about how the hills have gotten steeper, the fairways longer, and the sand pits bigger, when the last old man, 87 years old, wisely quipped, “Just be thankful we’re on the right side of the grass!”

When it comes to being “seeker-sensitive” we need to be on “the right side of the green” so-to-speak. So much has been wafted through our pulpits about the “evils” of the “seeker-sensitive movement”. Famous Bible teacher and pastor, John MacArthur even has a CD you can get from his ministry “Grace to You” which details exactly how unbiblical the “seeker-sensitive movement” is. Is it really as bad as they make it out to be?

For those of you who have never even heard the term “seeker-sensitive” let me explain for you, in short, what it is. For the past twenty to thirty years in our land a movement has developed in churches to be more sensitive to the needs and desires of the unchurched. This sensitivity has caused churches to reconsider everything they do from the eyes of the unsaved. As a result their gatherings are geared towards those who are seeking God, rather than those who are saved. Old, hard to understand, hymns are out; special music is in (for the whole service); unsaved people don’t know the songs so why make them sing – we’ll just sing to them. The sermons are simplified and the subjects deal more with what unchurched people deal with; family, marriage, stress, job helps, etc.

I think you get the idea. But, is all this as bad as it is portrayed to be? I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong, the movement is ripe with problems (theological and practical), but the heart of the movement is right; we need to be sensitive to those who are unsaved, unchurched, who come to our gatherings.

By being sensitive I am suggesting that we help them understand what we’re saying and what we’re doing when we gather together. Being seeker-sensitive when we gather means asking, “How can we make the unbeliever understand and feel comfortable as possible in this context?”

Part of our task to be sensitive to seekers is to simply make them feel welcomed and wanted. We did this yesterday. Several of our visitors told me that we were not the most friendly church they had been to, but the most genuinely friendly. There is the difference. The reality is we have to be a people who are accepting with out approving. People can sense that, and it opens the door for the Gospel. “What about holiness?” Let our church’s stand on holiness emerge at the point of membership. Allowing sin to go unchecked among members is a whole lot different than welcoming the unchurched into a worship service. Coming to Christ requires a life-change; coming to “church” doesn’t.

I think we need to be sensitive to our culture; the context we find ourselves in. No missionary in his right mind would go to a foreign field without understand that field’s culture and context with the plan on ministering to them accordingly. We have got to realize that we are living in a “post-Christian” era these days. Generations are rising up that “know not the God of their fathers”. The need to be sensitive to them in these areas is prevalent. Here are some cultural areas we need to consider how we can be sensitive in:

Music. I hesitate to insert this because music is such a “hot” topic in our circles. James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, once said that he had more heated responses to his programs on music than on any abortion or homosexual programs! Let me just suggest that we can be sensitive to seekers by explaining our music to them; by making it clearer. Just what does raising your “Ebenezer” mean anyway?
Visual/Electronic Aids. Anyone who knows me knows I’m big on visual aids – fact is I have been raised in a postmodern, visually oriented culture. I don’t go to my reading chair, turn on the lamp and read. Instead I sit down on the couch, turn on the TV and read. Electronic communication through PowerPoint presentations, overheads, handouts, and video clips enriches worship and makes Bible study more memorable (in the sense that you remember what you have studied).
Language/Behaviors. One of the things I do to be sensitive to seekers in during my welcome I explain what is going to happen during our services, that way there are no surprises. I typically say something like, “Good morning, and welcome to Pigeon River’s gathering. We’ve come together this morning to worship our God. We’ll be doing this by singing some songs to and about God; by praying; by reading the Bible; and by listening to the Bible taught. We usually close our time together by responding to God in several ways, one of which is giving. If you’re visiting, please don’t feel obligated to give, this is something we do as a church family.” The reality is, “Church” is uncomfortable enough as it is, and we don’t need to make it more uncomfortable by our language and behaviors.

We do not gear everything we do when we gather together to seekers; we gear everything towards worshiping God; towards connecting with him and committing to him. We are a Christ-centered ministry. Our goal is to center lives on Christ. In doing this I think it behooves us to be sensitive to those who don’t know him in an effort to make things clearer for them so they can. Being Christ-centered and sensitive to seekers will ensure we’ll be on the “right side of the grass” for a long time to come.

Opening your hearts. Opening your homes.

2005-04-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

Thoughts from Sunday's Message...

As I spoke about Sunday morning, the home is to play such a vital home in our Christian journey. The home was the center of Jesus’ ministry, the apostle’s ministry, and the ministry of the early church in various and diverse cultures. The home provides for a natural setting for discipleship, encouragement, accountability, and evangelism. It provides a great opportunity for our church to continue to fulfill one important aspect of its mission: “to center lives on Christ by transforming our relationships with one another through connection and commitment.”

In Jesus’ culture when one opened their home they opened their heart. An invitation to “come and dine” was an invitation to become one with the person; to be invited into their being. Think of it! When Jesus invited sinners into his home bases he was inviting them to become one with him, to come into an intimate relationship with him. When they invited him in (sinners, prostitutes, Pharisees, and publicans!) they were inviting him to come into their hearts.

When we open our homes to people we are opening to them a private aspect of our lives; we are allowing them to see us in environment that is for “our eyes only”. There they can see how clean we are, what movies we have in our entertainment center, whether or not we’re organized, and how we really operate as a family. When we open our homes we are essentially opening our hearts.

If this doesn’t take place there can be no true community, fellowship, accountability and ultimately growth in the Christian life. God created us for fellowship with one another. We are made (and remade) in his image. God dwells in perfect community; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe he has given us in fellowship the deepest possible relationship between two people (if it doesn’t surpass marriage then it certainly parallels it). Where would David be had he not opened his heart to Jonathan? I can’t image (I shudder at the thought!) of where I would be without those whom I have had real fellowship with.

The individualism mentality that has made America “great” (just how great we are truly seeing) has permeated into our personal and church lives. I purposely phrased that that way so you could see just how bad it has become. For the Christian, Biblically, there is no separation between my “personal” and my “church” life. The distinction is a result of our modern, individualistic thinking. Remember Bill Clinton’s “private” and “public” life talk? Exactly.

Individualism has caused us as Christians to think (mistakenly, dare I say heretically?) that all we need is God. The important thing in this life is our “personal” relationship with Christ. “Read and pray and everything will be okay,” is our life verse (no, it isn’t a verse…). In the midst of this we have lost sight of each other. We know we’re to think more highly of others, put them first, and provoke them to love and good works; after all we read that during our personal devotions, but it is hard for us to practice because we are so steeped in our “personal lives” and we hardly have time for “church” life.

Maybe you don’t see it this way. Maybe you are content with going to “church”, reading your Bible, and fueling your personal growth. I understand. I was there once. All I can say is, Thank God I see differently now. Perhaps God will take you into the Garden and show you all the animals he has made so you can truly realize you are alone. May he speak to your heart and say “It is not good for man to be alone,” and may he put you to sleep so that you can awaken to community, fellowship, accountability and true growth with one another.

When that happens, open you home and open your heart. Until then, you’re always welcome at me casa.

Pigeon River's 10 Year Anniversary!

2005-03-30T07:44:00.000-08:00

10 Years of God’s Grace

This month, ten years ago, a group of faithful, excited, worn out, hurt, loving, sacrificial followers of Jesus Christ had their first gathering for worship in their new church home located at 7887 Mill Street in Vanderbilt. Not too long before this their founding pastor had passed away, but the group remained true to God and his vision for them, and they pressed on, remodeling this old Methodist church now cabinet shop into a safe place for sinners to worship their Savior.

Ten years later some of those same people are still following and worshiping Jesus Christ, and others have joined them at 7887 Mill Street each Sunday morning to do so.

I have had the privilege and honor of pastoring them for the last three years of their journey.

This coming Sunday we are planning on celebrating our ten year anniversary of worshiping at the 7887 Mill Street building. Ten years of God’s faithfulness through many different trials and tribulations. Ten years of people clinging to the grace of God; holding tightly to the unconditional love he brings. Ten years of falling down and rising up again. Ten years of seeing God give and take away only to give again. Ten years of seeing God answer prayers and bring us to a place of humble submission and dependence obedience to him. Ten years of God being glorified and Jesus Christ being lifted up.

Throughout the last ten years the people gathering at 7887 Mill Street to worship their God have become part of his Story. Their individual stories have become mingled in with the others. We have become a community of believers seeing to see people’s lives centered on Christ by transforming their relationships with God, others and their world through connection and commitment to each. We are a holistic, missional Jesus community seeking to see the mission of God prevail in our church, communities, country and countries.

This coming Sunday we will be honoring our Lord by remembering our past, considering our present, and committing to our future. You are cordially invited to attend this special anniversary service, to be held April 10th at 11am. Afterward we will be having a fellowship dinner at the Corwith Township hall located a couple blocks north of us on old 27 in Vanderbilt. Even if you can’t make it to the service, honor us with your presence at the luncheon to follow.

Become apart of God’ Story by joining in ours this Sunday. Come and remember ten years of God’s grace with us this Sunday.

Glorifying God by Serving One Another

2005-03-28T13:58:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday morning I mentioned that God is glorified in serving us. Jesus told Martha that if she believed she would see the glory of God…Lazarus came to life! We have the mentality that we glorify God with our service; which is true. But, how often do we think of God glorifying himself though serving us?

The application that was presented in light of this was that we are like God when we serve others. Therefore we glorify God by serving each other (and God). Jesus said that all men would know we were his disciples if we loved each other as he loved us (he served us!). True love serves.

That Sunday afternoon as many were recovering from their over stuffed bellies, one church member asked me, “Pastor, if husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and if loving someone means serving them, then shouldn’t we be serving our wives instead of them serving us?” (This question came on the heels of my wife bringing me a plate of desert and his wife bringing him a drink). To which I answered, “sure.” (I amaze myself some times!)

Wives are to “reverence” their husbands according to Ephesians 5:33. Husbands are to love their wives (same verse). Love drives service; love causes us to do what is best for the ones we love (serve). But, so does respect. If you truly revere God, then you will serve him; “what he says we will do, where he sends we will go” (“never fear only trust and obey…”). Likewise, if a wife really, truly, properly respects her husband she will delight in fulfilling his wishes.

It’s a two way street really.

In a marriage relationship, as well as a church relationship, we should be seeking to serve one another to the glory of God. We should be seeking to be like God is to us towards each other: unconditionally loving, forgiving and serving one another – in this will people see the glory of God, and will know we are Jesus’ followers (we’ll look just like him!).

Community

2005-03-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

Don't Get Pinched!

2005-03-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I am not Irish, but I certainly have come to a better appreciation of the Saint who made the color green popular to me. St. Patrick was the wealthy son of a clergyman who lived in Roman Britain during the fifth century. As a young man he rejected the faith of his family and lived a wild life with his wealthy friends. When he was a teenager, raiders from Ireland kidnapped Patrick, took him to Ireland and sold him into slavery. For six years he faced hunger, privation and nakedness as he served his master as a shepherd. During his servitude, Patrick returned to the faith of his family. When he was alone in the fields he turned to God and found solace through faith in Jesus Christ. After a number of years Patrick received a vision from God that called him to escape and return to his home. By God's protection he returned home. In time he sensed a calling to be a priest in the church. In the midst of the years of preparation for this vocation, Patrick again heard God's call. This time it was a call to return to the Irish and bring to them the message of God's extravagant love revealed in Jesus Christ.

Patrick obeyed this heavenly voice and returned to Ireland as a Bishop to make disciples of Jesus Christ and organize communities of Christians throughout the land. Within Patrick's lifetime, a multitude of faith communities were founded and within a few generations the Irish people were converted from paganism to Christianity. The Irish, or Celtic, Church then sent missionaries all over Scotland, England and Northern Europe.

The Celtic Church (see chart below) was marked by a number of features that made it flourish:

> A focus on founding deep communities of faith for outreach and service to the Irish people.
> Intensive, intentional disciple-making through the liturgy, practical spiritual instruction and deep friendships.
> A holistic faith that embraced all of creation as a means to understand and draw closer to God. > An emphasis on mission and self-giving to the surrounding culture as central to the Christian life.
> A wedding of the historic Christian faith with the forms of Irish culture.

In our increasingly post-Christian and post-modern culture there are many women and men who, like the ancient Irish, are fully disconnected from Christianity. Maybe we could to Patrick, and the story of God's work through him, as an inspiration and model for us as a missional community. Our mission is to transform people’s relationships with God, others and their world through connection and commitment to each.

Maybe this story can help us develop the missional mindset that will help us connect with our culture in an effort to transform them by sharing and showing the Gospel with them. In an increasingly disconnect culture, the presentation of the Gospel will change. When once it was easy to go to a door, knock, and present the truth, now we are viewed as uncaring charlatans. The Roman Church’s approach may not work in many areas of our culture. (see chart below)

Are we willing to consider a new approach if it will help us connect?

Roman Evangelism (bringing people in)

Presentation of Gospel information
Call to a decision
If an affirmative decision is made, the people are welcomed into the church
Friendship extended
Training for service in ministry begins

Celtic Evangelism (sending Christians out)

Spiritual friendships between a Christian and non-Christian
Non-Christian participation in ministry & church
Ongoing presentation of gospel in word and deed by Christians
Faith & Conversion happens to non-Christian
Church celebration & continuing ministry

If you notice on this chart that the people we have seen converted by God’s grace in recent months and years have all fallen into the Celtic window. None of them were saved through the Roman (bringing people in) model.

One thing we have to remember is that God is sovereign in all of this. And, the Holy Spirit may direct us differently with different people. We have to be willing to be “all things to all people” and consider that our practices may have to change if we are to effectively reach the upcoming post-Christian generations.

Something to think about on this Saint Patrick’s Day.

Oh, one more thing: Don’t get pinched…

Truth

2005-03-14T14:11:00.000-08:00

The Gospel

2005-03-07T07:19:00.000-08:00

Core Value Series

Core values define the heart of what a church is about. These core values have been incorporated in our mission statement (stay tuned) and will be actively referred to in any and all decisions we make as a church.

Last week we talked about missional, or being a missional community in thinking as a church. This week I would like to present to you another one of our Core Values: the Gospel.

Simply, the Gospel is the 'good news' of God's redemption of mankind.

It's a story that has been unfolding since mankind's rebellious, defiant decision in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve deliberately disobeyed God, and as a result, suffered the consequences. This is what we call 'The Fall.' It was mankind's fall from a place of close communion with God. It was and is the fall into darkness, misery, and ultimately eternal death; for every cause has an effect, and the result of disobedience is death. The Gospel is the story of God's redeeming His creation from The Fall.

Instead of destroying man and starting over (as He could have justifiably done), God began raising up a people through whom He would execute His plan for saving His creation. For hundreds of generations, He was directly involved in the lives of this nation of people who we know as the Isrealites, or Jews. This nation served not only as a means through which God would solve our dilemma, but also as a microcosm of all mankind. They served as a demonstration of both God's love, patience, and justice, and of man's sinfulness and infinite inadequacy. Through this chosen community, it was vividly demonstrated that man is incapable of living up to God's demand of sinless perfection. Apart from God, humankind is completely without hope; completely lost; completely unable (and unwilling) to establish or maintain a relationship with God. In spite of man's proven defiant wretchedness, God remained faithful, speaking through the Jewish prophets of the Messiah who would come to redeem God's children from their fallen state. Jesus, the Christ. Born to a young Jewish couple hundreds of years after the prophecies.

Through this people also through this nation was God's sovereignty as He spoke through Israel's prophets to foretell things to come, the most significant of which was the arrival of the Messiah; Emmanuel, God with us. The One through whom God would save His people. The Unblemished Lamb; the One who would suffer the punishment which is deservedly ours. The One who is the zenith of this long Gospel story; to whom the story points both forward and backward.

For reasons unbeknownst to us, God has always required a sacrifice for the remission (aquittal) of sin. He sent His Son to be that sacrifice on our behalf. Jesus died so that we can live. Not only when we die, but now, in this life. But only when we die. Huh? Well, it goes like this: We can be 'identified' with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection if we are willing to surrender to God our will or our 'self'; in essence, to put to death our will or 'self.' That is why Christians are said to be 'born again'; because their old self is dead and they are new creations. They are restored to what they were always meant to be; restored back into relationship with their Creator.

Most people at one time or another, have had the feeling that 'something just isn't quite right'; that 'this can't be how it's supposed to be'; that there must be 'more to life than this.' There is a reason for those feelings. Mankind was never meant to be on his own, separated from God, living in sin. One need only look back over the course of human history to see what a mess we've made being on our own. Or maybe just back over the course of your own life. But God, thankfully, offers a way out of despair, misery, confusion, meaninglessness and death, and into hope, joy, truth, purpose and life. It's as easy and as difficult as surrendering your will to Him. As easy and as difficult as saying, "I no longer want to live for just me, but rather for Him who made me, knows me, and can make me whole." As easy and as difficult as admitting to Him how much you need His help. For those who have never talked to God before, there's no secret formula to it. If you talk to Him as you would anyone else, He will hear you. And if you surrender to Him, you'll never be the same again!

So there it is, a few words from the great, great story. The story which no one has ever fully understood. The story in which some people's lives are only a tiny chapter, some people's lives are a significant part of the story, and some people's lives barely even register. The story of which all other stories are a part. The story which no one has ever heard, nor ever will hear, in it's entirety! The story that is truly good news.

Adapted from an article by Mark Driscoll (www.marshillchurch.org)

Missional

2005-02-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

Core Values Series

Core values define the heart of what a church is about. These core values have been incorporated in our mission statement (stay tuned) and will be actively referred to in any and all decisions we make as a church.

Last week we talked about holism, or being holistic in thinking as a church. This week I would like to present to you another one of our Core Values: missional.

Defining Missional
Missional describes the activities of our church as they are brought under the mission of God (missio dei) to bring salvation through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jesus prayed in John 17:14-16,18, “The world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil (one). As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world.” (emphasis added) To be missional means that we understand and act upon the fact that we are sent into the world just as Christ was sent into the world to bring reconciliation to the world (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Every believer is a “sent one” (missionary) just as Jesus was the Sent One of God.

The Church: A Missional Community
Mission describes what churches have done. We send and support missionaries. We support missions. Missional is a radical change in thinking that shapes us to be missional. To be missional then is a state of being rather than doing. It is not only being sent like Christ was sent into the world, but it is being Christ to the world. A church then is a missional community; a group of people who are following him, becoming like him, for the sake of the world. We are trying to show this world what/who God is, just as Jesus did in his ministry.

Theological Distinctions
God is a missional God. He is a sending God. He is a sent God. He sends and he came. The trinity is missional in nature: the Father sent the Son. The Father and the Son sent the Spirit. God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit send the church. (Matt. 28:18-20; John 20:21; Acts 1:8) The church is God’s sent people. Being missional is being sent from God, in the same way the Son was sent. Being missional is living out Christ to a lost in dieing world.

Just as Jesus was the embodiment of the fullness of God in the flesh, the missional church follows Jesus’ model in trying to express the fullness of God as a new Way of being human for the sake of the world. Jesus was the embodiment of the fullness of God. We are Jesus’ body as a church (1 Cor. 12) – the continuation of what he is and does. When he ascended he commissioned the disciples (us) to continue to be and do what he did and was – and he would be with them, through the Spirit, to do this – he would be living out God’s mission through us, as we live out God’s mission with him!

Theologically then, the shift changes from missions being something we DO to being something we ARE. The church IS mission rather than it being a program or function of the church. The church’s nature is to live out before the world and each other what it means to be under the reign of King Jesus in every aspect of our life (holism?).

Practical Differences
The church has been viewed traditionally in several ways:

Church as a place: For many people, church is a place you go. It is a facility, a campus or a building. The common phrase, “I’m going to church” summarizes this view. When a person is at the building or facility, they are at church. The implication is that when they are not at the building, they are not at church.
Church as an event or spiritual activities: For others, church is something that happens. Church is defined by worship services, Bible studies, prayer meetings or other ministries. Again the implication is that when one is not engaged in one of these events or activities, they are no longer doing or having church.
Church as associated with a person: For others, church is an organization associated with a pastor or Christian leader. For example, people often say things like, “I go to Pastor Toby’s church” or “I attend Dale Hammond’s church.”
Church as offering programs or services: For others, church is determined by what the organization offers to meet needs such as youth programs, music programs, marriage groups, fellowship, discipleship, mission opportunities, etc. However, Biblically, the church is God’s sent people. That means when everything is stripped away – the building, the events, the activities, the leaders, and other identifying markers for the church – the people are the church and church is the people. (I have said this often in my sermons, and I stole it from Corey LeCuruex, who stole it from someone else: “The Church is a People not a Place”)

Therefore, wherever God’s people are corporately or (key) individually, there is the church. Church is at home, in the car, in the restaurant, the beach – wherever God’s people find themselves in their daily lives. (This may seem to be “scary” for some of us because our thinking has been molded to the other traditional ideas for so long. However, missional is a state of being and thinking, and being a missional church means we think of our selves as the sent ones and we act that out which means “church” is wherever we are on mission)

The church are the “called out ones”, the ecclesia (“called out, assembly”). In some circles, the emphasis is on the assembly. I was raised in those circles. But, Biblically, the emphasis is on being the sent ones. I am trying to change our thinking to go more in this direction (let’s face it, we’ve got the assembled part down!). We need to see ourselves as being a missional church. We are not leaving the “assembled” aspect in the dust, by-the-way. We will be dealing with it in detail when we discuss our Core Value of Community in coming weeks.

Eleven Marks of a Missional Church
1. Sent by God as missionaries in their own culture (Mt. 4:19).
2. Exists to take Christ to the lost: Go to the world (Mt. 28:18-20).
3. Members are personally engaged in their communities (Acts 16:20; 17:6).
4. Submerged into its culture like Christ (Luke 7:34 balanced by John 17:16,18).
5. Main focus is training and equipping others to be missionaries (Eph. 4:11-16).
6. Dependent upon Holy Spirit to use individuals as agents for evangelizing (Acts 1:8).
7. Develops relationships with the lost on purpose (Matt. 5:13-16).
8. Relationships are the means to influence others in their journey toward Christ (John 15:12-17; 1 John 4:19-21).
9. The goal is to help others find Jesus in their own way and timing (1 Cor. 9:20-23).
10. Participants are affected in every way through a calling by God to be an agent for the gospel (Acts 4:13, 31-35).
11. Faith is practiced in community - groups of people together (Acts 2:42-45; Phil. 1:27).

Some Questions
In this article I have borrowed thoughts from several sources. (http://www.acts29network.org/, http://www.encounterchurch.org/, http://www.mdchurch.org/, http://www.evergreenlife.org/, http://www.the-next-wave.org/ ) One source that has been every helpful in adding me to articulate me heart and thoughts along these lines has been an article by Jason Zahariades at http://www.theofframp.org/. He closes his article with some very insightful, thought provoking questions regarding our church’s Core Value of being missional. I quote him here:

As a missional community explores God’s call to be his sent people, four significant questions need to be addressed.[4] First, What does it mean to be an authentic apprentice of Christ? In other words, what does it really mean when we call Jesus “Lord”? It’s making every serious intention to become holy love as God is. This requires a lifestyle of constant engagement with the transforming grace of God. Fortunately, God has provided such a lifestyle throughout biblical and church history called spiritual disciplines. Simply put, walking in the Spirit means to live in synchronization with the Spirit of God. Spiritual disciplines, when practiced properly, create the environment for God’s transformation. They do this by training us in small mundane ways, in coordination with God’s grace, to die to ourselves and engage God’s real life (Titus 2:11-12).

The second question that must be addressed is What does it mean to be authentically spiritual? In other words, how does one truly measure transformation and maturity? If walking in the Spirit is living in synchronization with the Spirit of God, who is holy love, then the fruit or byproduct of such a life would be the embodiment of God’s fullness – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, compassion, humility, hope, faith, etc. If that is the case, then what do we do with “boundary markers?” Boundary markers are external measurements that determine whether a person is in or out. For example, does attending church regularly mean a person is spiritual or mature? Most of us would say “No.” But let’s flip it around. Does not attending church regularly mean a person is unspiritual or immature? Hmmm… John Ortberg, in The Life You’ve Always Wanted provides another example from his early church experience:
The senior pastor could have been consumed with pride or resentment, but as long as his preaching was orthodox and the church was growing, his job would probably not be in jeopardy. But if some Sunday morning he had been smoking a cigarette while greeting people after the service, he would not have been around for the evening service. Why? No one at the church would have said that smoking a single Camel was a worse sin than life consumed by pride or resentment. But for us, cigarette-smoking became an identity marker. It was one of the ways we were able to tell the sheep from the goats.[6]

The third question that must be addressed is What does it mean to be God’s people? What does it mean to be a community of Jesus’ apprentices who are pursuing true spiritual maturity as defined by the first two questions? How do we live as community so that every member becomes filled with the fullness of God for the sake of the world? Are there things we are currently doing that actually hinder us from embracing God’s call as his sent people? Ultimately, the church is a community made up of people who are reconciled to God, with one another and creation. It is an organic community where the members live in reconciled relationship, active fellowship and in interdependence with one another. In being this, the church is a community that reflects the social reality of the Trinity.

The fourth question is What does Christian leadership in this new community look like? The modern American church has embraced hierarchical modes of leadership from business management and military models. Many of the principles inherent in these models provide effective leadership for organizations. However, Ken Blanchard, the author of the popular management book, The One Minute Manager, stated “the popular model of pastor as CEO is brain dead…This philosophy will only hurt the church in the long run.”[7]

John Piper, in his book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, makes this passionate plea:

We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness (Matt. 18:3); there is no professional tenderheartedness (Eph. 4:32); there is no professional panting after God (Ps. 42:1).[8]

A missional community is organic and living. And an organic community looks and operates differently than an organizational community. Dallas Willard offers a beautiful picture of how such a community operates. He says: Among those who live as Jesus’ apprentices there are no relationship that omit the presence and action of Jesus. We never go “one on one;” all relationships are mediated through him. I never think simply of what I am going to do with you, to you, or for you. I think of what we, Jesus and I, are going to do with you, to you, and for you. Likewise, I never think of what you are going to do with me, to me, and for me, but of what will be done by you and Jesus with me, to me, and for me.[9] This vision is a demonstration of the social reality of the Trinity, which is love. So what kind of leadership will contribute to this kind of community?

Todd Hunter has been wrestling with the question of leadership for a long time. He asks, “What does it mean to function as a leader in a group of people who are supposed to be following some else (God the Holy Spirit) and someone else’s (God’s) vision to have a redeemed, covenant people who would be his cooperative friends (not for merit, but of grace and “Spirit-strength”) leading constant lives of creative goodness on behalf of the whole world…even up to and including, the new heaven and new earth?”[10]

His hypothesis is that Christian leadership in this context requires serving, coordinating and empowering the sovereignly given activities of the Holy Spirit in a group of people. This requires leadership from within the community rather than from above it. This requires leadership that is servant-oriented. This requires leadership that truly believes Christ dwells in every believer to teach and minister and demonstrates that belief by yielding to community members as Christ ministers through them. This requires leadership that is team-based as the team seeks Christ’s direction together and then serves and yields to each other in love.

In Conclusion (finally!)
The missional approach to our thinking gets rid of well known (and imbedded) distinctions in our churches like ministry (what we do in the church) and missions (what we do outside of it). Ministry is something we do for mission. We seek to live out Christ not just for our own benefit, but so we can also be a blessing to the world we live it. We seek to grow in our understanding of the Word not just for our own sakes, but so we’ll be better equipped to serve our God and our neighbors.

Missional thinking also means we may need to reconsider how we talk about missions in general. The terms missionary and mission field might fade away in light of the fact that we are all missionaries and every place we are is a mission field.

As far as being a value that will guide us in what we will and will not do and will and will not be, being missional means we will recognize that we are the sent people of God – sent to transform people’s relationships with God, others and their world, and we will strive to live out that mission by being dependent upon Christ to work through us to see his mission accomplished whenever and wherever we are. It means we won’t make the excuse that they are the evangelists and missionaries and we are the church goers – we are missional.

I will close this with Brian McLaren’s wording on defining the church’s mission, or what it is to be missional: “To be and make disciples of Jesus Christ in authentic community for the good of the world.” (Generous Orthodoxy, pg. 107) It is no longer about us and our personal relationship with God. It is now about God and us for the good of the world that we both so love!

Next week we will be detailing another one of our core values: the Gospel.

Holism

2005-02-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

Core Values Series

For this issue of the River I want to start a series of articles describing our church’s core values. Core values define the heart of what a church is about. These core values have been incorporated in our upcoming mission statement (stay tuned!), and will be actively referred to in any and all decisions we make as a church.

There is no particular order to these, but our core values are:

::Commitment ::Connection ::Community ::Christ-likeness
::Truth ::The Gospel ::Holism ::Missional

I have decided to start off with the one that most will probably not be familiar with, and that is holism. I’m not even sure if “holism” is the right usage of the word, but I am trying to communicate a holistic approach to what we do as a church. By holistic I am speaking of ministering to the whole man, body, soul and spirit.

Churches have done a fantastic job in recent years of placing emphasis on the spiritual side of the Christian. They have focused on feeding the spirit of a man, strengthening his inner man. This is good and right, as long as the rest of man is not neglected. God made man in his image. Many debate on what this means exactly (and I don’t claim to have final knowledge), but the way I understand it is that God made us like him. What God made us to be is easily seen in how God ministers to what he has made.

How did Jesus minister to people when he was here? Did he just focus on “spiritual needs” or was there more to his ministry? Certainly one can not read the gospel accounts for long without realizing that Jesus ministered to the whole man; body, soul and spirit. Jesus often healed physical (body) as well as mental (soulish) problems. He, as well, dealt with the spiritual component of man. This should be our model in ministering to the world and each other as a church. Our church should continue to strive to be on the front lines to fight against poverty, to provide for the needy, to comfort the feeble minded, and to share the gospel with those who don’t know Christ.

This also affects our worship. (I have written more about his in a previous River, see the link below to the back issues) Our worship must include the whole of man in its experience. I don’t think we have to go “crazy” with this idea, but the reality is we need to consider things that will bring all the senses of man into a state of worship, rather than just closing our eyes to focus on the spiritual side of man. God said our worship is a sweet smell in his nose. When’s the last time our noses have been involved in worship?

Holism, in this sense, is one of our core values. We value the whole of man.

This extends further in that we also value the whole of God’s creation. In the same way we minister to each other we should also be conscious of ministering to the world itself. Christians should be on the frontlines concerning some environmental issues, as well as abortion, stem-cell research, etc. We should hate the pollution of toxic gas as much as we hate the pollution of X-rated movies. We are vitally linked to God’s creation. As man goes, so goes the world. God has placed us as his stewards over all creation. If you read Genesis 1-2 and then Revelation 21-22 you will see that all that was affected by the fall will be redeemed by the Savior. Having holism as one of our values then means that we value what Christ does (and will redeem), the whole of God’s creation.

Holistically, then, we do not place a higher emphasis on one particular aspect of God’s creation, but rather we recognize that everything God created he created. In other words, our bodies are just as important as our spirits. Both need to be fed, both need to be clothed, both need to be ministered to and strengthened. This is why as a church we send blankets to Tsunami victims instead of sitting back and saying “what they really need is Christ”. For the hungry man, hot chicken soup is just as important as Chicken Soup for the Soul.

It also means you need to quit littering (especially those of you who flick your cig butts out your car windows…I can’t stand that!). It also means that even though on the order of things cats are down the line from humans, we still don’t kick cats (you can, however, sell them to your local Chinese buffet). It also means that the bum on the street needs a buck just as much as he needs your Bible tract.

Our core values help us define what we will or will not do. With holism being one of our core values then as a church we will not neglect the whole of man, nor the whole of God’s creation, but rather we will minister to them in the power of the Spirit and following the example of Christ.

Bone-chilling Introspection

2005-02-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night I wanted to die! I don’t think I have ever had such aches and pains in all my life. I was reminded of that verse in the Psalms where David said his bones hurt and how he laid in bed meditating on God and his life. Simultaneously, I found myself hoping I wasn’t feeling this way for the same reasons David was in those psalms (his murder of Uriah, and adultery with Bethsheba)!

Funny how sickness makes you think through everything isn’t it? I know I examined myself, my life, my family, our church, and of course the ceiling tiles, countless times while trying to recover from one of the worst cases of the flu I had ever experienced. (I’m still not fully recovered)

I think self-examination may be one of God’s reasons for allowing our bodies to experience colds and diseases like this. Of course we know God strikes people with sickness as a result of cursing him, taking his Table unworthily, and as judgment for other various sins, but as I examined my life I came to the conclusion that I hadn’t taken the Table unworthily, and that there is always sin in my life to some degree or another. I think God allowed me to get sick to make me think about some things in only a way that sickness can make one think.

Bone-chilling introspection, I call it, but needful.

I was depressed as the week dragged on; I was really looking forward to this vacation with Carrina. I thought it was needful. Evidently, this flu was more needful, and in hindsight, I am thankful for it. I am thankful for the time to lay in bed, in dependence upon God, crying out to him for help with the White’s and deliverance for my family. I am thankful for the time to read his word, and finish several books I had been working through. I am thankful for the time when Joshua snuck out of his room three times to try and watch Star Wars with me (I was his age when I saw it for the first time with my dad, so you know who let him stay up extra late to watch it with his…). I am thankful for the times when both of my kids snuggled up to me, not feeling good, and slept next to me, safely and soundly. I’m thankful for a wife that takes care of me because she knows I “need my mommy”. I am thankful to God for how he used various people in pulling off a great Sunday morning gathering in mine and Kenny’s absence (thanks especially to Jay, Scott, Don and Jessie (heard you came through again, Jes!)). I even thankful for the weight I’ve lost as a result of being sick (now to keep it off!)!

Through this bone-chilling time of introspection I found myself thankful in all things, which, I think, is exactly where God wants me. Being thankful is where I want to stay. I certainly don’t want this flu to come our way again, anyways!

Means of Grace

2005-02-07T07:29:00.000-08:00

Much to my dismay, many people told me they fully understood what I was talking about this Sunday during my rant (for lack of a better term) regarding grace given to us in salvation and “means of grace” to keep us in salvation. The reason it is to my dismay is because I felt like I was unable to share my thoughts effectively. I hate that. I also need to learn that perhaps God’s thoughts are being effectively communicated to your hearts – he is quite capable of doing even though I don’t think I am doing it well.

We understand the power of God to deliver us from our sin – we came to Jesus for that very reason! But, we often do not experience that deliverance on a daily basis. Why is that? Well, it can’t be because of a lack of effort on God’s part. Hmm, then whose effort is lacking here?

Yours. (My apologies to all the Calvinists in the crowd today)

The reality is God has chosen to work through our obedience through what old (and young) theologians call the “means of grace”. In other words, God uses means to accomplish his purpose. When you think about all the activity surrounding the coming of Jesus, his life, and his death, you are seeing those means brought to pass. Why didn’t God just say in a thunderous voice “all the elect shall be saved…now!” and poof we’re all saved? Because he is a God who works his awesome power through means. So Jesus comes, fulfilling some one hundred plus prophecies, etc., and we’re saved. No, wait a minute, there is more to it, right? Like, preaching, witnessing, “going”, repenting, believing, and all the things in the middle to allow all these things to happen in our lives.

Now in our Christian walk with Christ (following him; walking in the Light!) God uses means to get us from point “a” to point “b”, those means, as I have already said, are “means of grace”. I spoke of this last night during half-time. God wants us to love each other like Christ loved us. Okay, how does that happen? Does God just snap his fingers and “poof” we love each other? (Am I using “poof” to much in this article?) No, we saw in Ephesians that Paul says we have to “forbear one another in love” (“he’s not heavy…he’s my brother”); we have to “edify one another in love”, that is we have to seek out ways to lift each other up (which may mean putting ourselves lower *gasps and quickly covers mouth with hand*), it means we have to seek the best thing for them which is giving them a Biblical foundation (answers) for their lives, etc. And then Paul says that no matter what we do to each other we’re to be “kind, affection, and tenderhearted toward one another, forgiving one another”. If we do these things then we will love each other like Christ loved us. If we don’t…

I think you get the picture. Obedience is the key to unleashing God’s power in our lives. The God who gives the power has ordained it to be that way. But, we must be careful here, because we can’t run off and find every command, every means, and begin to do them in our own strength. That would be legalism. The reason we’re in the predicament we’re in is because we can’t do anything God commands unless God works in us by his grace to do so. And he has chosen to work in his people to obey him by means of grace. So we must depend upon him all the way through it, humbly seeking what means he will accomplish his will for us in our lives. This way, we’re not the ones doing anything but dependently following our Master’s will, and we’re doing so by his power.

Here’s a couple means of grace for you to chew on this week as you continue to think through these things in your personal life.
1. Reading the word of God regularly
2. Praying regularly
3. Fellowshipping with fellow believers
4. Gathering with fellow believers for singing, bible study, prayer, testimony, etc.
5. The Lord’s Supper (self-examination and remembrance)

We will be developing this more as a church so we can experience God’s power as an obedient church as we continue to grow in grace by means of grace.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY: think of the fellowship!

2005-01-31T07:37:00.000-08:00

Super Bowl Sunday is one of the most highly anticipated nights of the year for millions across America. I share in that anticipation. My wife’s family has a rich tradition of huge Super Bowl bashes; for them it rivals Easter or Christmas in sheer provision and fun (i.e., we eat and laugh a lot!). I’m excited to be able to enjoy this festive time with them this Sunday night.

Several years ago I wouldn’t be.

I live in the past often, and enjoy remembering many things. Because of that I tend to dwell on the past and think about mistakes I have made and regrets that I have, in hopes that keeping them fresh in my mind will help me not repeat them. One regret that I have since I have been pastoring Pigeon River Baptist Church is not canceling one of Wednesday evening services to make it open for the church to collectively go and hear John Piper preach at the Evangelical Free Church in Gaylord. The other is having Wednesday evening service on Christmas day. The reason I regret them is because my mentality on “church” really ruined two great opportunities to be fed and challenged (John Piper) and to have good times with family (Christmas day).

I don’t want to make the same mistake again, so I cancelled Sunday evening service in lue of the Super Bowl. The older I get, and the more I grow in my Christianity, the more I see opportunities like this as a positive and not as a negative. At one point in my Christian walk I saw canceling a service for family time as not “loving Jesus more than family” now I don’t. Is not having a Sunday evening service once a year because something in America’s culture lends towards an opportunity for a great family/fellowship time not loving Jesus more than family?

I think proving so in Scripture would be hard to do. Actually I don’t think even the Jehovah’s Witnesses could do it, and they mangle Scripture pretty darn well!

The reality is Sunday evening Scripture is not mandated in Scripture; I think everyone would agree on that. Meeting in homes, and fellowshipping and getting to know one another and enjoying life together is though.

I was a member of a church where we had services no matter what, three times a week. I remember those great Thanksgiving day services when me and four other people would gather around and talk…I recall with great fondness those Easter Sunday night services when the one side of the church would be half filled with a dozen of the “faithful”…I daydream about those Christmas day evening services when we’d pack the place out with ten people…

(It’s called being sarcastic…)

What I do recall though was thinking “why aren’t these people faithful,” “and they call themselves Christians,” “we’re supposed to be a church but they’d put family over it?” I remember not being able to really fellowship with those people because of that weird feeling in my stomach that I got when I was around them because I had feeding myself with half-truths about them all week long and been deserting on a bowl of bad attitude about them on top of it! Of course, that in of itself is the mark of mature Christianity that my “be there no matter what” mentality was doing for me.

Then those same people would be gone on Super Bowl Sunday for the evening service, and of course those same feelings would creep up… But as I watched their lives I noticed happiness and contentment in them that I certainly didn’t have in all my anxious thinking. I started thinking, “boy it almost seems like they live life”. Well, that’s because they did. See, they were faithful to their God, they just didn’t believe God wanted them to be faithful to a place more than they were to their families and each other. Oh…it took me some years, but I get it now.

Hey, didn’t they kill Stephen because he went against their traditions and against the Temple (that place)?

So, here’s what I will be doing, and consider this an open invitation to all who read this. We will be joining Judi at her home in Roscommon for a Super Bowl party. She has a huge house and a big screen TV! There will be so much food and drink there you’ll have to be careful because you could end up looking like me! Several church families will be there, and I’m hoping to invite some people who don’t love Jesus so they can see what true friendship and fellowship is all about. We’ll also be having a devotional time during half-time (thank God we had the half-time show turned off last year!) You’re all more than welcome to come – think of the fellowship!

Think of the fellowship…? Hmm, not a bad idea, I’m getting pretty excited about it already!

Adventures in Missing the Point

2005-01-31T07:33:00.000-08:00

The desire of every pastor is to “feed” the people he has been given oversight of. From week to week, and even many times weeks in advance, we wrestle with what the Scriptures say and what God desires to say through us to his people (he is far more concerned with what he wants to say to you than I am). As many of you know I prefer to speak through books of the Bible, verse by verse. This style of preaching is often referred to as expository preaching. The benefits of this style of preaching is that people become familiar with the books of the Bible, how those books fit together, and how the individual verses connect with the whole (and it often doesn’t allow a preacher to get on soap boxes since the subject matter changes from verse to verse).

Expository preaching is a very healthy way of feeding a church the word of God. And, much to my excitement, expository preaching is marching to the drum of popularity once again in American churches (it was under the influence of expository preaching that several great revivals were started and fueled here in America – pray!). What doesn’t excitement is why it is gaining in popularity again.

If none of this interests you at this point, hang in there, because what I am hoping to do is explain why I preach the way I do (that is, if I myself know why!).

As some of you know, our culture is changing. You have no doubt heard terminology like, “post-modern” “postmodernism” “post-Christian era” or the like to describe our culture in America today. These terms are used to label the direction our society is heading since the mid 1970’s (great era for music, in my humble opinion). “Post” meaning “after” and “modern” meaning the Enlightment period, starting with the Great Reformation and continuing with the modernizing of culture from a medieval form of culture. Modern culture was a very structured, systematized, scienced culture. Postmodern culture means we are moving away from a need to define things through the lenses of our modern glasses.

Basically what this means for us as Christians is: our world is changing. But, our world has always changed, right? Well, not like this it hasn’t. We are looking at a whole new way of viewing life; from a cultural standpoint (we are countercultural in that we view life through God’s word). Just imagine what it would have been like to be living in feudal, medieval Europe and then transitioning into the Enlightment period. You went from a feudal government to a church-state government. You went from believing that everything was spiritual to knowing that even the spiritual could be proved scientifically, etc. The shift from modern to postmodern will be on the same rector scale.

I have often heard people say that this whole “modern vs. postmodern” stuff is no different than “baby boomers vs. gen xer’s”. That is simply not true. One is a cultural change; the other is a generational change within an established culture. The two are worlds apart in scope and significance.

Because of this shift towards postmodernism many things are changing. One of those things will be how we communicate. Thus this shift may affect preaching (I think it must). The core philosophy of expository preaching is “draw out the main point of the text”. In other words the essence of exposition is to bring out the “big idea” in a passage and “drive it home” to your hearers. Traditionally this is done by first laying out your thesis regarding the passage in consideration. Then you lay out your evidence to prove your thesis, point by point, giving illustrations for each to aid in the understand of the points (in doing this you also lay out the context of the passage). Then you boil it all back down to your thesis, and drive the main point home by way of application to the hearers personal and practical life. At this point a poem may be read or a hymn quoted (excuse the sarcasm).

The point I want to make here is that this is a very modern way of preaching (not “modern” as in “our times” but modern as in view of life, i.e. a structured, systematic, scientific way of looking at things). Postmodernism will not embrace this style of presentation. The reality is it doesn’t click with them because they are “after” modernism. I mean, come on, who talks like this anyway. Do you sit down with some one on a plane and when they ask you how you’re doing you say, “Well I’m glad you ask. I am doing well today, and to show you what I mean I would like to share with you three things that will help you understand that I am doing well, and I have alliterated them with the letter “p” to make them easy to remember.”? Postmoderns embrace any communication style that is heart to heart, story to story, not cardboard cutout alliterations and three point outlines.

In my preaching I try to consider (I usually wrestle with this) how to best communicate the main point of the passage in a way that will allow it to stick to your ribs. Some times the best way is systematically (modernly?) doing this, i.e., “3 points and a poem”. Other times it is through story telling or discussion-based teaching, etc. The point is the point getting across and hitting home, which is at the heart of exposition. The way of doing that is not.

The point is not the style in which you communicate the point, but the point. This is why I preach the way I do – I want you to get the point, and have it hit home and stay home. I would assume that’s your desire as well, right? You want to understand what the Bible says and have it hit home and stay home, too. Let me suggest to you how you can help in this. Pray that God will help you see the main point of any verse or text of verses. Pray that God will help you apply the main point to your life. And, pray that God will help me in my study to understand not only the main point but how to accurately communicate that point for “such a time as this”.

Oh, before I go, I was going to share why I wasn’t excited about the regaining popularity in expository preaching. It’s simple, really. Preachers are encouraging a return to expository preaching not in the “bring home the main point” sense, but in the style sense. They want to preserve a style of communicating the point, which to me ends up being an adventure in missing the point.

State of the Church: leave the foundations under your feet

2005-01-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

State of the Church

I have honestly been wrestling with the “state of the church” lately and probably because, as I noted several Sunday’s ago, I have been wrestling with the “state of the pastor” so much in the last year or more of my life. Here is what I see our church being: in the beginning stages of being a great church.

Let me develop this for you.

“In the begging stages” does not mean immaturity, although there is some spiritual and physical immaturity in our church (we have several newer converts, and many young families). New converts and young families will bring immaturity. This is not a bad thing, but something we all need to be aware of. I suggest we begin to pray deeply for our maturation (mine and yours) and that God would develop a leadership structure that would help in these areas as well as praying for some mature families to move into our area to help as well.

“Of being a great church” does not mean we are not a great church as some would define it – I would be quick to tell anyone we are a great church! But, as we have seen our study through Acts that God defines a great church by it’s having “great boldness,” “great grace,” “great fear,” “great power”. As I look at the state of our church I see these characteristics, but I don’t know if I could honestly say that they are classified as “great” in the way the Bible says they can be. But we are beginning to be a great church. That is what we are right now. I would suggest as a result of this that we begin to honestly assess our personal lives and our family lives to see if we are rightly walking with God; to see if we personally are great Christians; to see if we have great families, without such we will not be a great church.

So in assessing the State of the Church, I am lead to say that we need to lay a solid foundation to become a great church. I can think of no greater foundation that Jesus Christ. This is why I have been developing the theme of having our lives “centered on Christ”. I also think we need to plant our hearts in good soil so we can grow as branches of the Vine. I can think of no greater soil for a Christian to grow in than a church that is grounded in the Word and possessed by the Spirit.

In short we need to till the soil of the Word of God with the aid of the Spirit so we can grow thereby. To do this I think we have focus on the foundational doctrines as given in the Bible (giving us a firm foundation as they expose to us Jesus and healthy soil to grow in). These foundation doctrines are found in Hebrews 6:1-2.

Heb 6:1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

Foundational Doctrines

Hebrews 6:1-2 give us the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. Culture may challenge us to express these doctrines in different and perhaps fresh ways, but they never change at their core. Neither should we. We should be a people who can live Christ-centered lives in any culture because we are a people who are founding our lives on the “doctrine of Christ.”
When Paul suggests “leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ” he is not suggesting that we walk away from them (like when you leave your house to go to work) but rather we should leave them be where they are: at the foundation. In other words Paul is telling us to keep the “principles of the doctrine of Christ” under our feet, spiritually speaking, because they provide the “foundation” for our walk with Christ.

Passion and Zeal in their Proper Place

The history of my ministry has been for me to passionate person things that I personally see in Scripture, some times to the church’s blessings, but also at times to the church’s detriment. It is my passion and zeal that impassions others: it is a gift I have been given by God. It is also a hindrance if not controlled by his Spirit. To guard against this happening I am going to be instilling and developing a Biblical model of ministry in our church: team leadership.

Team Leadership: a biblical model set forth

I spoke briefly to this last Wednesday night in developing the truth that the greatest structure of church leadership is elders and deacons working together to direct a body of believers to fulfill the great commission as they center their lives on Christ. So, I will be meeting regularly with Kenny and Scott to this end. Together we will be praying, searching, and developing the direction of this church, and working together to build it on the Foundation and work in good soil so we can grow thereby. As we grow as a church we will be including other qualified elders and deacons to aid in this, and certainly your input is needed and wanted!

This will allow us to know that the things we are doing, the direction we are heading is not all the “brain child” of pastor, but a concerted, team effort. This will comfort the church knowing that there has been solid prayer and biblical discussion made in the process of the direction of the church. This will harness (tame) my passion and provide safe guards for my zeal, helping us to be Spirit-lead as leadership and as a church.

I see this development as part of the key to God building us into a great church, and from this view I see the future State of the Church to be great!

Crazy Weather and Worldviews

2005-01-18T11:37:00.000-08:00

We have been experiencing some crazy weather of late. Rain in January! Are you kidding me? This is typically the time we are shoveling ourselves out of the drive way at least twice a day. Why I remember last year around this time having to shovel snow at the end of my driveway unto piles that we are least a foot or more taller than me. I’d take shoveling snow over ice for roads any day!

I’m assuming here that we all know the reason for the weather changes: the recent tsunami’s that rapped Asia of much of her life. When a traumatic event like that takes places it just doesn’t affect those in its immediate vicinity, but ultimately it affects the whole world.
We live in a world with other people, by-the-way.

I bring this up because sometimes we have a tendency to watch the news and think, poor them, and to think so in such a way as to not recognize that we live in the same world. I don’t think we’re unsympathetic really (I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt), it’s just the way we live in America. We think we are better, above, and sometimes that we aren’t even apart of the rest of the world.

We’re wrong.

This crazy weather proves it.

In short, we’re experiencing a mild affect of what was felt in Asia the day after Christmas. What happened there affects us here, weather wise. I personally believe this is God’s way, through nature, of letting us know that we are apart of his creation, and that we are together as a human race. Being American Christian’s has caused us to view our Christianity much in the same way we view our citizenship: that as Christian’s we’re better, above, and sometimes that we aren’t even apart of the rest of the world.

If so, we’re wrong.

This crazy weather proves it.

Living With Difference

2005-01-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

By virtue of being a Christian we are different. The Apostle Peter tells us we are a “peculiar” people. Of course that peculiarity has to do with Christ and how extremely different he is from the world he came to save. By virtue of being human we are different, and those differences can some times be hard to live with. How are we to live with our differences? I want to suggest to you that we are to live with our human differences by living as peculiar people; different from the world. Let me try to explain.

Our God is Creator, and thus creative. One of my core values is creativity, because of who God is and who God made us to be. Difference is inherent in creativity. Therefore when God made you, he made you different. You are different than me – you look different; act different, like different things, etc. However, on some level we are exactly the same. In creation we were made equals in that we were made in the image of God. And strangely enough being made in the image of God (creative beings) also makes us different.

Interesting isn’t it that being made in the image of God (creatively different) has caused us so many problems. Just think of all the problems in your marriage, on the job, with your children, and your siblings you’ve had simply because of differences of opinion, preference, attitude, wants, expectations and desires. Now imagine if you could fully appreciate those differences, and instead of being stumbling blocks for you they were building blocks to enabling you and others to fully enjoy the lives God created you to live out.

Now you know what Adam and Eve’s relationship was like. Perfect. Different but living with it to its fullest. Now you know what Jesus’ relationship was like with his twelve disciples (I don’t mean to suggest that the disciple’s relationship with each other was perfect – far from it!). Jesus had a perfect relationship with them, in spite (because?) of their differences. I’d even put money on it that it was their differences that made Christ’s relationship with them so great; at least it was one of the factors.

So why then do we have such a hard time living with our differences? Why is it that our differences prove to be a hindrance rather than a help. Why is it that our differences prove to be the poverty of our relationship instead of perfecting them? Because we are fallen from where we once were. Our original parents had a perfect relationship being differently the same, but then they both became selfish, wanting to live life for themselves and apart from their Creator. We’ve been living that same life ever since so why should I deal with my difference when my difference is not a difference but who I am and how I want my life to be lived? Because we are just like our first parents we now view differences in the realm of right and wrong instead of our God given personalities.

How do we live with our differences? We live with our differences by realizing that for the most part what is different about me from you is different on purpose; God has made me this way, in his image; just like he made you. This does not mean we have to agree with each other on every level. (Jesus certainly did not agree with his disciples!) It does mean that we do not let our differences divide us, but rather in some crazy way, unite us, so we can live together as a church family. So what if you like ties, eggs, and grape juice? What I wear, eat and drink are a reflection not just of my worldview and my current understanding of Scripture, but also, on some level, it is a reflection of who I am in the image of God.

Praise God for our differences! You may like the idea of everyone being like you. However the thoughts of everyone being like me may just scare you to praise!

If we can’t live with our differences by being peculiar together then who can we live with? If you carry the logic through the only people we will be able to live with would not be a group of people, but a table for one, you. That is not the life that God saved you to live. Remember that Peter calls us “peculiar”? Well “peculiar” is the first part of the description; the whole phrase is “a peculiar people”. People meaning more than one. Peter also goes on to call us “a holy nation” a “royal priesthood”. The implication is we are to live together with our differences.

Living Jesus: Requests for Pastoral Movement

2004-12-31T11:44:00.000-08:00

This is a letter I sent to my fellow laborers in the pastoral ministry and to some friends who are members of various churches of like faith and practice. Maybe God will use this letter to spur you on to living Jesus by providing from your abundance for the lack of our fellow image-bearers who are now refuges of the recent Tsunami catastrophes.

Toby

******

Brethren,

I am writing this to you all for your consideration and with a heavy heart. Because of my high view of Scripture I know that every person has been made in the image of God and that God is not pleased when one of his image bearers has perished. God alone knows how many did perish and will perish as a result of recent events with the Tsunamis hitting on the day after Christmas. Therefore, my heart breaks and my eyes weep, along with God's.

Just as 9/11 shattered our sense of security and safety this event as rocked my worldview forcing me to recognize that we are not alone in this world, and as image bearers of God we must care for, help, love and support our fellow image bearers.

I have grieved over the deaths in India, China, Africa, and elsewhere. I do not say that lightly, but humbly. I have grieved. I am tearing up thinking about it now. How can we not grieve when the people God loves so have been literally wiped of the face of the planet? How cold have we become if we don't?

Today I read that there will be somewhere in the realm of 5 million refugees in this. Poor, homeless, orphans and widowed - God is their Shield, Fortress and Father. Our God gives himself wholly to their welfare and protection. James tells us that pure religion reflects this in that it helps the helpless and defends the defenseless - we are to "visit" (which in that culture meant going to them and bearing a gift when you walked through their door) the fatherless and the widows! Jesus said that those who feed the poor, house the homeless, cloth the unclothed, and visit those in prison will inherit eternal life, those who don’t…

Brethren, I know you heart, as mine beats along in one accord. Enough waxing elephant: I am writing this to call you and the churches you influence and pastor to action; to live Jesus by sending relief to these disaster torn people, people in God's image.

I am not sure on how the Spirit will lead your churches to do his work – and this is his work – but I want to share with you what we will be doing to help. We will be taking our largest weekly offering and sending to World Vision to aid in their relief efforts. World Vision is sending 100$ relief packages to disaster stricken families and refuges. With our average morning offering we could send 10-15 packages. If the 15 or 16 churches represented in this e-mail respond in the same way that would be 150 to 240 families or refuges aided by only a small effort on our part. Imagine if all your attending families donated enough to help one refuge each; how many could we aid?

I am also encouraging each attendee of our Sunday gatherings to put aside their coffee and pop money to send for aid. I have done this by inserting World Visions information in our bulletin. You can download a pdf of their relief insert here https://www.kintera.org/atf/cf/{BAC3E0C2-25A1-4ED2-9A84-06DA1AFAFD25}/04-1376_BULLINSERT.PDF Print them out, insert them in your bulletins, and talk about it.

Rally God’s people to be like Christ in this, lead them in doing so. Love your neighbor as yourself; lead your church to do the same. Do to them as you would have them do to you.

Humbly,

Toby

Holistic Worship

2004-12-28T13:39:00.000-08:00

Topic: Worship

Some weeks ago our church changed things up a bit from its normal Sunday morning routine in worship. Some may think it was the last statement (“routine in worship”) that caused me to consider and move ahead with doing something different that Sunday, but it wasn’t.

Holistic worship was the reason for the change.

What do I mean by “holistic worship”? I mean a means of worship that enables the whole of man to engage in worship to God. Its basis is found in the greatest command to love the Lord with all of our being. That great command is the summary of the first four commandments concerning God in Exodus chapter twenty. Those commands have a lot to do with worship.

Holistic worship is not only fueled by that command, but also by our view of the gospel. The gospel does not simply save a man from the punishment of his sin by forgiving him and giving him new life in his dead spirit. It does that, but it also brings abundant life here and now. In redemption we are brought (bought) back to what we were intended to be: perfect humans worshiping, loving, serving, and enjoying a perfect God in a perfect world with other perfect people. In other words, biblical salvation pertains to the whole man; not just his spiritual makeup, but his physical as well. Therefore the whole man must be engaged in worship.

This means that our worship must be textured. It must seek to engage the whole of man. Worship that does not engage is not worship. God is worthy of our whole attention: mind, body and soul.

(I understand here that we have a responsibility to worship God, that is, we are to have our hearts prepared and walking with our Lord to rightly worship him. If we are willful sinning and not following the Savior no candle lit worship service is to help us. Therefore, this article is about a philosophy of worship as an activity of people who are rightly walking with God. God understood this when he commanded Moses to instill his desired, holistic, worship practices in Israel. God was not dealing with the heart in issuing these commands, but telling Moses how people with right hearts must worship him: holistically.)

In case you’re thinking that this sounds “new agish, catholic, Hindu, etc” let me say that it was God who commanded Israel to worship him this way. Think of what it must have been like to go into the Temple and worship God. I long for such a day! The sights for the eye to engage in worship – the statues, bright colors, dark shadows, dancing lights. The smells for the nose to engage in worship – the showbread freshly baked, the smell of roasted lamb, the incense (incense?!), the smoke from the candles. The sounds for the ears to engage in worship – the bells, the trumpets and other various instruments (not just a piano!), the Davidic choir singing in perfect harmony. The things to touch to engage the touch in worship – the handling of the sacrifices, the dust on your forehead. The movement for the body to engage in worship – all the standing, sitting, kneeling, prostration, the raising of hands, the closing of the eyes. The words for the heart to engage in (I hate to make this distinction here) – the words being sung, the Scriptures being read, responding with perfectly timed responses in unison with the crowd. All of this would overwhelm a worshiper as he is ushered holistically into the presence of Jehovah God!

Quite honestly, after that, I think what we “do” on Sunday mornings would never cut it. It would be almost like being in heaven, then having to come back. Can the riches of this world compare with what is to come? Actually, that thought brings a good verse to mind, “1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” Many speak of this verse in reference to what it will be like in heaven.

Why can’t we have heaven on earth right now?

After all, we all gather to worship the God of heaven? We have been made true worshippers, who worship the Triune Godhead in spirit and in truth, right? God has shown us that Temple worship on earth is designed after Temple worship in heaven (Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.). I firmly believe we can worship God like this, here, now.

If I can not, then why try? Are we willing to settle for anything less than holistic worship when it is readily available to us by the Spirit of God as we follow the pattern of God-given worship in the Scriptures and history?

So, let me begin the dialogue here. What would holistic worship look like in our day, in our culture, in our church? What part of man do you see our church focusing on in its current worship forms (body, soul or spirit)? If we are lacking inviting the body to worship its Creator as a whole man, then what things could we do to invite a holistic worship for the body? (i.e., what could we do to invite the eyes, ears, touch, etc.?)

I’m sure there are more questions to come from our dialogue together as a body of believers, and perhaps some of the questions posed aren’t even the right ones, but they are definitely intended to get us thinking in the direction of holistic worship as a body of believers.

Christmas Letter

2004-12-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

Pastor Toby's Christmas Letter to Pigeon River Baptist Church

I hope this letter greets you with warm hearts this holiday season. My heart is warming up just thinking about you all. Some times that is not always the case. Just as the busyness of the season can sometimes rob us of the true meaning, the joy, of the season, so to can the busyness of pastoring a church rob a pastor of the joy of pastoring a church.

This season is all about giving and prayer, just as the two additions to this special newsletter illustrated. Really, giving and prayer are what our lives, as Christians, are all about as well. As a pastor my joy is to give to you my breath, my energy, my passion, and my heart, and pray for you in all season of life. It’s only when I am doing this that I am really being what I was meant to be and who you need me to be.

I desire this coming year to continue to give you all that I am, and to be more than I am for you, prayerfully in pastoring you and joining you in your journey of faith in following our Lord Jesus Christ. I am committed to following his example, and this coming year, loving you as he has loved us.

Wouldn’t it be great, as a church, if we all committed and connected to each other with that same love? What better Christmas gift could we give each other than to love each other as Jesus loves us? What could come between us? What could hinder us? What could stop us? How great would life be if we were committed and connected to each other in the same way that Jesus is committed and connected to us?

I hope in answering those questions your heart is warmed to want to love each other more this coming new year. If it is, then do so by giving yourselves to each other and for each other, and do it prayerfully.

Merry Christmas.

Love,

Toby & the Neal Family

Mono y Bono

2004-12-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

Topic: Christian Compassion

Jon Bono is the lead singer of U2 (link to their site:http://www.atu2.com/). I cam across this quote while checking out Thunderstrucks site (a church for truckers: www.thunderstruck.org/ ) And, now, Bono...

"Well, you know, I am not a very good advertisement for God. So, I generally don't wear that badge on my lapel. But it is certainly written on the inside. I am a believer. There are 2,103 verses of Scripture pertaining to the poor. Jesus Christ only speaks of judgment once. It is not all about the things that the church bangs on about. It is not about sexual immorality, and it is not about megalomania, or vanity. It is about the poor. 'I was naked you clothed me. I was a stranger and you let me in.' This is at the heart of the gospel. Why is it that we have seemed to have forgotten this? Why isn't the church leading this movement? I am here tonight because the church ought to be ready to do that.”

--Bono in response to Thunderstruck's question about how faith motivates his activism, asked during a press conference at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky

"Old Trucks and New Models"

2004-12-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

by Pastor Terry Colby

Terry Colby is a good friend and great thinker, and has always been a breath of fresh air for me as a pastor. I love what he has to say, because I know his heart.

:: :: :: :: :: ::

None of us, as Christians, want to hear that Christ, our Lord, the one who died for us, and the one who is supposed to be our life has become irrelevant to our lives, but let’s try and honestly look at the facts.

Why are there so many SMO’s? SMO stands for “Sunday Morning only.” Why in the church do 10% of the people do 99% of the work? What about church budgets? If Christ is relevant, it would show in our giving. Why is worship often so lifeless? I wonder if the way we loved one another would change if Jesus was relevant to our lives.

Participation in church has become irrelevant to the Christian. Attendance to church has become irrelevant to the Christian. Doing what God expects has become irrelevant to his people. Explain to me how that is possible if Jesus is relevant to our lives in the way he ought to be?

Now, do not misunderstand me. I realize our current church model is woefully inadequate to meet our needs and if it was just the church that was irrelevant to our lives I would understand, but it is not. It is that Christ is irrelevant to our lives. Because, when Jesus is relevant to our lives in the way he should be, the model is not near so important. We would still be involved in the church model that we have – we would try to make the best out of it. And more than that, if the model was not meeting our needs, we would be working hard to come up with a model that would and we would be willing to make the change that was needed and do any work that it would take.

I own a 1990 ranger pick up truck. It ain’t much. It has no backseat, it is starting to rust, it has power nothing, the AC doesn’t work and it has 150,000 miles on it. It’s ok, but it is not like a new truck that looks great and rides nice with all kinds of new conveniences and gadgets and far less miles. Now, I could say, “hey, this truck is a model that’s not working very well for me,” and I could quit driving it. But, I don’t; because a vehicle is relevant to my life and it is the only one I have. So it is the same with the church. If Jesus is relevant to our lives, His church is going to important to our lives; and right now, this is the only model we have. If he is relevant to our lives we will continue to work, be active in, pray for and be faithful to the church we have.

Again, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that the church doesn’t need to change. I believe with all my heart that it does, if for no other reason than it needs to become relevant once again to the culture we live in, but it needs to change also that it might be more relevant to us who believe in Christ. But, and here is the question that I am struggling with; will changing the church without Jesus being relevant to our lives make a difference or is Jesus not relevant to our lives because in some way the church has a responsibility to help us make Christ relevant to our lives, and it is not living up to this responsibility? Or put another way, did Christ become irrelevant to our lives and then the church became irrelevant to our lives or did the church become irrelevant to our lives causing Christ to become irrelevant? I can make an argument both ways. At this time my best guess it this: that it is a bit of a two way street. Christ has to be relevant to our lives if any church model is going to be relevant to our lives. And the church model must be relevant to our lives and that will help us to keep and make Jesus more relevant to our lives. All I know for sure right now is that if I am right and that the church is no longer relevant to the culture and has little relevance to even the believer and if Jesus holds little relevance to His people then we ought to truly be broken-hearted. We should repent in sackcloth and ashes. And we ought to be fanatical about doing whatever we need to do to once again make his church relevant to our lies and to the culture around us.

What if...?

2004-11-29T08:33:00.000-08:00

Topic: Incarnational Thoughts

How would we react to Jesus today? How would you react, as a Christian, to a lowly man, who looked like your average Joe, leading a small group of loyal followers, some of which were seemingly stolen from his cousin, who was a weird, backwoods hick, who dressed in leather, had extremely long, unkept hair, sported a huge beard, and lived off a steady diet of bugs and sugar. What would you think of this same man who, in the prime of his life, leaves his career in carpentry to seemingly live off other people’s hospitality as he goes around teaching people “God’s word”?

When you heard him speak, what would you think of him? What would say of someone who claims to know God but is continually correcting the Bible saying things like, “You have heard it said, but I say to you it is really like this”? What would you think of someone who was constantly criticized by and criticized the religious leaders, your leaders, of the day? What would you think if your pastor was leery of him, and continually spoke out against his unusual ways, and his unusual claims, and he even preached a series on why his claims were false?

Further more, what would you do when you heard this man say he was equal with God himself? Would God drink alcoholic beverages and hang out with prostitutes and the scum of the earth? Would God have dinner with IRS agents, and corrupted government officials? But this man was, and yet he has the audacity to claim he is God? Wait, he actually claims he was born of a virgin now? Okay, so now he’s ripping off Star Wars? Who does he think he is, Darth Vadar?

What would you think of him as you watched him continually do things exactly the opposite as your pastor, and your favorite preachers on the radio said they should be done? Why this man, Jesus, never even considers what he is doing to be evil in the sight of others!

As if all this wasn’t bad enough it is rumored, no, it is true, that he has healed many sick people in hospitals, and even cast out demons from people. Demons? Healing people? Like those weirdos on Christian TV late at night? What would you think when you saw him actually raise someone from the dead? Isn’t the antichrist supposed to come with these same powerful signs and lying wonders? Is this him? Maybe, sense he claims to be God, heals people, but does things contrary to the Bible and goes against the religious leaders of our days, right?

Who would follow this “Jesus” anyways? He always talking about love and forgiveness and not striking back at your enemies; has he forgotten what happened on 9/11 already? Doesn’t he know about terrorist threats? What is he some kind of crazed idealist living in a dream world? (Maybe he is since you’ve heard him surmising about some “Kingdom of Heaven”) This guy seems like a postmodern prophet, amassing to him all the outcasts of a modern era; the poor, the computer geeks, the sexually promiscuous are following; hey isn’t that the weird ‘Goth” chick from school, the one with the body piercing and tats following him?

We probably don’t know what we’d do if Jesus came today because they aren’t many people here like him. Are you?

Messages for Maturity (or, one more thing to bookmark)

2004-11-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

Check out a blog of the River, Messages for Maturity. Messages for Maturity is Pastor Toby's teaching ministry, and this blog will contain written sermons (which, when read, don't seem as l..o..n..g...ha!).

http://messages4maturity.blogspot.com/

Talking to Gen-Xer's

2004-11-19T06:16:00.000-08:00

Topic: Missiology

this is a great article on understanding my generation

Talking to Generation X
Sarah E. Hinlicky
Copyright (c) 1999 First Things 90 (February1999): 10–11.

We've never been proud to be Americans–our political memory stretches back only as far as Vietnam, Watergate, and Reaganomics. Our parents left religion and, perhaps not coincidentally, each other in unprecedented numbers. Failed ideologies were mother's milk to us: love didn't save the world, the Age of Aquarius brought no peace, sexual liberation brought us AIDS and legions of fatherless children, Marxism collapsed. We can't even imagine a world of cultural or national unity; our world is more like a tattered patchwork quilt. We have every little inconsequential thing, Nintendo 64s and homepages and cell phones, but not one important thing to believe in. We are the much–maligned Generation X: your mission is to get us back to church.

There's a problem in this project. Even though we share the same cultural background, not all members of my generation are alike. After all, it's not so easy to sum up the character of a group whose only certain common feature is age. Yet there's something to be said for such generalizations. So drawing on our commonality (in spite of our diversity) and the extraordinary presumption of youth, I present here a vision of what the Xers might say if they all banded together to tell you what might persuade them to reenter the fold.

My authority on this subject can be challenged because in one critical respect I am not part of the "we" in what follows. I do go to church and am utterly taken with "the Christian thing." But I know a lot of people of my generation who don't and aren't. So while I don't claim to be an expert (and am not sure what it would mean to be an expert on this subject), I'll presume to talk about "we" and "us" and ask the reader to accept it for what it's worth.

We know you've tried to get us to church. That's part of the problem. Many of your appeals have been carefully calculated for success, and that turns our collective stomach. Take worship, for instance. You may think that fashionably cutting–edge liturgies relate to us on our level, but the fact is, we can find better entertainment elsewhere. The same goes for anything else you term "contemporary." We see right through it: it's up–to–date for the sake of being up–to–date, and we're not impressed by the results. In any event, you're not doing us any favors by telling us we're so important that age–old prayers and devotions can be rewritten to suit our personal whims. We know intuitively that, in the cosmic scheme of things, the stakes are too high for that.
On the other hand, you shouldn't be excessively medieval and mysterious, either. Mystery works up to a point, but it's addictive, and once we get hooked on it, the Church won't be able to provide enough to support our habit. We'll turn instead (many of us already have) to Eastern gurus and ancient pagan pantheons to satisfy all the esoteric delights our souls might desire. The human lust for secret knowledge should not be underestimated and certainly not encouraged. The Church has fought against that gnostic impulse from the start: Christianity is explosively non–secretive, God enfleshed for everyone to see, the light shining in the darkness. We're much too comfortable alone in the dark; we need the light to shake us up.

Then, of course, there is the matter of telling us that the Church possesses the Absolute Truth. Gen Xers doubt the very existence of such Truth with a capital T. We're much more comfortable with the idea of a multiplicity of little truths than one single unifying truth. But even if universal truth does exist, we are extremely skeptical that you–or anyone else–can possess it. Admittedly, this skepticism is a bit puerile. All the more reason not to use "the Truth" as the basis for evangelizing us, because it will backfire. And when your evangelizing attempts do fail, don't let the word "Hell" cross your lips. That's another thing we don't believe in.

As you can see, Generation Xers are a strangely complicated and self–contradictory bunch. Torn between rigid scientific doubt on the one hand and irrational credulity toward the supernatural on the other, we tend to have a generalized belief in God but are doubtful of his personal concern for us. It often sounds to us like the Church preaches two Gods, one of law and another of love. The first punishes sins (though we see evildoers get away with murder) while the second babysits his flock (but there's too much suffering for us to buy that, either). We refuse God's judgments, yet judge our parents harshly by canons in which hypocrisy is the only capital crime. And anything that smacks of the Establishment (a hangup inherited from our Boomer parents) elicits nothing but our contempt. The Establishment purports to be for the greater good, but what has the greater good ever done for us? Each of us is the center of his or her own universe, and so we abhor any kind of coercion, no matter how gentle, socially beneficial, or genuinely correct. In our eyes, the Church's standards of orthodoxy and behavior are as coercive as the government's laws. Both seem to be convenient vehicles for affirming preconceived notions, whether the narrow–minded judgments of parochial middle America or the social agendas of trendy leftists. We see complicity in the Church where you want us to see stability, moralism where you want us to see righteousness. The ultimate difference is that where you see the City of God we see only the City of Man.

Our stumbling block is Christianity presented as panacea. You're right that we are looking for healing, and usually in all the wrong places. When we're at our worst, we turn to drugs to numb the pain, cure the boredom, and escape the nothingness that haunts our lives. At our best we try alternative medicine, psychology, meditation, yoga, diets and exercise, successful careers, or falling in love. We invest ourselves in these things, and they inevitably fail. Which is what we expected anyway. We have learned that nothing can be trusted, so we've given up on trust altogether. Don't tell us that the Church can be trusted because, frankly, we doubt it. Don't tell us Christianity is the answer to our problems, because nothing but death will take them away. (Ever wonder why our suicide rate is so high?)

So you're in quite a pickle: you can't tell us that the Church has "the Truth," and we know that the Church won't miraculously cure us of our misery. What do you have left to persuade us? One thing: the story. We are story people. We know narratives, not ideas. Our surrogate parents were the TV and the VCR, and we can spew out entertainment trivia at the drop of a hat. We treat our ennui with stories, more and more stories, because they're the only things that make sense; when the external stories fail, we make a story of our own lives. You wonder why we're so self–destructive, but we're looking for the one story with staying power, the destruction and redemption of our own lives. That's to your advantage: you have the best redemption story on the market.

Perhaps the only thing you can do, then, is to point us towards Golgotha, a story that we can make sense of. Show us the women who wept and loved the Lord but couldn't change his fate. Remind us that Peter, the rock of the Church, denied the Messiah three times. Tell us that Pilate washed his hands of the truth, something we are often tempted to do. Mostly, though, turn us towards God hanging on the cross. That is what the world does to the holy. Where the cities of God and Man intersect, there is a crucifixion. The best–laid plans are swept aside; the blueprints for the perfect society are divided among the spoilers. We recognize this world: ripped from the start by our parents' divorces, spoiled by our own bad choices, threatened by war and poverty, pain and meaninglessness. Ours is a world where inconvenient lives are aborted and inconvenient loves are abandoned. We know all too well that we, too, would betray the only one who could save us.

One more thing. In our world where the stakes are high, remind us that all hope is not lost. As Christians you worship not at the time of the crucifixion, but Sunday morning at the resurrection. Tell us that the lives we lead now are redeemed, and that the Church, for all her flaws, is the bearer of this redemption. A story needs a storyteller, and it is the Church alone that tells the story of salvation. Here in the Church is where the cities of Man and God meet, and that is why all the real spiritual battles, the most exciting adventure stories, begin here. We know that death will continue to break our hearts and our bodies, but it's not the end of the story. Because of all the stories competing for our attention, the story of the City of God is the only one worth living, and dying, for.

Sarah E. Hinlicky is an Editorial Assistant at First Things.

"Us vs. Them" continuing thoughts from Sunday night

2004-11-16T06:08:00.000-08:00

Topic: Unity of the Church

Our church, like many others, struggles with unity. Unity seems to be an illusive dream that churches spend much blood, sweat and tears missing. The problem, the hindrance, to true unity seems so simple, and is simply, divisions. If we are divided, we can not be united. The struggle for unity also lies in the misconception that unity demands uniformity, and we fear uniformity, unless people are conforming to be like us that is. Perhaps the very fact that we think we’re worthy to be conformed to is the basic problem of obtaining unity in the church. Maybe this is why the New Testament writers mention preferring one another over ourselves so much.

Ro 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another

Php 2:2-3 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Several weeks ago I concluded a series on being committed to membership. I desire to see faithfulness in the members of this church. Yes in attendance, but moreover in every area of our lives. Quite frankly, I am finally (well I put on a good front anyway) okay with the fact that some members just aren’t going to be here every time the doors are open. Lack of faithfulness on their part? Perhaps. Several months ago I spoke on Hebrews 10:25 and challenged people to discern whether or not when they did miss gathering with us if it was because they were forsaking us. You have to decide on why you are missing the times set aside to join with your church family; you better not forsake it, even though you may at times miss it.

Lack of attendance on some people’s part can be frustrating to those who are there every time the doors are open. It is to me, anyway. If it is one thing I have been faithful in it has been being here when the doors are open. I’m connected to this body of believers. I come because of that connection. If you are one of those frustrated people, I think what I am about to say may give you some insight on how to handle your frustration and turn it around and make it positive in your life and others. You no doubt are frustrated, not for lack of attendance, but because you want to see people connected. You think, how can these people not be connected to this church!? I agree, but the fact of the matter is, I no longer think lack of discipline is the reason why people do not fellowship with us on a regular basis. I think the number one reason for lack of attendance on member’s parts is: disconnection.

Perhaps you could say, division.

When a member misses one or more of our services, what do you do? Do you grumble about them? Do you say, “Gee, I wonder where they were at?” or “Well, that’s par for the course for them, they…”. Do you find yourself missing them, perhaps even calling me and asking me where so-in-so was? Now, what do you usually say the next time you see them? “Brother, we missed you last week. How have you been?” What do you think they are thinking? Well, I can’t read minds, but I’ll bet you they’re thinking, “Yeah right you missed me, you didn’t bother to call me to see how I was doing, or stop by to see if I needed anything.” Now, if the person who misses doesn’t deal with their heart right they can find themselves soon thinking and they call this a church? This isn’t a church, this is some social club, which evidently I’m not worthy enough to be apart of. Well, I like the preaching, so I’m just going to come on Sunday morning and listen and split. (Sorry, I had to put the whole “I like the preaching” bit in there…)

What has just happened there? Disconnect. Division.

See, we think of division as big disagreements, and arguments over heretical teachings and such, but really division is simply anything that divides us. Anything can divide us, especially the “us vs. them” mentality, which inevitably comes when we don’t deal rightly with each other. If you miss one of our gatherings as a member, I usually call to see how you are doing. When I call to see how you are doing, I genuinely want to know. Then I ask, “How come you couldn’t be with us tonight?” To which everyone gives me an honest answer. Usually I may add that if you know ahead of time that you aren’t going to be there, call so I don’t wonder or worry. But if we don’t deal with things the right way like this it can soon turn into an “us vs. them” situation, “us” being the faithful attendees, and “them” being the unfaithful.

The “us vs. them” mentality sounds like this, “how come they can’t be more faithful? We are always there, but they use every excuse in the book on why they can’t be there. It’s not fare.” The problem with this is, it is partially true, if the ones missing are forsaking the gathering. Did you know you can miss “church” and not be forsaking “church”? The problem with the “us vs. them” mentality is that there is no such thing in the New Testament. We are one. There is to be no divisions. We are one body, one family, one church, following the One, the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason there is an “us vs. them” mentality is because there is disconnect. Should we ever be disconnected as a body of believers? Imagine if a body part you we fond of just disconnected. Ouch, right?

I think we get the picture here. As a family of believers we have to fight for unity; we have to struggle through the crap of being a family and battle any disconnect there is so we can maintain “family” status. Sometimes our churches are no different than postmodern families today, you know, we’re a family, but brother is off in his room listening to his music, sister is on the phone with a girlfriend, dad is lounging on the couch watching TV, mom is on the computer e-mailing her friend, and the dog is outside wanting in; together, but doing our own thing (is that being together?). We’re a “family” in name only. That seriously stinks, and it has to stop, and if it ever happens with us, then we must fight against it and maintain unity. The battle starts as soon as you start thinking, hmm; I wonder where so-in-son is? Well they usually miss evening service anyway… Stop! Wait. Call them, find out! Visit them. Connect. Unite!

Being disconnected works both ways, you know. A) It’s your fault if you don’t come because you feel disconnected – connect! Work through it; go to those whom you feel disconnected with. Fix the problem. B) It’s the persons fault who takes on the “us vs. them” mentality. Stop it. Renew your mind in Christ. Put on the mind of Christ!

Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus

One more thing them I am done. Have you ever called someone who missed a church service only to find out that they were at a family get-together? How did that make you feel? For a long time it used to rub me the wrong way. I’d use Jesus’ words against them, “he that loveth family more than church is not worthy of church”, only I think Jesus never said that, did he? For a moment, put yourself in the family’s shoes. If you don’t like it because a member forsakes church for family, maybe, just maybe, that family doesn’t like it because our member forsakes them for church. What do you do in those situations? Do you go to church or do you go with family? It’s your call, and I give it to you, and I won’t diss you because you go with family instead of church anymore. I will also tell you to pray about it, and follow the Lord’s leading. Maybe God is challenging your love for him over family by putting you in that situation? Maybe God is challenging your love for your family by putting you in that situation? Maybe God wants to use you as a witness at the birthday party? Maybe you are feeling disconnected from your fellow believers so you say, “hey why not go the party, after all, they are family”. Careful on the last one, because you’re becoming disconnected, divided from your brethren, and that is not good. Fix it and eat the birthday cake! (Save me a piece, would you?)

I would appreciate any comments on this, especially if you’re a church member reading this. Perhaps it might be our next BC discussion piece, gentlemen?

A Bummer of a Day to the Glory of God

2004-11-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

Topic: Glorifying God

Sunday was a bummer of a day for me. I can’t tell you why personally, but it just was. I think I even made mention of it during my sermon saying that it just seemed like “a bummer of a day”. Even during those types of days we are to be faithful. I told Tim Baker Sunday afternoon, “is it okay to not want to go to church tonight?” To which he said, “we go to meet with the brethren.”

Sometimes we may not get what we want out of church. Sometimes we are having a bummer of a day and can not give what we want to the church. Either way we “go to meet with the brethren.” And I would add, “To the glory of God, we go to meet the brethren.” Because even when we do not get what we want out of church, we can still glorify God by meeting with the brethren, and even when we are in a state where we can not give what we want to the church, we can still glorify God by meeting with the brethren.

“Moreover, it is required in steward that a man be found faithful. (1 Cor. 4:2) God is glorified in our faithfulness to “meet with the brethren” when we want to and when we don’t. At this point you may reject because of attitude, but to that I say God is pleased even when we don’t know why we are glum to do what is right when we are glum because we believe by faith that “obedience is better than sacrifice” so that in our sacrifice of going when we don’t want to, God is glorified. Should a believer always want to meet with his brethren? Yes. Will he always? Nope.

So even when it is a bummer of a day you can still glorify God in going.

Sometimes, God is rich to us in this state. He was to me on Sunday, particularly on Sunday night (when I mostly did not want to go). We opened with a song, and then Kenny asked for anyone to share their stories of what God was doing with them. Brenda shared a toughing story. I was still bumming, and then we learned a new song – exactly what you want to do when you are bumming, by-the-way (yeah, right!). That song was Psalm 42:11. It reads:

Why art thou cast down,
O my soul
And why art thou disquieted with in me?

Hope thou in God,
For I shall yet praise him
Who is the health of my countenance,
And, my God.

Guess who quit bumming. Guess who was praising him who is the health of his countenance? Guess whose tune changed, and who wanted to be there even when before he didn’t? Guess who was having a bummer of a day to the glory of God?

The Value of Beauty & Gaylord's Art Festival

2004-11-04T07:36:00.000-08:00

Topic: Core Values

As Christians individually and as a church body collectively we should have as one of our core values beauty. Beauty is at the heart of who we worship. Our God is a God of beauty. All of his creation is beautiful, at its heart good, and anything that is good is beautiful. The beautiful Creator has made his beautiful creation to be creative. We are to create beauty. Of course because of the fall we don’t always do that, but the ability to create, and to create beauty as image-bearers of God is still with us even though we have fallen, so in our fallen humanity we can still participate in making beauty and enjoying it, and we should.

That is why I am so excited about Gaylord’s Art Festival this week! It’s a little late in the week to enjoy it all, but there are enough events and such to enjoy to stir in us the need to glorify God for creating us to create beauty and with the ability to enjoy it.

During this week Gaylord will be posting art on all its store windows down town – so go for a walk, take your wife on a stroll, and see what beauty you can find. Also Gaylord will be spot lighting the musical talents of its younger generations on Saturday night at the Alpine Arts Jam. Area young people will be showcasing their talent in playing a variety of musical styles.

Art, music, storytelling, crafts, are ways we can express and enjoy beauty. If we value God as our creator we will value his creation’s beauty. Now, that does not necessarily mean that you will enjoy beauty the same way I do. You might not like the Blues, and in my opinion, that’s too bad, but you can still enjoy beauty in the creativity of blues and praise God for making us the way he did. Whether you enjoy High, Folk, or Pop culture, you can still enjoy the fact that God created us to be cultural and to express in that culture his beauty by being creative and enjoying beauty.

For more information on this week and weekends events call GAGA at 732-3242.

Pray, Vote, Pray

2004-10-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

Topic: politics, worldview
The River Article

Christian Right Wingers are hard at work this year trying to help re-elect President George W. Bush. The flyers, mail outs, posters, and media blitz is amazing. Upon walking through the Word Bookstore in Gaylord recently, I saw a tee-shirt on display that had this written on the front:

“Pray,
Vote,
Pray”

Evidently, from other marketing media, the Christian Right Wing (CRW) is trying to motivate Christians to pray about whom they feel the Lord is leading them to (evidently by the mass push from the CRW the Lord has already spoken, declaring Bush as his choice). After they have prayed, they are to vote for the man whom the Lord has moved them to, and then they are to continue in prayer for their country and for the man elected.

Sounds like a good plan, right? This plan is two thousand years old, by-the-way. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 to “pray for all those in authority”. We are to pray regularly for all those in authority. But, are we to pray for who should be in authority? Should we even be concerned? Or should we rather be more concerned with “living a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and humility.” (verse 2)

Have you ever listened to Christians talk about politics? When you do does it remind you of people living a “quiet and peaceable life”? Do you honestly think the CRW has such a bad name in the country because they are doing what they do “in all godliness and humility”? No liberal would think that, and I’m not sure they have good reason not to.

Of course, at this point, many Christians claim that it’s their right to vote, and be informed, and that we are to obey the government which translates into being responsible Christians in voting for a candidate that represents our ideals. I agree, but let’s match that up with 1 Timothy 2:2 and do those things in an attempt to live peaceably and quiet in all godliness and humility. Frankly, many Christian Right Winger’s don’t come off as humble, nor quiet. Believe me, I understand the need to speak our minds and be vocal and active about what we believe and what needs to be done in this great country of ours (I am a preacher after all, being loud is in my blood!), but do we need to have this attitude that if we don’t get “our” guy in the world will come to an end, and do we have to be so mean-spirited towards those who don’t agree?

If we really believe God is in control, and promotion comes from him, that he sets one king up and sets another down, then why don’t we act like it? Rather than argue politics, why not take the Christian tee-shirts suggestion, “pray, vote, pray”? Not, “argue, be loud, complain” and act as if your vote will change this country – only God can change this country. Instead, be quiet, speak boldly before the Throne, cast your vote as a responsible citizen, and then continue praying in obedience to 1 Timothy 2:1-4.

“Pray, vote, pray.” I think the Christian Right Wing has something there. Now, if they can only live it out.

Living it up: how Jesus lived life to its fullest

2004-10-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

Living it up: how Jesus lived life to its fullest
Tobias Neal
"A word from the pastor" the River vol. 1. iss. 12

For years in my preaching and teaching both as an elder and as a member I have presented Jesus as God to those who would listen. I focused a lot of my attention and passion into the deity of Christ – what else is there? Of course, a lot of that was fueled by my desire to see my father come to know Jesus Christ as God, and not the “a god” as the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society presents him. And it was through my studies that I fell in love with the deity of Christ. I knew he was God - always knew that, but through my studies I began to know him as God.

It hasn’t been until recently, though, that I have begun to focus the same attention into the humanity of Jesus: discovering how Jesus lived his life as a man. Again, theologically (Christologically), I know that Jesus was fully man and fully God. The Scriptures teach this. But, I want to know Jesus as a man, in the same way that I now know him as God. The difference there is between the words “is” and “as”. I know Joshua is my son, but I want to know him as my son.

My study of the humanity of Christ is not over, neither is my knowing him over – it is an eternal journey. Nor has my study been specific. I haven’t went out and bought all the books on Christology, and their kin. But as I begin to read through John – which is a book devoted to his deity, I began to see his humanity. How can you not read the account of Jesus turning the water into wine (an act of deity) and not see his humanity (he’s enjoying himself with his friends and mother at a wedding). And, he’s at this wedding until the wee hours of the morning. At least he’s there long enough for the drinks to run dry, and at a wedding, that’s late!

I’m not suggesting that Jesus is by any means a “party animal” as he is often typified by well meaning, but maybe demeaning preachers today. We have to be careful when we speak of Christ that we remember, yes he’s our Brother, and our Friend, but he is also our Lord. That term, title, truth extends with it an influence on how he is to be spoken of. But, on the other hand, Jesus did attend parties, and he was often seen with the party crowd (the sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, etc.).

The Pharisees hated this. They were never invited to the gatherings that our Lord was. They were too stuck-up, clean, self-righteous and arrogant for them anyways – and if you have ever known anyone like that your stomach cringes at the thoughts of having them at a social gathering your hosting (i.e., party). You know, the Pharisees hated Jesus because he was popular don’t you? He was stealing the show. Why? Because Jesus genuinely loved people and proved it by meeting their needs. But, have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, Jesus was fun to be around?

I don’t mean to suggest that in a demeaning way (see two paragraphs up to refresh yourself on my view there – and let that view permeate the rest of this article, please. Thanks.) I don’t mean fun in a flippant way. I mean fun in the living it up way, or living life to its fullest way. Jesus really knew how to enjoy life. He knew how to laugh at things God had done and what others had done (after all, God laughs). Have you ever thought about what might make God laugh? Remember when Zach was saved, and told our Lord, “I’m going to pay back everyone, and if I have wronged someone, I’m going to give them four times what I robbed them”? What was Jesus’ response? “This day has salvation come to the Jews”. Jesus basically said, “When you have a Jew giving away money, you know he’s saved!” To me, that’s funny.

Or what about the oddities of the Bible…a teenage girl gets pregnant out of wedlock, has a baby who is the Savior of the world. This Savior goes to be baptized by his cousin, who is some strange bug eating, leather wearing guy, who hasn’t shaved or cut his hair in thirty years – oh, and he lives in the woods. So far this story could have been written in Frederic or Vanderbilt and would probably fit right in! I find that funny. I just do. Maybe you don’t. Again, I am not being demeaning. But just think about how odd that is.

Or what about some of the crazy things God had his prophets do. The streaker Isaiah? That ring a bell? The guy runs around naked, declaring, “thus saith the Lord!” Don’t worry, loosing the tie is about all I’m going to do! Or how about Ezekiel. Remember when God told him to cook his food over his own feces. Was God thinking, I wonder if he’ll do it?! That’s funny to me. Again, I apologize, but I just think God has this glorious, awesome sense of humor, and as a guy who loves humor, I enjoy it, and I see it a lot in Scripture.

In reading that you want to instantly say, “Well he did that to fulfill prophecy,” you want to “dress it” up as I call it. You want to explain it and explain away the oddities. Maybe God designed it that so the oddities would talked about! Maybe so those people who are odd might say, “Man, I can dig a God like this – he comes right down to my world”. Which is what Jesus did, by-the-way. He didn’t come down born into a kings house, dressed himself in the finest apparel and then was raised in the perfect home. He came into the life of the average trailer-trash, redneck in Northern, Michigan!

Some may scoff at that – you may be one of them, but me, when I read that, I think, “Now here is something my old stoner bubs would relate to.” Maybe that’s why those types in Jesus’ day swarmed to him.

People who know how to enjoy life, and live life the right way, are attractive people. Maybe I think this way because I think I am one of those people. At least I have been told that I am. People have said they enjoy being with me because in any circumstance I know how to enjoy myself and help them enjoy themselves. I just happen to think Jesus was a lot like that.

I don’t think Jesus was a class-clown, or a crack-up, though. I think he knew how to fully enjoy life as a human should – as a perfect human can (and will!). Sitting down after a good meal and enjoying a glass of wine with his friends, discussing the Scriptures, and teaching them about life – man, that is life! Spending time with children on his knees, playing with them, hugging them (them hugging him), and blessing them…don’t tell me Jesus didn’t know how to live life! Helping people come into a right relationship with God and each other and this world they were made to enjoy – that’s living life! Knowing that every step you took, every bite of food you ate, every joke you laughed at, and every verse you debated with the Pharisees was glorifying the Heavenly Father – that’s living life!

We’ve got to see this if we are to live life the way Jesus did, as a human. I think sometimes we disconnect from who Jesus really was because we think, “I can never live like him (even though we’re told we’re to be conformed to his image) because he is God, and I am not.” Yeah, but don’t forget, he was “not” as well. He was fully human. He lived life as a human – he did everything you and I do (and more!) as a human. Everything. And he lived it up. He lived life to its fullest.

Are you living life to its fullest? Are living as Jesus did? Are you enjoying each moment God gives you breath to enjoy, or are you sitting here reading this hating your job, your co-worker, you wife, or the weather? Are you thinking of not how you can glorify God by going out to lunch today, but that you are glorifying God today by going out to lunch to enjoy good fun, and to thank him for creating you to have the capacity to enjoy it (right now I am thinking about Mongolian BBQ and I am salivating – thank God that he made us to enjoy such things! I don’t mean that in some humorous way either, I sincerely mean that!). Just think about what life would be like if we never evolved taste buds!

For you “keep this in perspective” people, living life to its fullest was Jesus’ perspective. You say, “Well, didn’t he come to ‘seek and to save that which is lost’? He didn’t waste his time with the things of this world.” Yes he did, and yes he did, and in both of those he was living life to its fullest. I am not inspiring us to go out and abandon our Commission. I am saying the Commission is part of living life to its fullest! You can’t live life to its fullest if you do not actively, guided by the Spirit, share Christ with others. Jesus did it, and he did so in showing us how to glorify God by living as we were meant to live. That’s the perspective: live as you were redeemed to live.

Live like Jesus. Live life to its fullest. Live it like Jesus did. Live it to the glory of God.

Live it up.

The River Newsletter

2004-10-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

"A Word from the Pastor" articles for "The River" will be posted here.