Thoughts From Chris

The most common way church people answer the question, “how are you doing spiritually?” is by basing their answer on the evaluation of their “devotional life,” which is typically Bible study and prayer.  If we are consistent in our Bible reading and prayer, we have a tendency to think we are doing well spiritually.  If we are not consistent, however, in our Bible reading and prayer, we have a tendency to think our spiritual life is in the tank.

Somehow, particularly in the Western World, we have made our pursuit of reading, study or engagement with the Bible the marker of spirituality.   The more we study and learn the Bible, the more we come under the illusion that this equals spiritual growth.  What many do not realize is that this is deception.

What we often do not understand is that the Bible is a means and not an end.  Reading it and learning it is simply a tool or channel that we should use to get to our goal or end. 

What is the goal or end?  To live out a Christ-like character and to be engaged in Christ’s mission of serving and reaching the world with the gospel. 

James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.” 

Why would James warn us against deception as we engage the Bible?  The answer is because reading and studying the Bible as an end, and not a means, can lead us to a false sense of spirituality.

Jesus also rebuked the Pharisees in a similar way when he said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about me.”

What was the problem?  The Pharisees were great studiers of the Bible but were not transformed into the likeness of Jesus.  They used the Scriptures as an end and not a means. 

Jesus was the greatest example in the history of the world of what it means for a human to follow God. 

Here is a list of some of his attributes or character traits: compassionate, humble, firm, loving, prayerful, submissive, truthful, approachable, persevering, patient, bold, gentle, giving, faithful, empathetic, merciful, flexible, Spirit-led, discerning, self controlled, sexually pure, joyful, forgiving, disciplined, caring, thankful, simple, self-denying, content, uncompromising, servant-oriented, gracious, etc.

If we want to evaluate our spiriutal life, Bible reading and prayer do not cut it.  Don’t get me wrong, they are both very important, but if they don’t lead to transformation, they often lead to deception.   Are we becoming more like Jesus by the way we live our lives and are we more engaged in his mission of reaching unbelievers with the gospel?  There is the measuring stick of spirituality. 

In our sermon this past Sunday I suggested that the church should spend more time and more energy on Bible living and not simply Bible reading and study.  The church in America is one of the most theologically advanced churches in the world and yet one of the least transformed churches in the world. 

Probably not one of my safest messages of the year, but one I think all of us, including mostly myself, need to hear.  

As we move into this new year, this is a good time to set our sights more clearly on the goal.

More to come on some of this later …

Tomorrow we will host a free meal to the community from 4:00 to 7:00.  Although most of our house churches are serving the community in various ways during this holiday season, this is an opportunity for our entire church family to serve together. 

We had many people step up during this last week to help us have enough food and grocery gift cards to provide the community.  Thank you to all who have or will be contributing. 

Feel free to invite individuals or groups of people whom you think would appreciate a nice meal this Christmas season.

Hopefully you are surviving the ice storm today.  Look forward to serving alongside many of you tomorrow.

Throughout the OT God communicated to his people that they should repent and have faith in him:  “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”(Eze 18:32)

John the Baptist enters the scene and he has one main message as he prepares people for the Messiah:  “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1:4)

Jesus comes on the scene and guess what his message is: “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)

Jesus’ apostles and disciples took the mantle and followed Jesus’ example: “They went out and preached that people should repent.” (Mark 6:12)

The early church then relayed this same message: “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” (Acts 26:20)

The message of repentance, which is to turn from sin and turn to God  in some area of life or in all of life, is the dominant message God gives to humanity all throughout human history.  It is the consistent message throughout Old and New Testament.  

As the church today, we are called to love people, serve people, be a blessing to people, live out Christ-like character, and with humility call people to repentance of their sin and turn to a loving and forgiving God.    

This past summer I asked our church gathering how many people have communicated the message of repentance for the forgiveness sins to an unbeliever in the last 12 months.  About 10% acknowledged they had.  This means that 90% of the church is not regularly engaged in communicating the very message Jesus commissioned his church to give (the dominant message in all of Scripture).

If this is true, and if this is true generally speaking in the contemporary church today, does this mean something is broken in the church today?  If 90% are not involved in communicating the mission, the very reason Jesus has left us on the earth (to live out and speak the message), has the church departed from the mission?

Being a witness, in the Acts 1:8 kind of way, means we communicate Jesus to the world both by how we live and what we communicate as the message.  Are we losing the message?  Have we lost the boldness that John the Baptist had (that cost his life), that Jesus had (that cost his life), or the early church had (that cost many of their lives)?

Maybe it is simply sharing our faith story with someone and applying it to them at the end, or asking them to do a Bible study on the gospel, or simply looking for windows of opportunities in our conversations with others.    Encouraging people to repent and believe in Jesus can happen in all kinds of ways.

What price are we willing to pay to be bold in calling people (with gentleness and humility) to repentance for forgiveness?  Apparently, 90% of us aren’t willing to pay any price at all.  We are not even engaging people with the message. 

Is something wrong or am I missing something?

John the Baptist called people to be baptized after they repented, Jesus taught his disciples to baptize people after they repented, and the early church commanded people to “repent and be baptized.”

Baptism is for everyone who repents and places faith in Jesus. 

Later in January we are having a get together with the four house churches I coach, and we are going to have a baptism and parent/child dedication event.  Many of the house churches are performing baptisms and doing dedications on their own as well. 

However, for those who would like to do this publicly in our Sunday morning service, instead, we will be offering this during the last Sunday of the year.   This Sunday (12/14) is the last day to sign up for either.  To do this you can contact Sue Heckley at sheckley@gracegathering.com.

Whether baptism takes place during a service or within the context of a house church, the most important thing is that people get baptized and follow Jesus’ command.  If you would like to read a short Bible study on baptism, click here. 

Here is a picture of my dinner tonight.  Actually, this is also what I ate for my lunch today.  Actually, this is what I ate for breakfast today as well. 

This weekend many of our teens, from the challenge of Brian Smeltzer, will be eating beans and rice throughout the weekend.   He invited anyone from our church to take the challenge with them also.  I know of many families and adults who will be participating this weekend. 

My family will be in Colorado this weekend at my sister’s wedding (a wedding I have been praying for during the last 15 years by the way). All six of us will be in the wedding.  Should be a great time.

Because we will be gone this weekend, we decided that we would participate in this exercise early (yesterday and today).  It has been very interesting.  Our two oldest kids participated with Kathy and myself.  Our second grade child lasted one day and our third grade child last both days.  I am very proud of them both.

It is estimated that nearly 16,000 children die of starvation every day (click here for hunger facts).  What a concept in the 21st Century.  Nearly half of the world has a regular diet of beans and rice.  It is considered a luxury to simply have food.  The point of our exercise is to place ourselves in the shoes of many in our world (at least in the arena of food).

These last two days have been a little more challenging than I first anticipated.  God has shown me many things, however.  I will not share them at this point becuase many will be taking the challenge this weekend.  It has been very good.

Here are a couple of websites Brian passed to me that are related to this topic.  I encourage you to check them out.

Beans and Rice Link (click here)

Advent Conspiracy Link (click here) (several very compelling short videos regarding Christmas – particularly the one called “Enter the Story”)

Everyone sins – from the most pagan and evil to the most godly and spiritual.  Second Corinthians 7:10 talks about a worldly sorrow and a godly sorrow over sin.  One that leads to death and another that leads to repentance.  When we sin, have you thought much about the difference?

I think there are times in my life when I sin (maybe in thought, word, or deed), and rather than having a godly sorrow over it, I have a worldly sorrow over it.   This was always true when I sinned as an unbeliever, but it is sometimes true when I sin as a believer.  Nothing comes to mind right now by way of example, but I am sure if I thought hard enough I could think of several. 

One of the things I have seen over time is that when a person confesses sin “before they get caught” it is almost always because they have genuinely repented over their sin.  This repentance and desire to change have led them to bring their sin to the light (godly sorrow). 

However, when people try to hide their sin, cover it up, and keep it in darkness, and then they get caught, they generally have sorrow, but it is harder to tell if it is godly or worldly sorrow.  If they do have worldly sorrow, the Spirit can change that and bring repentance, but it is very difficult to discern by others, because they wonder, “how long would they have continued sinning, if they would not have been caught.”

The way I have always handled it, is if a believer gets caught sinning and seems sorrowful and remorseful afterwards, I make the assumption it is godly sorrow unless proven otherwise.  Time will tell if it is godly sorrow or worldly sorrow, but I always give the benefit of the doubt.  After all, I cannot see their heart.  Only God can.

Let me encourage you and myself that when we sin, let’s repent and confess it to others before we get caught.  Confessing sin first will render a higher frequency of godly sorrow over worldly sorrow. 

This Sunday we will delve into one of the most unique characters of the Bible – John the Baptist.  Our focus will be on understanding his message.  It was a message of repentance.

What is this concept of repentance all about?

What do you think about the following statement:  “If we misunderstand repentance, we will misunderstand Christianity.” 

Is this an overstatement?

Perhaps our message this Sunday will shed some light. 

This Sunday we will begin a new series that will prepare us for celebrating the birth of Christ at Christmas.  It will be a 5 week study on John the Baptist.  I am not sure how many times you have heard a series on John, but I never have.  For a host of reasons John is one of my favorite prophets in all of Scripture.  I have wanted to do a series on him for several years now. 

If you have some friends you have been wanting to invite to a service, this series would be a good time to do that.  While it will be good for all of us to learn more about how God used this unique man to prepare people for Jesus, there will certainly be evangelistic aspects to the series.

Looking forward to God stretching all of us as we study one of the most unique figures in biblical history.

Scripture tells us to pray for those in authority over us.  When it comes to our president, our prayers these last 8 years have been on behalf of George Bush.  The eight years prior to that our prayers were on behalf of Bill Clinton.  In January the prayers for our president will shift to only the third person in 16 years, Barack Obama.

Let us continue praying for President Bush.  These are difficult days for him.  Let us also prepare to pray for our future President Obama.   He, as well, will be moving into the position of president in a very difficult time period. 

“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in  all godliness and holiness.” (I Timothy 2:1-2)

Tomorrow is a big day for our country as we choose a new leader.  Many countries in our world do not have this privilege and honor.  Maybe you really like one of the candidates or do not care for either; the point is that we live in a country where we actually have a “say.”  We should be very thankful for this opportunity and as believers be a good steward of it. 

For the first time, I took advantage of early voting.  It was a long wait (2 hours), but my wife and I voted on Friday at the County Building downtown.  They are projecting record turnout this year.  When you go Tuesday, plan to wait for a while.

God calls us to make a difference in our world and impact our culture. While voting constitutes a very small part of that, it is a part, nonetheless.  As stewards of the earth and this world, we need to do everything we can to make a difference in serving the world and supremely reaching the world for Christ.

As we do this, it is important to keep in mind what we discussed yesterday in our service:  God is in control of all things, and he can be trusted.  No matter how much our impact as believers does or doesn’t make a difference in our world, we need not worry about anything.  God has this world on an intentional path (note 2 Peter 3), and nothing or no one can undermine his cosmic plan for the universe.  He is absolutely sovereign.

Get out and vote, serve the community in various ways, love people (particularly those who seem unlovable), steward the earth, reach the lost, and do everything in the power of the Holy Spirit.  At the end of the day, as you lay your head on your pillow, place your full trust in God – he is in full control.  God tells us not to worry (Matt 6:34), and the reason he tells us not to worry is because we are not in control – he is. 

And I cannot think of a better person to be in full control of all things than the Triune God, himself!