New Video Blog

Hello everyone. I have to apologize for waiting so long to post on this blog. Let me explain my tardiness. I have recently started teaching a class with our teens at church on Sundays called "Theoretical Idealistic Christianity." This class has taken a very interesting approach to our everyday christian lives. It started out as a discussion of why we always talk about christianity in theoretical terms and then act like it is an enigmatic idealism that is only referenced from pulpits and other theological circles.

In reality our Christian lives ought to be something we live out every day of our lives. That is where my idea came for my new video blog. These will be short videos (around five minutes) that will attempt to give you a practical step you can take to live out your christian life beyond the walls of the church. I hope that you will subscribe to it and watch each video that I post.

This is an attempt to build a culture in the church that takes our idealistic approach out of theory and into practical and actionable things that we can do on a daily basis. Click here for the link to the video.

Thanks for watching.

Waiting To Hear That Still Small Voice

In 1 Kings 19 we read an incredible encounter Elijah has with God. God tells Elijah to go out and meet him. An in the next few verses we see a windstorm, an earthquake and a fire. But God is not in any of those things. He comes to Elijah in a still small voice.

First of all, we can certainly see that we need to be silent to hear from God. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 37:7 says to be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Psalm 62:5 says wait in silence. Job learned to be silent before God and listen to Him. In 1 Peter 3:4 we see that God finds a gentle and quiet spirit precious and beautiful.

All this shows us that being silent before God is a good thing. We know that the busyness and “noise” of life can drown out God’s voice. We know that when the world around us distracts us we take our focus off God. Like Peter walking on the water, when we take our eyes off Christ we sink.

But I have to think about all the times God spoke through something else. He spoke to Moses in a burning bush. He led Israel with a pillar of fire. He spoke with a thunderous voice from the top of Mt. Sinai. He appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus in a brilliant light. The prophet Isaiah talked about His presence filling the room as if with smoke and the whole house shaking. And, on the day of Pentecost God’s Spirit came to the disciples with the sound of a mighty rushing wind and with fire, shaking the foundation of the building!

All too often it seems we wait around to hear a still small voice from a God who is shaking our foundation! If we only listen for a still small voice are we missing the shouts from God? Are we missing the burning bushes? Are we missing the pillar of fire He sent to light our way? Are we missing what He has already told us to do?

From my experience, I have seen many people cry out to God to reveal Himself to them and then they sit back and wait. God wants to confirm our faith in Him, but it does have to start with faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (Hebrews 11:6).

Do you want to do great things for God? Then do them! But do them with faith knowing that He wants to do great things through you! Here is a good first step: Allow God to change the way you think. Romans 12:2 tells us to let God transform us into a new person by changing the way we think. That is how we will learn God’s will for us.

Here’s the thing, we know that God wants us to be good. We know He wants us to follow Christ. We know He wants us to get others to follow Christ. Even if it comes in a still small voice, those things won’t change! Are we doing the things we know we should be doing? If we are not, then what are we waiting to hear? Do we need God to say it again? Do we need to hear him whisper, “Go into all the world and make disciples”?

There are certainly times when God will speak to us. But until then are we doing what His Word has already told us to do? Do you want to know the work of God? Believe in the one He sent (John 6:29). There is so much that Jesus already told us to do, but yet we wait around to hear the “still small voice” to tell us what to do.

James 4:17 tells us, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”

If you don’t know what you ought to do then read the Bible. Read the Gospels. Hear from Jesus’ words. Put them into action. Then, if you need further direction, listen for the still small voice.

Help My Unbelief

Matthew 14:31b, “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why do you doubt me?”

How do you deal with doubt? How do you handle this struggle of justifying your religion with you beliefs? We even sing during a lively worship service words like this:

            “And on that day when my strength is failing

The end draws near and my time has come

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years and then forevermore.”

But how do we really feel when our strength is failing? How do we deal with the questions about the Bible or God that we just don’t understand?

There are two different forms of doubt that I want to look at today. There is the defiant doubt that demands proof and there is the pleading doubt that desires reassurance.  These two types can be seen in Matthew 16:4 and Mark 9:24.

In Matthew 16 the religious leaders who gathered around Jesus demanded that he show them a sign. And Mark 9 tells the story of a man pleading with Jesus to heal his son. These two approaches to doubt can be an encouragement to us today as we deal with our own unbelieving spirit.

First lets look at the religious leaders. Here is a group of people who know a lot about the Jewish religion. They knew what they were looking for in the Messiah. Now there is a man who claims that he is the messiah but he does not measure up to what they were expecting. So their natural tendency is to doubt him.

What do we do when God does not measure up to our standards? What do we do with unanswered prayers? How do we deal with God when we ask for Him to prove himself to us and He doesn’t?

This kind of doubt comes from pride. It comes from a place similar to that of the Pharisees. They knew what they wanted out of a Messiah and Jesus was not delivering that. They wanted a king and a ruler to overthrow the Roman Empire and give them the throne of David. This man Jesus came teaching a much different doctrine. He taught that to become great you must become a servant. He taught that if you want to be first then put others first and yourself last. He taught that you need to love others and treat them as being more important than you are. He taught that serving others was more important than serving yourself. He taught forgiveness and grace. He taught humility and mercy. He taught something different than what they wanted to hear.

Doubt is the natural reaction to hearing inconsistencies. When we hear a teaching that goes against our natural tendencies we want to challenge it. We are naturally self-serving. We want what we want when we want it. Jesus teaches us something different. So we doubt His teaching. We don’t like to admit that we doubt it because then we look bad. We don’t look like the good Christian person that we are trying to portray. We want others to think we have it all together and that we have solid faith.

This brings us to our next example. The man who asked Jesus to heal his son told Jesus that he believed but then he asked Jesus to help his unbelief.  He wanted to see his son healed, but he knew that he did not fully believe Jesus and his teaching. The difference here is that he was willing to admit that he had doubts. Alfred Lord Tennyson once said, “There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds.”

We can say the Christian creeds with our mouths but unless we search something out to know its truth then we will be left trying to support our unbelief on our own. That is where this man in Mark 9 was different. He asked Jesus to support his unbelief. He asked Jesus to help Him in his shortcoming.

Too often we try to prove ourselves worthy and end up falling short. Too often we try to lift ourselves up only to be humbled. This leads to more unbelief. If we can admit that we do not have enough faith then God can grant us more faith by reassuring us and supporting us when we are weak.

Jesus is the author of our faith. He perfects it for us when we can’t hold it up on our own. Faith comes from hearing from God. It is a gift from God. We start a process of salvation by believing in Him and He perfects that salvation through developing our faith. When we doubt and try to force God’s hand to prove Himself to us we falter in our faith, but when we genuinely ask Him to help us in our unbelief he can reassure us and build up our faith.

As Christians, how we deal with our unbelief will make or break us. How do you deal with unbelief?

Unity

Jesus offered a prayer in the book of John. Here is part of that prayer: "I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."

Unity is such an interesting word. When we think unity we often think of having the same goals. We think of purpose and having the same interests in mind. But I have to ask, what about the manner in which we achieve these purposes? What about the direction we take to accomplish our missions or goals?

Jesus prayed for us today, those in His church, to be united. The concept of unity is displayed by the church in the NT book of Acts. It says that they were all of "one mind" (1:14; 2:46; 4:24; 15:25) which indicates that they were in agreement or unity as to how they were going to fulfill the mission they had recently been given.

Why is there so much division in His churches today? Why is there so much in-fighting? Why are so many church leaders, elders, pastors, ministers, deacons, etc. not functioning in unity? If Christ is the head of the church, and the elders are the authority that is put in place by God are to teach this church, shouldn't we strive to find unity with them? Can we trust that God has put them in place and honor that? Can we give them the benefit of the doubt? Can we trust that they have the best interests of the body of Christ in mind? 

I have served as a pastor, youth pastor, volunteer and various other roles in several different churches. From my experience the concept of unity can be damaged both by the leaders and the followers. I understand that we are all human and that we can all make mistakes. But that does not mean that we compromise unity. 

So, what does unity look like? If our goal is the same then unity would be displayed in the agreement of the method to accomplish the goal. Someone explained it to me like this: If a group had a goal to build a road through a jungle they could have everything organized with tree-cutter-downers, stump pullers, levelers, foundation builders, and pavers. Well organized does not mean that unity is happening. If there is no direction, someone casting the vision, the direction, then the group could build and build on the road and never get to its goal. The group clearing trees may think, we should turn left while the levelers want to go right. The stump pullers may feel like they are being manipulated because they can only pull the stumps that the cutters leave for them. The pavers are left to clean up all the mistakes left behind those who have gone ahead of them and the road needs to look perfect when they are done (un-due pressure?). 

Ephesians 4:3 tells us to make every effort to make peace and be in unity. How often have you been given a chance to make peace and promote unity and you chose division instead? This does not mean that we all need to be push-overs and concur with any idea that is presented, but if a decision is made that we may not fully agree with can we accept it, or do we have to make sure everyone in the congregation knows how much we disagree, especially the leaders? 

Romans 15:5 asks for a blessing of unity from the God of endurance. I love that wording. Unity takes endurance. It takes commitment. When we look at the over-all picture of the church we see the same goals in all the members, even from one church to the next, we all want to 'know God and make Him known' but we cannot agree on the action plan. We cannot agree on the way we accomplish it. That diminishes to even lower disagreements to the point a church will split because of some simple "straw" that finally breaks them. It takes endurance to find unity and offering grace to those we may disagree with.

We need to recognize and admit that the lack of unity halters our maturity. We expect others to act spiritually mature while we throw fits behind their back. That displays a lack of maturity. Ephesians 4:11 and following says, "...these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ."

Unity leads to maturity. The next time you want to show your spiritual maturity, strive for unity instead of division. If you tend to talk more about "shaking the dust from your feet" and getting away from those who are "holding you back" then you should consider your maturity. Just as we would scold a child for running from the things they don't like or don't agree with we ought to scold ourselves for choosing the easy way out. 

Division is sometimes necessary but only in the sense of restoration. If restoration is not the goal of division then that division should be re-examined. Would you rather cut off all your hair or tend to it and style it? Would you simply cut off your hands if you are having trouble with them? If your feet hurt after a long day do you just cut them off below the knees? We can understand the ridiculousness of these comparisons, but the church is directly compared to the body of Christ. How do we take care of our own body? When part of it is hurting or not working the way it should it affects the whole body. So we focus on it until it gets back to normal. We don't just cut it off or sever all communications with it. But when it comes to the church, how do we handle these issues?

Even in regard to "sin in the camp" we need to have the mind of unity. Division should only happen with restoration in mind. Attempt to restore the brother. Again, this should come from the spiritually mature person who has the mind of unity (Gal. 6:1). It's all about unity. Do we have the same goals? Do we have the best interests of the church in mind or are we oppressing out of selfish motivation? Are we spiritually mature?

"Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it." -1 Peter 3:8-9