35 Thoughts For You From 2013

I spent the last few hours reading back through the journal/notebook/whatever you want to call it that I have kept in the past year. If you do not often record your thoughts, your day’s events, or what you are learning, I strongly encourage you to do so. It is only by looking at where we once were that we truly see where we are and how far we have come. This is a compilation of the best thoughts, words of advice, etc., from my journal of 2013. I hope they somehow bless you. Enjoy!

1.     For teachers and leaders – a quote from C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves, “If we are any good, we must always be working towards the moment at which our pupils are fit to become our critics and rivals.”

2.     On friendship – It is unhealthy to merely want friends. You will never find true friends just because you were looking for them. “The very condition of having friends is that we should want something else besides friends.” (The Four Loves) Friendship is birthed from shared vision or experience, not from the desire to have friends alone.

3.     On your friends – Good friends bring out the best, the wisest, or the funniest in you. They make realized the beauty of the person that has always been there. Find friends who bring out the best in you and everyone else.

4.     On stewardship – Why is it that we have become so wise at using our money and resources wisely in order to have as much as possible, yet we often neglect to view the Gospel and our responsibility to it in the same way?

5.     None of us have yet reached our full earthly potential. Ask God to help you get there.

6.     “There is no manner of life in the world more sweet or more delicious than continual conversation with God.” – Brother Lawrence

7.     Sometimes God will break your fingers to get your hands off of what will eventually destroy you. – Ian Simkins

8.     Serve with fear, rejoice with trembling – Psalm 2.

9.     Moral purity CANNOT be the focus of your life or your Christianity. That is NOT the Gospel of Jesus.

10.  Hebrews 6 – A helpful analogy - It is possible to taste the Gospel and then reject it. Like a Netflix free trial: I have tasted the goodness of a free subscription, but they tell me that if I really want it, its going to cost me something. And if I am willing to pay the price, I can enjoy all of the benefits of being a member of the Netflix kingdom. I have to measure it, and decide if its worth the cost. If I decide that it isn’t, it will be hard for me to change my mind. It is nearly impossible for someone to fall in love with something they tasted once and rejected. Once I have tasted a food and found it to be something I did not like, you will have a hard time getting me to try it again. This is how some people can taste the Gospel and reject it.

11.  Psalm 5 – God saves, protects, and guides those who love him.

12.  Allow discipline to make your weaknesses grow into strength.

13.  Exodus 13 – God knows his people and what they can handle and responds accordingly. Sometimes, God is most obviously with us when we most obviously need him.

14.  God is always speaking if we will listen.

15.  Exodus 14 – When we stop questioning God’s authority and being afraid of our circumstances, and instead choose to be still and allow God to fight for us, God will move between the darkness and us, and will display his power on our behalf. He will part seas and demolish the enemy, which is always puny to him, and will deliver his people from the shadows of darkness.

16.  You have been called to store up eternal treasures, start investing in those and stop wasting your time on temporary treasures.

17.  Seek out solitude and silence on a regular basis.

18.  The world is burning and you don’t care. Grab a hose.

19.  Sometimes regress is progress.

20.  God sovereignly brings together people who need each other. Look around: Who do you need and who needs you?

21.  Don’t make God that loser friend you’re embarrassed to talk to when other people are around. Pray often. Do not ever be ashamed to talk to God.

22.  Act on God given inspiration and take a bold leap. And know that if you fail, it was about the journey.

23.  Think outside of your world on a daily basis. Look at, think about, and pray for the big world around you.

24.  On relationships – Grow in the relationships that bring you closer to God. Change the ones that don’t. Give up the ones that stand between you and God.

25.  Be phantasmagoric in a good way. Look it up.

26.  Leaders – protect your flock at all costs. You will give an account.

27.  Love and obey God and he promises he will take care of you.

28.  Remember who God is and what he has done for you. Thank him for specific things daily. Praise him simply for who he is daily.

29.  God is Holy and his love is perfect.

30.  God has been faithful. He has walked with me in my pain, in my struggles, in my joys, in my triumphs, and in my failures. Oh what a great thing Jesus has done that somehow God cares enough about stupid sinful me to walk with me and to love me, teach me, and grow me every step of the way. Thank you God.

31.  God uses difficult people to make you more like Himself.

32.  Crave the presence of the Lord. If you don’t really want him around, he won’t be.

33.  All Christians should be making new Christians. All pastors should be making new pastors. All churches should be making new churches.

34.  God is willing to blow up anything that becomes a wedge between you and him, even if it is a good thing in and of itself.  

35.   It is okay to wrestle honestly with God. But be prepared for a difficult response from God.

Thank God for 2013. Seek him more in 2014. Grace and peace be with you. Love you all!

Make Them Mutter

In Luke 19, we have the account of Jesus and Zacchaeus. Yes, the wee little man was he guy. That climbed up in a sycamore tree and all that jazz. We have heard the story before. Jesus calls out to this man, this sinful tax collector who is very much hated by probably almost everyone. And yet Jesus invites himself over to Zacchaeus’ home for lunch and socializes with someone that his fans and crowds of followers were repulsed by. Verse 7 says, “All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

People muttering- :)

This is not the way that the crowds expected Jesus to act. They expected such a great man to interact with other great men, people of prominence, at least people who are upright and quality human beings right? Surely Jesus would not associate himself with such scum! Well guess what, he did. Jesus did something radical in the eyes of the people. He did something weird and crazy. He started hanging out with the rejects and outcasts, one of whom was Zacchaeus.

And how did they respond? They saw it and began to mutter. They began to mutter and gossip and speak under their breath about Jesus and what he was doing. What if we too acted in such a way? What if we too would behave so contrarily to what people expect of us? What if we were to push through the crowd of normal, acceptable, cool people in order to embrace the broken, the rejected, and the outcasts? Are we willing to be muttered about?

Make them mutter with your actions. Do the opposite of what they expect. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, not to seek and save the cool and the normal. He came for sinners and for outcasts. Live your life in such a way that people begin to mutter about you. Make choices to associate yourself with the people that no one else wants anything to do with. Act in such a way that people begin question what you are doing and why you are doing it. Make them mutter by loving people like Zacchaeus.  Make them mutter by loving people like Jesus did.

Show & Tell

We have all heard the phrase “Actions speak louder than words”. It is a largely accepted view of the majority of people living in America today. We buy into it because someone can say “I love you” but not act like it. Someone can say “I forgive you” but not act like it. The list goes on and on, you can say anything you want, but if you don’t back it up with your actions, then the words become hollow and meaningless.

There are two sides to this phrase and we must examine both as believers. When we say we forgive someone, we must act forgiving, when we say we love someone, we must act lovingly. When we say we love God, we must act like it through faithful obedience. “Christians” who claim to follow Jesus but then deny him by their lifestyle are nothing but hypocrites, liars, and plastic souls. If we do not allow the gospel of Jesus Christ to change the way that we live as well as the things that we say, then we do not really understand Jesus at all.

On the other hand, we believers have let this “actions speak louder than words” mentality slip too far into our minds. We think that simply “loving people to Jesus” is the best and only way to do evangelism. We think that if we do nice things for people, meet their physical needs, and give them money, we are doing enough. Even if there has been no verbal sharing of the gospel, what the bible says, or what it means to follow Jesus, we think we have done our job by loving them with our actions.

It will always be a good thing to meet people’s physical needs. In fact we have been called to help the poor and needy in tangible and practical ways. As believers, we must back up our words with our actions, but we must not neglect the power and importance of verbal proclamation of the gospel. What good are our actions if we do not explain to the people we are attempting to “love to Jesus”, why we are doing what we are doing, how Jesus has transformed our lives, and that he loves them and wants to transform them as well? The power of the gospel message comes from a beautiful blend of actions and words and we must not be too quick to rely only on one or the other. Love people with your actions, serve them, help them, feed them, clothe them. Love people with your words as well, tell them about the bible, tell them about Jesus, and tell them about his unbelievable love for them. Through our actions and our words, the Spirit will move in the hearts of those who hear the gospel message.

My Fellow Americans

How have you been serving in the church that you currently attend? With the kids? In the kitchen? Teaching a bible study? Cleaning the toilets? Have you been serving at all? If you aren’t regularly serving in your church, then are you really a member of the body? If you are not helping the body in some way, you’re really more like a tumor than a helpful, functioning body part aren’t you? If you just show up for the late service, enjoy the music and the sermon, shake a few hands, and then leave – you are not being an active part of the body like you have been called to.

President John F. Kennedy, in one of the most famous speeches in American history proclaimed these profound words:

My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.  - John F. Kennedy

The New Testament talks about how believers are all different parts of the body of Christ and each part needs the other (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 5). The eyes need the feet to move, the feet the need the eyes to see, only the nose can smell and only the ears can hear, and without any part of the body, no matter how seemingly small, trivial, or insignificant, the body would not be whole. But a tumor is a part of the body that is taking up nutrients and space in the body, but offering the body nothing in return. It doesn’t belong there. It isn’t really a part of the body if it does not serve or benefit the body in any way.

If you are not serving your church, and you just show up to the late service, sit back and enjoy the show, and then leave, you are not benefitting the body of Christ in any way. You are selfishly sucking up nutrients offered by the body without offering anything beneficial to everyone else in return. Its about time that the American church hears something like this: My fellow Americans, ask not what your church can do for you, ask what you can do for your church. To truly be a part of a church, THE Church, we must serve. Jesus himself did not come to be served, but to serve. We must share that heart and mindset. We must not come to be served, but to serve. We must offer the body what God has gifted us with. We must stop being selfish, lazy spectating, nutrient sucking tumors of a people, and become active members of the body of Christ that expect to serve and not be served. 

Church Consumerism

When you ask someone why they go to a certain church, almost always the answer is somehow related to how the church is benefitting them. “The pastor’s sermons really fill me up.” “I really enjoy the music and the band.” “If I don’t go to this church, I don’t get my fill of God for the week.” I have heard these answers over and over again and they are weak. Even people that are going to their church simply for relational purposes are missing out on what church is supposed to be. Yes, your church should rejuvenate you, it should fill you up, you should enjoy relationship with other believers, you should enjoy singing praises to God. But God intends church to be so much more than just music, speaking, and a rejuvenating experience.

Throughout the New Testament, Paul and Peter over and over again emphasize the importance and necessity of serving the church and serving other people. God has gifted all of his followers with unique abilities, gifts, experiences, talents, and passions. Each unique person is biblically required to use these to build up the church and advance the kingdom. If you are limiting your church experience to enjoying the sermon, the music, and the fellowship, you are missing out on the full beauty of God’s established church. Those are good things, but they should be perks, not the focus. Church is not about you. It is not about what you enjoy or how talented the musicians are. It is not about just making friends or hearing a gifted orator speak truth well. Church is about serving and worshipping in community so that God might be glorified and his kingdom increased.

So many people today choose which church they go to based on themselves, their preferences, and what they enjoy the most. Too many choose which church they go to based on the giftedness of the speaker. Too many choose which church they go to based on how good the music is and if they sing the songs they like. Stop making church about you and what you like and start making your church experience about serving, worshipping, and glorifying God in community. Look for ways to serve and to share life with others who are serving with you. Look for meaningful God centered relationships whose focus is to glorify God. Look for people who are genuinely worshipping God, and not the pastor, the music, or each other. Instead of comparing and contrasting churches like you would cars you want to buy, let God guide you to the body of believers that he has prepared for you. Serve, worship, and glorify God in the community that God has designed for you.