Sometimes The Truth Hurts

I had just finished reading a terrific blog post - 10 Reasons Our Kids Leave Church - when I saw a Facebook post from a former youth (who has not left church):

“I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want.”

Muhammad Ali

One of the points in the blog is that we, the church, have often failed to teach our youth the basic principles of our Christian faith. We too often “dumb down” the gospel message to make it cool, or make it more palatable. In an effort to get numbers, we make the gospel out to be a feel-good message, filled with emotions, self-fulfillment and good deeds. But that is not the gospel message and to our discredit, too many youth walk away from church never understanding the basic truths of the gospel message, or even where to turn (i.e. the Bible) for truth.

Muhammed Ali was a great boxer, but he was also a Muslim. He did not know the truth. The truth of the gospel is not freedom for me to be who I want to be, it is freedom to be who God has created me to me. It is a paradox of submission to God bringing freedom. It is giving up all that I am and all that I want for the sake of who God wants me to become. It is well and good to not be who others want me to be, but it is no better for me to be who I want to be. The only one that matters is God. Hope is only found in surrendering myself to Him and denying self. It is only then that I will experience genuine freedom - a freedom that is completely alien to the rest of the world.

This is the gospel that is found in scripture. It is the same gospel that claims that eternal life comes only through Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, the Messiah, the one and only Son of God. It is the gospel message that few read in the lines of the New Testament simply because few read the New Testament, apart from isolated passages preached on Sunday morning. In the case of youth it may be even less. For far too many the Bible is only read when it is read to them, and even then few are paying attention. And very few, youth and adults alike, are taking the time to digest the truth, to contemplate what it means and how it must affect their own lives. Very few wrestle with difficult truths of scripture and agonize over the application. And almost no one is willing to take risks, to live radically different when they are confronted with those truths.

Our disservice, as leaders in the church, is that we have allowed that to be okay. We have sold a gospel message that emphasizes a momentary event for getting a ticket to heaven. We have allowed people to believe that minuscule changes are enough, both in how we teach and in how we live. We have allowed people to believe that they can still love much of the world as long as they don’t love it all. We have reduced discipleship to warm, fuzzy, feel-good, relationship drivel. We have allowed passivity, apathy, and laziness, for fear of offense or driving some to leave. But many have left anyway because what we have to offer is not so much different from what they can find in the philosophy of Muhammed Ali. 

Eternal Life

"Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."

-- John 17:1-5

We make much of eternal life - it is, perhaps the most enticing benefit of the Christian faith. But I wonder, sometimes, if we make much of a misunderstanding of what eternal life is. Jesus says that, “This is eternal life, that they may know You (God the Father), the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” When we think of eternal life we most often think of heaven, living forever in some form of resurrected bodies, free from pain and suffering. But that is not how Jesus describes eternal life. Eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus Christ our savior. 

In that sense, eternal life is not something that happens at some point in the future, eternal life is something that we should have now. If I know the Father and I know the Son, then I have eternal life. Jesus does not say, “this will be eternal life,” he says, “this is eternal life.” 

If we understand this, we might also look at 1 John a little differently. In 1 John we are told that if we claim to know God, but live in darkness, than we really don’t know him. If we don’t know him, we don’t have eternal life, not now, not ever. John explains further in his letter that someone who does not obey the commands of God and the teachings of Jesus, does not know the Father or the Son. Even more specifically, someone who does not love his brother, does not know God. 

We should be careful to understand that 1 John is not laying out requirements for us to inherit eternal life, he is simply stating how the evidence of eternal life, already inherited, should look in our lives. Living in the light is evidence that you have eternal life. Obeying the commands of Christ is evidence of eternal life. Love for your brother, is evidence of eternal life. If you are banking on eternal life as a future event, than you have missed one of the most amazing points of the gospel message. If you think that you will inherit eternal life in the future without showing evidence that you have already inherited it, than you are thinking quite wrongly and you will be sorely disappointed when Christ is separating the sheep and the goats. 

Fan Into Flame Our Faith

There is an interesting theme in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, if we are willing to see it, but too often we only see how it starts and construct the rest of the message to fit what we want to hear. Hear is how Paul starts in 2 Timothy 1:5-6

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

This is a great reminder for Timothy and as we read we can be reminded to fan into flame our own gift of faith. But look at how Paul expects this to happen and ask if you are willing to take Paul’s instructions further than 2 Timothy 1:6.

2 Timothy 1:8

“So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.”

2 Timothy 2:1 & 3

“ You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus... Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

2 Timothy 2:8-10

“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”

2 Timothy 3:10-12, 14

“You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings - what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted... But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of...”

2 Timothy 4:5

“But you, keep your head in all situations, endue hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

It is odd how we will read Paul’s initial charge to “fan into flame” our faith and be encouraged, but be perfectly willing to ignore the rest of his instructions to Timothy. But I don’t think Paul thought it was possible to have faith increase and have it expressed passionately without enduring hardship and suffering. And I don’t think Paul was merely talking about enduring the standard hardships that just come with life, he was talking, specifically, about suffering for the sake of the gospel. He was talking about persecution for the sake of his faith, targeted persecution from people who hated the messages he was spreading. 

How willing are we to embrace all of Paul’s message to Timothy? Do we only want to read 2 Timothy 1:6 and pretend that we can develop a passionate faith without persecution? How eager are we for our faith to be fanned into a flame?

Do We Know Him?

“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

-- I John 2:3-6

If we have truly studied the teachings of Jesus, without the conservative, patriotic, American filter, then this passage should make us very troubled, but it is amazing to me how many can read and/or listen to this passage and feel so comfortable and be so unfazed. I was wondering about this while listening to the sermon on this passage today, and it occurred to me that people feel most comfortable when they are ignorant of the truth. Most people feel comfortable with this passage because they believe that they are already doing what God has commanded of them. They believe that they are, in fact, following the teachings of Christ.

But are we...?

Are we willing to sell all we have (or anything at all) and give it to the poor? Are we willing to give up everything we own for the sake of following Christ? Will we lay down our lives for our faith? Would we really follow Jesus to the most depraved ends of the earth to spread the gospel? Can we love our enemies, even when they are Hamas, or Al Qaida or a brutal dictator or a communist or anyone else who would gladly kill someone who believes that Jesus is the Christ? Are we showing by the way we live that we are willing to make costly sacrifices for the sake of our brothers and sisters? Do we embrace suffering and “taking up our cross” for the sake of Christ? Can we love the unloveable?

The list goes on and on and the more I write the more a squirm. We have been duped into believing that Christian faith is all about going to church, being nice, singing fuzzy, feel-good songs, living morally and voting republican. We believe we are doing what God has commanded simply because of a single symbolic act of surrender and faithful or semi-faithful attendance at religious events. But many Christians don’t realize the depth of God’s commands because they have never truly studied his commands. Most Christians do not fully appreciate how costly and difficult (and how joyous and fulfilling) it is to follow the teachings of Jesus, because they have never taken the time to read, or study or try to understand the full scope of his teachings.  And even if they do read his most difficult commands they ignore the depths of the implications or they rationalize easier ways to fulfill what they consider the “intent” of the teaching. Or they believe that the teachings do not apply to them specifically because they haven’t felt the “calling” to do them. Too often our faith is shallow because we never even look for depth, we are perfectly content in our shallow ignorance. Why should I be threatened by I John if I believe all that matters is weekly attendance at church. If that is what God commands, I’m doing it and all is good. 

But all is not good. Most of us do little in the way of continuing to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Seldom does our gratitude to God compel us to live radically different lives that Jesus demonstrated for us. And the problem is not that we are not doing enough, the problem is that we do not know God like we should. Because, if we did, we would do so much more. Our obedience is an indicator of faith in the one who has given us life and our ignorance and/or disregard for how to be obedient speaks volumes about how distant we are from God.

Encourage One Another

As part of a more comprehensive discipline system at our school, an ideal, discovered through research somewhere no doubt, has been tossed around. The ideal says that a teacher should deliver 4 positive comments to a student for every negative comment. This has caused some teachers to contemplate how that might look in practice, especially with those students who tend to be a bit more challenging to keep a positive attitude towards. Since we are a cynical group, the wondering out loud has turned into some tongue in cheek practice. 

“Billy, your hair looks really nice today.”

“Hey, I like the daring way you wear shorts in the middle of winter.”

“Thank you for not insulting me this morning, that was really kind.”

“The way you avoided using profanity just now, showed great restraint.”

“That was great use of a period at the end of that one-sentence paragraph.”

Of course we understand the benefits of praising our students rather than putting them down, and the teachers joking about it are generally teachers that already have positive relationships with students. But sometimes reducing behaviors to data diminishes the intended result. If I try to stay mindful of the ratio, simply for the sake of maintaining the ratio, I begin making “positive” comments that are meaningless. Compliments become empty, especially if I don’t mean them and don’t believe them to be true. Words can be powerful, but they can also be nothing more than puffs of air.

I used to have a principal who believed in the power of positive comments. Each time he would visit a classroom, he would follow it with a “special note” in our box designed to encourage us as teachers. Generally he would praise our work and tell us how valuable we were to the school. At first I thought it was kind of cool, but over time the sentences and phrases appeared to be recycled and every note started to sound the same. One day I was in another teacher’s room and on the desk was a “special note” from the principal. It was almost identical, word-for-word, to the “special note” I had just received. It didn’t take long before the “special notes” became just more clutter in my box. Their frequency and seeming lack of genuineness, diluted their impact - they seemed forced and contrived. I’m sure he maintained the 4 to 1 ratio, but the positive words became meaningless.

Much is made of encouragement and I understand that I have a great deal of room for improvement in this area of my life, but I wonder if we often see encouragement too narrowly. We often try to reduce encouragement to words of praise. In 2 Timothy Paul combines encouragement with the words “correct” and “rebuke.” He pairs it with “rebuke” again in Titus and tells Titus to “encourage the young men to be self-controlled.” In Hebrews we are told to be encouraged that we will be disciplined by God like a father disciplines his son. And frequently Paul says that he is encouraged by those that he is writing, not because they praised him, but because they are simply living out what he taught them - living godly lives.

Words of praise are great, but they are also quick and easy and only one aspect of encouragement. Words of praise may not “encourage young men to be self-controlled,” that might also take some other words, spoken firmly, but in love. Discipline is not always fun, sometimes it is downright painful, but it encourages us to do what is right. Even a rebuke can be encouraging if it is done in love and by someone we respect. It may not seem encouraging at first, but I know from experience, as time passes, I am encouraged that another cared enough to say the hard thing that no one else would. Jesus did not always “encourage” his disciples with lofty words of praise. In fact, if he wasn’t Jesus, we might say he was, at times, rather insulting to them. How many times did he say, in effect, “why are you so dense that you still don’t get it?” 

I tend to not think of myself as an encourager because I tend to be rather negative. I seem to have a gift (or curse) for seeing what is wrong. Some would call me a “glass is half empty” kind of guy. I guess I would see myself much the same, but I don’t think of that as entirely bad. If I only focus on the fact that the glass is half empty, then certainly that can be discouraging, but if I see the empty half of the glass as a problem and work to fill it, that can be encouraging. People who are not content with a half full glass are the people who are the entrepreneurs, risk takers and innovators of our world. They are incredibly encouraging to be around, but they are not often filled with praises for others who are content with the status quo of a half full glass. The trick is to move from obsession with the emptiness of the glass to action that will fill it up - it is only then that it becomes encouraging. But it is then that encouragement might also be paired with rebuke and discipline and firm words, rather than words of praise. There might be temporary pain and anguish, but if done right (especially with passion tempered with love and compassion) there can be long term encouragement that far exceeds shallow words of praise.

Thomas

I’m sitting here, holed-up in my office wanting to write. There are things on my mind and struggles in my heart. I missed a meeting tonight that I have been anticipating all week and I suddenly feel like a loser. I had things to say - things to bring to the table that I thought were important. Maybe they weren’t as important as I thought they were and God was saving me from embarrassment or from offending people I shouldn’t. Maybe he was saving me from myself.

So instead I am sitting here reading, pondering and reminiscing - thinking about writing.

As much as the idea of community has been on my mind lately, I still find myself closest to God when I am by myself. As I was reading my book I was reminded that I am not really by myself, which, I suppose, is why I feel the way I do. Sometimes the distractions of other people, even those I love dearly, prevent me from remembering that God is present, and my time alone is like a filter that allows me to focus on his presence.

But I still wish God would pull up a chair and reveal himself to me and have a chat with me. I wish I could see him face to face, hear him speak some great words of encouragement (like, “hey you should quit your day job and I’ll work out a way for you to earn a living writing and preaching!”). I want to see his expressions when I tell him about another goofy idea that I have. I want to see that first reaction that you get from close friends who tell you by the look on their face that you are teetering on the edge of lunacy. I know all that stuff, like if I saw God’s face it would kill me. Intellectually I understand that. But emotionally I yearn for more, just a glimpse that lets me know that I’m not as crazy as my non-Christian friends think I am. 

Of course he is looking over my shoulder while I write, probably shaking his head, maybe even giving a little spiritual snicker of exasperation. He is here, I know he is. He is reading as I write. Well, maybe he is reading before I write, I’m not really sure how that works for him. Technically, I guess, he already knows my concluding thoughts. Nonetheless, he is here - in this room, beside me, in front of me, in me. He is waiting for me to speak - to speak the words he already knows - and even more he is waiting for me to listen. But sometimes he is so hard to hear and so hard to see. 

I’m more like Thomas than I want to believe. Despite all my religious posturing I am still full of doubts. And yet... God is here. I know he is. And despite my doubts I sense his comfort and his patience. My doubts do not drive him away, in fact there are times, like tonight, when they seem to draw me closer to him. 

I think that was the ending he had in mind from the beginning.

Event Addiction

Big events do not produce greater faith - small daily events do. Big events may stir passion, but momentary passion seldom equates to faithful, consistent, spiritual growth. Big events sometimes cause an addiction to big events because we confuse the passion stirred during a big event for an increase in faith. When daily life hits and the passion fades, we look for another big event to boost our faith. But if the passion stirred at a big event does not lead to change in the, seemingly insignificant daily events of life, then the "growth" produced at the big event was nothing more than an illusion. If our faith needs the next big event to sustain itself, perhaps we are addicted to something other than Jesus Christ.

True change happens when we surrender daily, not just at a passionate event that stirs us to move to the front of a stage. Faith grows when we surrender every day even when we do not feel like surrendering. Faith does not grow simply because the emotion of a climatic moment at a rally or retreat compels us to fall on our knees with dozens or hundreds of others doing the same.

Faith grows when we work through trials, when we persevere and endure, when we sacrifice, when we serve, and when choose to rejoice when we feel like doing anything but. Faith grows when we study, when we pray, when we wait, and when we open ourselves to others who are doing the same, even when it is awkward and uncomfortable. Faith even grows when we are alone with the word and in the closet on our knees.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in  you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
          Philippians 12:12-13

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer... Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
          Acts 2:42, 46-47

I Am Alive

   We often live as though the life we have been given through Jesus Christ, will only be realized  at some point in the future (heaven). But it is not just future tense, it is also present tense. "I am made alive", not, "I will be made alive." I have already inherited life that I did not have before. There is an aspect of it that I am waiting for, but there is a very important aspect of the inherited life that I already have.

   Our daily living - what we do from day to day - should reflect that we are, currently alive, every day, every minute, with every breath. But too often we live as though we are waiting for life. We talk about heaven as though that is all that matters and it sets our mind on the future while neglecting the present.

   This also taints our view of salvation. We view salvation as deliverance from physical death and instead being given eternal life. Again, this is future tense. This focuses my efforts on what needs to be done to receive this future reward. If we teach that this future reward is based on a single event, and, if we teach that the future event is the entire focus of Christianity, then we give no reason for why our present life really matters. All that matters is the one event that gets me my ticket for the future reward. I don't need to do anything else - there are no expectations on me that matter - because I already have my ticket. Anything else I do is icing on the cake for God, not essential for the life I have been given.

   But...

   If we believe that eternal life begins now and if we believe that there is more to Christian faith than heaven, and if we believe that there are more than two events that matter (our "conversion" and physical death). then our present, daily, moment-to-moment life means something different. If the moment of our conversion begins a new life that we inherit now, a life that reunites us with our God who we were previously alienated from, then our lives change now and tomorrow and the next day and the next year ...  If we understand that salvation and the reward of salvation is a process that begins now, then salvation, new life, has meaning for today. It has meaning for tomorrow. It has meaning everyday until THAT day, at which point it takes on a whole new, even more glorious meaning.

   At the point that we become content with who we are, we have lost sight of the salvation and new life  happening today, and we have convinced ourselves that they are only future events already secured by a singular experience. That seems like a sad and dangerous place to be.

   Stealing from Switchfoot:
 
   "And I wonder
    Why would I wait til I die to come alive?
    I'm ready now
    I'm not waiting for the afterlife."

Who Is God Looking for?

It is easy to talk about God looking for us so he can redeem us. Redemption has tremendous appeal. But to talk about God looking for us so He can use us - that is scary, because it implies God may actually expect something from us. That would mean that we must do more than simply exist.  What a crazy idea that would be!

Is God looking for me? How can I answer in any way but to say, "yes, here I am, use me?" How could I possibly deny that God has pursued me and wants to use me. And if I answer "yes," how can I expect that God will be content for me to stay the way I am? How can I expect anything less from myself than to have God use me for his glory to accomplish his work? How can I possibly believe that having virtually no impact on the world around me is the way God would choose to use me?

God is looking for us all, for more than redemption. He is looking for all of us to be his hands and his feet,  to be transformed (and to be continually transformed) into people we never thought we could be so that we can do his work for his ultimate glory. God is looking for me. What a mind boggling, incredibly spine-tingling, frightening, exciting truth. May I never believe any differently.

Weakness

I listened to a preacher not long ago say that he could see people the way Jesus could see people, because he saw the potential in people that no one else saw. At the time his message seemed rather compelling, but the more I thought about it I wondered if that was really what Jesus saw. Did he call the apostles because he saw the potential that no one else saw, or did he see weakness that he could use?

As I read old testament stories about the people God used to do great things, I find that God seldom used people because of their potential, rather he chose to use people in spite of the weakness. In their weakness it became more evident that it was God who was at work and not the untapped potential of man. I think there is a huge difference, both then and now. 

If we believe that God uses the hidden potential in each of us to accomplish his tasks, than we spend our lives waiting to discover that potential. It gives us reason for inaction. We wait for God to “reveal his will” for us and for the Holy Spirit to awaken that potential.  Until it happens we have a built in excuse for passivity. It also causes us to believe that what happens is dependent on what we can do, instead of what God can do. God is more of a cheerleading motivator, urging us to use that untapped potential, than he was the omnipotent God who holds our very life in his hands.

What makes this frightening is that if we understand that God uses our weakness, we have no excuse. What happens when I act (assuming we act with proper motive) is not dependent on my talent or ability, it is dependent only on what God chooses to do through me. I don’t have to wait for the timely revealing of my potential, I just need to be willing to trust that God will use me, both in my strength, and even more in my weakness. The condition of my heart and my willingness to go where there is need become more important than any skill I might posses.

This changes the way we look at what we can or can’t do, or what we should or should not do. Instead of always waiting for opportunities that suit my strengths and talents, I simply look for the things that need to be done. There is a balance, of course. There might be a need for repairs on the wiring of the building, but unless I have the proper knowledge I probably want to leave it for someone more qualified. But I have known people who will not teach Sunday School or work in the nursery or lead a small group or go on a short term mission trip, because they don’t feel called or don’t feel like they have the gift that qualifies them. Instead of trusting that God can use them and that they can learn to be used where there is a need, they wait for someone else to fill the need. Those are the sorts of things where God can work in our weakness. They require a willing heart more than a spiritual gift.