God loves us just as we are. What a hard statement to write but one that is so true. Why is so hard to wrap our minds around this. Romans 5:8 says “God demonstrates his love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” The God that is Holy and perfect came to earth lived a sinless life for thirty three years, was arrested and beaten by people that he knit together in their mother’s womb, and allowed them to kill him for a sinner such as I. He knew every sin that you and I would do. He knew every bad sinful thought that would go through our mind. He knew how many times we would treat him like fire insurance, how many times we would coward instead of taking steps of faith, yet he still took that cross.
Why then since we have received such an awesome display of Grace do we have the ability still within us to look at others as lower than ourselves? We are to speak the truth in Love and call sin, sin but we should never look at people as less than us or not as important as us, but we do. How many times in our churches do people feel pushed away as outsiders because they don’t fit a certain standard we want them to fit? Jesus looked at the woman caught in adultery and didn’t say “dang girl you’re a big time slut, I can’t believe you did this.” No, he told the men standing around if you think your better start throwing rocks, and then he looked at her and said “go and sin no more.” If she was brought into many churches this Sunday I am afraid many people would try to keep her out or they would at least start telling her how bad she is and how messed up her life is. Jesus doesn’t do that. He in a way says go and fight sin like all those other folks have to do also.
You see we all know that when we accept Christ the appetite for sin doesn’t leave us. It is still there and still pulling at us. When we have Christ, we have a new coach and new teammate in the fight that says if we do it His way we will conquer. Sometimes people that are in sin don’t need to be told that they messed up, but they need to be told by another teammate that “hey, I conquered and you can too through Christ. This is where the whole loving our neighbor as ourselves thing comes in. When a ball player lets a ball roll between his legs and gives up a run to the other team he doesn’t need to hear “you screwed up,” he knows that already. He needs to hear “hey man if you keep your glove down that won’t happen, but even if it does your still on the team.”
Christians are called to love as Christ loves us. That means that even though people screw up, or we know they are about to screw up we still love them. That is how we want to be loved right? When our Christianity is so focused on me and my troubles and my conquering, and my family and my home and my money and my, my, my. Then it ceases to be Christianity. Then we are not representing the Christ that went to the Cross. Because in that Garden the night of his arrest Jesus, our Jesus left himself behind and focused on God which led his focus to sinners.
Only when we focus on God and his sacrifice on the Cross can we really see what it means for him to demonstrate His love for us and for us to pass that love toward others.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Dancing in the Aisle
Written April 2006
As I approach the ever so scary 30 years of age I guess my old mind is making me think I am smart and can write something here that is intelligent sounding. But none the less this is something I have been hashing over for a while, so wanna hear it here it go:
As I finished High school I became aware of the theology of Calvinism. Don't worry I am not going to argue the TULIP principles here or nothing. This same argument has carried over to Open Theism, what does God know and when does he know it? As I have poured over both sides I have come to the belief that the truth is somewhere in the middle or in the aisle if you will.
As I began college there was a big movement that began that is still going today, the modern worship movement. Or piano and organ vs. Guitar and drums in a fight to the DEATH. I saw people ridicule churches when I was in college if they worshiped with one particular style. I reason my way through this by coming to the understanding that both are worship if done in the right attitude, and that I have no control over so wherever God leads me to worship I will submit to the leadership of that church and worship no matter what they play. But now that I am in a church that has blended worship I realize that the best answer may be in the aisle.
The current debate is more of a political one. It is great to have a president that is public about his faith and embraces the religious leaders of today and the numbers of abortions are on a decline. But then war sucks and gas prices are killing us all even though four of the fortune 500 top fifteen are oil companies and two are automobile companies. And then we start to realize that some of those religious leaders are jerks and have let power go to their head. Once again I come to the ever so brilliant conclusion that the answer is somewhere in between the two, in the aisle.
But I know that sometimes standing in the middle makes God sick, at least that is what revelation teaches us right, he will spew the lukewarm out of his mouth. As I was contemplating this as I washed dishes, no I do not have a dishwasher I live in a barn, and listening to the Robbie Seay band a verse from Ephesians popped in my head.
Ephesians 4:14-15 says " Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
I can see that I have been like this on some of these issues, tossed back and forth by whoever made the more impressive argument. I think Paul dealt with this a lot in the first century when in Corinthians he came to the conclusion "I preach Christ and him crucified." I think the point is to live or lives so that Christ is glorified, so that his gospel goes forth to all the world. That if you will is the aisle that got us here, and that is the one that will get us there.
I look at the example Jesus set, he hung out with the sinners, the whores and IRS agents. But you know something that is overlooked is the fact he did go to the places he knew the religious leaders of the day were sure to hang out. He lived his life in the aisle while concentrating on the central message he died to bring and give us reason for.
So as I look head strong into my 30's I want my life to be lived in the aisle, one that preaches Christ and him crucified but is led by the spirit as I make decisions and participate in the world I live in. I am not naive to the fact that sometimes you have to make a decision, how else can you vote whether in church or in town hall, but I must allow God's spirit to guide my decisions and not allow the wave to take me away from the message I have been sent to bring. Maybe then I will truly "grow up in him who is the head, Christ Jesus" my savior and Lord.
Maybe this is why the church is such a joke to so many in the world. We try and boycott sinners or we accept part of their sins but not others. Or it is maybe we sometimes get so caught up with relating to the world that we forget to "speak the truth in love." Jesus was never afraid to call sin, sin. We so many times concentrate on "do not judge" and forget to dig the plank out of our eye so that we can humbly go to our brother or sister and introduce them to the Christ that can easily get rid of sawdust.
Well these are my thoughts; I guess that is some of what a blog is for.
I pray the God of all creation blesses you.
Travis
As I approach the ever so scary 30 years of age I guess my old mind is making me think I am smart and can write something here that is intelligent sounding. But none the less this is something I have been hashing over for a while, so wanna hear it here it go:
As I finished High school I became aware of the theology of Calvinism. Don't worry I am not going to argue the TULIP principles here or nothing. This same argument has carried over to Open Theism, what does God know and when does he know it? As I have poured over both sides I have come to the belief that the truth is somewhere in the middle or in the aisle if you will.
As I began college there was a big movement that began that is still going today, the modern worship movement. Or piano and organ vs. Guitar and drums in a fight to the DEATH. I saw people ridicule churches when I was in college if they worshiped with one particular style. I reason my way through this by coming to the understanding that both are worship if done in the right attitude, and that I have no control over so wherever God leads me to worship I will submit to the leadership of that church and worship no matter what they play. But now that I am in a church that has blended worship I realize that the best answer may be in the aisle.
The current debate is more of a political one. It is great to have a president that is public about his faith and embraces the religious leaders of today and the numbers of abortions are on a decline. But then war sucks and gas prices are killing us all even though four of the fortune 500 top fifteen are oil companies and two are automobile companies. And then we start to realize that some of those religious leaders are jerks and have let power go to their head. Once again I come to the ever so brilliant conclusion that the answer is somewhere in between the two, in the aisle.
But I know that sometimes standing in the middle makes God sick, at least that is what revelation teaches us right, he will spew the lukewarm out of his mouth. As I was contemplating this as I washed dishes, no I do not have a dishwasher I live in a barn, and listening to the Robbie Seay band a verse from Ephesians popped in my head.
Ephesians 4:14-15 says " Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
I can see that I have been like this on some of these issues, tossed back and forth by whoever made the more impressive argument. I think Paul dealt with this a lot in the first century when in Corinthians he came to the conclusion "I preach Christ and him crucified." I think the point is to live or lives so that Christ is glorified, so that his gospel goes forth to all the world. That if you will is the aisle that got us here, and that is the one that will get us there.
I look at the example Jesus set, he hung out with the sinners, the whores and IRS agents. But you know something that is overlooked is the fact he did go to the places he knew the religious leaders of the day were sure to hang out. He lived his life in the aisle while concentrating on the central message he died to bring and give us reason for.
So as I look head strong into my 30's I want my life to be lived in the aisle, one that preaches Christ and him crucified but is led by the spirit as I make decisions and participate in the world I live in. I am not naive to the fact that sometimes you have to make a decision, how else can you vote whether in church or in town hall, but I must allow God's spirit to guide my decisions and not allow the wave to take me away from the message I have been sent to bring. Maybe then I will truly "grow up in him who is the head, Christ Jesus" my savior and Lord.
Maybe this is why the church is such a joke to so many in the world. We try and boycott sinners or we accept part of their sins but not others. Or it is maybe we sometimes get so caught up with relating to the world that we forget to "speak the truth in love." Jesus was never afraid to call sin, sin. We so many times concentrate on "do not judge" and forget to dig the plank out of our eye so that we can humbly go to our brother or sister and introduce them to the Christ that can easily get rid of sawdust.
Well these are my thoughts; I guess that is some of what a blog is for.
I pray the God of all creation blesses you.
Travis
Preparing for the Main Attraction
Written September 2006
I have been preparing a lesson on a guy that sometimes we pass by to concentrate on the main attraction. John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, I can't imagine what this guys was like. I believe he smelled had crazy Unabomber hair, and had irregular bowl syndrome (eating locust and honey, what a combo) yet people for some reason listened to him. So much so that he had disciples that followed him sharing the message, “Repent, for the Kingdome of heaven is near."
And about this message, this guy's whole existence was for one reason, to prepare the way for the Christ. Wow, what a job. He went around baptizing people as a sign of repentance of their sin. And then he told them to be ready for another one that was coming that would baptize them with the Holy Spirit. In fact John did not consider himself worthy of carrying his cousin's sandals. His cousin who he probably went to celebrate the Passover feast with, and saw as each of them went through their Bar Mitzvah in the same year. He wasn’t worthy of carrying this guys sandals.
In life today we are always looking for where we fit in, what our mission in life is, what God has predestined us to do. Wouldn't it be great to know our job like John did? To know what our ministry is, what passion God has put us here on this earth for. What contentment it must have been to know you are in the smack dab center of God's will.
But it occurs to me, what if our call, our mission is much like John's. Sure he was set apart for a particular time to live his out. But what if we went about our life taking steps of faith that serve as an avenue to prepare the way for the messiah that will come. That is what we are here for right, to go and make disciples, to through the power given by the Holy Spirit make known the mystery of the gospel to all the world. As a Christian I believe that Jesus is coming back, I have no idea when this is happening but I know he is just as John knew that is cousin was about to start shaking things up. So my life should be about preparing the way for the one who I am unworthy to carry his sandals, but who has made me worthy through the his death and his defeat of death. The statement that John makes in John 3 has been on my mind since I heard a message on it at Church camp this summer. In verse 30 he says "He must become greater, I must become less." Wow, what a mission statement. This was at a time when John was becoming less popular, his church was shrinking, he was about to be put in prison. When told of his group getting smaller he makes this awesome statement. What if our lives were lived like that, if our goal was for Christ to increase and us to truly decrease. Then our lives would not be about us and we would fulfill the greatest commandment, we would Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then much like it as a result we would love our neighbor as ourselves. Then we would truly be preparing the way for the main attraction that is to come.
I have been preparing a lesson on a guy that sometimes we pass by to concentrate on the main attraction. John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, I can't imagine what this guys was like. I believe he smelled had crazy Unabomber hair, and had irregular bowl syndrome (eating locust and honey, what a combo) yet people for some reason listened to him. So much so that he had disciples that followed him sharing the message, “Repent, for the Kingdome of heaven is near."
And about this message, this guy's whole existence was for one reason, to prepare the way for the Christ. Wow, what a job. He went around baptizing people as a sign of repentance of their sin. And then he told them to be ready for another one that was coming that would baptize them with the Holy Spirit. In fact John did not consider himself worthy of carrying his cousin's sandals. His cousin who he probably went to celebrate the Passover feast with, and saw as each of them went through their Bar Mitzvah in the same year. He wasn’t worthy of carrying this guys sandals.
In life today we are always looking for where we fit in, what our mission in life is, what God has predestined us to do. Wouldn't it be great to know our job like John did? To know what our ministry is, what passion God has put us here on this earth for. What contentment it must have been to know you are in the smack dab center of God's will.
But it occurs to me, what if our call, our mission is much like John's. Sure he was set apart for a particular time to live his out. But what if we went about our life taking steps of faith that serve as an avenue to prepare the way for the messiah that will come. That is what we are here for right, to go and make disciples, to through the power given by the Holy Spirit make known the mystery of the gospel to all the world. As a Christian I believe that Jesus is coming back, I have no idea when this is happening but I know he is just as John knew that is cousin was about to start shaking things up. So my life should be about preparing the way for the one who I am unworthy to carry his sandals, but who has made me worthy through the his death and his defeat of death. The statement that John makes in John 3 has been on my mind since I heard a message on it at Church camp this summer. In verse 30 he says "He must become greater, I must become less." Wow, what a mission statement. This was at a time when John was becoming less popular, his church was shrinking, he was about to be put in prison. When told of his group getting smaller he makes this awesome statement. What if our lives were lived like that, if our goal was for Christ to increase and us to truly decrease. Then our lives would not be about us and we would fulfill the greatest commandment, we would Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then much like it as a result we would love our neighbor as ourselves. Then we would truly be preparing the way for the main attraction that is to come.
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