Back in the day, dad had a little blue honda civic hatchback made in 1983. It was the car that took him to work every day. Eventually it became my first car. Do you remember those? Have you ever seen one? Imagine a Geo Metro but smaller. This car could fit in a Metro. It might be able to fit in your bedroom closet. It was a four-speed manual drive car that could easily change lanes by driving underneath semi truck trailers. I never did that, but the thought did occur to me a few times.
There was this moment in time when the car wouldn't start unless you pushed it forward or let it roll down a hill. I think it was preteen at the time. Dad's car gave out and shut off while he was on a DFW highway. He took the exit ramp to get off the busy road and coasted into a neighborhood to avoid any accidents. (If anyone has ever driven through Dallas/Fort Worth, you know that it requires some real skill to coast off the highway without getting hit by some other car.)
He gave us a call from his cell phone and we met him to help him get his car started up again. He told us, "Push the car and I'll try and get it going." There was no hill. It was a completely flat road. I had no help. It was ridiculously hot outside. I gave it all I had. I even grunted, hoping that the grunt would help me push a little harder. I starting moving the car forward, pushed harder to gain momentum, dad turned the key and we got the car started. When he got it started, he zoomed forward a bit and I just got off the back end of the car enough to keep myself from falling headfirst to the pavement. When I stood up all the way, I experienced something I had never experienced before: I saw stars. I pushed so hard that I was seeing stars! Has that ever happened to you? It took awhile before the stars went away.
Do you ever feel like you need a little push to get going? Or are you the one that seems to be doing all the pushing? You might be the one getting pushed and don't like it. Sometimes we all need a little motivation to get moving. However, some of us have become complacent enough that trying to get started is like pushing a car with square tires.
In Galatians 1:11-24, Paul wrote about the start up of his ministry. For some strange reason, he'd always had that motivation to do something for God. During the early years it was all about him working for God. After his conversion it became all about God doing the work in his life and him telling others about it. God had this man in mind to work through him to point to people to God. God then revealed His Son in him to preach the gospel, which is a continuing revealing of His Son.
There's something in the early stages of his ministry that I'd like to point out to you, though. It convicts me on how I do ministry and what kind of ministry I do. Paul didn't ask anyone if it'd be okay for him to go and preach. He just did. He knew the calling and acted upon it. The class of people he spoke with made no difference to him either. There was no one he tried to please anymore. Just God. That's all there was because there wasn't anything else. God already did the work so why did he need to do it anymore? God gave him favor. God approved of him because of Jesus. What other approval did he need?
What if we had that kind of attitude in ministry? I think a lot of us don't do things because of fear of what others might think. If you're anything like me, we don't begin because we're still thinking about the approval of men. But we don't need it! God has already done the work and now He has already given us approval because of His Son! God has already given us His favor! What other approval do we need?
God jump-started our ministry and pushed us into the momentum of His grace. All we need to do is flow with Him, with what He's already doing. When we can get ourselves, the desire for approval out of the way, we'll be able to declare with Paul the statement I hope defines my ministry: And they praised God because of me.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thursday, August 09, 2012
thoughts of anxiousness
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.(NIV)
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (NLT)
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.(MSG)
How often can our anxious souls keep God from working in our hearts? Ultimately, an anxious soul refuses to consider His love and greatness. It dethrones God from our hearts. It sets up a stage for our own illusions of control, when in reality, we don't have any control at all. If we believe we're in control, we worry and become anxious. Things we don't have control over then rule our thoughts as we try and control them. In turn, our attempts at controlling the uncontrollable gives way for the uncontrollable to control us.
That's why we pray. From the very first sin from the beginning of time to all our other sins, they all say the same thing: it's a fight for who's in control. But life in our hands makes us anxious. Life in God's hands brings peace. When we pray our situations to God it allows His love to consume us rather than our anxiousness. We know when we have His complete peace when we believe that God is greater and that whatever this is won't separate us from His love. When we turn our worry into thankfulness, we can see God's hand at work in our lives. Then the next time worry comes and asks to be let in, there's an impenetrable guard at the door.
Instead of seeking more control, which is putting ourselves in the place of God, seek more of God. If His peace that guards our hearts and minds can't fully be understood, then God and His ways fall in the same category. There's so much more to seek and understand in Him.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.(NIV)
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (NLT)
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.(MSG)
How often can our anxious souls keep God from working in our hearts? Ultimately, an anxious soul refuses to consider His love and greatness. It dethrones God from our hearts. It sets up a stage for our own illusions of control, when in reality, we don't have any control at all. If we believe we're in control, we worry and become anxious. Things we don't have control over then rule our thoughts as we try and control them. In turn, our attempts at controlling the uncontrollable gives way for the uncontrollable to control us.
That's why we pray. From the very first sin from the beginning of time to all our other sins, they all say the same thing: it's a fight for who's in control. But life in our hands makes us anxious. Life in God's hands brings peace. When we pray our situations to God it allows His love to consume us rather than our anxiousness. We know when we have His complete peace when we believe that God is greater and that whatever this is won't separate us from His love. When we turn our worry into thankfulness, we can see God's hand at work in our lives. Then the next time worry comes and asks to be let in, there's an impenetrable guard at the door.
Instead of seeking more control, which is putting ourselves in the place of God, seek more of God. If His peace that guards our hearts and minds can't fully be understood, then God and His ways fall in the same category. There's so much more to seek and understand in Him.
Monday, August 06, 2012
A Different Gospel
I miss this. Sitting down to take time out and journal really relaxes my soul. Lately things have gotten so busy at the church that I just haven't had time to write about what I've read. Now I've finished Galatians on my own, but I don't want to forget what God has taught me and feel the need to share with you His grace in this letter.
Our church is now going through The Story by Zondervan. If you're living in the Falcon area in Colorado, come and see! One of the biggest concerns that has arisen from this is that it might be a different gospel than what the Bible teaches. It's not. It's the same. Granted, it's abridged. But all of us read abridged versions of the Bible to our kids. The people who put this together did so in a chronological way so we could read it like a novel. Most of us read things this way, and sometimes the things we read in the Bible can be intimidating because of the things that don't really make sense to us. Personally, I appreciate what they've done. This is a great opportunity for us to catch the story God's been writing since creation so we can see His hand through the historical events in the Bible. We can see His work to draw people to Himself like the Good Shepherd He is. This study is supplemental to Bible reading, and they've included all the references in the back of the book if anyone wanted to see where it came from.
But all of us, or at least those who've been raised in the church, are a little concerned any time we hear something that seems to be a different gospel than what we've heard or been taught through the Bible itself. Others aren't concerned at all because they haven't opened the Bible to see what it says. My question is, what does the gospel look like in our lives? What kind of gospel are we preaching to the world as they watch us and observe our lifestyles because we've confessed Christ?
Paul mentioned that he was sent by God, the one who rescued us from His wrath and this evil age. He gives complete and all glory to Him because of his love for God. That was the driving motivation behind his preaching. Any gospel that isn't motivated by God's love and our love for Him, isn't the right gospel. In fact, it isn't a gospel at all. In the words of Dwight from The Office, "False."
How many of us have heard a gospel that's been preached that sounds good to you? We've become professionals at twisting the gospel when it disturbs our comfort or way of life. We live complacently and apathetically in many ways. Here's an example to chew on.
Remember the parable Jesus talked about in Matthew 25? Jesus was talking about the kingdom of heaven, separating the people on His right and left. He mentions feeding those who were hungry, visiting the sick, clothing the naked, and visiting some in prison. Now, this is a tough question for me to ask, but are we doing any of those things? Jesus said that when we do those things we're doing them to Him. Maybe some of us don't really know Jesus that well. Maybe we've seen Him on the side of the street or laying in a hospital bed and walked right on by.
Any gospel that preaches comfort and coming to Jesus will solve all your problems and make your life better, has twisted the true gospel. Yes, Jesus does make life better, but on His terms, not ours. The life He brings isn't the kind of life we typically look for or even long for. We need to be careful that what we hear isn't a different gospel. We need to be careful about the gospel we're preaching through our lifestyles.
In Galatians 1:8, Paul says that those who preach a different gospel are accursed! This lesson convicts me deeply. I believe I'm always living a gospel that God saved me with. I don't think I'm always following the teachings that pull me out of a worldly viewpoint of life. God isn't in the business of pleasing man. He's in the business of bringing glory to Himself. And the cross is what does that the most! The evidence of a life redeemed by the glory in the cross and resurrection is the only true gospel! Anything outside of the cross is bringing glory to man, someone who wasn't made to receive glory unless God bestows it on him.
At the heart of all this is verse 10. This is what I long to say about myself and pray for every day. This is what I close with, and hope the commitment you have with Christ is sealed with this motivation. This is the defining term of your life and helps us all determine if we're really following Christ or not:
Our church is now going through The Story by Zondervan. If you're living in the Falcon area in Colorado, come and see! One of the biggest concerns that has arisen from this is that it might be a different gospel than what the Bible teaches. It's not. It's the same. Granted, it's abridged. But all of us read abridged versions of the Bible to our kids. The people who put this together did so in a chronological way so we could read it like a novel. Most of us read things this way, and sometimes the things we read in the Bible can be intimidating because of the things that don't really make sense to us. Personally, I appreciate what they've done. This is a great opportunity for us to catch the story God's been writing since creation so we can see His hand through the historical events in the Bible. We can see His work to draw people to Himself like the Good Shepherd He is. This study is supplemental to Bible reading, and they've included all the references in the back of the book if anyone wanted to see where it came from.
But all of us, or at least those who've been raised in the church, are a little concerned any time we hear something that seems to be a different gospel than what we've heard or been taught through the Bible itself. Others aren't concerned at all because they haven't opened the Bible to see what it says. My question is, what does the gospel look like in our lives? What kind of gospel are we preaching to the world as they watch us and observe our lifestyles because we've confessed Christ?
Paul mentioned that he was sent by God, the one who rescued us from His wrath and this evil age. He gives complete and all glory to Him because of his love for God. That was the driving motivation behind his preaching. Any gospel that isn't motivated by God's love and our love for Him, isn't the right gospel. In fact, it isn't a gospel at all. In the words of Dwight from The Office, "False."
How many of us have heard a gospel that's been preached that sounds good to you? We've become professionals at twisting the gospel when it disturbs our comfort or way of life. We live complacently and apathetically in many ways. Here's an example to chew on.
Remember the parable Jesus talked about in Matthew 25? Jesus was talking about the kingdom of heaven, separating the people on His right and left. He mentions feeding those who were hungry, visiting the sick, clothing the naked, and visiting some in prison. Now, this is a tough question for me to ask, but are we doing any of those things? Jesus said that when we do those things we're doing them to Him. Maybe some of us don't really know Jesus that well. Maybe we've seen Him on the side of the street or laying in a hospital bed and walked right on by.
Any gospel that preaches comfort and coming to Jesus will solve all your problems and make your life better, has twisted the true gospel. Yes, Jesus does make life better, but on His terms, not ours. The life He brings isn't the kind of life we typically look for or even long for. We need to be careful that what we hear isn't a different gospel. We need to be careful about the gospel we're preaching through our lifestyles.
In Galatians 1:8, Paul says that those who preach a different gospel are accursed! This lesson convicts me deeply. I believe I'm always living a gospel that God saved me with. I don't think I'm always following the teachings that pull me out of a worldly viewpoint of life. God isn't in the business of pleasing man. He's in the business of bringing glory to Himself. And the cross is what does that the most! The evidence of a life redeemed by the glory in the cross and resurrection is the only true gospel! Anything outside of the cross is bringing glory to man, someone who wasn't made to receive glory unless God bestows it on him.
At the heart of all this is verse 10. This is what I long to say about myself and pray for every day. This is what I close with, and hope the commitment you have with Christ is sealed with this motivation. This is the defining term of your life and helps us all determine if we're really following Christ or not:
Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant. (NLT)
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