Chinese… please come reach us…

I recently read an article (A Great Leap Forward, by Rob Moll) in Christianity Today (May 2008) about the present move of God in China. God has moved in profound ways. For instance, Christianity began to take solid ground in China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1970’s, where it also suffered massive persecution. China suffered tremendously during this time where roughly 7 million people died of widespread violence and famine. There were nearly 3 million Catholic and Protestants living in China at that time. 30 years later, there are an estimated (maybe a low estimate) of 130 million believers, which is nearly 43 times many as there were in the late 1970’s, WOW!

The Chinese (and the East for that matter) is casting a tremendous shadow of influence on the way that we are doing church today. They can teach us so much, and Ginger and I are praying for God’s Spirit that is resting upon to the Asian believers to apprehend us in this hour in America!

Some Chinese leaders from the Church met together to agree upon 7 common principles that they would emphasize among churches everywhere. I want to remind us of those so we can be taught the Chinese way. I will start with one element at a time, starting with the next post.

Until then, HOLY SPIRIT COME!

We’re getting there…

William Beckham wrote an interesting book called The 2nd Reformation (Touch Publications). He writes to convince churches to invest in a small group multiplication model for ministry (for discipleship, leadership equipping, and multiplication).

He said an interesting thing that stirred my heart. He said that without too much struggle we should recognize that, “the church we preach about on Sundays (from the Book of Acts) is different than the church we preach to on Sunday mornings (the contemporary church).” Some have said that this difference is okay, for the desire of God was for the church not to remain as it did in its early days.

However, I feel a bit “cheated” when I read the Book of Acts and compare it to our everyday experience. Acts 2:42-47 is the general description of how the early church was, and I hunger for us to get there, don’t you.

This church was not only radical in their devotion to the Lord and to one another, but they also possessed a favor with onlookers.

They had signs and wonders begin performed among them, which created an atmosphere of wonder and awe (not lethargy and complacency).

They had extravagantly generous lifestyles (not selfish and jaded personalities).

They were being transformed into vibrant followers of Jesus (not stubborn and unrepentant).

This community must have been powerful to live in… I get the sense that we are making our way back to that type of community.

Disciples… part 2

Continuing into the travel narrative of Luke, Jesus teaches about what a disciple is at about the half way mark of the journey. In Luke 14, Jesus talks about the “cost” of being a disciple.

Jesus decides that unless someone “carry” their cross they cannot be His disciple. (Luke 14:27) This is a bit different than the phrase that He used earlier in the book, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross…” (Luke 9:23).

In my mind, taking up a cross (though Jesus said that we need to daily) represents an initial event, a firm decision to change our lifestyles to follow the way of Jesus. In my mind carrying a cross represents a person who has gone further down the path of obedience and does not struggle with the “taking up the cross” decision anymore. These disciples are sure that they want to follow Jesus and to not look back or re-change their minds. Rather, Jesus’ command to them is to continue to walk with Him now that they have realized what reality is to be a follower of Jesus.

Perhaps this is why Jesus gives a couple of parables to illustrate His point, a builder counts the cost before building and a king examines his enemy before going to war with them (Luke 14:28-33). Jesus provides us with a sober reminder of what it means to be His follower, and an encouragement to examine it all before deciding to follow Him.

As a pastor, I find that there is bewilderment in people’s hearts as they begin their Christian walk. They want to walk with Jesus, but are also frustrated with the struggle it is to move forward in their faith. The root of this can simply be that some have not seriously looked at what it means to follow Jesus. Salvation was easy, but obedience seems impossible.

Perhaps we have preached too easy of a gospel, that gets about anyone on board at salvation, only to see them give up or “fake it” along their journey towards fully-devoted discipleship. Though salvation is free from works, following God costs everything!

My encouragement would be for us all to examine the cost of following Jesus, as Jesus asked us to do. Is our pride, ambition, and quest for pleasure worth more than all He has for us?

Come, let us examine the cost together.

A Disciple… part 1(?)

So, my wife and others have been looking into the subject of discipleship. As I think and meditate upon it and interact with other believers from across the Christian landscape, things have been interesting.

Jesus revealed that there would be certain characteristics found in a disciple that would cause people (both Christians and non-Christians) to “know” (GK ginosko- to know, experience) that we are His followers.

Perhaps our view of who is a disciple is different than what Jesus and the early Church thought. For instance, I was talking with my Fed Ex pick up guy a couple of weeks ago about a myriad of topics (I think that he doesn’t get to talk to anyone throughout the day and waits for our pick up, then shares with me everything he’s been thinking about).

He refers to himself as a member of the Southern Baptist Convention more times than he does “a believer in Jesus.” Anyway, we were talking about the election coming up and he said that he could not believe a Christian would vote Democrat. I guess a part of his community of believers has added Republican party affiliate to their attribute list of a disciple.

Another thing that I have noticed is the topic of a disciple is one who is “plugged in” to various volunteer positions in the local church. If you have ever been around those communities before, it seems that a lot of energy is spent adding tasks and jobs for people for Sunday morning or various other programs throughout the week. Giving people something to do to contribute to the ministry of the church will help them become more like Jesus. I believe that there is something powerful there. However, Willow Creek researched many congregations and found that “spiritual busyness” doesn’t necessarily lead to growing in Christ-likeness (google the book Reveal for more info). I don’t know if you have seen it, but I’ve come across a few people who have been bewildered by their bankrupt spiritual formation, even though they were worship leaders, youth sponsors, or small group leaders.

What does Jesus say a disciple is? He may not give us “exact” roles of a disciple, but He provides of what the essence of a disciple is. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus goes on a travel narrative that starts in Luke 9:51 and goes all the way until His triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem before His Passion. On this journey, one of the main subjects of His teaching is discipleship.

Right off the bat, Jesus gives us one element of the essence of discipleship. In Luke 9:62 (worth memorizing), Jesus declares, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Jesus says that a disciple is a person who decides to follow Jesus and does not look back. A disciple does not “miss” his/her old life when they did not walk with the Lord. A disciple decides to “sell” all that does not glorify the Lord in order to have a life consumed by Him.

I get pretty frustrated at times when I hear people say that they “appreciate” their lifestyle that they lived before they came to Jesus. “It helps me realize how powerful His love is and where I came from,” they say. Don’t we realize that before we came to Jesus, we were enemies of God (Col. 1:21)! What is so wonderful about that past that is worth celebrating or even wanting to recall? We have to flee from those things as we rejoice in the understanding that even God doesn’t want to remember them!

Are we consumed today? Have we placed our hands on the plow and are thinking twice, looking back! I pray that the revelation of God’s heart will consume us today! I pray that we come back to Jesus’ expectation of discipleship!

 

 

 

My blog doesn’t let me make paragraphs…

Can someone help me here. My blogs turn out like one paragraph on steriods…Thanks! 

Metaphor

I was listening to a cool song by The Myriad a few days ago that is titled, “A Thousand Winters Melting.” The chorus is:Love, Love, A thousand winters meltingLove, yes Love, As you wrap your arms around me I thought that a great metaphor for God’s love coming into our lives and making us “new creatures” is a lot like a thousand winters melting.I found that it is cool to use metaphors to help express the deep experiences we have with God. It helps us explain to others in a way that they may relate to something that is subjective to us. Everyone can imagine what 1,ooo winters melting would feel like.What are some metaphors that you have found helpful to explain your experience with God? The New Testament is full of them… such as Paul’s picture of engrafted branches in Romans 11:11-24. He could have thoroughly explained God’s plan for salvation being extended to the Gentiles. However, getting a metaphoric picture of engrafted branches allows our imagination to be impacted with revelation, not just intellectual knowledge.Anyway, when God’s love entered my life almost 10 years ago, and many times since then, it was like 1,000 winters melting. What was it like for you? 

Haunting questions…

Earlier this month I was in Virginia Beach for school and got to stay with some cool guys there. On Wednesday of that week, I went with Landon Tucker to his Singles’ group Bible Study that he leads worship at regularly. While we were there, they played a DVD teaching from Francis Chan (www.francischan.org). He is a pastor in California and is speaking at different engagements, I think he speaks at Passion stuff… Anyway, he shared a bit of a challenging time in his ministry in the local church. He shared a text from Luke  6:26, “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”This verse is related to verses before in the same sermon, “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.” (Luke 6:22-23) Francis meditated upon those verses while his church and ministry were growing and asked some haunting questions, such as, “If Jesus lead a church, how large would it be?” And, “Would Jesus come to this Church?”There is an interesting challenge in these questions that probably will take more than the space in several blogs. However, it cuts to the heart of some issues that we are facing today. Seriously, if Jesus were on the Earth today and gathered believers together which formed a “church”, what would He be concerned with and who would come to be a part of His fellowship?Would you and I be apart of it, understanding the possibility that we would be hated, ridiculed, reviled, spurned as evil, and all would not speak well of us?Here’s a crazy thought… maybe instead of the different things we look for in a church (worship style, programming, size, denomination), we should be looking for a place that is receiving the most hate mail (not in regards to false teaching); a place that is so dedicated to doing Kingdom work that they are “politically disruptive (because it [Christianity] loosens the cement which binds the national culture) and religiously narrowminded (because it makes exclusive claims for Jesus).” (John Stott).     

Spiritual fathers (and mothers)

I was reading the Bible a few weeks ago and there was a verse that came into my spirit like a missile (that might be the best way to describe it). I shared it with our small group and I felt like it could be one of many life verses for me or at least for the next season. 1 Corn. 4:15- “For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers.” I did some research on the topic and it was common for wealthy families to hire tutors and guides to raise their children from birth to adulthood, leaving little interaction with their parents as they grew up (talk about Super-nanny). Think about going through our lives without real interaction with our parents, little to no nurture from those who brought us into this world… it sounds crazy! Paul was revealing an interesting truth to the Corinthians; that they had plenty of people reveal things about God to them, some things quite insightful no doubt, but they were missing the important ingredient of a parent raising them up in the things of God and their spiritual lives were damaged because of it. Our age of the Church is in a similar situation, it seems from my vantage point. If we ask each other who has had profound impact upon our lives, we would probably share a long list of names of authors, worship leaders, speakers that have opened God’s revelation to us that we have never met before. Seeking spiritual food and guidance from these “tutors and guides” is excellent. However, without someone parenting us in our faith, we miss the important ingredient of spiritual growth. Jesus gathered 12 disciples for many reasons, but parenting them about Kingdom living was obviously one of the most important reasons. I encourage us to not settle for the next book, video, conference, mega-idea for our next spiritual fix. Rather, I encourage us to pray for a spiritual parent who walks through life with us. Who will stand up to us when we are wrong and rebellious, who will be the first to applaud and celebrate when we succeed, etc. Can you imagine a generation that has only had tutors without spiritual parents leading God’s people? What a mess we could make… I am thankful for “spiritual fathers” that I have had in my faith, including Gregg Miller when I first became a Christian who taught my Sunday school. Mark Lenz who taught me to be sincere and honest with every area of my life. Dr. Hank Lederle who introduced me to the dynamics of spiritual intimacy with God and embracing a trained mind with a fiery heart. Ben Pierce, who has shown me how Prayer can change everything. Let’s not be prideful to think that we don’t need to be parented in our faith. I’m praying for a spiritual parent and encourage you all to seek God’s direction for one for you as well that we may be ready to parent the generation after us!

In need of a drink…

Pastor Bobby Massey from Life Point Church in Valley Center said something cool this past Sunday in his sermon that got me thinking…He was talking about Caleb and Joshua’s faith after scoping out the Promised Land after Israel left Egypt. Ten spies were frightened by the giants and walled cities and felt like they could not take the land God had promised them. Since Joshua and Caleb believed they could, God promised that they would live to see the Promised Land, even though that generation would die in the desert after 40 years.So, forty years later, Joshua leads Israel into the wilderness and they begin to spread over all of its region. Caleb is eager to get his own place and demands Joshua for the land that was promised him. Caleb received Hebron as his families inheritance (Joshua 14:615). In Caleb’s speech, you can hear his desperation and his hunger to finally receive the fullness of what was rightfully his. He was saying, in essence, “I’ve waited 45 years for this! I’ve walked around in sand and wilderness for 45 years! I’ve had it! I need something to drink and don’t want to wait any longer!”We get the sense that the Church in America is pregnant with something powerful from the Lord! There are revolutionaries who hear the statistics about how the great Church in America is in decline, how most church growth is transfer growth, and how man-centered it seems to be about. I get the sense that there is a deep cry happening in the hearts of God’s people, that resonates with that of Caleb, “I’ve had enough of it! Let me go to the place where His fullness dwells!”The book of Acts isn’t a chapter of our story, it is our blueprint. Does your heart ever ache when you read of the early story of Jesus’ people and compare it to what we have today? Let’s begin to cry out for God to bring us into fullness! If you feel that you heart is dying in the wilderness of “Church ianity” and you need a drink, I encourage us to pound on the door of heaven until God shows up with fires of revival!

Stylish Christianity

I have been thinking about this topic for a couple of months and think that I might be able to articulate it, you might need to give me some grace. In every era of Church History, there have been distinguishing marks of transition and change in the way that we worship God, identify ourselves, and are identified by those outside the faith. Think about it, the way people viewed Christians just a short few decades ago is a bit different than they might today. This is one of the reasons that we need people like Terry Johnson and Brian Jackson (in my opinion) who can find the pulse of our culture and seek for strategic ways to communicate the Gospel to them. There are ways to take contextualizing the Gospel to extremes. Sometimes it is easy to get off-centered, and be in love with doing “something new” than serving Jesus. The most severe case of this would be idolatry in my mind, because we are worshipping the idea of doing something new, and not our Lord. I recently had a great discussion with some friends in Virginia Beach about some things we were seeing in the church today. We all had experienced worship settings where things seemed forced, because that certain style of Christianity is “in” right now. The assumption is that we have to embrace this expression of Christianity because we don’t want to be “behind the times.” A few things I’ve noticed: -Black Frames: Everyone started getting black framed glasses after Rob Bell broke into the scene. Not only that, people started preaching in a higher-pitched intellectual tone as well. I think Rob Bell is prolific and brings so much to the table. But, I don’t know if I am ready to sign up with those that claim that are “Saved by the (Rob) Bell Generation.” I even heard someone claim that Velvet Elvis was as inspirational as the Bible (yikes!). If this is you, if you read the back of the book, Rob Bell even claims that “Jesus has already spoken, the rest is just commentary, right.” – Dems: I have sensed a large amount of Christians who are jumping into the Democratic affiliation politically (note: I am not advocating for any political party, It’s beautiful that we can be Christian and stand in different places politically). However, why is this all happening? Are Democrats pushing all the right buttons this time around, or is it in style for this election? I imagine that votes will be casted for Barak Obama because he represents something so different to a Presidential race (race, experience, youth, form of politics, hope-centered message, etc.), or maybe because his name sounds cool. – Grace is more of a convenience. Think about it, there are fewer holiness sermons preached in our times. The message is offensive. Whomever preaches them is accused of being legalistic. It is harder to tell a Christian apart from another these days, because if we are forgiven, it doesn’t matter what we do. This appears to be a prevalent assumption among the young adult generation. In my mind, this whole discussion comes down to the nature of transformation. When we make changes in our lives, is it out of a stylish form of Christianity, or is it God performing His perfecting work within us? We need to ask, what is empowering the changes within me? Jesus brought a new teaching, but the core of it wasn’t stylish (forsake everything and follow me isn’t an easy pill to swallow). However, those around Him claimed He was teaching a new teaching, and that it was with authority (Mark 1:27-28)! His message was transformational! A message we need in this hour! Let’s be transformed and not conformed to different styles of Christianity!