I've been on a bit of a reading kick recently...

Finished Craig Groeschel's "It". Not bad. I appreciated how it addressed the dangers of doing vocational ministry and how that can negatively affect your relationship with Christ.

Favorite quote: "In the midst of a generation screaming for answers, Christians are stuttering." (actually from Howard Hendricks, not Craig)

Wow.

We have conversations on our staff about how not listening to what people are asking about will ensure that you spend a ton of energy answering questions no one is asking.  In other words, contending for 7-day creation but not be the most important thing to the small business owner that works next to your church and doesn't know Jesus.  Don't assume that your favorite topic of apologetics is what every man or woman you encounter needs to hear.  Listen closely.  Ask questions.  Don't jump all over them.  Enter into their life and their questions.  Then ask for the Spirit to give you the words you need.

Really excited about some resources coming down the pike as well. Tim Smith, the worship guy at Mars Hill is finally launching Re:Sound and Michael Bleecker is starting a new blog as well.

We talk a lot about balance in the Christian faith, and it is a gut-wrenching exercise to try and live out that balance in each area of life.

Not because there are so many "rules" as is often thought, but because God has given so much freedom.

In that freedom, many will choose legalism; closing the door completely on themselves AND on others and forming regulations that the scriptures do not inform. Others will chase license; throwing the door open and disregarding other texts in their drive to be free, ironically enslaving themselves to addictions and being mastered by small things.

It seems that the abuses of legalism and license are all around us.

Because food can involve gluttony, do we abandon it all together?
Because sleep can involve laziness, do we starve ourselves of rest?
Because money can involve greed...
Because sex can involve lust....
Because alcohol can involve drunkenness...
Because music can involve idolatry...

The obvious (hopefully) answer is no. Making a list of "don't do's" is much easier than finding the biblical position on many of these issues, but there are balanced positions.  Regardless of what you think of the man, this song is on point:

I've been reading an epistle an evening recently...Here's what I've done so far:
-1 Thessalonians
-2 Thessalonians
-Colossians
-Philippians
-Ephesians

It's funny the things you notice when you read Paul's letters (or any scripture for that matter) to the churches back to back. My 2 most prominent observations:

1. Laziness is ungodly, especially for those that labor in the church. Ministry puts you face to face with many critics who don't want to be part of the solution to whatever they are complaining about.  I need more patience with these people. I need repentance for the times I do the same.

2. The people you invest in and help grow in the faith are your "crown of glory" before God. It's like the ultimate sign of authentic faith, is the works of God in your life contagiously healing/restoring/saving another. God still gets the glory and we get to offer a great gift to our heavenly Father; the investment of our heart for Him in the heart of another.

¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:9-11

I had a conversation with a friend today about the Gospel, specifically that the power of God in Christian living and the suffering that comes with associating with Christ are two sides of the same coin, and inseparable.

I live in true luxury. You probably do too.

Compared to most of the world, we enjoy daily comforts that many do not even comprehend, from the dozens of pairs of socks in my drawer, to the laptop I am writing this on at this moment. Not just geographically, but historically too. Americans 100 years ago had a different standard of comfortable too. So are we to feel bad about the things we have been blessed with? I don't think so, but I do wonder if our luxuries haven't made it more complicated to "know the fellowship of His suffering". The expectation of comfort is far scarier to me than the availability of it.

While most Christians I know at least desire the power of God in their life, they hardly ever mention suffering. My friend made the point that you can not separate the two. In other words, the closer you press in to Christ and really learn Him, your life will be filled with more power and
suffering. With as much as we put into avoiding anything resembling suffering, it's hard to reconcile that we really want Christ more than an easy life.

Examples: A high-school girl wants God to do amazing things in her life, but not if she has to be single to learn to love Christ above all else. A college guy wants to have purity in His life, but not at the expense of living alone with internet access. A parent wants their child to grow up in the faith, but not if that means being responsible for the hours invested in spiritual guidance at home. All of these show our desperate attempts at separating power and sacrifice. It doesn't work.

This really drags the "health and wealth" pseudo-gospel through the ringer, and exposes it for what it is; a false teaching with disastrous dangers of painting God as a slave genie that has insufficient power to protect His kids from difficulty, or worse, a works-based merit system that leaves cancer patients, the unemployed, and pretty much anyone who experiences the winter seasons of life asking God where He has gone, since they must not have enough faith or their life would be...easy.

What further complicates things (or perhaps simplifies them) is that God is pretty clear in His word that hardship is a tool of His love and not a punishment in some twisted karmic payback for transgression. Hardship brings about suffering, and with it a deeper and more meaningful relationship to Christ. To know that suffering is an inescapable part of chasing Christ and actually desiring it...actually longing for that piece of the beautiful mess God brings us through as Paul did, is a leap I need Christ to teach me.

The point is, suffering in this life doesn't mean the system is broken, it means that it's working.

¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

One of the primary purposes of the pastor is to equip the saints to do ministry.

I have recently pondered about what role corporate worship plays in this process.

There is undoubtedly great power in singing true things of the faith. Believers have included music and song in their liturgy for generations.

The power however, is commonly a jumbled blend of emotionalism, mystery, and authentic transformation through the spoken and sung Word, as well as the Holy Spirit.

So how can the church intentionally focus their worship times to equip the saints?

Our God is patient.

I was at a birthday party tonight, and after a conversation with an old friend about how we were both faring in this tumultuous life, something dawned on me. It may be inspirational to me today and passé tomorrow...but here goes:

I found myself thinking about the nature of God, and His patience with us.

He doesn't seem bothered or put out at all by the constant reminders we require to live a life of faith. What I mean is this: Many time in my life I have asked God to do something "God-sized". Something showy. Something inexplicable. He has often humored me in answering such piddly requests.

That alone is ridiculous. The word 'ridiculous' is far insufficient but will have to suffice for now.

He repeatedly entertains those requests (not always) and seems to never anger or become fed-up or exhausted or tiresome of some solitary and often misguided child living in the high desert of Nevada asking him for a sign or begging Him for an answer.

Perhaps it is because only imperfect reflections of what God's patience looks like can be found in humanity...whatever the reason, there is nothing like it.

Last night we started the new Genesis teaching series at Living Stones.

It got me thinking about the origin of sin and why people rebel against their Maker. The Maker that we are made in the image of.

We are made in His likeness.

We are made with similarities to Him.

The differences between us and God seems more obvious to me than the similarities. But that probably comes from a long history of false beliefs about God and man. Especially, the notion that God is an angry blob in the sky, or even a happy blob, but not a person.

So back to the topic of sin. I started to ponder how the sins of humanity are often shattered reflections of something true and good revealed in the character of God.

We get jealous, because of insecurity and infidelity. We want focus, affection, and attention to be on us.
God is a jealous God, because He is completely satisfied and secure in Himself, and desires his lovers to be faithful to Him, the only thing that can satisfy them.

We lust and get envious because we want what we do not own.
God owns everything. God never has to desire anything else because every atom rests secure in his bank account.

We get angry because we have been wronged or perceive injustice.
God gets angry because He IS justice.

We get addicted to empty and hollow things.
God is "addicted" to His own fame, which is appropriate because He is the most beautiful and powerful thing in the universe. He sees empty and hollow substitutes for exactly what they are.

We try desperately hard to do things our own way.
God lovingly calls His image-bearers to live things His way...the way of life and hope.

I was reading in Genesis today and it got me thinking about ministry life cycle. How younger pastors are known for acting a certain way and older ones another.  Younger men charge hell with a squirt gun, full of passion and arrogance.  Older men think first and act later, if at all.  It seems to me that God's call to these two stereotypes is different but equally important.

I notice that the longer you are in ministry, the greater the temptation to focus on minimizing your losses and shielding your assets.  If you have only been in ministry a short while (less than 10 years), than you downplay and underestimate the damage that can happen to the sheep along the way.

In Genesis, when Jacob and Esau are about to reconvene, Jacob splits his livestock and people into two groups so that if Esau attacks, one group will have enough time to get away. He wanted to minimize damages.  Was this wisdom or a lack of faith in God as protector?

In Jim Collin's assessment of successful organizations; he states that the greatest enemy of "great" is "good". That many organizations will never become great because good is simply "good enough". I hope that I remain faithful to whatever God calls me to for however many days He has granted me, and that he will protect me from the pitfalls on both sides: arrogance and insensitivity on one side, with comfort, ease, and false security on the other.

You know it's almost New Years when every other commercial on TV is for a weight loss program. New Years resolutions are an astounding evidence of the human ability to resolve to do something and then completely forget about it in 30 days.  Something about the flesh being weak?

God is a very patient father, who doesn't seem to mind reminding His children about things that matter over and over again...like loving Him, loving others, sacrificing, giving, our insufficiency...stuff like that.

The beginning of January is generally a time when most people feel like they can conquer the world.  The end of January is a good time to share the good news about Jesus, and remind people that our work isn't enough, but Jesus' work is.