Beginning the Semester

I am starting off my semester off with a blast. I am taking an interesting mix of classes: Exegesis of Galatians, Theology and Practice of Healing, Life of Prayer, and Non-Canonicals (auditing that one). I can say that the one I am reading for today is the Healing class. The book is Authority to Heal written by Ken Blue. I find it very helpful that he has described the fallacies of theologies of “name it and claim it” healing and the ones that accept sickness as the will of God. (He actually makes a distinction between the words suffering and sickness, which he claims is not the same to the Biblical writers.) He also points out that the modern western world is too “secular” and that our infatuation with science as the savior has dismissed God and the miraculous. His proposition is that science and healing is not incompatible, but that secular humanism and Christianity is. There are many cases where the turn away from death is unexplainable and at this point is only explained as an act of God.

I think he might be wrong in saying that the western world is completely that way, though this was written 1987. There is too much spirituality involved in the current setting (just watch Oprah). I have to say that people still understand that death is a negative thing. The overarching point of the entire Bible is that Death is defeated. It points out that 1) we must seek things that move away from death (healing, peace efforts, medicine, counseling) and 2) we do not use death to push our agenda as Christians (war, abuse, degradation, rape).

My challenge here is that if you believe in a physically risen Jesus, the first of Humanity, and our same resurrection in the end (which is part of the Christian hope), then you must defy death and hope that despite death we have a hope of bodily resurrection (though we will be glorified and will actually rule over the earth in a way becoming of love and peace as commanded by God).

So go out and seek to make life better, despite your urges fed to you by Satan himself to use death.

Grace and peace to you all.

 

Point 5: Economy

I heard a sermon awhile back at a church where a pastor preached a sermon on the commandment of stealing. You could tell that the man was referring to taxes and that he was implying that the taxing of the top percent of Americans would be stealing. I wasn’t sure how much to agree with him. Sure, taxing is not exactly stealing until you talk about those poor who have been oppressed by stealing, but for the top percent of the country, I’m sure that they have much to spare.

That got me thinking. How does the church view economy and money. I can’t help but think back to acts and the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 and how many of us find our feet on the same cliff they were on. Do we give it all, or try to keep some for ourselves? And if we keep some, do we lie or come clean with what we have kept?

How many times have we done that?

How many times should we have died at the feet of God’s throne?

I do believe that the gospel counters much of what any government is. Most tend to say that they will bring hope and change for the better, but with the Christian, that is God. Obama has said “Yes, We Can,” which can be pushed to a level that equals the Tower of Babel at times. But we must remember Bush as he stood on the debris of the twin towers and vowed vengeance, which landed us in two wars, one which most think we should not have stormed into, and a prison which suffers from human rights charges. Being a Christian, I would say that although I voted for both of these men, they have come short in many ways. (I don’t mean to bash them too hard, but I do want to point out the reality of humanity.)

Maybe we should be more attentive to God’s will. You hear many saying this or that about taxes and the economy, but the truth is that our country is struggling, and the Church has a potential for greatness. Crisis has an element of chaos, but also of opportunity.

Where are our old saints who opened hospitals and orphanages?

I hate to say this out of enjoying Capitalism, but the first century Church had some ideas that would lean toward socialism (Though at other times, seems very much like a democratic republic). I think it’s funny that Christians are yelling that they are scared of Obama because he is a socialist, never mind the social security check they will be cashing in (assuming that it will still be there in the future). Plus, they would probably have yelled the same about Peter and the decisions of the early Church for spreading the wealth.

I just think that the Christians need to open their eyes to suffering, and they might not yell so much. Disagree if you like, but there needs to be a solution discussed immediately.

I end by recalling the Rich Man who had an overabundant harvest (Luke 12:13-21, Luke has a tendency to critique the rich). He decided to build bigger barns to hold ever bit of that grain. We must remember that the first century Jew would know to be appalled at this since the man was supposed to keep the same barn and actually leave some grain for the widow, the orphan, the poor, and even the alien. So, in layman’s terms, if the rich find ways to get richer while the poor get poorer, or even cause them to get poorer (remember that we must never look at resources as endless) than something is wrong. And it becomes quite obvious whom God will vindicate when he comes to judge.

Grace and Peace to you all.

 

Point 4: Marriage and Homosexuality

Here is another point. I listed it due to the intense focus of the Church on the issue. I can’t help but think that the Church has an unhealthy fixation on the issue compared to other sexual issues. Not only that, but it tends to place it’s views on America. I think it probably has to do with this view that the Church and the state have made the distinction between the two fuzzy. Biblically speaking, the world (which includes America) is something that is not quite what Heaven (which includes the Church) is. Such an idea leads me to search Christianity. The Church is it’s own political entity with it’s own agenda. The Nation is only included when we consider that it will one day fall under God’s rule, but that is not yet. In the church we follow God, but in America, the constitution and the leaders of the nation are the rulers.

Most solid Christians have to admit that Israel was a nation under God, the only geo-political nation to ever attain such a title. But the faith has changed its course. Since Christ rose from the dead, we no longer fight for a geo-political entity. We know that at Christ’s return, and the resurrection of the saints, the geo-political entity we wait for will be made reality. In a sense our politics are already existence, but not on the scale of what will follow the Judgment.

If you read Scripture, you will see a motif of a people who, although they mean no harm to current powers of the world, they oppose them and their anti-Christ agendas (which is more tied into thoughts of men over the ages and is not some crazy being in the future, Revelation doesn’t even mention the word anti-Christ).

Now to the topic at hand, marriage and homosexuality. I start with marriage, since I hold a highly Christian view of it. I believe marriage between male and female is sanctioned and protected by God as a means of survival (Deuteronomy 22:16, 25:5). However, I think that is a Judeo-Christian ideal (I also admit other religions have the same view). To place this expectation on the people of the world I think is a little ludicrous. (A side remark on marriage in heaven [Matthew 22:30; Mark 12:25; Luke 20:34-35], marriage is used to mock the Sadducees. I don’t think that marriage is the point here. I also think that maybe any point on marriage is that it will not be needed, since marriage is a custom/law issue for people who would not remain with those whom they promised to be with, and those evil people will not inherit heaven when it come here.)

What people need to realize with these verses is that the institution of marriage is not the primary recipient of protection, the people that are married are. That means that the ones currently taking advantage of the marriage situation are just as guilty as homosexuals are…no…they are more guilty. Oppression is always more devastating than simple sexual deviance from the law.

Homosexuals are obviously not highly favored in Scriptures (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Many use the Sodom and Gomorrah and tie in homosexual motifs (Jude 7; 2 Peter 2:6 [this one is an example of when that is not done]). It is usually a later development. The first writers, and the writer of 2 Peter, probably had bigger issues with taking people out of their homes to rape them, and homosexuality was the straw that broke the camels back. Ancient Israel would have looked at the creation account and said that since God’s first creation was between man and woman, and since there is a command to multiply, that homosexuality defied God. They saw God as moving them towards life, and homosexuality was not a move toward life. Since Christ rose from the dead, furthering the point that death is the enemy, Christians would have kept that point, and should still do so today.

But since we don’t use death or move towards death, we do not bring death to our enemies, since we are enemies to death…PERIOD.

The end of Revelation is explicit about letting the evil do what they must. We know that vindication will come. And what if God was to change his mind in the end? Although you can’t condone here on earth what they do, should you not be kind and admit their worth before God? What if America was to allow homosexual marriages? Is American a nation of God? No. There can only be one nation of God, and that is the Kingdom of Heaven, which is represented by the Church.

If you want to follow God, worry about how we are following His will.

Don’t commit adultery.

Don’t seduce and rape young women or men.

Stay away from incest, beastiality, and prostitution.

Don’t steal what’s not yours.

Do not murder with the gun or the tongue.

Do not split apart a community of God with your agendas.

Do not hold money higher than God.

Do not take in excess when others have nothing

Follow his will as is expressed in the Law, the prophets, Jesus, and others.

If you follow His will you will inherit heaven.

But if you willingly oppose him, you will inherit hell.

And surprisingly, some of the ones condemning homosexuals to hell, since they are not faithful to the terms God has listed, or probably closer to hell the any self-respecting gay person.

Grace and peace to all of you. I love you all, even my friends I don’t agree with in lifestyle.

(This is derived from the NRSV Bible, IVP Bible Dictionaries, and The Anchor Bible Dictionary)

 

Fruits of the Spirit

I was thinking on Galatians. I can’t wait to take the class this upcoming semester. I’ve been doing work on it before hand. I noticed that in chapter 5 that this is the letter that lists out the fruits of the Spirit. Many have tried to make this a simple list of virtues and the list of effects of the flesh as a list vices. I’ve been wondering if that was necessarily the case. I have been trying to move toward looking at Scripture as more about the community known as the Church rather than so much about the individual. There are a few places where I have to accept that the individual is important, but here I might not have to, thanks to the use of an Anchor Bible commentary on Galatians.

When I look at the lists, they seem to follow a pattern of actually being general and ambiguous.

“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.”

I noticed that this list starts with 3 sexual elements, a reference to open sexuality, a violent sexuality, and a bragged about sexuality (subtleties of Greek), all of which are the abandonment of God’s purpose for sexuality (which was a Jewish opening to speech against gentiles).

“idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy”

And then we move to a list of a very religious matter but very peculiarly moves into an obvious list of things that are bad for the community. But I noticed that most of this list is in essence or things that could be viewed as bad for a community. Which leads to the next part of the list.

“drunkenness, carousing, and things like these”

The first part is directed toward how alcohol can bring a person to only look at himself and ignore the needs of others. If this is a list of rules, it makes sense to say none of these things, but it seems as if the following words imply a general ambiguous list of things that point to a stronger point: the destruction of the community.

“I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”

The point of this is that those who try to disrupt the community and do not find value in the Church instead of themselves will be judged as not fit for the Kingdom of God, meaning that no matter how “on fire” for God some might think you are, if you do not love your brother as the Torah commands, then you will not be allowed into God’s presence when he fully takes over things here on earth. Paul does not imply that when God gives grace that He steps down from his throne. That would be a form of Deism.

“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”

This verse sometimes puts the fruits as “borne” by the Spirit. In it the Spirit and who is led by it produce something, particularly something that is in contrast to what came before (the works of the flesh). It’s not an exhaustive list. Just look at how ambiguous it is. But it does have one core element, love reflected in a way that can only be seen in community. And anything done in love among those in community Paul describes as follows:

“There is no law against such things”

Very well said, Paul. No law against, and without saying that there is something free yet goal oriented about Christianity and how it performs community. It’s not a list of virtues, but an incomplete list of things springing from Godly community.

“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”

So, then, we can choose to do something about this. We notice that there is a group of people (Christians) who belong to the Christ, who is Jesus. The crazy part is that these people have crucified the flesh. Many think that this is talking about crucifying your own flesh, but the flesh is actually seen as a cosmic power and is put as another entity which has it’s own will. So is the Spirit. As a community of God, we have already crucified the Flesh (or so we should have). This is rhetoric stating how it should be. It is something that is the way it should be, but things Word (will) of God always be fulfilled in order to be a reality.

So when you look at these lists, don’t just reproduce it.

See it’s meaning,

and then live it out.

Live out community in love.

Don’t just look at these fruits as something you get as an individual and as virtues that you as an individual, but look at these things as not the point at all, except for the words love, joy, and peace in the old Jewish sense (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Leviticus 19:18).

So when you find someone else this week.

Look at them.

Find some worth in them.

And see that we belong together as people.

Let’s find value together in the Lord, our Lord, God.

Grace and Peace.

 

More on the New Book

So Bolton has been mostly informative, as a I thought his book would be. I don’t want to put out too many spoilers, but he has shown his experience and learning. His first chapter explained the life of the average to poor people of the country. It’s nothing like America and the rest of the western world. It gave me an insight into how hard it is to live at a home and take care of a family while suffering a severe handicap in health, finances, and education (just to name of few). Very interesting. I would tell you what he thinks the West should do, but this entire section covers the poverty issue and does not go into what we can do.

His second chapter was intriguing in that he covers the small history of the emergence of African independence in the mid-1900’s. The main point is that although freedom of Africa was a good step for the people, the western countries left without leaving behind the proper systems and advice for successful rule and the avoidance of the poverty that would eventually come. And we all know what happened. The 60’s to the 80’s experienced turmoil to the likes that most of my readers can not imagine, with a financial tragedy emerging its ferocious head in the 80’s. The 90’s brought about AIDS, and the rest is pretty much history as the advanced, privileged world began to notice how tragic it was to allow this to go on. Once again, how to aid the problem will be mentioned later.

The third chapter elaborated on the problems, which seems to be a sick cycle of wanting change, promise of change, low budgets, pressure to fund other things that leave the common people suffering, which is why the reason behind wanting change. Things are getting better, but there is such a long road ahead of us.

This could be a great chance for us to look at the biblical mandate to give to the poor.

This could be the chance to be part of a kingdom of peace and shalom.

I wonder what would happen of God looked down and saw this,

or has he already seen.

This is just food for thought. Stay tuned for the section on how to aid the problem.

Grace and peace.

 

Love the Girl

I was just thinking about some things lately. I’m usually not an uber-excitable guy. I tend to keep quiet half the time. I usually like to make sure what I say is worth saying. Sometimes though a good thing comes along that changes that. I want to be everything a woman dreams a man to be. I know a lot of guys that don’t care about that. I just wish every woman could have a guy that would give up anything and everything for her.

I have heard guys who have girlfriends oogle and drool over woman that are on tv or jogging on the sidewalk. I have to say to you guys, eventually it comes out and the girl sees you for who you really are. These are the same guys that get married and wonder why they are living a wrecked marriage. So what if I watch some skinny 19 year old run down the beach on MTV. I’m not bangin her. I’m just watching. Guys, that doesn’t help.

Here is what a girl hears. “I know I’m supposed to be with you and love you. But this girl looks better than you. You have become second best to me, and I just don’t want to share this with you. I want to please myself instead of letting you please me” (Girls, you can expand a little in the comments if you want to). Yes, she hears that. And although the gals can have their share of faults, that doesn’t license us to intentionally fail.

Genesis paints the picture a little better. When Adam first looks at Eve,

HE

IS

IMPRESSED.

It doesn’t go into how hot she looks. It only shows that he sees his mate, and says, “she is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” The word bone here is also understood as substance or self. The word flesh is a connotation of blood relation of sorts. And although his naming her in such a way may be done in some sort of way, he is actually naming her his equal. She is not lesser than him so that he can treat her less than him, nor is she better than him, and, as I think Paul is hinting at, to be over him in authority (I say that because Paul was a well educated Jew and would have been taught such the position on this was a mix of social commentary saying where we are and where we should be).

So how are you treating your woman?

Are you worried about her feeling loved and being brought up to equality with you?

Or are you worried about yourself getting what will make you feel satisfied, in control, powerful, manipulative, etc.?

I think we need to be aiming ourselves at loving others more than ourselves, even our women, especially our women. Stop being caught up in the ways of the empire that say you should be caught up in filling yourself with the breads of ill-gotten gains. Worry about giving your earnings and your rights and your agendas to God and others. Don’t give in to the rebellion that says fight for you rights to party and be your own man. Give in to service and love.

Promote peace, promote grace, promote God’s love to others, even the ladies (can I hear it for the girl power in the hizzouse.)

 

Protect the Sabbath

I started thinking about some things in recent days. I hit a snag in my thoughts about how to treat people on sunday while in church. Some find it hard to recognize people on stage when trying to worship God. I can’t make up my mind on the standing ovations. Sure, I am there to worship God, that is primary, but am I not part of a community of worship? And if so, am I not to show gratitude when someone blesses. I really thought about it today. We went to see Jim Caviesel, the guy who played Jesus in the Passion movie. I started thinking about how some people were looking at the situation. I decided to not stand and applaud him, but what was I doing in my approaching this worship service. I was very excited in seeing him as a hero of our faith (yes, he’s a christian). I even was excited about sitting closer to the front (I was only four rows from the front). Was I not giving him the same praise? Take note that I usually sit in the back seating of the sanctuary. I found myself after the service quite a contradiction. Maybe I have in this turned away from being gracious and loving, even if a little stupid. I am starting to wonder if I would rather be humbly and lovingly stupid, rather than being the prick who thinks that he has to defend the Sabbath based on his knowledge on Scripture.

Don’t get me wrong, there are aspects of worship that should be protected. But I don’t think that this is it anymore. I mean, why focus on this when half our praise and worship songs are not even directed towards God. That honestly seems more important (if you have noticed, this usually effects which songs I lift my hands and close my eyes and which songs I simply sing with normal attitude). I think it is out of place and very innapropriate. Sometimes inconsistent, just like the people who say they are adamant against certain things in a service, but later you see them doing those very things (coffee drinking for example).

My point is that I’m done with my agenda. I’m gonna try to focus on God’s agenda. Don’t lose sight of God being holy, because he is holy, but remember that you are in a community of God, and God looks at these very people with grace and even, dare I say, praise. Just read some of the bible and you will see that God in some way praises certain people. Some sense of honor, thanks, or lifting up is given to them.

And let’s also think of how much of this “applause” we give to the people of the bible. Are they more important than us? Are you not giving them that same status, if not more, as God? According to the no applause logic, we might be doing just that.

I can’t help but think of the Pharisees who wanted so bad to lift up their nation and be holy and blessed by God, but in seeking blessing, they cursed others. We should not do this. Let’s love on others instead of being people who seek to just exclusive. Set yourself apart, but don’t push people away. Be different, but stop being distant. I think I might be guilty of this, so I think I’m going to be more gracious. Like I hinted at earlier, you practically applaud Abraham, David, Peter, and Paul, so do the same to the man who is next to you or near you. That is scriptural.

 

Staying in Love with God (Community vs. individualism)

I’ve been looking at Matthew 23:1-12, and if you look at this passage you begin to see one of God’s dream for the Jewish nation. Many times the Pharisees get a bad reputation as being completely evil and vile. Jesus said that that is not the case. He gives them the honor of being the ones to decide the meaning of scripture to the people. You will hear people say do not be a Pharisee or a religious leader, but we have to be careful with this. The point Christ wanted to get across was what the Pharisees did not do. They understood what was written and what was taught in the Law. They understood the Way of Life. They told everyone else to live in that Way. They just did not live it. They were very lenient on themselves and strict with everyone else. It is a sad sight, a dangerous existence that only brings hell. All of us are to do everything with love for God and not just love ourselves.
Famous author and pastor Rob Bell once wrote on being a super-godly yet fake leader. “I can’t begin to describe what it was like because it was happening so fast. One minute you have these ideas about how it could be and the next minute you are leading this exploding church/event/monster. All of a sudden there are all of these people who know who you are and want something from you and think you’re a big deal, and you are the same person you’ve always been. I think of people who never before cared if I existed who suddenly wanted to be my friend. And that’s why I tell you all of this. Because there’s a dark side. I was moments away from leaving the whole thing. People were asking me to write articles and books on how to grow a progressive young church, and I wasn’t even sure I was a Christian anymore. I was exhausted…burned out…done.”
One thing that can be so easy to fall into is that we need to love ourselves. Some of you are saying, “No, not me.’ But if you are taking conveniently look good over responsibly living what God teaches; if your wanting your very own works and leadership instead of humbly being someone who is broken and can be healed like every one else;
Now, let’s look at the Pharisees. They were people who knew the Law of God, or the Way of God, very well. They could tell you every single command that God had given his people. They had been to every temple or synagogue event. They had been faithful in the sacrifices. They claimed to be like spotless lambs with God’s ultimate favor. Jesus noticed that they were sitting in the seat of Moses, which was a position of great authority in the religious community. Here they could be presented with new and confusing issues and would decide how they should be handled. The Pharisees were basically interpreting the Law for the people. Jesus said to follow that. Do what your leaders say when they give you something that is from God. What Jesus said not to do was what they were doing, which was living a life for their own comfort and pleasure.
A life lived answerable to me is a dangerous one. It is here we find separation from God, which is known as Hell. Pharisees were imposing this severity of the Law on all the people who were lesser in knowledge of the scripture. The one person that they forgot was the Pharisee. This is probable the most serious power crime of the time and culture. Imagine a judge going out and murdering a man right after he had sentenced a man to prison for the same crime. It makes no sense. Imagine a police officer stealing some money from a bank. There is something wrong with that picture as well. The point is that imposing a way of life on someone and not following that same way of life is the very heart of what living a life not in love with God. All the kindness and justice and worship found in the Way of God taught by the Pharisees were meant for the Pharisees as well as the common man in Israel. The Nation of Israel as a whole had made the marriage covenant with God, no exceptions.
Another thing was killing the Pharisees, or any religious leader for that matter, was the desire to be noticed. These men wanted everyone to know that they were the holiest men in Israel, when even they messed up just like the common people did. It was not that they were sitting in the seat of Moses, it was that put off the face of perfection and did not live it out. Jesus said that they “tie heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” They simply did not live what they preached. They also loved the terms Rabbi, Father, and Master. These terms were common for someone who was superior to you in religious training. The people who were not religiously educated would use these intimate terms for these leaders. They loved being loved for their knowledge, leadership, and perfection.
One last thing that the Pharisees had was a draw to impress. Remember what Jesus said when he talks about the phylacteries, the tassels on their prayer shawls, and the seats of honor in the Synagogues. Phylacteries were boxes wrapped around the head or the arm of a Jewish man during their daily prayers. It was a tradition put into place by the Jews to honor and remember God. It was not a bad tradition until the religious leaders began to demand that people look how big their phylacteries are, and oddly enough, they seemed to keep getting bigger. The tassels come from the Old Testament command to have tassels on the end of their prayer shawls so that they would remember God, and these same guys’ tassels kept getting longer. So we can see that the tassels became something to remember the men wearing them instead of remembering the God who ordained them. They also relished the receiving of seats of honor in the synagogues. Seats of honor were probably special seating places in the synagogues for speakers or special guests. In these places they would be either closer to the place set aside for the reading of the scripture or they would be sitting in chairs while everyone would be on mats on the floor. Their need to be seen as holy led them to impress everyone with their clothes positions. The power over people and the fear from the people drove them to be some of the most hypocritical leaders of their time. They just wanted to impress, and not live out the Way of God.
Rob Bell discovered what the Pharisees never saw at all. He saw the detrimental effects of being the super leader, the holy man who is never wrong.
Another chapter of the same book describes his healing process. “I meet so many people who have super whatever rattling around in their head. They have this person they are convinced they are supposed to be, and their super whatever is killing them. They have this image they picked up over the years of how they are supposed to look and act and work and play and talk, and it’s like a voice that never stops shouting in their ear. And the only way to not be killed by it is to shoot first. Yes, that is what I meant to write. You have to kill you super whatever. And you have to do it right now.”
Rob Bell is seeing something profound but old. He has discovered the most important concept of life, and that is to love God. Jesus wanted the nation of Israel to see this truth. He wanted the people to have a draw to practice the Way of God. This draw to practice is more than knowing the law or being educated enough to tell people how to live life. The draw to practice the Way is to live out what God has willed in his covenant with you as a community. Loving God is living out what you say you believe in.
Jesus also said the best way to live included being drawn to be humble. The Pharisees wanted so bad to have their power and that attention and the fear. They were not willing to live past themselves. They were not willing to let that lifestyle of living for God overtake their desire to be above everyone else. But that is what you are called to do, to live past yourself, to kill your super whatever. Christianity is not just about getting it right with the rules and traditions; its about something more.
The last thing he wanted people to see was the draw to live out their faith. The leaders were. But they were not doing it with their lifestyle. They wanted the severity of law to be lived out by the people because it defined their position and power, but when it came to their own hearts desires, they did not even lift a finger. To live with the draw to live out your faith means to live the same message you preach. It means to smoke what you are selling. Your faith and your belief are not just defined by what you say, but also what you do.
When people start to fulfill this desire of God, they will see what eternal life is, what true humility is, and what it means to truly be a person who guides others to life. Maybe you are being called away from being just a judge who tells people what to do, and are being called to learn to also obey. Maybe you are being called away from being noticed through your knowledge or special events and positions that you are over, and being taught to also be humble through not leading and not contributing the most noticeable things. Maybe you are being called away from just living to impress others with what you seem to be, and being called to be someone in love with God. Rob Bell says something else in the same book that describes what a community healed from being a community of a bunch of individualists. He says, “I say the system has to be changed. It has to be destroyed and replaced not with another system but with an entirely new way of life. I see it happening and it gives me great hope. I see leaders getting help and refusing to stuff it anymore. I see communities embracing their brokenness and the brokenness of their leaders, and healing is taking place. I see honesty. I see people who want to be fully alive. I see people who want the life Jesus promises and who are willing to let go of ego and prestige and titles to get. I can’t begin to tell you how much better my life is today than it was several years ago. I continue to dig things up and process new insights and learn about my insides. The journey continues.”
I wonder if any of you want to know if Christianity can be saved from this, and the answer is yes. God wants it. Sometimes we just do not get what it means and we are constantly in need of new insight to our insides. Other times we just do not want to give up the things we have to get what God has planned for us. We are constantly in need of saving, even as Christians. Over and over we may fail, but by the grace of God, it is the one who lives in love with God who will be saved, not the one living infatuated with the self. If you want to see the staff positions; if you want to lead in the worship team or the choir; if you want to be the one who directs all the events and plays; if you want to be someone who keeps coming up to the pulpit and sharing, or even share testimonies in the congregation, think about it before hand. Have you thought that you might be doing it for you? Have you thought about not doing that job, but doing something behind the scenes? Have you thought about giving it up period? Maybe God is asking you to reconsider your part in this community. Remember that God wants your heart to match His heart. Live in the community mindset and not the individualistic mindset. Live in love with God and His creation instead of just you. Go, live out what you believe, and do not just be one who only seems Godly anymore. Be wrong every once in awhile instead of fighting to just be right and make everyone else wrong. That’s not trust or love. Let go of yourself. Then and only then will you see God’s kingdom here on earth and start your eternal life.

 

Bringing Hope

Isn’t this an odd post. I guess I am on another rant. This one may throw some people into a whole realm of disagreement with me, but I don’t care. I’m going to talk about being in outreach. I am going to use two groups, ONE and (RED). ONE is an organization that is for ending world poverty and disease. There products that you can buy that are not consider a donation or tax-deduction. They mainly want you to sign their petition. (RED) is more business oriented, but with a good idea backing it. I love this idea. Taking business and making it something that serves community. What is an occupation but fulfilling a need? So where are Christians in this? I don’t think I hear about things like this enough. We should be aware of these problems for one thing. AIDS is a problem, and we should see it as our call to heal and and bring hope. It is not a time to condemn. Poverty is an issue. People are poor, and money is what a man needs to eat and exist here on earth. If we truly believe in purpose, than why do we not treat people as if they have a purpose. This includes trying to save their lives along with teaching them how to better live it.

I know, these may not be Christian organizations. And I will defend myself by using conservative Republican Christian American as a foundation for my defense. I first will say that the Republican party is not the Messiah. It may even be a catalyst for the Anti-Christ, but those two things are true of the Democratic Party as well as other parties not mentioned. But when one is right and will serve for the betterment of the world, we vote for them. We want to see a country experience the goodwill God would like to have for humanity. So with that, we use other groups to fulfill our purpose, which is to fulfill the needs of the hurting and helpless.

I think of Jesus as he healed paralytics, demon-possessed men, helped his disciples pay taxes, eat with tax collectors and sinners, and, more important that ANY of these, died so that we could say, “I am forgiven.” What an expression of love. Let’s use this opportunity to reach people for Christ. It is a means to greatest end, and the means matches the end. So give to these groups or others as you are led by Christ, and not as led by your what you think is financially sound. Give like the widow. Give sacrificially, and know that in the end, Christ is more proud of your small contribution, than of the massive amounts of money the barely dent the wallots of the rich.