The Scariest Verse in the Bible

Lately I have been thinking a great deal about what it really means to say that, as Christians, we are followers of Jesus Christ. To that end, I have been reading (along with my small group) Francis Chan's Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God.

As I was reading today, Chan confronted me again with a verse that absolutely terrifies me. It is a passage that I have preached on before. I have read it repeatedly. I have meditated on the passage, hoping to find some peace with it. The fact is that I just can't... As a pastor, as a disciple, as one who loves those who call themselves "his church" this passage terrifies me.

Jesus is talking to the disciples gathered around him when he says...

Not everyone who says to me, "Lord! Lord!" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father in heaven. (Matthew 7.21)

Each and every week, people all over America go to houses of worship. They sing songs that make them feel good. They drop a few dollars into a collection plate. The listen to a message and a special song and pray for God to bless their little worlds. When all of this is done, the go home and think little of God, and his will until the time comes to return to church to do it all again. During their worship, they trumpet their love for God, the extol his many blessings on their life, yet astonishingly, their lives are impacted little by their "relationship" with God.

As a pastor, as afollowerof t Ancient of Days, I am concerned that so many people believe that this is all that Christan discipleship really is. They ignore the time spent with him in formative conversation. They ignore the homeless, the widow, the orphan. They focus more on how we can control our finances rahter than concieve of how God would have us use what he has entrusted us with to bless others. We hold tightly to our church buildings, our Sunday school rooms,when we meet to worship and what songs we sing rather than go across the street to share the love that Christ has lavished upon us. We shout, "Lord!, Lord!" as we scar those around us with our words, our actions and rub our WWJD bracelets.

I wonder what God think of our efforts to just "live for him"?

Maybe now you understand why I think this is the scariest verse in scripture....

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God's Missionary Heart

The last week has been an interesting intellectual journey for me. I was at ENC's PALCON (Pastors and Leaders Conference then this week I was reading Erwin Raphael McManus' The Barbarian Way to get ready for my small group. There was an interesting overlap in the discussion for me.

Roger Hahn and Ron Benefiel reminded me last week of the fact that central to the heart and character of God is His desire to reach all peoples with his love, mercy, and grace. In other words, God's heart is missional...that is a primary attribute of His character is mission. McManus reminded me that the uncivilized call of the gospel message on my heart is to give my life in love and sacrifice to those around me. John the Baptist, as he was between prison and platter, sent his disicples to ask the question, "Are you the one?" Jesus response was not new, in fact it was old news..."Tell John the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offense at me." Luke 7.22-23. After this, Jesus goes on to preach in Galilee.

Jesus left John in the dark place of Herod's prison. He would lose his head because he was faithful to the calling of God in his life. John lived the ultimate sacrifice for his faithfulness to the missional heart of God.

The higher way of the life of the disciple is to pour out our lives as an offering of love for Jesus Christ. That much we know. The rest of the story is that if we are indeed becoming like Christ, we are pouring out our lives into the lives of others that they may know the power of the resurrection within. We look with God's eyes of compassion on those who are lost, lonely, naked, thristy, hungry, and without a shepherd. The true measure of our relationship with God is how much we reflect his missional heart.

What Real Ministry Is...

I am sitting in the middle of my district's Missional Advance weekend. For several months now, I have been asking myself the question, "What does real ministry look like?" The black and white, analyzer side of my personality wants to have a set-in-stone definition of what I need to do as a pastor, leader, and discipler to connect people to Christ and help Christ change my community (Milford, DE). My dissertation research confirmed to me that there is no quick easy answer.

I have been thinking about the ministry of Jesus. I have come to understand that, as a whole, he ministered to one person at a time. When and where he encountered them. It was rarely convenient, often inconvenient. But that was where I see Jesus, one person at a time, one need at a time. He challenges us to do similar, a cup of cold water, a sweater or a listening ear.

Jesus shows me that ministry is having the eyes to see a need and the compassion and the personal resolve to do something about it. It is too easy to be seeing needs and talk about how bad things are and feel pious. No ministry gets done. We often gather in our fellowships and sing songs, hear sermons, and pray prayers and feel like we are doing something. Yet people are still hurting, lonely, frightened, and hungry.

Compassion sees a need and does something about that need. This is the heart of real ministry. What needs are you seeing around you today? How can Jesus use you to meet that need.

Personal Thoughts

There have been many emotions going through my mind and my heart lately. On the one hand I am filled with excitement at the future that God has in store for me and my ministry in the days ahead. On March 1, I will be moving to assume the pastoral duties of the Milford, DE Church. I am so excited to be leading this wonderful group of people. They have opened their hearts to us so quickly and seem to be excited to have me come to lead them into God's preferred future. I am convinced that God is about to do great things in the people of Milford and through the church.

While I have been experiencing the excitement that comes with a new calling, I have also been overwhelmed with the feelings of grief and loss that come with leaving a family behind. The past six years have been among the happiest of my life as I have led the Ryot Church. The folks here have become more than friends, they have become like a second family. I have been loved and accepted by the community. My email has been filled with well-wishes and testimonies of fellow umpires, referees, soccer friends and others we have grown close to have appreciate me and my involvement here. I find comfort in knowing that many of these folks will continue to be life-long friends.

I ask for your prayers in the days ahead. Pray for me and my family as we are apart for nearly four months; for the Ryot Church as they search for their new pastor; and for the Milford Church as we begin a new chapter in the life of the church. May God be glorified in and through us all.

Obedience

Obedience is one of those words that has been occupying my thoughts a great deal lately. It is a word that is often mentioned in scripture. Abraham was obedient to follwot he leading of God out to Ur. He was obedient to offer Isaac as a sacrifice when he was asked to do so by God. Moses finally gave in and obeyed God's call to return to Egypt to be the tool of God's deliverance for His people. David listened to the word of God and did NOT build the temple that he so desperately wanted to build to honor God. Ezekiel ate the scroll. Joseph married Mary when common sense told him to put her away quietly. Matthew, Peter, John, James, and the rest of the disciples heard the calling of Christ and left all to follow him. Paul heard the voice of the man from Macedonia and went there to share the gospel. Lets not forget the greatest illustration of obedience in scripture, Jesus humbly accepting his death on the cross to take away the sins of the world and give us life.

The word of God reminds us that God desires obedience even more than he wants sacrifice and worship. (After all, is worship really worship if there is disobedience in our hearts?)

So why is obedience so hard for us? God asks us to do things, or not do things and something rises up in us that resists doing that which we are asked. Churches struggle financially because disciples hoard their resources and withhold tithe. Classes go untaught because people with the gift of teaching are afraid to step out on faith and exercise the gift. Worst of all, unbelievers do not hear the good news of the love of Jesus Christ because we do not tell them. Let's face it, obedience is hard.

I think somewhere deep inside us we know why it is so hard to obey God. We have yet to surrender our will as well as our life to the control of the divine one. We hold on to those last vestiges of the illusion of self-autonomy. The greatest lie that Satan deceives us with is that we are in control of our own destiny and life. The fact is that we, apart from the freedom of God's grace, are in bondage to the tyranny of our will, taste, habits, and passions. The only true freedom comes when we are liberated for and by God as we surrender the totality of our lives, including our will, to Him. It is then that we can know the peace that comes from a life of obedience and trust.

I confess that there are times when obedience costs. Yet the fact remains that the cost is not nearly what we think it will be. Obedience yields the grace of God, his care, his provision, and his presence. The reward that we receive is the image of the divine one in us, the freedom that comes in knowing if we are following the will of God, he is responsible for the results, and the peace that comes in knowing that he is faithful and will complete his work in us.

I invite you to join me on the journey that is a life of surrendered obedience. I haven't arrived perfectly yet, but he is still showing me the realities of life in him.