The Reset Button

I like the line in the movie from A Muppet Christmas Carol when Scrooge asks the identity and origin of the spirit of Christmas past; “…there have been more than 1800 before me…” comes the reply. Christmas is a birthday celebration. Once a year, every year, the date set aside to remember the birth of Jesus comes around.

But whether you celebrate Christmas for that reason and with that focus or not, an annual celebration can be considered a time to hit the reset button. We need it from time to time anyway. A time to regroup and rest because life gets busy, difficult, we lose sleep, we fight for policies and politics, we wrestle with our relationships with family and friends, we suffer losses and health issues, we don’t know what to do sometimes, we get tired. Even in the best of environments like we have here in the United States for opportunity and advancement in our pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness we still do life one day at a time and each day brings only so much we can actually control.

So, as Christmas is here, the annual birthday celebration of God becoming like us and paving the way to what a good and abundant life is intended to be, let’s take the day to use it as a reset button. Let’s evaluate our relationships, our time, our health, our passions and priorities, and most of all our heart and soul. Solomon wrote that out of the heart come all the other issues of life. So if my heart isn't doing well; if it’s stuck in a rut, or overwhelmed with grief and sadness, or fearful or angry, or even selfish, this could be the time of year to hit that reset button and re-evaluate how it’s doing.

Even with the humble and lowly circumstances at that first ‘Christmas’ with the Son of God born as a human baby lying in a bed made from a manger, the angels still partied in the skies saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will toward men,” so, we too, can let the peace of God which passes all human understanding fill our heart and mind with the knowledge of God’s favor because He is for us!

Merry Christmas!

Sad Christmas Songs

“Merry Christmas,” “Happy New Year,” and “Happy Holidays” are common greetings of joy and gladness at this time of year. They are expressions of good will and hope for love in action to spread; for justice and mercy to be shown here and abroad and so much more. A pretty good thing considering the hope that Christmas represents. We are a broken world in need and we recognize it more at Christmas than any other time of year.

In regard to this merry, happy, and well-wishing season, some song writers have opted to go against the grain of the traditional feeling of joy and happiness with songs that tug on our heartstrings.

I was listening to a radio station the other day when they played a song I had never heard before. It was done by Nat King Cole, a wonderful vocalist for sure, but as the song progressed I heard the lyrics attempting to pull at my emotions to get me to feel something for this little boy it was talking about.

Maybe I wasn’t in the “Christmas spirit” or maybe I was being a “Grinch” or a “Scrooge” but my emotions turned to skepticism instead of empathy. As I listened to the beautiful arrangement of the orchestra and Nat’s smooth jazz vocal, the words just didn’t seem to sync with the rest.

It was Christmas morning; the little boy was out in the street looking for someone to play with. All the other little boys were out with their new toys and too busy to notice him. So he went back into his house to play with last year’s broken toys because Santa had forgotten this little boy. As the song continued it told me that this little “Laddie didn’t even have a daddy.”  Each verse seemed to make the situation more tragic and disappointing. I was skeptical. Is there a verse about his health next? Will there be another chorus with his momma not having any food in the house? I felt sort of sad for myself instead. Do I not have any empathy? Am I comfortable with my life and that’s good enough? Maybe that was what the songwriter was after – reflection.

I am not really sure but there are just some songs that I do not like. I’m sure you have your list too.

But this reflection is something to be considered. At Christmastime, we hope, we wish, we dream, we long for, we share, we bless, but most of all we reflect. Reflect on what? The classic words, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas just like the ones I used to know” give us a model. There is something in the human heart that longs for purpose, justice, to love and be loved, to make life better for not only ourselves but for someone else. Solomon wrote that he wondered what people got for all their hard work in life and concluded with these words: “God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Christmas is a season of good-will, joy, happiness, hope, love in action, dreaming, all the things that Jesus said He came to bring us because of God’s love and favor for us. It is available. And now we celebrate Christmas each year as a reflection of the longing, or eternity, that God has placed in our hearts. That eternity is more simply put as hope, joy, love, justice, righteousness, gladness, healing, grace and mercy and more than that they represent the character of God, actually, all the things our Christmas songs point to; even if they are trying to pull at our emotions.

The words to this traditional Christmas song say so much about that eternity in our hearts, that which we are reflecting on even if we don’t realize it, it’s what we hope for and really want for Christmas!

Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee

God of glory, Lord of love

Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee

Opening to the sun above

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness

Drive the dark of doubt away

Giver of immortal gladness,

Fill us with the light of day

All Thy works with joy surround Thee

Earth and heaven reflect Thy rays

Stars and angels sing around Thee

Center of unbroken praise

Field and forest, vale and mountain

Flowery meadow, flashing sea

Chanting bird and flowing fountain

Call us to rejoice in Thee

Thou art giving and forgiving

Ever blessing, ever blest

Well-spring of the joy of living

Ocean depth of happy rest!

Thou our Father, Christ our Brother

All who live in love are Thine

Teach us how to love each other

Lift us to the joy divine

Mortals, join the happy chorus

Which the morning stars began

Father love is reigning o’re us

Brother love binds man to man

Ever singing, march we onward

Victors in the midst of strife

Joyful music leads us sun-ward

In the triumph song of life

The Season of Joy

"It’s the most wonderful time of the year"… "Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la"…"Have a holly, jolly, Christmas it’s the best time of the year"…"A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear" even the songs of the season that are not about the actual birth and celebration of Jesus contain lyrics of hope and joy and gladness. It’s inherent. Mankind longs to be free, to be whole; to wake up in the mornings feeling complete, like it is going to be a good day without fear and full of hope and joy.

But we look around at the real world in which we live and what we see with our eyes, what we experience with our relationships, what we are going through with our health, what we hear with our ears on the evening news doesn’t seem very capable of providing that place of hope, joy, and completeness. So we look forward to Christmastime with the anticipation reflected in the children singing the opening song from A Charlie Brown Christmas, “Christmas time is here. Happiness and cheer.” We hope. But even with hope being a good thing, I believe as a whole, our hope has been placed into what has become as the “season” of Christmas.

When the angel of the Lord appeared in front of the shepherds in the hills around Bethlehem two thousand years ago this was the message they heard: “Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior – yes, the Messiah, the Lord – has been born today in Bethlehem.” (Luke 2:10-11) No fear? Good news? Great joy to all people? This is the stuff our Christmas songs long for!

But even more is the actual news, the event to which the announcement of and the anticipated hope for couldn’t compare, was that the Savior, the Messiah was here – born on earth! The Greek word here for Messiah is Christos which means “anointed one” referring to the coming of the Savior from the line of David as God had promised centuries earlier.

Luke, who was not Jewish, wrote the account of Jesus standing in the synagogue and proclaiming his purpose: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” (Luke 4:18-19) As the “Good News” spread beyond the culture of the Jews and into the cities of the Gentile’s  the name Messiah was used less and less and the Greek word Christos began to be used more; Christ – Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Lord, the Savior, the promised one who would bring great joy to all people. This, this is the real stuff of the season of Christmas lore! The event. The person. The Son of God come to be among us as one of us to show that a right relationship with God (peace between us who were disobedient and God’s wrath against that disobedience) can be accomplished.

 “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” and “God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ.” (Colossians 1:15, 19) Christ, Jesus, the baby in the manger, the Savior born in Bethlehem as the prophets wrote about, God loved us so much that he sent him to be born a human just like the rest of us and God, according to his faithfulness and promise to fix our broken relationship with him, chose to live in Christ while he was here as a man with flesh and blood.  It wasn’t because Jesus is the Son of God that God chose to live in him; it was because he chose not to sin and walk with God that God chose to live in him. It pleased God to do this. Jesus was modeling it for us in the flesh! God, in all his fullness, God, omnipotent, omnipresent, all encompassing and all consuming God chose to show us that it can be done! All of him can live in me! I need nothing else! There is nothing else I can find to fill the emptiness or calm the fear or fill with joy other than the fullness of God living in me! This, this, brings the season of joy for all people! This is what we long for!

So the next Christmas season song you hear, whether it says anything about the birth and event of Christ or not, let it remind you that the shepherds that heard the angels’ message that night near Bethlehem could have skipped with real joy all the way to town to see this amazing thing singing, Fa la la la la, la la la La!!!! Because it really is the season of joy! 

Real Life

In Wisconsin, along with preparing for Thanksgiving and the holiday season comes the annual gun deer season. Many a conversation around the Thanksgiving feast inevitably begins with, “Did you get your deer?” I’ve begun answering with the cliché that it’s called “hunting” and not “getting” for a reason and it’s the getting away and not the getting that is valuable to me. Pretty good excuses anyway. The trophy wall I can see in my mind of the ones that got away from me over the years is pretty impressive but it still doesn’t discourage me from heading to the woods each year with family to share and laugh and tell stories and dream a little.

I get lots of time to think too. To appreciate, to prioritize, to evaluate, to pray and to hear from the Lord in those quiet times; it’s a time to hit the reset button in my mind, my heart, and my life. I have begun looking for more than deer while out there too. In the beginning, God created man from the dust of the ground out in the wilderness and then made a garden and placed him in that cultivated and groomed place. I believe there is a time for doing the work a man is given and a time for adventuring out into the wilderness for a closer look at the big picture of life – even deer season has become more than about deer for me!

While out in the woods walking with my father, we came upon a cedar swamp with full grown trees rooted in the rotted stumps of their predecessors. You could see that the former trees were once huge and had been logged off a long time ago. The sun rays were shining through the branches; you could smell the cedar in the air, and we both looked at these new trees coming out of the cut-off stumps and thought the same thing – that it looks exactly like what God had said about Christ coming though the lineage of David as king but it would stop there and a new thing would begin; the very thing God had been up to all along.

It is found in the book of Isaiah 11:1-4 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot – yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited.

Well, this made me think about my own life too. How many of us feel like we’ve been cut down at some point in life, or wounded in a way that hinders us from growing? Oh, it may have been a hurt from a friend, or a loss, or a dream that was crushed, or a disappointment, or our own sinfulness. Our kids may not be doing what we thought they would be doing, our parents may need us more than we can find time for, our bills may be piling up, or our retirement shrinking due to the current economic situation. We pray, we give, we do church, and we say we believe, we claim faith, we keep on keeping on with what we should be doing to be counted among the faithful, but it sometimes seems like it’s going nowhere. I submit that we are getting good at putting on spiritual clothes and walking around playing the role of a Christian, or Jesus followers, but when it gets down to the reality of it all we are finding it difficult to apply it to the life we have right in front of us every day. I am thinking we are getting our walking around this earth life mixed up with our real life!

Here’s the missing piece: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “…those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” Paul also said that we died when Christ died, and our real life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). I can see my old life as that stump, the stump is still there – anyone can see it; but my real life that is by Christ is a new tree growing healthy and alive the way he wants it growing because it comes from his life.

So, I’m looking at the old, rotted, cut down stump of a cedar tree that was once healthy and vibrant and growing. The old stump then became a place for the new tree to take root and begin a new life of its own. And if I were to apply that to my own life I can see that as a Christian I am no longer supposed to continue the old life but begin a new life. I am still me, I still have the same dreams and skills and circumstances as before but they are a place for the new life that comes with Christ to take root and make the new life I can live. “I am crucified with Christ. I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:19b-20)

Flowers vs. Cacti

The old saying, ‘You catch more flies with honey than vinegar’ is similar to what I’m thinking. 

Nobody wants to be around a cactus person, someone who is all prickly and hard to get close to; we like flower people, all pretty and they smell nice. I was saying this the other day and someone said to me that the prophets were all prickly so that set the example for Christians today…implying we have to be course and tough and hard and, well, prickly in order to separate ourselves from people who do not believe in Christ and to get our point across. It’s scary to me what that whole mindset points to. I chose to be a flower person and just walk away.

Jesus said that all the prophets were until John (Luke 16:16) and all they did and all they wrote pointed to him (John 5:39). He said he came to proclaim God’s favor for all of us who were poor, blind, captive, and oppressed (Luke 4:18-19). It’s a new day and a new way from him forward. No demands, no judgment, no condemnation, no finger pointing – no more prickly. 

His message of God’s favor was not a behavioral alignment with the laws of Moses that the Jews had assumed were the very “truths” of God (Mark 7:6-8); but a fulfillment of what behavioral adherence could NOT do – heal the hurts, repair the brokenness, remove the darkness, and forgive the sin of the human heart (Matthew 5:17). He came preaching and teaching that the sorrow we experience when we realize that dysfunction in our hearts is the Holy Spirit at work drawing us to the Father (John 6:44). He taught us that repentance isn't a bad thing but the very thing God is looking for (Luke 18:10-14)! That message, that we are ALL sinners in need of repentance, made him prickly cacti only to the religious leaders who thought they had all the answers. They continually prodded Jesus for an alignment from him to the way they stood up for the “truth” of their religion. They were so blind to what the “truth” really was that they couldn't even define who their neighbor was so they could fulfill their own idea of what the “law” or, “truth” as they saw it demanded of them (Luke 10:29-37).

Jesus turned the demand for behavioral alignment upside down and pointed to the human heart and our actions in a different way. When asked out of all the commandments and demands of the religious law which one is the greatest (which one should we really concentrate on to align with), his reply was to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40) No prickly, no demands, just options and opportunity.

Instead of demanding alignment he paved the way for people to begin living with the Spirit of God in them. To see themselves and their neighbors as God sees them. That Spirit would reveal and direct them through and out of their sin and into a fullness of life never available through self justification from having believed certain things or even doing certain things. And some of that revealing takes time – it doesn't always happen overnight.

I believe we as a church (Branches in particular) need to assume this very same attitude that Christ had. LET THE HOLY SPIRIT DO HIS WORK! We want the people who do not have Jesus’ forgiveness and healing and life to find it but what are we doing about it? I believe the root of our anemic and powerless effectiveness in our culture is because we haven't experienced that godly sorrow, repentance, forgiveness and healing of our hearts fully ourselves. Oh, we do church, we sing songs, we pray, we give to the cause, we believe, we feel secure in our faith; but what are we actually doing about it? The role of the church in the dark world is not to turn on the light to condemn sin and godlessness, but to share how he has brought us out of that darkness into his light and life.

At Branches Church we want to be able to come as we are and continue our faith journey from there. That is available for everyone – gay or straight, rich or poor, greedy or generous, lustful or faithful, believing or unbelieving, addicted or clean, single or married, pro-life or pro-choice, citizen or alien, employed or unemployed, receiving welfare or self-sustaining, able to forgive or not able to forgive, loving or hateful, trusting or skeptical, all need to be able to start or continue their faith journey from where they are at without judgment or condemnation or prickly demands from God’s people so that the Holy Spirit can do his work in all of us. That means we have to accept people as they are and let them journey forward in their faith just like Christ allowed us to do when we first came to know him (or like the apostle said, rather, now that he knows us).

Is there definable sin? Yes. But that revelation and awareness comes from the Holy Spirit – not the church. You may say that people will not know if we don’t tell them. The only way I am going to listen to you tell me how you see, say, greed in my life and I need to repent of it is if you have earned my trust or friendship. This is what I mean when I say ‘what are we doing about it?’ We can say this is a sin or that is a sin all day long and we all can find a million ways to justify it or reason it out or redefine it so that it isn't.  But when the Holy Spirit reveals it to us, and a friend is there to help us through it using God’s word to confirm what the Holy Spirit is doing and saying in our hearts (John 16:13-15) we can identify what it is and repent, forgiveness removes it from our lives, we are justified before God, and we become a new creature. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Another step in the journey has taken place without the church demanding a behavioral alignment on the outside that does nothing to change the life on the inside.

I believe we will see more people come into the Kingdom of God because of being flower people rather than being cactus people. James said it best: “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealously and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving. Gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.” – James 3:13-18

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July! With all the frustrations that can be felt over healthcare and budget and politics in general, especially during an election year, I can still mean it when I say, “Happy fourth of July!”

I know it’s easy to complain and worry over our election process – like who gets in and who gets left out, who spends what and who says they won’t – but I am reminded that this same election process has gotten us this:

I can still call the fire department when my house or land is burning and they will come and put it out.

I have an armed police force at the tip of my finger ready and willing to protect me, my family, and our property just for asking.

I have the freedom to travel from state to state whenever I want without citizenship papers or language barriers.

I have an armed, trained, and capable Coast Guard patrolling our shores for enemies of our way of life risking their lives every day trying to quench drug paraphernalia and illegal infiltration of criminal activity.

I have a military that defends our way of life and the right to argue our convictions and religion and politics to the last man so I can go about my life daily with the freedom to think and speak as I see.

I have zoning offices and local government offices that have mapped out the difficult work of the land and its uses for me when I want to build a house or make improvements to my existing driveway so that everyone is safe.

I have local municipalities that make sure I have clean, healthy water running in my home and a food and drug administration keeping watch over what becomes available to the general public.

I have friends and neighbors who have used their resources and freedom to do business as they see it to open grocery stores and gas stations so that I can get these items just down the street from my house. And, I can expect that same thing as I travel through neighborhoods across this country.

I can go to school whenever I want to.

I have more money in my pocket to go see fireworks and eat an ice cream tonight than most people in the world have to live on for a month. (and there is something wrong with that!)

I have insurance that protects the money that I put in the bank – as well as my life and property.

I can get the current news on multiple channels of media.

I can take a vacation and relax without the fear of losing my job or being harmed or kidnapped by drug lords or guerrilla fighters opposing the government.

I get to work without being a slave and it’s acceptable to take holidays like July Fourth to play! So, Happy Fourth of July everybody!

Going to Camp

If you’ve ever spent a week at a summer Bible camp secluding yourself away from your ipod and cell phone, taking time to hear from the Lord, making friends and having a ball, then you know that this next week for me is going to be a lot of fun!


I have been helping with the counseling, music, teaching, and speaking at Senior High Alive at Lake Lucerne WI for about a decade now and still don’t get tired of it. The friends, the ministry connections, the camaraderie, the way we all want to see lives transformed and growing in Christ, all make for a week of hard work of harvest but worth every effort.

The friends I’ve made there over the years have been solid. They have turned out to be friends that have changed the course of my life – literally! Branches Church exists as a member of the Association of Related Churches because of my connections through Senior High Alive. Ministry partners from camp are now on our Board of Overseers that hold me as the lead Pastor at Branches accountable and on track and encouraged. One of our former Children’s Directors was connected with me through this camping ministry – I say former because marriage and school and career have placed her and her husband in Minnesota. I have watched boys who had me as their counselor years back grow into strong and faithful young men who are using their vacation time from work returning and counseling the boys now as staff.

So say a prayer for us at Senior High Alive this week that God would show Himself faithful and true to each and every person setting aside their schedule of work and summer in order to be among a group of Christians who want to see lives changed and made Alive!

What I Learned from Harry Shay

During the late 1930’s and early 1940’s while Europe was embattled in the beginnings of WWII most of America was assuming a posture of isolationism. Basically, let’s not get involved in another European conflict; let them deal with it themselves.


The reasons were plenty. Two decades after the war to end all wars America just wanted to get through its depression and get back on its feet again. It’s hard to worry about what the neighbors are doing when you are worrying about finding enough for the kids to eat or keeping the family farm.

With this past Memorial Day weekend and June 6th coming in next week I’ve been taking a few moments to reflect. This is what I’m thinking:

On June 6th, 1944 my grandfather’s younger brother, Harry Shay, was in a landing craft headed toward Omaha beach as part of the third wave of soldiers to assault the German defenses. As I visited with him just last year (right before he passed away) he spoke of the difficulties of making headway through the pounding the Germans were throwing at them and the friends he lost that day. His wife, Lorraine, said that he had been recently waking in the night screaming names of people she had not heard of before. When I asked him about what was happening he told the gruesome details of how friends were killed and the guilt he felt of decisions he made that now made him ask, “Why am I the one who is alive?”

He told of the artillery, the noise and mayhem, the beach held no safe place and the tide coming in on them. He told of the machine gun fire crisscrossing the fields as they reached the top of the bluffs. He told how they reached the hedgerows and found that the Germans had the best fortified positions by just using the giant hedgerows as a natural shield and barrier from the American assault. He said that they couldn’t move without exposing themselves to the gunfire.

“It was us farm boys from Wisconsin, I’m proud to say, that said, ‘get us a torch and a welder up here and we’ll put some teeth on these tanks and bust through these hedgerows!’” He said. But with every story he had of a victory or a good idea he had one of loss and trouble and death too. But it was the initiative of those individual soldiers, the citizen soldiers as author Stephen Ambrose called them, that was able to get them through the difficulties of not only that day but it’s what shook America out of its isolationism.

I said, “Harry, why did you volunteer to sign up in the first place?” His answer kind of surprised me. He said, “The whole world was in trouble and we knew it. If we didn’t do something about it we were all going to be in trouble. So, me and my three buddies went down together and signed up…that’s all there was to it. We had to.”

We had to… I thought. No you didn’t. You guys chose to. Stephen Ambrose contends that Hitler gambled that the sons of a dictatorship would be better soldiers than the sons of a democratic society. He figured that the boy Scouts couldn’t produce the kind of man that his dictatorship could. He was wrong. The difference? Initiative.

Initiative awakened America out of its isolation to see the need. Initiative caused Harry and his pals and tens of thousands of others to march down to the recruiting offices and sign up for the fight. Initiative kept them going when the task or sight before them was more than bearable. Initiative allowed their training to kick in and apply it to their dangerous situations. Instead of hiding behind the obstacles trying to stay away from the machine gun fire and artillery burst initiative caused them to move forward and get to the tidal wall out of the line of fire. The men who tried to stay out on the beach and hide behind the obstacles were more likely to be killed.

I believe the church can take a lesson from this today.

Christians are always tempted to stay away from the “bad” things going on around us and keep to ourselves, to crawl into an attitude of isolationism, or safety, to hide behind our personal convictions or political affiliations or even Christianity itself. DON’T DO IT! It’s not what we are called to do. We are called to be salt and light in a dark and troubled world. When we became a follower and disciple of Jesus we signed up. Not to get away from the trouble, but to contend with it! When we begin to recognize that the whole world is in spiritual trouble, lost and wandering aimlessly without God, then we’ll have been awakened by understanding and ready for initiative which is not based solely on training and memorization of tactics, or God’s laws, but on wisdom from God. Solomon explains why he wrote the proverbs down for us:

Proverbs 1:2-7 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair. These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young. Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles. Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Solomon wants to equip us with wisdom and understanding so we may take some initiative with confidence and DO our life with God instead of hiding from the turmoil around us hoping to get through safe and sound.

Proverbs 3:5-7 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend in your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

Fear of the Lord recognizes total dependence on God for everything, including knowledge and wisdom. Fear of the Lord is the basis of all knowledge. How can we understand life without knowing the most fundamental truth about it – that it is God’s creation? It is not just a mental attitude but involves service, love, and obeying God’s laws and some initiative on our part to be awakened to the trouble around us and get involved.

Thanks, Harry, for choosing wisely and setting a good example for me to follow! RIP.

Put It on Your Calendar

One of the core values of Branches Church is to be authentic. Real people, real lives, real Jesus is a catch phrase we’ve committed to so we might never become an isolated group of religious people who are irrelevant to the community around us. This week’s blog is dedicated to that core value. We have a long way to go but we are committed to getting there…one person, one conversation, one event at a time.


When [Jesus] saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

This kind of compassion is rare. Oh, we talk a good talk about it. We even expect it from others to do something about (name an injustice). This kind of compassion that Jesus was moved with comes from more than an emotional response to an injustice. This kind of compassion comes from deep within a person, from the core of who we really are.

This kind of compassion causes a young man or woman to forego starting their career until after they’ve joined the Peace Corps or a mission assignment for their church. This compassion causes the cancer survivor to give their time to fundraising for a cure. This compassion moves a family to spend time on a holiday volunteering for others at the shelter instead of sleeping in and staying home. This kind of compassion is more than words.

It’s no wonder we often avoid it. Who is comfortable with such an emotion that comes from so deep within us that it causes us to change our schedule, re-evaluate our leisure time, ask our family to sacrifice, or give up our Saturday to-do project to go across town and do something for someone else? Yeah, rare.

There are three things that will get you a job: having the talent, or ability; having the desire, or want to; and having the schedule, or time in your life for it. Any one of which, if missing, will take you out of the running for said job.

The same goes for compassion. We have the ability to see injustices, we have the ability to see needs, and we have the ability to see those who need help all around us. But if we took a look at our desire to do something about it, to actually be moved with compassion about these things, it involves more than seeing – we have to have the desire, or want to.

If we were to admit it, we really spend more of our effort complaining about what we see than being moved from deep within to do something about it. We may feel we can do nothing about it, it may seem like too big a problem, or it seems hopeless, or we don’t feel qualified, or their opinion and worldview is different than mine, or it’s against my religion…or whatever.

The ability to see the weary multitude like lost sheep, and the desire to do something about it if moved to compassion, causes us to change or adapt our schedule to accommodate the needs. This is the fruit of compassion.

The conclusion of Jesus’ compassion as Matthew recorded it?

He said to his disciples (the church), “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

Nobody really wants to know of your personal convictions or beliefs by hearing complaints of what you see around you; that’s wearying. Show me your schedule, show me your compassion, show me that you not only see it, but you are willing to use who you are with what you have and put it on your calendar!

Seeing Their Faith

The house where [Jesus] was staying was so packed with visitors that there wasn’t room for one more person, not even outside the door. And he preached the word to them. Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above his head. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” – Mark 2:2-5


I love the line that Mark uses when he writes, seeing their faith. Jesus obviously had to of heard the commotion put into tearing a hole in the roof, He saw the sick man, He knew there was a needy person there, this was all happening right above His head and in front of him. But what caught Jesus’ attention, as well as Mark’s observation, was the faith of the four guys.

Four unnamed guys, four men who could have been home doing chores, hanging with the kids, at work getting more done, taking their wife out to lunch, working on their own needs.

God knows that there are hurting people, broken people, and sick people inside and outside of the church. That’s why Jesus came in the first place! What was it He said His mission was; “…to preach Good News to the poor…to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” (Luke 4:18-19)

If we want to get God’s attention, it is better suited for us to show Him our faith than to try and show Him our troubles. He already knows our hurts and pain and dysfunctions and injustices; that’s why He sent His Son in the first place. It’s when we skip placing our faith in His Son that puts us in a faithless posture and turns us into a consumer with needs. He sees our need, our sickness, our helpless state!

Apostle Paul said, “This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

This is a given to God’s children but…

“It is impossible to please God without faith.” (Hebrews 11:6)

So, as we at Branches Church are being real people living real lives in relationship with a real Jesus, we can know our needs are being met by God who loves us and sees us and knows our need; but does He see our faith?

What we do to get others who are sick and hurting and helpless into the presence of Jesus so they can hear the Word may cause a commotion, a bit of interruption for those in the room, a bit of awkwardness as we may set someone in front of Jesus in an unconventional way…but it will get the Lord’s attention as He sees our faith so that the kingdom of God can grow!

Act Like the King!

When you are the king, or the coach of a team, a department leader at work, or a dad, a husband, a mom, a wife, a mentor, a local or national political leader, any position that gives you a kingdom to influence and take care of, you are there to use your God-given place to benefit others. But with King David, there were times he used his influence, position, and resources for selfish purposes rather than for the people.


This week at Branches we looked at what it took for King David to act like the king. It took a tough talking friend and a guilty conscience, both of which he was willing to listen to.

David didn’t go to “king school” to learn how to do this leadership thing God had called him to. No. God had taken him from tending sheep in the pasture and selected him to be the leader of His people. (2 Samuel 7:8)

This shows loud and clear in two particular instances: when David’s son Absalom is killed by David’s army for trying to overthrow the kingdom and when David disobeys God by taking a census of Israel. Both scenarios show David being able to be the king by remembering that he is the shepherd. It’s an attitude adjustment that affects his behaviors.

As David is weeping uncontrollably over the death of Absalom, his friend, Joab, comes to him and challenges him to act like the king. He says that the people that David is king over are afraid to come back home again because his sadness makes them feel as if they have done something wrong in eliminating David’s opposition. “You make us feel ashamed of ourselves.” (2 Samuel 19:5)

Here is the king, thinking that all is about him, all should be for him, and all should go his way – I’m the king, all should go well for me! It doesn’t. Getting everything to go our way doesn’t make us the king, or the dad or mom, a good coach, a benevolent leader, an effective mentor, or a thoughtful husband or wife. How we respond to not getting our way can lead to being a good king, the dad or mom whose advice is sought after, a good coach, a benevolent and influential leader, an effective mentor, and a cherished wife and respected husband!

When Joab confronted his friend David with his selfish attitude I believe David might have finally remembered that he was there for the people in the same way he was there for his sheep years earlier. It hadn’t been that long ago when he had stood before King Saul and said he was willing to go out and face the giant Goliath with confidence because he had faced the lion and the bear that were after his father’s sheep. Having defeated them he knew he was able to defeat this giant too.

Later, when David chose to fall into the hands of a merciful God for his punishment for sinning against God’s command not to take a census of Israel rather than fall into the hands of his military enemies, he is astonished at the devastation that the people of Israel are under for his sin. 70,000 people are dead in three days by the hand of the death angel that God had sent. By the time the angel had reached the outskirts of Jerusalem, David makes an extraordinary statement: When David saw the angel, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent sheep – what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.” (2 Samuel 24:17)

Here again, David had learned how to act like the king by remembering that God had made him a shepherd. A shepherd not to rule over the sheep but to take care of them.

A shepherd can take one of two attitudes in their work. The sheep are there to build up and get me what I want or, the sheep are there for me to nurture so they can be all they are able to be. The end result is that the shepherd gets the sheep to market and that is ultimately why it is done. But the attitude in approach to how they are brought to that point changes everything.

That is why the apostle Paul writes to us this:

“Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.” (Philippians 2:3-7)

This is Jesus being a good shepherd; a good king. He is here on behalf of others. He had the right to descend to earth and demand obedience, submission, and conformity – he is God, all things were created by him and for him, he gave us life itself. (John 1:3-4) But Jesus chose to humble himself on behalf of others, give up his rights, live as human as the rest of us, and pave the way for a right relationship with God for us all! “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)

So we can see the precedent laid out in the Old Testament Scriptures with the life and attitudes of David, and Paul setting up Jesus as our example of humility in how to treat those in our sphere of influence. Our thoughts, attitudes, and actions are to become more and more like those shown by Christ. As we reflect honestly on our lives, can we be humble enough to admit our faults, let alone the complaining of someone else’s? When we realize, like David, that we are to act like the king, we can then begin to use the experiences we’ve lived, the knowledge we’ve gained, and the understanding of our relationship with a gracious God to influence others – not demand their conformity to our thinking, beliefs, and convictions.

It’s giving up our “rights” and taking on the attitude of Jesus that we are here to live our life for others - whether they "conform" or not. I know it’s upside down in a world that is obsessed with “rights’ and selfishness…but herein lies the foundation of the behaviors and attitudes of the Christian faith: Do for others as you would like them to do for you. (Matthew 7:12)

To be honest, I have yet to see this evident in the whole of Christianity today. We should start to act like the king!

Even Good Guys get it Wrong Sometimes

Looking into the life of David as we go through the books of Samuel, Chronicles, and the Kings, allows us to see both the “Good Guy” David and the “Bad Guy” David. It’s hard to think that this is the “man after my own heart” that God chose to lead His people when we see his life laid out in detail.

We love the stories about success and triumph, obedience and loyalty, like his conquest of the giant Goliath or his friendship with Jonathan. We love to hear about his thirty mighty men who were his personal bodyguards and kept him alive on the battlefield, and how he rescued Abigail from a life that was beneath her abilities and brought her into his palace so she could become all she was meant to be. We like to read the Psalms he wrote when he is recounting the lovingkindness and unfailing love of the Lord and his passion to worship. We like to hear about his benevolence to the less fortunate in his kingdom. This is the “Good Guy” David; the one that makes sense to us that this is the kind of man God would choose.

David’s life is filled with the everyday things of real life. He’s the youngest of eight boys; he’s a talented musician; he’s brave and responsible; he’s got a great work ethic; he’s a friend, a husband, a father, an employer, a soldier, a lover, a thinker and a writer and yet, impulsive. He’s generous yet selfish. He’s a builder and a money maker and provider; he’s a leader and a mover and shaker. He has surrounded himself with good and capable people but still needs to be alone.

I do not envy the fact that David’s life has been laid out for all of history to see in detail. I would not want that for myself. David said to the Lord once, “Who am I? What can I say? You know what I’m really like.” And God let us all in on what He saw in David – the good, the bad, and the ugly because even good guys get it wrong sometimes.

His adulthood seems to have started here. In all his passion as a lover, he seems to have blown off his first marriage to Michal, Saul’s daughter. The bible says that she loved him very much. They were newlyweds when they were separated by trouble in the kingdom. She helps him escape with his life and covers for him so he can get to safety. He never returns for her. She starts over with a new life, a new husband, and a new town. When David realizes after eight years that it cost him plenty to have her as his wife he wants her back. He rips her from her new life and family and places her back into his home. But this woman has gone from loving him to despising him. Who could blame her? She has gone from number one in his life and risking it all for him to being number three in a growing list of wives. Then, even though he is the man of the hour, good guy David setting up worship for the kingdom of Israel, good guy David blessing all the families of the land and feeling pretty good about himself, Michal lets her contempt for him and his duties show. His reply? “Don’t forget that God chose me over your dad and brothers!”

There! That ought to put her in her place! Wow! One minute he’s blessing the households of his kingdom and the next he’s spitting out curses to his own. David and Michal never reconciled the relationship. The bible says that she died bitter and childless. This is the “Good Guy” David getting this one wrong.

It happens to us all the time. We misuse our time, our money, our judgment. We say selfish things, we do selfish things. It’s not that we don’t mean well or want to do the right thing. But, sincerity and good intentions without self-reflection cannot be used as an excuse for selfishness. It will get us into trouble most every time! Just like David.

When I read about David and see the bad along with the good, I think about his predecessor Saul; God rejected him as king of Israel because he sinned and was selfish too. What’s the difference I ask myself? Saul continued in his selfishness and it became his demise. David continually came back to the Lord repenting of his sin and disobedience and God seems to have had room in his heart for that!

David writes in Psalm 51, after one of his episodes of sin and disobedience, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart.”

The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 5:20-21, “As people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness became more abundant… giving us right standing with God resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ.”

God’s grace exists because even good guys, and gals, get it wrong sometimes!

God Has a Plan

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT


As we, at Branches, are going through the Bible in the year 2012 from cover to cover, it’s been kind of fun going through it chronologically. To see the events unfold in the order they happened can open our understanding a bit more as we look into a time and a culture very different than our own.

It’s really easy for the church today to look at the Scriptures through filters of our own experiences, laws, human rights, lifestyles, economic achievements, social orders, and post WWII non-imperialistic politics. The world has also gotten smaller as technology and transportation have improved. What used to take weeks or months to relay a communication takes only moments to go around the entire world. People regularly travel across the continents to do daily business and are back home again within hours. This calls for filters of tolerances, acceptances, protocols, behaviors, and mindsets previously not part of the daily thinking of the church.

It also opens the church up to the same thinking as the Israelites had when they were settling in the land of Canaan; they wanted a king in order to be like all the other nations. They no longer wanted God to speak to them through His prophets and judges. They wanted a king to call the shots. God warned them. He told them that a king would cost them in taxes, labor, economic slavery, and debt, but they insisted…they wanted to be like everyone else.

It was easier…to their thinking...to just accept the religious practices, laws, family protocols, and business dealings of the other nations than it was to be “different” by following what God had set up for them for pure religious practices that He would accept, laws that were just, family order, and honest business dealings. It cost them. But God faithfully used their situation to get them back to His intended purposes for them as a people, to bring the Messiah to the world through them, and reach into the entire world with His message of hope for all of mankind through the Good News; and He will continue doing that for them as He wraps up all of time someday.

He has it written in the Scriptures.

This is the main thing: God’s Word is true. Whether you and I believe it is or not, it is. North is still north whether I am lost and don’t believe it or not. God has always had a plan, He will continue on His plan, and He will be faithful to His plan to complete it. And the Scriptures are how He has let us in on how that plan works!

So, as we at Branches are reading through the Bible this year, know that it is not just a compilation of Hebrew stories, good proverbs, and teachings of a good person who meant well. These Scriptures, though not the life and hope God offers in and of themselves, point to the life and hope that He is offering us all! And not only do they point to Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life, but they teach us what is true in our daily life and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives and then to correct the wrong thinking and doing and enable us to think and to do what is right! What a gift!! Not only has God told us His plan in the Scriptures, but these same Scriptures teach us His plan, show us when we are out of His plan, enable us to understand His plan, and empower us to participate in His plan.

I love the apostle’s realization of this same thinking: “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally completed on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” – Philippians 1:6 NLT

God has had, has, and will complete His plan as written in the Scriptures! We will continue to be looking into them!

Against the Wind

Looking out my window this morning at the blustery day that it is outside I am feeling pretty good as I sit inside a warm room with a cup of coffee glad to not be out in this wind. I don’t do well with wind. I’ve never liked it. A breeze is one thing, but wind always seems to have a way of frustrating you in whatever it is you want to be out doing. When you have an ideal day at 75 to 80 degrees and calm, mostly sunny skies, you can get a lot done with little resistance.

That’s it! Resistance. That’s what I don’t like about wind. Yesterday here it was in the 70’s, partly sunny and calm; today we’ll have a high in the 40’s with the wind blowing steady at 22 mph and rain with a possibility of being mixed with snow. A windy day means a change in the weather is coming – for better or worse.

A windy day can also mean good things too. It helps strengthen the root systems of plants and trees. A windy day will clear the dead branches out of the trees in the yard. It dries up the puddles and fields and clears the rooftops of debris. Good things, but still frustrating when trying to keep the boat in position on the lake, or paddle the canoe, or roof the shed, or get up on the ladder to fix that window, or keeping the dust from getting into your painting project.

When I see the windy day my first reaction is to not even get started. Wait for it to calm down. But, things have to get done so we step out into the wind, or resistance, and deal with it best we can.

I have been reading through the writings of James for the past few months for my personal growth. He’s got a “hands on” perspective of the gospel and it’s been quite challenging. I believe the point that James is trying to get across to us is that real Christians don’t just stand around. We don’t always get it done well, but we are to step out into the wind and get at it.

“Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.” (1:19-20) “Remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to.” (1:22)

Ohhhhh, there will be windy days where it seems like you just can’t get anything done without resistance and frustration. He never suggests to wait it out until there is a calm or ideal circumstances but to just do it. Here’s how he starts his letter:

“Greetings! Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything…God blesses the people who patiently endure testing” (1:1-4, 12)

Bob Seger wrote about his understanding of life going from a young man into a middle age man, “Against the wind, we were running against the wind. We were young and strong, we were running against the wind…and the years rolled slowly past and I found myself alone…I found myself seeking shelter against the wind…I’m still running against the wind. I’m older now but still running against the wind.”

I believe the conclusion of this matter is not to seek shelter and leisure and a resistance free life, but one where we learn from our experiences and allow God to change our character which then affects our choices and behaviors as we step out into the wind.

Everything

While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people putting their gifts into the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two pennies. “I assure you,” he said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” – Luke 21:1-4


In the movie The Magnificent Seven with Yule Brenner, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and others, the farmers in the small village are being bullied by bandits. They work the dry soil to harvest food for their families only to have the bandits come in and steal it from them. They cannot defend themselves. They have only one hope; hire a gunslinger to protect them.

They call for Yule Brenner’s character, which is the most famous gunslinger in the land, and ask for a meeting. When they do meet, he tells the group of farmers that they cannot afford him by telling them that people pay good money for his services. What happens next in the movie really caught my attention.


One of the villagers takes out a cloth and lays it on the table. He unwraps it and says, “This is everything we own; everything of value in the village.”

Looking at the meager jewelry and silver items in the cloth Yule Brenner replies, “I’ve been offered a lot for my services; but never everything.”

As the movie progresses, the gunslinger recruits six men who have this same value of what “everything” is worth. They offer their services not for the prestige or amount, but for the cause because it is right and just.

God has an altogether different standard by which to measure giving and givers than what we have come to know as economics. With God, attitude counts more than amount. Justice weighs more than resources, and that is why Jesus praises this widow woman as she gives “everything” she has. A generous person isn’t simply one who gives conveniently and comfortably out of abundance. A generous person in God’s eyes is one who risks all, sacrifices cheerfully, and gives without demanding attention or expecting a reward.

Whether it’s our time, talents, or money, God wants us to give “everything” to him.

I would recommend watching The Magnificent Seven if you haven’t seen it. It is full of scenes that show the choices we all must make every day when it comes to our attitude, justice, and just what “everything” we have is worth.

We All Start Somewhere

When I look at this project that has been sitting in my backyard for years I see myself. Let me explain.

I was at a conference last week where I listened to many pastors whom I respect and watch very carefully to see how they handle their lives, their churches, their ministry, and their heart.

As I listened I heard many things that spoke to my own life. Things like; "When something is happening to me, God wants to do something in me." and, "Stop doing 'sissy' church!" and, "God is more interested in your character than your comfort." and, "Guard your heart for it holds the dreams and issues of your life."

But the one that hit home for me, the one that really spoke to my inner thoughts was from the man who trained me in church planting, a man whom I look up to because I see the 'success' of his ministry and his work. He said, "I do not doubt the calling God has placed on me, but I doubt why He chose me."

That's it! That's how I feel most everyday of my life. I thought I was the only one. I'm not.

I know what God has called me to do. I know the method and the mission in which I can do it according to the way He has gifted me. I also know that I see more weakness than strength; more insecurity than confidence; more of what I lack than what I can offer. But I am not alone.

The Apostle Paul said that it was when he was weak that it was in that inability that God becomes strong. When I am insecure or lacking strength or knowledge or wisdom, God rises to the occasion and comes through for His plans and purposes. "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who are called according to His purpose for them." (Romans 8:28)

I am so glad that God does not need us to be everything we can be to come to Him. I am so glad that we do not need to be able to claim to have done everything right. I am so glad that He is more interested in defining us by what He has for us than by what has happened(or not happened) to us!

As I look at this project in the above picture I can see it's pretty much in tact but missing a few key things. It's been beat up, knocked around, abandoned, abused and neglected. It's been out of its purpose and use for a long time and it's in need of a lot of new parts and tender loving care from someone who understands its potential. As I look, I see myself sitting before a loving, all-knowing God who gave His best for me, has the best in mind for me, and has the best prepared for me, and I realize that we are all on a journey and we all start somewhere!

Be Nice!

There are three little words I want to talk to us about today:

Acceptance - which is to receive willingly, to believe in, to treat as welcome, worth accepting.

Approval - which is to prove or express favorable opinion of, to accept as satisfactory.

Assimilation - which is to make similar, in conformity with what is already available to consciousness.

In Acts 10:34-35 Peter said, “I see very clearly that God doesn’t show partiality. In every nation He accepts those who fear Him and do what is right.”

The early church is in uncharted waters as it is expanding its message of the resurrected Jesus into the cities and neighborhoods of the known world to anyone who would listen. First they went to the Jewish sectors of the cities…these were people who were much like they were; they understood their terminology, their customs, their culture, had the same background, they knew the same stories, but…

People who were not like them or from their line of thinking were starting to respond to the gospel! Yay! God wins!

But, these new converts to Christ didn't revolve their lives and beliefs around the ancestral lineage starting with Abraham that formed the twelve tribes of Israel; they hadn’t been in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified; they weren’t in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came; they have jobs in foreign governments; they eat meats that Israel didn’t because they were foods that were offered to false gods by other people; they didn’t observe Jewish holy feasts and festivals; they just weren’t like the Hebrews at all.

Now the early church is asking itself, what do we do; can we accept, why should we approve, do we assimilate…??

What the mindset was up ‘till now was that in order to be accepted, you had to be assimilated into a Jewish belief system so that you could be approved…that made for acceptance. There was a demand for the new converts to conform to Jewish traditions of religious laws like circumcision, and observing certain customs and festivals, and eating certain meats and not other certain meats. But, the gospel as commissioned by Jesus was to start at home in Israel, move into the countryside, then into neighboring countries and cultures and then spread into the entire world.

We get the benefit of hindsight looking back at what is called the Great Commission; it seems logical to us that the gospel would spread into the entire world, but to the men and women of the Jewish culture that this was spoken into, it wasn’t registering on their world view. It was assumed that the gospel message would cause everyone to want to assimilate into the Jewish culture, but the gospel was moving ahead of the church, by the Holy Spirit, and people were responding to the Holy Spirits call to come to faith in the resurrected Christ Jesus - not the Jewish religion.

You see, the early church people had a “You have to believe in order to belong” mentality. But God didn’t give up on the early church followers even though they didn’t get it at first. Jesus was turning this all around demonstrating, “You have to belong in order to believe” This is where acceptance comes in.

He exampled this throughout His entire ministry here on earth…He wasn’t only accused of hanging out with non-religious people, notorious for being unscrupulous and unfair and even traitors to the Jewish government…He was accused of being their friend. He accepted them as they were. He made them feel like they belonged somewhere, like they had something to offer, like they had worth and significance. He made them feel like they wanted to be with Him.

“So accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified.” – Romans 15:7

He’s referring to those who have different convictions, backgrounds, varying degrees of the knowledge of Christ and applications of their beliefs and traditions; not necessarily getting along all the time or agreeing, but looking out for the best for each other by not behaving in a way that would cause each other to miss out on God’s intent for us.

So I ask myself, “What do people sense, or feel, when they come in our doors on a Sunday morning? How are they received? How do they perceive they are perceived? Do they feel like they want to hang out with us when they see our Face book postings?” What are they anticipating based on our conversations with them – fear, uncertainty, disapproval, all of which creates suspicion? Or are they anticipating a welcome, an acknowledgement of friendship, an atmosphere that will receive them as they are and be a safe place to explore their doubts and questions?

In his book, “No Perfect people Allowed” John Burke writes:
When Christians wrongly assume their job is to help make others acceptable – even though we could never make ourselves acceptable – this tells people God will not accept them “as is.” Consequently many people reject the God of Christianity not realizing the god they associate with Christ is a false god! We must constantly teach to clearly define the true God of grace.

Gordon MacDonald said it well, “The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace.

The world has found an inexpensive substitute for grace – tolerance.

“Tolerance does not value people but simply puts up with their behavior or beliefs. Tolerance alone cannot accommodate both justice and mercy – it can only look the other way. Tolerance might deal with differences, but it can’t embrace us in full knowledge of sin and remove our guilt.” – John Burke

Jesus’ mission, His intent for the gospel, the core of the gospel of God’s message to humanity is not tolerance but favor, acceptance, and restoration!

Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” - Luke 4:18-19

Most people assume they will not be accepted until they change, not by God and definitely not by church people. Many can’t, and won’t, believe God will accept them and love them until those who claim to know God start to show them. So my advice – Be Nice!

The Heart of the Matter

In his song, The Heart of the Matter, Don Henley writes,

There are people in your life
Who've come and gone
They let you down
You know they hurt your pride
You better put it all behind you
'Cuz life goes on
You keep carrying that anger
It'll eat you up inside
I've been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about
Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Even if, Even if you don't love me
I've been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
Because the flesh gets weak
And the ashes will scatter
But I think it's about
Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Even if, Even if you don't love me.

Interesting conclusions out of life's pain and difficulties! They're the same as Jesus taught us in The Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. They're the same lessons taught at Christian churches all over the world every week from toddlers on up to the adults. And even though we hear it over and over and over again we still have difficulty dealing with the heart of the matter.

The writer of Hebrews said, “Because of the joy awaiting Him [Jesus], He endured the cross, disregarding its shame.” (Hebrews 12:2NLT) Jesus has been on a mission since before the world began (1 Peter 1:20) and He knows how to get to the heart of the matter brushing aside the things that aren’t the point, purpose, or issue, regardless of the pain or difficulty involved.

In our world there are people who will hurt us, there are choices we make on our own that bring shame and bad circumstances. There are injustices, crime, victimization, and the poor. There is a constant need of food, shelter, and fresh water all around the globe. These things have always been there and always will be. They seem overwhelming and we want to do something about it. But what is it at the heart of the matter that God has for His people? Is it wealth? Is it prosperity? Is it political influence? Is it health? Is it power? Is it leisure and comfort? Is it peace and safety? Is it isolation? Is it separation? Is it world peace and the elimination of poverty? Is it even any of these things our human minds can measure? I imagine it isn’t.

The more we’ve been examining how God dealt with the children of Israel as He brought them out of Egypt and to the Promised Land, the more I see that the heart of the matter was not the land, but God Himself. Like waves constantly lapping at the shoreline, He is constantly telling them not to do like the other nations do in making idols and false gods to worship. Over and over and over again. They were now free from the slavery of Egypt and that was apparently good enough. They were free from their difficult circumstances and pain but at the heart of the matter God wanted them to know Him. He wanted to be their God and them His people. There would be much work to do in the relationship!

It’s really no different today. We often look at Christianity as a religion of crisis: “I don’t know what to do so maybe I should get back to church.” “I am hurting so maybe I should pray.” “I am at the end of my rope in this marriage so I should probably go talk to the pastor.” “My life is messed up and I am lonely so maybe I should get right with God.” We are looking to get out of our circumstances of pain and confusion and unhappiness and although we may be acknowledging that God is where we need to go for help, we are looking for a fix-it solution rather than looking for God Himself.

God warns the children of Israel that as soon as their bellies are full and there is peace all around them that this is the time they have to be careful. (Deut. 8:8-14) When I first started out in ministry I had an ol’ preacher tell me, “Remember now, it’s easy to preach about faith when you’re eatin’ steak at home.” The heart of the matter is that when our painful and difficult circumstances are at ease we tend to get proud and forget where we came from. We tend to forget that it was God who gave us what we have. We tend to want to take the credit for success ourselves. We tend to ease up on our passions and give in to desire instead.

The children of Israel did just that and their passion for worshiping the one and only God who rescued them gave way to their desire for control of which god and how to worship. That is why God was constantly, like the lapping waves on the shoreline, telling them to not forget where they came from, who brought them there, and don’t do like the other nations are doing with their carved idols and false gods.

Hebrews 12:1-2 also says, “Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”

We have a journey to take that has a start and a finish. We are going to get tired, weary, weak, and it may take a while. But it is our Savior we are after, not the prize at the finish. When we want Jesus more than we want to get out of our painful circumstances we will find Him! When we come to Jesus, it’s by grace and when we run with Jesus, it’s by grace. He is the one who gives all good things (James 1:17) and that might include relieving some of our difficult circumstance and pain as we run this race with Him because out of all creation we have become His prize possession! (James 1:18)

Jesus said in John 6:26 that "...you want to be with Me because I fed you, not because you understand [Me]..."

We are at the heart of the matter as far as God is concerned and He wants us to know Him as much as He knows us!

Words

I’ve heard it said, ‘You are master of your unspoken word and slave to that which should have gone unsaid.’

In Numbers 13 & 14 the children of Israel reject God’s promise to be with them to go into the Promised Land. Instead, fear has them saying it would have been better to die in the wilderness, it would have been better to have stayed in Egypt, it was wrong of Moses to bring them out there in the first place.

God gave them exactly what they were talking about – they can stay in the wilderness and die there. Only those who were nineteen years old and younger would be permitted to receive the Promised Land. It would take forty years to make this happen. Because of their words, which reflected their heart condition of faithlessness, they were now without a country. They couldn’t go into the Promised Land, they couldn’t stay where they were, and they weren’t accepted in any of the kingdoms in the area.

Words they wish they wouldn’t have spoken, I’m sure.

We’ve all been there. We’ve all said things we later realized we shouldn’t have said. Sometimes it's instantaneous, sometimes it’s many years later, either way they are out there hanging in the air forever.

James, Jesus’ brother, says, ‘No one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!’ (James 3:8-10)

I recognize first that he is talking to Christians. Whoops. But wait, we are all learning to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, so let’s realize that the life lived in this world isn’t going to be perfect, or even easy. We don’t get to get it right all the time.

Proverbs 18:21 says that ‘The tongue can bring death or life.’

Jesus spoke to this in Matthew 5:23-24 ‘So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.’ This is important enough that God would rather wait till we get back. Wow.

Solomon finishes his proverb with, ‘and those who love to talk will reap the consequences.’ I wonder if he was thinking about his ancestors at all and the journey they had taken as a people?

James writes about this use of our words. He has observed how God’s people use them as both aggressive weapons and personal justification, ‘Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves…if you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.’ (James 1:19-22, 26)

It’s easy to look at this broken world that wants less and less to do with the Gospel of Christ and not get motivated to want to do something about it. It’s even easier to use our words to call it on the carpet so to speak. As Christians though, we are not sent to the world to convict it of its sin, that’s the role of the Holy Spirit, we are sent to the world to be salt and light – preservation and illumination!

In Matthew 5:14 Jesus says, ‘You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.’

Like I said, it’s easy to use our words to defend our beliefs and convictions, and it’s even easier to use our words to speak against the beliefs and convictions of those not like our own. It’s even easy to use this passage in Matthew to justify taking a stand verbally against a world that is going further and further from the truth of God’s word.

But also remember, Jesus said it wasn’t by words that they will recognize the work of God, it would be by our good deeds. I don’t believe He’s referring to philanthropy and religious works. I believe He’s referring to a generous heart, a patient demeanor, a likeable spirit, a tolerant attitude, a kind personality, a dependable character, a faithful soul, a strong walk, a confidence in our Lord that surpasses learning and can only be counted as a work of God. I believe this to be another way to say it is the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23) This is the kind of work, or deeds, the Holy Spirit produces in us. Any other work that uses words to judge the world, or convict it of its sin, or unrighteousness is actually us trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit.

It’s not our role as God’s children.

In John 16:8-9 Jesus says, ‘And when [the Holy Spirit] comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in Me.’

Yep, it’s a broken world we live in and our words that are laced with anger or hate or fear or judgment or accusations of blame will not turn it around. As God’s children, we can show the goodness of God by sharing what He has done for us and is doing in us right now. This can show in how we work, volunteer, spend time with a neighbor, help the poor and needy, use our time, and much more as we live out our lives, but especially with how we use our words.