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Monday, March 19, 2012

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!

Monday, March 12, 2012

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!


Monday, March 5, 2012

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.