Merry Christmas!

Just a note to say Merry Christmas to All (meaning one) my readers. Remember the reason for the season... that Jesus Christ came to earth as a baby to be the propitiation for our sins.

Remember the 18 greatest words ever spoken...

Luke 2:11

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord.

Politics, Favoritism & the Church?

In reference to the title of this blog: One of these things is not like the other...

1 Timothy 5:21
I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.

James 2:1
My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism.

James 2:9
But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

I've been silent for a while now and it it time to break my silence. No I didn't take a vow of silence, I've just been rather busy, and truth be told didn't have anything to write about.

Well now I do...

In college I was part of a group that was supposed to be the elite of the elite. (Obviously since I was a part of it they weren't that picky.) What I found out during those 4 years is that it wasn't really anything but a big political machine. No we weren't the young republicans or young democrats but everything was politically motivated.

What I mean is that everything had a motive. To be the star you had to kiss some major gluteus maximus, be "in" with the right people, and pretend to be a certain way. If you did not do any of those things you weren't really anyone, oh sure you were a part of the group but you didn't get any breaks.

This isn't all that hard to swallow in the world as they know no other way to operate other than trying to impress someone and "WIN" their prestige. They scramble to know the 3 W's: Know What to kiss, Know Who's to kiss, and know When to kiss it and the attention it brings is the reward. What is sad (great understatement)is when this happens in churches.

Now what really bugs me about this is that Leaders usually get their posterior kissed so that someone can gain favor, a position, status, stage time etc. The wise leader knows this and is on the look out for it. All too often though leaders don't see what is going on and acquiesce to the Tulips being planted. Without even realizing it some leaders become incapacitate by this whole movement. The end result is that only the Tulip planters are asked to do anything and become major forces in the church. The ministry suffers, and the church becomes in raveled in "Church Politics."

At the heart of this is ego and favoritism. Lets face it, we all like to have our egos stroked now and then. It feels good! So where do we go wrong? When we start to have the attitude that it feels so good to have my ego stroked that I no longer see anyone but the Tulip planters. Then if you don't stroke my ego, well you don't deserve to have a spot in this that or the other. When we show favoritism to those who play the games to get what they want, that is when it gets bad, very bad!

Clearly the Bible teaches against showing favoritism to someone because of their status, wealth, or position. But what about showing favoritism to those who use political means to get what they want from us? That sort of political maneuvering, ego stroking, and favoritism can't be acceptable, can it?

Leading takes some serious effort. The very nature of leadership is difficult, you have to be out front, the one cutting the trail, pushing thru the snow, showing the others which way to go. To be a leader is sometimes equal to being a 24 point buck in the middle of a field of hunters on opening day of hunting season, you ARE the target. Sometimes its easier to just step back and follow, other times its easy to let the position go to your head, and then again sometimes we don't even realize we aren't leading anymore.

Cause or effect? Does showing favoritism cause a leadership vacuum or is favoritism the effect of a leadership vacuum? Regardless of which you think it is, the Bible is clear that we are not supposed to do it, no favoritism allowed, even of yourself. Try this one on for size...

Romans 12
Living Sacrifices
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b]faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Love
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.

17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[d]says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Don't know bout you, but that doesn't fit too well. Its kind of like a suit that is too small and dipped in starch. It doesn't fit and is uncomfortable.

And now little Johnny Jones will sing "Blessed Assurance..."

"Stand with me now as we turn in our Hymnals to Hymn number 334 Blessed Assurance..."

How many times have I said those exact words or heard them said in church? How many times have I sang (or is it sung, singed, songed?) that familiar hymn? How many times did I even think about those words? Here they are...

Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine!
Oh what a foretaste of glory Divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

Think about that for a minute. Ok I'll wait..........................................
How did you feel about that song? I'll go first.

One thing that hits me is that while Jesus is "MINE" and that this is "MY" story and song, Jesus isn't really "MINE". WHAT, you ask? OK so he is "MY SAVIOUR" "MY GOD" "MY ROCK" "MY SHELTER" etc. etc. etc. is he really mine though, and if so how?

Let me hypothesise for a moment. The only way that Jesus is really mine is if he is mine to share. I never get the feeling that we can keep Jesus all to ourselves. I once heard a pastor say that the reason Christians aren't doing anything for the kingdom is that we are too busy "sitting on our blessed assurance." Its the idea that we get what we can, can what we get, then sit on the can.

Let me articulate this another way. We've all seen a toddler when you try to take his "BINKY" away right? What does little Johnny say? MINE! He is asserting his possession of the binky and articulating that in the only way he knows how. MINE MINE MINE! It gets the point across. Is this how we really sing Blessed Assurance? Blessed Assurance, Jesus is MINE! (Emphasis on the mine like little Johnny when you take his binky)

If we really bought into the idea that once I have personally appropriated Jesus as my salvation, he is only MINE to share how would our churches be different? I recently learned that our church got the award for most baptisms this year with a whopping total of 49! (For the sake of time I'll leave the discussion of the "Baptism Award" to another post.) What struck me is that none of us ever mean to sing the song this way. It is never an intentional thought when we sing the song. What it is however is a subconscious thought that we express, and is only evidenced by an invitation where no one accepts Christ as Saviour.

"O wretched man that I am!" I am the chief of sinners! Especially when it comes to this topic. I stand at the front during the invitation waiting for someone to come, I even teach I TEACH an evangelism class, yet Jesus is MINE!< I got him, I stuffed him into the can, and now I'm sitting on the can because after all he is MINE!

I've been thinking about a catalyst. What kind of catalyst would it take to get our church out of its comfort zone and engaged in the world. Could it be this very thing? Could it be that we MUST realize that Jesus is only truly mine when I give him away? Could the catalyst we need be a person who says "This is my Jesus, I want you to have him" over and over again? What would happen if I did this? Could I be the catalyst, that spark that sets the whole thing on fire, the one who leads the way to making an impact for the kingdom?

I really want to be that Godly man. Not for my glory, but for two reasons. 1. To bring Jesus to a lost and dying world, that they may know him and receive eternal life, and have it abundantly. 2. I don't want to be content with Jesus being jut mine and mine alone. I want him to be glorified in me and in others and for that to happen I have to start by sharing him.

No more getting what I can. I have to get off the can, open it up and give it away.

I have a Neck Ache!

I haven't posted in a while just because I haven't had any random thoughts inside my head that were ready to put down yet. Usually I won't post until I have the topic at least somewhat resolved in my own mind, or at least a general direction of where to go with it.

Today, I was reading my Bible. Acts 7 to be exact. This is Stephen's speach to the Sanhedrin and his stoning. One thing that stood out to me was Stephen saying to his audience, "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."

What does he mean "Stiff-necked?" I know he isn't talking to me! Who does he think that he is stepping on my toes like that? My neck is rather stiff right now but I think he is more in the spiritual realm. So what does a "stiff-necked" person look like?

Have you ever heard anyone say, "that isn't the way we've always done it."? I sure have. I am a Baptist after all. Amoung other things I think that he is refering to someone who is so set in their ways, so used to a certain way of doing things that they can not even turn their heads to look at a new way. STUBBORN. So stubborn that they "always resist the Holy Spirit."

One thing that I am convinced that the church, ME included, is lacking today is Flexibility. We lay out our plans, make sure that everything is the way that we want it, chisel it in stone, have it notorized, get it voted on, and do all we can to make sure it happens. BUT, then the Holy Spirit comes and says, "Hay, I would like for you to go a different way. How about doing this..." So what do we do? Our necks get tight, stiff, and hard to turn. "But God, we have a plan already. You even gave us this plan. We need to be good stewards and follow that plan thru to the end."

We resist the Holy Spirit.

I wonder, how many times I/we have missed out on something "God-Sized" because I/we were stiff-necked and resisted the Holy Spirit? I hate to think about what God will show me when I stand before him to account for my life, all the times that I wasn't flexible, when I resisted the Holy Spirit, did my own thing all because I was being inconvenienced.

I was rather convicted today about this. I wonder what your thoughts on this matter are? I have decided to be more in tune with my neck, realizing that when it starts to get stiff, or tight I might need to do some stretches or take a muscle relaxer, maybe even get a massage to loosen those neck muscles flexible again.

Attachment

So today I was thinking about what I usually do and why my day was dragging on and on and on. I came to the conclusion that I miss my email buddy! He is out and about and leaving me on my own to send emails to myself. Its just not the same! So anyone who reads this (both of you) please send me some emails at work to help me pass my day! I'm addicted to my email!

"Hi, my name is Andy. I'm addicted to my email. I've been emailing for 15 years."

"Hi Andy." from the group.

"I'm going thru withdrawl from my email because my email buddy is on a cruise. I feel lost, bored, and my day goes very slowly without my email buddy. I want to stop but I just can't, I need to have conversaion outside my office with someone. I've tried to stop, but I can't. I want to stop but I can't"

"it's ok Andy. We understand." from group.

This is just a taste of my life if someone doesn't send me some e-mail! I need some email! Help my day go faster by sending me some email!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAIT! Don't send me those forwards about how women should protect themselves by avoiding their daily lives, or Sara Beth Timmons who has cancer and Bill Gates is going to donate billions of dollars to her treatment if we send an email 40000 people in the next 14 minutes. Or the ones that say you have to send it to x number of people and God will bless you, I HATE THOSE.

Please send me some intelligent conversation, a news story, a theological or philosophical topic, or something that I have to put my brain into drive for! PLEASE!

I love Food, hot, spicy, greasy, unhealthy, nasty, tasty food!

Here is a GREAT Topic for you! Since my little bro is in the hospital and is having to change his diet, its got me thinking. Many years ago...Wait that isn't a good opening line. I can do better.

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far far away... (now that's more like it!)

I had some digestive problems and had to have some surgery. The Drs told me that I would have to change my diet. Basically what they told me is that I couldn't eat anything that I liked and had to eat lots of rabbit food. No more spicy food, no more greasy food, no more unhealthy food etc.

This is the same speech that my brother got this week. The difference between he and I is that he has decided to follow the diet. (I know that the consequences if he doesn't follow the diet are harsher than if I don't but lets just say we are even for the sake of my blog.) I told the Docs while I was still in the hospital that I would not follow their diet and would eat what I wanted. My brother said, Ok if that will help me, I'll do it.

Here is where I started the wheels turning. What if this was a spiritual matter? Would I say, sorry but I'll follow my own "diet" and do what I want, or would I say ok I'll cut out the unhealthy parts in order to live better and longer? I am notorious for saying, I'll eat what I want and deal with the consequences! I mean what if that was my attitude toward sin? I'm sorry God but I'll do what I want and deal with it later!

I would never dream of saying that! Well at least not out loud or intentionally anyways. But I do it none the less. That is another topic for later, maybe. What I really think I really want to deal with is expectations.

1. Why do we expect other people to act like us even though we don't think the same way about it or believe the same things?
2. When can we expect someone to act like us?

I have a problem with people that expect me or others to act like them when we don't have the same position as them. Case in point... When a Church raised person expects a person that has never set foot into a church to know all of the "rules" of the church and how they are supposed to act. We wouldn't dream of asking a German person to act like a Chinese person, or a Chinese person to act like an Eskimo so why do we do that in our churches?

I gave up a long time ago on thinking that the world should act like those of us in the church. In fact I get Righteously Indignant when people start doing this. Where do we get off thinking this way? Weren't we just like them at one point in time?

Lets track the progression. Step 1. We are lost, confused, sinful, and wondering. Step 2. We have to realize that there is something wrong. Step 3. We look for change. Step 4. We either find it or keep searching. If we find the life change that Christ offers things really change, but it doesn't change all at once. Somehow we got this idea that once they are believers then all things are homogenized and we all become alike. HA! AS IF.

Isn't that a pharasitical way of thinking? I mean I've realized that my diet isn't what it should be but I still don't want to change it. I'm not willing to give up the food that I love just to make a few less bathroom trips. I want to enjoy life and for me that includes food. Maybe one day I will come to the point where I want to make a change and will seek that out. BUT for now I am perfectly content in the way my life is and I don't want to change. Isn't it the same with Sin? I have to understand that what I do isn't healthy and then desire change?

How about we stop getting offended, upset, or angry when people that don't believe like us don't act like us? Shouldn't we expect it, even anticipate it? Can we just be ready, accept them where they are, and be happy for them and ready to show them the way when they are desiring change? Isn't that the better way?

PS. I need to learn to express my thoughts in fewer words! HA HA.

How Real IS Your Bible?

Mine is Very real. Do you ever wonder at why most people don't really enjoy reading the Bible? I think that it has something to do with the way that we have been taught to read it, like a text book. And really who reads a text book for anything even remotely close to fun or leisure reading? Certainly not me! What amazes me is how I can read a fiction book like say, Harry Potter (which ever one) and the imagery pops into my mind and I can see the events actually happening, even though they are ficticious.

When I read the Bible however, I usually don't get any images at all. Unless you count the days of the "Flannel Graph Jesus" and that isn't really like it is actually happening. (whatever happened to flannel graphs anyways?) I can see Harry Potter in my mind playing out like a movie, but in my head it is MUCH better than the actual movies that they have made. Why can't this happen when I read the Bible? Afterall The Bible IS REAL, actually happened, and would make great movies. Just look at movies like The Ten Commandments!

So here is an experiment using one of my favorite passages of scripture...

1. Pick your favorite Male actor. For mine I choose Sir. Sean Connery. Think of The Hunt for Red October.
2. Pick your Second favorite Male actor. For mine I choose Tom Cruise. I know I know, but keep in mind his performance in Jerry Maguire and this will make more sense in a minute.
3. Read Isaiah 6 as you normally would, boring, monotone, and text booky.
4. Re-Read Isaiah 6. This time insert Sean Connery in the role of God and Tom Cruise in the role of Isaiah.

Now to make this work you have to use your imagination. So put on your thinking/imagining hat, pop some popcorn, grab a soda, and let the fun begin. Also if you are going to get anything out of this at all you have to do the voices in your head, accent and all. You have to let the characters be the characters. God is classy, poised, direct, regal, and honorable, the characteristics of the captain in Red October, and Isaiah is on edge, flamboyant, high energy, holding on by a thread, just like Jerry Maguire. Let the scene roll like a movie. Big Hollywood sets, Lucas Film special effects, A list acting, Headline movie, box office smash, record setting type stuff.

What happens to the Bible when we read it like this? Does it become more real? Can you actually see these things happening? Do you get excited about the possibility of 6 winged creatures flying about? Do you feel the anticipation of a good story line? Can you hardly wait to see what happens next?

Try doing the same thing with those great Old Testament stories. Maybe just maybe we will start to see the Bible coming alive and being real.