Live.Awake

Robbing God of Our Weakness

// January 3rd, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Christian Living

When Jesus began his ministry, and throughout his 3 years of public ministry, he performed many miracles.  Luke 4:31-44, I believe, relveals something interesting about WHY he performed those miracles.  Yes, he was certainly motivated by compassion for those he healed.  But in Luke we see Jesus leave a multitude of needy people so that he could go elsewhere to declare the gospel of the kingdom of God.

This fact, as well as the context of Jesus’ statements in the synagogue just a few verses earlier, make it clear that these miracles are meant to proclaim the arrival of “the year of the Lord’s favor”.  The coming of the Messiah, the inauguration of God’s kingdom on earth.  Jesus was doing what only God could do.

For us, this has radical consequences.  This means that our weakness, sickness, brokeness, poverty, etc is not TRULY a handicap.  Not to sound too much like a motivational speaker, but your weakness is Jesus’ opportunity to declare his name.  To declare that the Kingdom of God is now.  To declare “the year of the Lord’s favor”.  Your weakness is the best way for God to get the glory he deserves.

Could it be that when we boast of our strengths and try to conceal our weaknesses that we are robbing God of his chance of using us to proclaim his message through us?  Could it be that we’ve got it backwards?  Maybe our strength is our greatest enemy and our weakness our greatest asset.

God Is With Us

// December 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Christian Living

Due to weather here in Kernersville, NC I didn’t get to preach my full Christmas message.  I had about 2 minutes.  I was considering how to distill everything down to one or two sentences.  How could I summarize the fall of man in the beginning, the frustration of mankind’s attempts to rescue himself and the promise of a coming Rescuer in the Old Testament, the humility and glory of the incarnation all into one brief thought?

Matthew 1:23 – “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).”

Quoting Isaiah 7:14, we are given His name – Immanuel… God with us.  I think this summarizes Christmas well.

God, the divine Creator, Elohim, holy, majestic, righteous, and loving.  He came to rescue us.  He came to reconcile us to himself.

Underneath the stillness of the nativity is a Creator shouting, proclaiming his name and all that it means.  Immanuel.  You are not alone.  I promised I would come.  And now I have done it.

So, after the presents are unwrapped, the tree discarded, the trash bagged and it’s time to do your taxes remember his name.  Remember that no matter what you face in the coming year, or what you face now, the King of Kings is with you.  He promises you that He will come.  And he will do it.

Is Discipleship Renovation or Transformation?

// December 3rd, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Christian Living

I’ve been thinking through a sermon series on Discipleship that simply asks the question, “What is a disciple?” and “How do we become one?”.  As I look at examples of what a disciple is in Scripture and how they are made, it actually seems to be far simpler than we have made it out to be.  I don’t think that the Church’s lack of disciples has happened because it’s too hard or too complicated.  I think it may be something else entirely.

I think it comes down to the fact that we don’t actually believe that people can change.  More accurately, we believe the gospel is effective in yanking us from the clutches of Hell, but not much more.  We don’t believe that a person can move from brokenness to wholeness.  We think people can make improvements to their existing set of abilities, but we do NOT believe in transformation.

We talk about the process of sanctification like it’s a kitchen renovation.  Slap some paint on the cabinets, new counter tops and tile the floor.  If you’re really special, get some new appliances.  Underneath it’s the same nasty kitchen, but at least it looks better on the outside.  But I don’t think this is the Biblical perspective.  I think God is a God of transformation.  The gospel transforms us into something completely new.  A new creation.  Not a caterpillar to a butterfly, but rather a whole new species.  New DNA altogether.

God doesn’t renovate.  He guts the kitchen.  Rips it all out and builds it back the way He wants it.  Brand new.

Do you know what this means?  This means that there is no limit to what God can do.  God can take the most broken, most flawed, least talented person and transform them into a hero, a leader, a disciple.

Moses from cowardice and speech impediment to rescuer of Israel.  David from runt shepherd boy to King and friend of God.  Peter from fisherman and denier of Christ to rock of the Church.  Paul from murderer and persecutor of Christians to great apostle of the early Church.

None of them had a lick of potential before Jesus got to them.

Until we get this one simple truth rooted into our thinking, discipleship will remain elitist and ineffective.  We’ll either avoid discipleship altogether or only disciple those that exhibit the most visible potential.

“There are no ordinary people.  You have never talked to a mere mortal.” – CS Lewis

Lose Your Plastic Jesus

// October 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // Christian Living, Video

I found this video compelling (and clever).  It also brings up a subject that I think about a lot: the oversimplification of the gospel.  I wonder if the Church, in an effort to reach more people, have presented a “plastic Jesus” to potential converts.  A Jesus that is a caricature of the real thing.  Jesus get misrepresented as either unconcerned about sin, hell and rebellion or as loveless, angry and breathing fire out of his nostrils at all sinners of the world.

By the way I hear some preachers talk, you’d think Jesus is disinterested completely in the fate of the world that He came to save as though He’s a petulant child.    Still others make Him seem powerless and worried.  All of them 2-dimensional.

How many times have we reduced Him to a sound-bite at the end of a meeting or only displayed a 2-dimensional version of Him to our friends?  Perhaps that’s, at least in part, the reason why so many people simply fizzle out into mediocrity.  And maybe that’s why we so often find it impossible to trust Him.

Toss your plastic Jesus in the trash can and seek out the real one.  See Him healing the sick, touching the leaper, calling the Pharisees dogs, displaying His glory at the Mount of Transfiguration, dying in humility and victory at the cross.  Imagine Him returning for His spotless Bride at the end of days.  See Him as the hero of this great story of the gospel.

Humble Confidence and the Bottomless Pit

// September 20th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Christian Living

A pastor’s life is a trip from extreme to extreme, from glowing praise to vitriolic criticism with very little in between.  I thought I didn’t care what people thought of me.  If God is for me, right?

Come to find out, I do care what people think.  I want people to like me, I like how it makes me feel.

Nobody sets out to care more about what people think than what God thinks.  Nobody wakes up one morning and says, “Hey, I think I’ll let other people define me today.”  Yet, one of the most difficult things to avoid in life is the gaping pitfall of living for the approval of others instead of the approval of Jesus.  It’s deeply satisfying to be appreciated.  It’s also deeply painful being misunderstood.  It touches a need in all of us to be known.  Not only to be known, but to be known and approved of.

The problem is, this need is bottomless.  Fathomless.  You can plumb the depths of it all your life and still never feel as though you’ve been filled.  You can please everyone, perform impeccably, never let anyone down, yet still you will feel the need to gather just one more enamored fan to yourself.

Recently I’ve lost some fans.  In the process of trying to please God, I displeased others.  Amazingly enough, I’ve survived it.

This need in all of us is a bottomless pit that only Jesus can fill.  Only your Creator can tell you what you’re worth.  No one else gets to vote.  Not you.  Not anyone.  The One that made you, determined your shape and your future, also determines your value.  Your value is dependent on Him, not on you.

I think once we see this, once we learn to love Him and fear Him , we can begin to live freely.  Only then can we cut away the shackles of futile attempts to fill the bottomless pit.

We can take risks without fearing the mess it always makes.

We can speak without fearing the inevitable pain of being misunderstood.

We can commit to change without fearing the blowback.

We can be both humble and confident at the same time.