Many things have happened this month that I was not expecting, and I will be continuing the series on The connectedness Factor in the month of October. (possibly even November) So keep checking back to read the latest installment! If you pray, please pray for me as I am starting up a new business! Nothing can be more helpful to me as I venture out into the great unknown, than to know that someone is praying for me and God is faithful!
Thanks and have a great day!
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Acknowledging the sin in our own life should always proceed acknowledging the sin in another’s life.
The basis of this statement is found in Luke 6:41-42. I find it ironic that some Christians have trouble with telling others about the speck of dust in someone else’s eye and other Christians have trouble seeing the plank in their own eye. It is a two fold problem. If I am to be a good friend to a brother or sister in the Lord, I must be willing to do two things: (1) speak the TRUTH and (2) speak the truth IN LOVE. It seems that it’s hard to find someone in our culture today that will do those two things for us. Oh, it is easy to find someone to speak the truth to you. Many well-intentioned church members (and leaders) are adept at speaking the truth; but to speak the truth with love and compassion for the fallen is another matter all together. Likewise, it is fairly easy to find a group of people willing to love and accept me right along with any sin I want to coddle; but to have that same group actually speak the truth is highly unlikely.
You see there is an order of operations to the acknowledging the sin. First, we must be willing to admit that we don’t have it all together. (This is usually harder for pastors and church staff, because the unspoken, unrealistic expectation is always there for them to have it all together….all the time) Once we have admitted the sin in our own life and have asked God’s forgiveness and repented (turned away from) that sin, we are now ready to be used by God to help others see their way clearly.
We must never forget where God has brought us from. I have met so many people who were former drug abusers or alcoholics who have “found religion” (maybe that’s the initial problem) and then go back to the friends that they used to party with and treat them like they aren’t worth anything….not even to God. This is what the bible calls hypocrite: to say one thing then do another. I am closer to God now than I have ever been in my life, but I am still very aware of the sin that lurks in the shadow of my flesh. I am not immune to sin, although through Jesus and the Power of His resurrection, I am no longer bound by sin.
It gets back to the two different types of people: those who are concerned with Truth and not Love, then those who are concerned with Love and not Truth. When Jesus stated who He was in John 14:6 and I John 4:8, He answered the question once for us all! Jesus is Love and He is also Truth! We cannot have one without the other and say that we are in the will of God. The key is balance and admitting your own weaknesses before trying to “minister” to others in their weakness. We minister to others from the overflow of what God is giving to us as he ministers to us. If we are not allowing God to minister to us, then there is nothing we can do for others. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Always acknowledge the sin in your own life, before acknowledging sin in others.
You see there is an order of operations to the acknowledging the sin. First, we must be willing to admit that we don’t have it all together. (This is usually harder for pastors and church staff, because the unspoken, unrealistic expectation is always there for them to have it all together….all the time) Once we have admitted the sin in our own life and have asked God’s forgiveness and repented (turned away from) that sin, we are now ready to be used by God to help others see their way clearly.
We must never forget where God has brought us from. I have met so many people who were former drug abusers or alcoholics who have “found religion” (maybe that’s the initial problem) and then go back to the friends that they used to party with and treat them like they aren’t worth anything….not even to God. This is what the bible calls hypocrite: to say one thing then do another. I am closer to God now than I have ever been in my life, but I am still very aware of the sin that lurks in the shadow of my flesh. I am not immune to sin, although through Jesus and the Power of His resurrection, I am no longer bound by sin.
It gets back to the two different types of people: those who are concerned with Truth and not Love, then those who are concerned with Love and not Truth. When Jesus stated who He was in John 14:6 and I John 4:8, He answered the question once for us all! Jesus is Love and He is also Truth! We cannot have one without the other and say that we are in the will of God. The key is balance and admitting your own weaknesses before trying to “minister” to others in their weakness. We minister to others from the overflow of what God is giving to us as he ministers to us. If we are not allowing God to minister to us, then there is nothing we can do for others. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Always acknowledge the sin in your own life, before acknowledging sin in others.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Authentic relationship with others is the result of authentic relationship with God.
We are now living in the age of the pseudo-Christian. Many have taken on a “form of godliness, but deny its power.” To attend a meeting once (maybe more) per week is plenty enough in our society to call yourself a good Christian. However, it is not enough to call what you have authentic. Our ability to be, as Rich Mullins stated, “comfortable in our own skin” is one of the greatest indicators of our authenticity with God. Do you know who you are in Christ Jesus? Are your relationships “real”? If your relationship with God is “real”, then chances are the other relationships in your life are as well.
Notice the order. First is our relationship with God, and then comes our relationship with others. So many times we get this order reversed and it always leads to trouble. How I have seen this time and time again as a Youth Pastor. The parents are more concerned with the relationship with their children, than their relationship with God. It is ironic, because the God connection will inevitably improve the child connection, yet parents too often focus primarily on the latter. Of course, the relationships we have with our family and friends are important, they are all based around how we view ourselves in Christ Jesus. This view comes from a real relationship with Him.
Just like any other relationship we have in our life, the depth of our relationship with God will be determined by the amount of time and effort we invest in getting to know the other person. That is why the bible says plainly in James 4:8, “Come near to God and He will come near to you…” If we will invest time and effort into our relationship with God, then He will grow us closer to Himself. Once this happens, then we see clearly that the most important things in life are our relationships, and we re-invest in others what God has invested in us. It is simply unavoidable. The more we get to know God, the more we see others with His eyes and not our own. Once we have God’s perspective on the people He has placed around us, we begin to be Christ body (the Church) to them. We lay our lives down with His and in doing so, we become closer to Christ as He raises us up. This is the process of authentic relationship with God called, Discipleship. This discipleship cannot be hidden from those around us. It will always show itself in authentic relationship with others. Therefore, authentic relationship with others is the result of authentic relationship with God.
Notice the order. First is our relationship with God, and then comes our relationship with others. So many times we get this order reversed and it always leads to trouble. How I have seen this time and time again as a Youth Pastor. The parents are more concerned with the relationship with their children, than their relationship with God. It is ironic, because the God connection will inevitably improve the child connection, yet parents too often focus primarily on the latter. Of course, the relationships we have with our family and friends are important, they are all based around how we view ourselves in Christ Jesus. This view comes from a real relationship with Him.
Just like any other relationship we have in our life, the depth of our relationship with God will be determined by the amount of time and effort we invest in getting to know the other person. That is why the bible says plainly in James 4:8, “Come near to God and He will come near to you…” If we will invest time and effort into our relationship with God, then He will grow us closer to Himself. Once this happens, then we see clearly that the most important things in life are our relationships, and we re-invest in others what God has invested in us. It is simply unavoidable. The more we get to know God, the more we see others with His eyes and not our own. Once we have God’s perspective on the people He has placed around us, we begin to be Christ body (the Church) to them. We lay our lives down with His and in doing so, we become closer to Christ as He raises us up. This is the process of authentic relationship with God called, Discipleship. This discipleship cannot be hidden from those around us. It will always show itself in authentic relationship with others. Therefore, authentic relationship with others is the result of authentic relationship with God.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Jesus: The Ultimate ConnectionPoint
A ConnectionPoint is a point at which power is transferred from the source of power to the object in need of the power. Using this definition, Jesus becomes the ultimate ConnectionPoint between God (the source of all power) and mankind (the object in need of the power). One of the most interesting points about the whole “connectionpoint” concept is that it’s all based on relationship. God needed to relate to us in a way that we would understand. He had to become a man, taking on the form of a servant. There was a consequence of the sin of mankind – death. The only way to redeem a sinful man to God was through the blood of a perfect sacrificial lamb. Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God. His sacrifice on the cross is the ultimate example of how far God will go to reach us with His forgiveness and Love. Jesus was, and is, the ultimate connectionpoint between us and God.
The power that is transferred is the power of eternal life; life that is full, not some dead religion that is nothing more than a set of rules. It is real power! Do you think that a set of ritualistic rule-keepers would have been able to turn the world upside down as the disciples did? I don’t think that the power that most professing Christians possess today could change much of anything, but what the Apostles and the early Christians had was something powerful….it was full of God’s power, given through Jesus Christ. Most of all, it was REAL! It was so real that those who came in contact with the real power of Christ (not a dead religion side-show) were never the same. If we are to ever see that kind of power in the Church today, we must lay aside all the things that so easily distract us, like (some) traditions and ritual piety that has driven more people away from God than it has drawn to Him. We must make the priority of our lives our own relationship with Christ!
When we are connected to Jesus and others we are able to keep our mission clearly before us. That mission is found in Matthew 22:37-40 and 28:19-20. In it’s simplest form: Love God and Love Others. If, by the power of being connected to Jesus, we can connect to others with His Love we are accomplishing the two greatest commandments of scripture on which hang all the Law and Prophets. It seems that we have either one of two great tragedies in the Church today. We either have those who appear to be connected with God, but have no connection with others who are in deepest need of God. Or, we have those who appear to be connected very well with the culture of the day, who are either not connected with God at all or have a pseudo connection to something “spiritual”—which is not God.
The only way to accomplish the true mission of the Church, the Body of Christ, is to be connected first to God through a vital, daily relationship with Jesus Christ; and second, to connect with those around us in our specific sphere of influence through genuine, caring relationships. Steve Camp said it best in a song, “Don’t tell them Jesus loves them, until your ready to love them too!” We must be connected to the ultimate ConnectionPoint, Jesus Christ before we will ever know God. And don’t forget that our greatest calling in life is to simply know God. Once we know Him, we cannot be isolated from others. His love in us will not allow it. Check back again when I will ramble more about the authenticity of our connections.
The power that is transferred is the power of eternal life; life that is full, not some dead religion that is nothing more than a set of rules. It is real power! Do you think that a set of ritualistic rule-keepers would have been able to turn the world upside down as the disciples did? I don’t think that the power that most professing Christians possess today could change much of anything, but what the Apostles and the early Christians had was something powerful….it was full of God’s power, given through Jesus Christ. Most of all, it was REAL! It was so real that those who came in contact with the real power of Christ (not a dead religion side-show) were never the same. If we are to ever see that kind of power in the Church today, we must lay aside all the things that so easily distract us, like (some) traditions and ritual piety that has driven more people away from God than it has drawn to Him. We must make the priority of our lives our own relationship with Christ!
When we are connected to Jesus and others we are able to keep our mission clearly before us. That mission is found in Matthew 22:37-40 and 28:19-20. In it’s simplest form: Love God and Love Others. If, by the power of being connected to Jesus, we can connect to others with His Love we are accomplishing the two greatest commandments of scripture on which hang all the Law and Prophets. It seems that we have either one of two great tragedies in the Church today. We either have those who appear to be connected with God, but have no connection with others who are in deepest need of God. Or, we have those who appear to be connected very well with the culture of the day, who are either not connected with God at all or have a pseudo connection to something “spiritual”—which is not God.
The only way to accomplish the true mission of the Church, the Body of Christ, is to be connected first to God through a vital, daily relationship with Jesus Christ; and second, to connect with those around us in our specific sphere of influence through genuine, caring relationships. Steve Camp said it best in a song, “Don’t tell them Jesus loves them, until your ready to love them too!” We must be connected to the ultimate ConnectionPoint, Jesus Christ before we will ever know God. And don’t forget that our greatest calling in life is to simply know God. Once we know Him, we cannot be isolated from others. His love in us will not allow it. Check back again when I will ramble more about the authenticity of our connections.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
The Connectedness Factor (series)
Over the past year or so, I have noticed a few things about being connected to others. Below are the five things that I have observed regarding what I call “The Connectedness Factor.”
- Jesus Christ is the ultimate ConnectionPoint.
- Authentic relationship with others is the result of authentic relationship with God.
- Acknowledging the sin in our own life should always proceed acknowledging the sin in another’s life.
- We can never accomplish alone the great things that we can accomplish together.
- Real relationship is virtually impossible in a large crowd, without breaking down into smaller, more simple assemblies.
In order for me to put the thoughts down in a post and still have time to live my life, I will post more detailed descriptions of each of the five subjects listed above at separate times throughout the month of September. Please check back periodically throughout the month for more of my ramblings.
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