Monthly Archives: September 2011

Unknown's avatar

Don’t put that pressure on me: A lesson from 9/11

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Yesterday was 9/11 and is probably the next closest thing to Pearl Harbor. Ten years afterwards, and it still remains fresh in our minds and hearts. I imagine my kids will eventually understand 9/11 and perhaps even pass it on to their kids. I can’t see our country forgetting that event for a while. 
In light of this I saw a fascinating, though very brief interview with two 9/11 survivors still carrying with them the scars of their experience: one working in the towers and the other a fireman, if I remember correctly. The interviewer asked the fireman this seemingly appropriate question: “How do you live life differently because you were saved and others were not?”
His answer kind of astounded me in both its brutal honesty as well as its depth: “No, don’t put that kind pressure on me. I can’t deal with that. I just do my job the best I can each day.”
I don’t know if this man experienced “survivor’s guilt,” where one wonders, “Why wasn’t it me that was taken?” But clearly, he felt some pressure to “do something great” by this reporter. This is often the question we raise when someone is saved from calamity and the person siting next to them isn’t. Why did God save you and not them? He must have something pretty amazing for you to do? I guess I never thought about that kind of pressure before? That really puts pressure on folks to first of all, find that “mysterious” plan of God, and then the pressure to accomplish it.
Now perhaps God does have something “special” and extraordinary for such a person like curing cancer or something crazy like that. But to assume that is nonsense, because we have no idea why God allows one person to live and the other to die. I like this lad’s response, “Don’t put that pressure on me.”
But I also like the 2nd part of his response: “I just try to do my job the best I can each day.” Nothing sensational. Just trying to be a good husband, good worker, etc….We know God’s plan for us, and much of it isn’t sensational. When we’re told to find “the will of God” it is primarily in terms of our walking with Jesus and growing in Him (Eph 5:17, Col 1:9, I Thess 4:3). It is about sanctification, not our professional calling. Kevin DeYoung’s book Just Do Something really fleshes this out a bit more and better than I could if I had more space. You can download it for free here
Instead of thinking sensationally like there is something crazy out there, or something so specific that we have the burden of trying to figure it out, why not think more simply like this lad? Be a good husband, good parent, good Dad, love Jesus, follow Jesus daily, serve the church with your gifts. That seems a lot more biblical than the pressure of trying to figure out why you were delivered and the other bloke wasn’t.

God has made known to Christians the “mystery” of His will in Christ (Eph 1:9), so no other mystery should cause us to lose much sleep or put pressure on us.

Unknown's avatar

Petyon Manning Syndrome

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For the first time in the Colts last 227 games (you do the math-seriously, I”m not going to), Peyton Manning will not be playing the quarterback position. Perhaps even more amazing is Buccaneer defensive back Ronde Barber’s streak now takes center stage. Seeing as Ronde is actually in there tackling people while Peyton rarely gets touched, I’m more impressed with the former. He just happens to be a Buccaneer….
Peyton’s streak has been a blessing. But one would wonder if at some points it has also been a curse? Some wonder if this could spell the end of this Roman Empire-esque run for the Colts. But in this case, the problem is not Goths, immorality, infrastructure, or anything like that. It appears that if there is a collapse-and this is only a possibility-that one failure will stand out above the rest: failure to groom a successor for Manning.
In the article I linked to above, one aspect of a good employee/teammate is:

 

  ….a man’s true value to his employer is revealed by what’s accomplished when he’s not around. Well folks, it’s time to finally put that premise to the test.
On Sunday, we’ll finally see what happens when Peyton Manning doesn’t step onto the field. We’ll see what happens when a team only keeps 2 quarterbacks on the roster for years and doesn’t develop any new talent. But not all teams with Iron Man quarterbacks have fallen prey to the failure to address the need for new leadership. Green Bay drafted a quarterback you may have heard of named Aaron Rogers (fresh off a Super Bowl win-even though the Pack had the same record as the Bucs last year) and gave him time to develop before Brett Favre “diva-ed” his way out of there.
Peyton Manning Syndrome happens in churches all the time. Someone is talented at preaching, teaching, leading a small group bible study, playing music, evangelizing, etc….For years that person just does what he/she does best. But eventually that person will die, go to college, move away, or change churches. 
As pastors and church members, I think we always need to think a few years out. Who can I train to do what I do so that we’ll presently be multiplying ministry (as opposed to simply maintaining) as well as protecting ourselves for unseen transitions? Now I’m not referring to programs. Some programs need to die. I’m talking about people ministering the gospel to each other in in its various forms.
1 Peter 4:10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies- in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Who else has gifts similar to yours? Can be they be trained to assist or eventually replace you to pursue more personal ministry?

A pastor and member’s true “worth” (I’m not arguing some folks are essentially more important) to the church is probably seen more in their temporary absence (as they step aside and share leadership) than in their conspicuous presence. The church needs the gifts of its members. But in some way, the less dependent a church is on ONE person here and there-unless that person is the God/Man Jesus-the healthier and prosperous that church is and will be. 

Now most of this falls on the church leadership to think more like the Green Bay Packers than the Indianapolis Colts: to always be thinking 2-3 years down the road. Nevertheless, members can serve in the same way by trying to raise up replacements or assistants which will then open up new opportunities for them or for new-comers.

Unknown's avatar

Room at the table for differing conversions

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I heard a challenging sermon called “Paul’s Life and Ours” last week on a very familiar passage. In Galatians chapter 1, Paul defends his gospel as coming from Jesus himself.
“15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.”
Martin Ban from Christ Church Santa Fe called attention to the fact that there was a difference in the way some of the Galatians received the gospel (Jesus via preached word we assume) and the way Paul received the gospel (via personal encounter with Jesus). Part of their unwillingness to listen to Paul, perhaps came from this difference. Paul was a suspect since he didn’t receive the gospel the way they had (obviously some of them probably hadn’t at all). 
The Galatians needed to feel concern with the content of the gospel way before they needed to be concerned and question Paul’s experience. His application was that we need to be more tolerant in the experiential component or “the where,” (the “where” also includes the historical gospel story) when the content of the gospel is believed. 
Citing examples of Anne Lamott and his own experience of being a Christian while growing up Catholic, he challenged his congregation to not greet everyone who came to faith in a different way with a hermeneutic of suspicion. In other words, just because someone’s faith journey looks different than yours, that does not make it illegitimate. And you shouldn’t assume it is.
I came out of college ministry that tended to question the legitimacy of one’s salvation if he or she couldn’t produce an adequate time, date, or experience of conversion. I still struggle with being suspicious over crazy faith journey’s like the murderous “Son of Sam who has refused parole though I blame that on own tendency toward skepticism.
But the more I live, and the more I minister, the way Jesus “meets” people and brings them from death to life seems to be vary quite a bit. There is no cookie cutter experience.
Sometimes a person person might be involved in a bible study for a long period of time and eventually the light bulb clicks on and they “get the gospel.” More and more people today find themselves converted to the church before they are truly converted to Christ. After they see Christ’s community, and experience the gospel shared and lived out in community, they may embrace it without a conscious experience. This can happen in youth groups as well.
We pray that Connar never knows a time where he doesn’t trust Jesus as His Lord and Savior. Of course he will need to profess faith one day and say, “Yep, this Jesus, I rest in Him alone.” But I would be completely happy if he can’t remember a time when he didn’t know Jesus. He will have only Jesus to rest in, and not an experience.
And some kids do profess faith at a young age. I don’t think we should immediately be skeptical and withhold Communion or Baptism (if they haven’t received that sign) because we’re suspect of their experience. Provided they can profess a child like faith to the elders, I’m not sure that we should require much past that.
And I also pray for those consciously running from Christ either because of their morality or immorality, that they will turn to Jesus, rest in Him, and experience and display their faith. Their story and experience will look quite different than mine. And there’s plenty of room for all of us in the local church.
We should not expect the cookie cutter experience today because we don’t see that in scripture. Timothy came to faith as the gospel was passed down through his family (II Tim 1). Jesus’ disciples were just told to follow him and they did. Others came to faith by means of traveling Evangelists like Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:48), and some who never personally knew them (Colossians). The thief on the cross came to faith a bit of an unusual way (Luke 23:43) you could say.
The emphasis in scripture seems to be less on conversion experience, but instead on “knowing Christ,” and demonstrating faith NOW as opposed to proving you had faith THEN. 

Anyhow, I felt convicted of my suspicions. Provided the content of the gospel is there, and the person is walking with Jesus, but of course struggling like the rest of us, make sure you leave room at the table of fellowship.

Unknown's avatar

Why we have kids sing

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Few things are more entertaining than watching little one’s play sports. But I enjoy few things more than seeing little one’s sing about Jesus, particularly when it is my own little one we’re talking about. Yet should we have kids up front to entertain the congregation because they are getting ready to hear a long sermon? Or could there be another reason for kids to be up front?

While a church service isn’t intended to entertain folks (we’ll miss Jesus, if we aim for entertainment), it nevertheless is still the highest joy that I and many other experience in the week. While its not entertainment, I’m often full of joy when I leave on Sundays. And on one particular Sunday when we had the benefit of being blessed by our children singing, I rode “cloud 9” the whole day.

Here are some reasons why I was so blessed and look forward to more of these opportunities in the future.

1.) Jesus said, “Let the children come to me (Matt 19:14).” You don’t HAVE to have kids up front singing a song during the tithe, but it is a way for us to let them come to Him and lead us in worship. We are legitimating them as members of the covenant community.

2.) Little children possess a joy that adults sometimes lose because of the cares of this word. Is it naievete? I don’t think so. As adults we are to be responsible, but we often times forget to relax and trust Jesus. Little kids remind us to do the latter, even if they are unaware of some of the responsibilities like working and paying bills. Seeing their joy can restore our joy.

3.) Next generation. You don’t HAVE to have little kids up front singing, but having them reinforces that our God is a God to us and our children. He is faithful to us as we attempt to pass on the truth of the Lord to the next generation. Some of the kids up there do have personal faith and want to profess it. Others will probably some day soon profess faith. We see the faithfulness of God working and don’t need to be afraid of this evil age, as though it somehow can snatch our children out of God’s faithful hands.

4.) Is laughter part of worship? Well we can laugh in sermons, can’t we? Laughing during confession of sins is obviously not apropos, but laughter has a place in redemptive history; it signifies that we are redeemed. So I think it is apropos during corporate worship, which aims retells the gospel story each week. The laughing folk are the redeemed folk.

Psalm 126:2-3 “Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” 3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”

5.) It gives the children an opportunity to express that they love Jesus. Adults have opportunities obviously through joining the church and professing faith, or by leading or playing music, or by giving testimonies. But I think that we need to hear from kids more often.

6.) Some kids in this video do not like being center of attention. Obviously you can tell my son, in the middle, wearing red, has no problems. When he gets older, we’ll explain to him not to try to draw attention to himself. Yet he was so excited to get up and sing about Jesus, that I didn’t want to put any parameters other than “Don’t fall off the stage!”

But for other children, it took real faith to get up there. Faith in the One whom they were singing about and to. That challenged and encouraged me.

7.) The simple message and joy of Jesus washing our sins away, and how it truly is a “Happy Day,” can mean something more coming from a child than an adult or pastor. Sometimes we need reminders that we entered into a relationship with Jesus because of a child like faith and possessed a great joy because of it. Sometimes it takes children singing freely and unhindered, experiencing that joy while they are expressing it, to lead us back to the joy of God’s salvation.

Luke 18:17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

If you haven’t seen the video of the kids singing, here it is.

Unknown's avatar

A heart under the hoodie

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One thing I don’t do very well, but realize that I need to do well, is find positive things to say about those with whom you disagree. My least favorite coach in the NFL is Bill “Belicheat” Belichick. Not fan of that joker for a number of reasons.
However, I found out something about this lad which surprised me quite a bit: he seems to have legitimate feelings. He says in reference to the final cuts when teams have to go from 80 down to 53 players:
“It doesn’t make it any easier, but it’s something you have to deal with every year,” Belichick said. “It doesn’t really get any easier. It’s always a grouping of people and you’re affecting their lives and their families and their careers and trying to do what’s best for the team, but that still can be tough. It is tough.”
I have no personal interaction with Coach, so its not that tough to commend his concern for his players. There really is a heart under the “hoodie” (probably the least fashionable coach in the NLF, he simply wears a “hoodie” sweatshirt, and pants of course) as hard as it is to admit.
Yet it becomes much harder when dealing with folks with whom we have actual relationships. How much more with those we struggle fancying? Nevertheless, we will rarely ever be “heard” until we can also find and relay something positive to such folks. Very few people listen to those who can find NOTHING positive about them. I think this is why Republicans and Democrats rarely ever get anywhere with each other.

Since all of us truly are made in the image of God, we can find something positive to say about our enemies, critics, or those folks who we find harder to love than others. As much as I struggle to believe this, it still rings true.