Trouble

          It really is sobering watching the events around the world right now. Times are frightening not only because of the evils man can commit against his neighbor, but also because of what man can do nothing to prevent, such as an Earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami whose effect is felt all the way over here in San Diego. Times like these serve as a brutal reminder that we are truly much smaller and more vulnerable than we would like to admit.

         But the reality is, we have never been anything but vulnerable, and often times the struggles that we experience in our life serve not to make us vulnerable, but to show us exactly how vulnerable we are. I am not sure what it is about the human condition, but we tend to think that we have an invisible plate of reinforced steel armor on that will keep any and all harm from coming to us. It’s almost as if we forget that this is not Heaven and that we are not entitled to good things.

            I am a very blessed man: I am a Child of God, I have a wonderful wife, good health, a blessed opportunity to minister to the leaders of tomorrow, and wonderful brothers and sisters who truly love me. I am also caught off guard when pain strikes me. I feel weak and naked, betrayed, anxious, and utterly vulnerable to all pains that this world has to offer. It is here, in my darkest moments, that I wonder exactly where God is and just what the heck He is doing (some of you may know the feeling). Yet, it’s in these times when the rubber of faith meets the road of this cold, dark, and dreary world, giving us the opportunity to trust in God and depend on Him even when we see or feel no sign of hope or His love. In these times we come to understand the raw meaning of faith.

Regardless of where you may be, what pains are afflicting you, what distance you feel from God and His love, may you take this time to acknowledge through pure and unadulterated faith that God loves you and is for you. He is not some relentless task master who is on your back with a riding crop expecting you to be different or better than you are. He is right beside you, waiting for you to acknowledge His presence and love. He is not here to make you pay for your sins (this is what Calvary was all about). He is here to love you and accept you through the blood of Jesus.

His love has YOUR name written all over it, and His Son holds our eternal future. We can be secure, no matter how troubling times may be, in this amazing truth.

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13

Troubling Times for Planet Earth

        It really is sobering watching the events around the world right now. Times are frightening not only because of the evils man can commit against his neighbor, but also because of what man can do nothing to prevent, such as an Earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami whose effect is felt all the way over here in San Diego. We are certainly much smaller and more vulnerable than we would like to admit.

        May we take this time to hope in the God who is above this world. The Almighty who is unshakeable in His power, unchanging in His purpose, and utterly relentless in His good plans for all who come to Him through Jesus.

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging. (Psalm 46:1-3)

Freedom Song

Are you free?

            You may, dear reader, be wondering exactly what I mean. Let me continue with further questioning.

Are you free from the ruthless demands of the world? Demands that scream performance for satisfaction? Performance for identity? Performance for status?      Are you free from self hatred? A hatred that demands perfection in performance or an ever changing identity wrapped in the lies of what culture says is relevant?

            Are you free from the dark, gloomy hold of sin? A hold that keeps bringing you to decisions made that lead to nothing but gloom and emptiness?

            Are you free from the search for purpose? A purpose found not in what you do, but in you are?

            Are you satisfied with your life, or have you yet to be set free from the search for satisfaction?  Are you content? Have you found meaning? How many vain choices have you made thinking that they would lead to you fulfillment? How long will you keep looking to those choices to bring you the peace that you so long for?

             

                 Are you truly free? Think hard. Denial will only be disservice.

            The rancid waters of this world wreak their havoc on us all. We are born into bondage of a terrible beast known as sin that controls us, forcing us to hate and not love, to take and not give, and to make gods out of everything but God Himself. But there is much joy to be had because you, dear reader, have not found lasting satisfaction in anything yet.  Yes, you have searched. Yes, you have come up short. We all have. And thank God for that.
           Blaise Pascal was certainly on to something when he said, in essence, that there is a God shaped hole in all of us. Because of this, we can be sure to find contentment and fulfillment in nothing and no one other than Him. It is in Him that we find our heart’s greatest desire: freedom.

            Jesus was and continues to be all about freedom. He healed people, freeing them from the bondage of physical troubles. He forgave people, freeing them from condemnation for the junk that they had done. He also pointed the way to a relationship with God, the very foundation for freedom.

            I am a follower of Jesus and I am free, but I would be lying and making a fool of myself if I said that I have arrived at the total realization of my freedom. I still struggle. This world makes no easy way out for any of us, but God who loves has made it possible for an intimate relationship with Him. No, it will not be the end of chaos in our lives and it will certainly not be the immediate delivery of this world. But it will be peace, and the start of a new journey of discovering the one truth that we all long to know; that we are loved by God, and that we are significant.

            I don’t know your story, and I certainly don’t know what your experience with God has been in your life, but I can say this: if it has done anything but free you, then it wasn’t God. To know how badly God wants freedom for His creation, one must look no further than a boy born in a manger who grew up to become the Savior who died for the world.

           Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He is the way to God, truth itself, and He gives life to all who come to Him through faith; real, true, and fulfilling life. Not a measly substitute as the world offers. Only real life can set us free.

            Have you dared take a chance with Jesus? Are you even open to Him? I want to challenge you all, followers of Christ or not, to take a look at your life to see exactly how free you are. Are you where you want to be, or are there changes to be made?

            It is all about Jesus. Our existence, our eternal destiny, and the health of our relationships with one another all depend on Him.

            I dare you to consider Jesus.

Good News for an Unfinished Christian

           I often feel unqualified to write about the good news of Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins. I suppose that there are several reasons for this. Chief among them is that I have a hard time holding onto the awesome truths of the gospel; I feel if I am to profess the truths of God’s unfathomable goodness, then I need to be totally confident in that which I write about or teach.
          Recently I revisited an article I wrote about a month ago called Victims of Grace, and as I read it I thought, ‘Wow, I sure sound like an expert on the grace of God!’ Then a few moments passed by, and I thought “Crap! I really do sound like an expert. But I am so not!” My wife was standing next to me and I told her about my revelation. She assured me that I knew the truth it was just hard for me to live it because I am human. Nice isn’t it, to have a wife who is both brilliant and beautiful to remind me of these things?
          I forget that I am a human sometimes. I forget even more often that God doesn’t expect me to be anything else. I could be alone in these temporary bouts of amnesia, but I sort of doubt it. I think often times people come to faith in Jesus Christ and receive His free gift of forgiveness and eternal life, and then get sidetracked from it. It seems like once we are saved, we think that we should automatically be morally perfect. We then get hard to work on a religious expectations check list that we must strictly adhere to daily to attain this moral perfection, this instead of living by God’s pure un-adulterated grace.

Speaking of making lists, maybe yours looks like mine:

1. Spend more time reading the bible than doing anything else
2. Pray every spare minute that I get. No free time.
3. Pray for every single person I meet
4. Never get impatient. Impatience is for the weak.
5. NEVER doubt God
6. Never spend money on yourself
7. Never wrestle with what it means to be a Christian
8. Never forget to do the dishes for you wife.
9. Watch only G rated movies
10. Listen only to music by DC Talk and Michael W. Smith
11. Never take fun time for yourself. Ministry is life.
12. Never struggle with lust
13. Love people perfectly. Always.
14. Obey the laws of the land perfectly.
15. Never fail God.
16. Never doubt His love.
17. Never speed.


           Let’s just say that if God held me to same standard I hold myself to, I would be a lost cause. Lists like these are not totally unproductive however. They can serve a great purpose: to show you how much you fail at keeping any standards.

          On Mount Sinai God gave the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel. These commandments were a glimpse into the perfect morality of God. They showed His standards for the people Israel, and ultimately His standard of perfection for all mankind. They were His “check-list” for humanity. Because they were such, these commandments did another thing: they revealed failure. They revealed the sin of the chosen Jews. They also ultimately reveal the sin of the entire world. Think about this for a minute as we consider two of these commandments:

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

         While most of us have not literally murdered someone, we have done so indirectly. Jesus taught that hatred for another person was the same as murder in God’s eyes (Matthew 5:21). Likewise, He taught that lusting after an individual was identical to committing adultery (Matthew 5:28). So, because I have both hated and lusted, I have broken two of the ten standards on God’s check list, thus proving myself to be a sinner. This was and is the whole purpose of the Law. It offers a glimpse at God’s perfect morality, shows us how ridiculously far short we fall, and then leads us to receive God’s free gift of forgiveness in Jesus. As Galatians 3 says, the law was added because of transgressions. It was added to show sin so that when Jesus came, we would let Him save us through faith. Both the Ten Commandments and the sacrificial system (animal sacrifices to bring forgiveness) ultimately pointed to Jesus. The Law screams “GOD IS PERFECT. You are not. Let HIM save you.” The bottom line is that God’s standard for us has been forever met in Christ. Period. God’s check list for us is perfectly and totally completed and nothing can say otherwise. So why on Earth would we create our own standards to hold ourselves to? Are we God that we can say what moral perfection is and what it is not?
         Let me close with some confessions. I am a Christian. I love God very much. I love writing about Him. I love teaching His word. I love the grace that He has for me in Jesus Christ. I am also unfaithful to Him, a doubter of the first degree; a hater; an adulterer; an idolater; a murderer. But these actions are not my identity. No, the Blood of Christ says otherwise. I am a beloved Son who has been forever reunited with His Creator through the all sufficient blood of Jesus.
         We don’t need to have a list of rules to live for God. We just need God. We need God’s acceptance of us through faith in Jesus. We need His Spirit to come make His home in us so that we can have the intimacy that we lost so long ago.
         The only moral check-list that served a purpose was God’s. It took the very beast of sin that separated us from Him in the beginning of time, and used it to bring us to the cross. Our sins no longer need bring us shame. This is why Christ came. We have only room for celebration in our brief lives on Earth, and our forever lives thereafter.

This is the good news. This is the great news. This is the excellent news. This is the stupendous news.

God loves you and wants you. Believe it.



“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

Victims of Grace

            Sometimes it seems following Jesus is like following a man who exists in shadow. If the sun is just right, we think, He will show up; if we get our priorities in order, He will gladly show Himself. I often think that the way I pray is not good enough for Him to hear. Perhaps I need to bow to the dirty ground for Him, I think. Maybe I need to do this to even be WORTHY enough to pray.

I catch myself in the “I’m not good enough for God to hear me” mentality often. Some of you may know it. It’s the one where we put worth into our own sacrifices for God, thinking that what we do will help Him hear us or love us more. It’s the very same mentality that leads to self deprecating trains of thought lead by words of unworthiness, words that exist for no other reason than to penetrate our minds and hearts, causing paralysis and fear.

I think Satan loves it when we arrive at such conclusions. When we believe lies such as the “I’m not good enough mentality,” we are succumbing to lies that take the focus off of the Beautiful Savior God who came to Earth and died for us. Really, where is the room for Jesus in such mentalities? Satan indeed loves it when we take our eyes off of Jesus because when we do so, we forget exactly who we are as God’s holy and Beloved children. And for those of us who don’t know Christ, oh, how the devil loves to distract us from Him.

There is a yet-to-be-read book that sits on my shelf called “The Grace Awakening” by Charles R. Swindoll. Its tagline reads “Believing in grace is one thing. Living it is another.” There have been no truer words said. Followers of Jesus know (I hope) that they have been saved by grace and not by works (see Ephesians 2:8, Galatians, Romans…you know what, see the entire Bible). But it seems to end there for many people, myself included. We read verses that speak of this grace and yet we still fall back into man made religion, the very devil that Jesus fought when He walked this Earth some two thousand years ago. You may know this as well. Its the very slime that the Pharisees spewed from their mouths while they gloated over how beautiful they were in God’s sight because of their religious keeping of the law, an obedience that lead them to the absurd notion that healing people was considered working on the Sabbath (this was one of Jesus’ favorite things to violate by the way).

Man made religion has always painted the incorrect picture of both man and God. It says that we need to make ourselves beautiful for God and that we need to reach up to him and just HOPE that he will have pity on us and give us a piece of the love cake. Crumbs would even do. I think we can be honest and say that if this is the way the Lord Jesus Christ works then He is no different than any other religious leader claiming to have divine insight. He IS Allah, the god who weighs our good and bad works at the end of our lives on judgment day. He IS the god of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) whose sacrifice is not enough for entrance into the very throne room of God, but who has enabled us to perform good works in order that we may attain the highest level of eternal bliss in heaven. Jesus must indeed be different, otherwise Christianity is just another religion and not the way as the early church described it.

The gospel speaks loud and clear to a lost world. It says that we are in desperate need of reconciliation with God. We need our sins (wrong doings) forgiven. It screams that we are incomplete without our true meaning and purpose in life, a meaning found in Jesus Christ. It also says that we cannot do it alone. This is why Jesus came. He knew that we could not reach high enough to find God. He knew we were unworthy of His love and dwelling among us. This is what makes His love…..well, His Love and nobody else’s. The Greek word for belief in John 3:16 (see below) serves as an explanation for what one must do to be saved. It means to depend, to trust, to receive Jesus’ work on the cross for our sins. In modern words it means both to admit our need for Him to save us, and then to LET Him be the savior that we need.

 It is simple belief, trust, and dependence on Christ for forgiveness and salvation that makes us saved. It is not good works or striving to be like God that saves us. It is not religious practices or church. It is recognizing how desperately we need God’s love and forgiveness. It’s clinging to Jesus and resting in the phenomenal truth that His work on Calvary for our sins was enough.  Christ speaks to us, tenderly saying, “You do not need to reach for me. I have reached for you. I am here.”

When one depends on Christ for salvation, the Holy Spirit, God Himself, literally comes and lives inside of the believer (Ephesians 1). He comes and makes His very Home within us (John 14:23). This means that no amount of shoe shining, teeth brushing, Bible reading, or church going jargon can make us any closer to Christ than we already are. Once we believe, this is enough. He is near and we are new. He is intimate with us and hears our every prayer whether we kneel or not. We need not DO anything in order to remain saved. Christ is enough to save us and He is enough to keep us saved. Anything other than this is mindless religious bondage.

We had the privilege of celebrating the day that God came near just a few days ago on December 25 2010. May we live in this reality and allow ourselves to be victims of Grace. Victims of a Love that is too good to be true. Victims of an undeserved, but real favor from God. A favor that yields a hope that can never perish and a joy which lifts us above the world.

He is close dear children. He is near you brokenhearted. He is close. He is close. He is close.

It is not about us.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Belonging

           It really is interesting to me that the closer I get to Christmas, the more materially focused I seem to become. Gift ideas go through my mind both to give and receive, though mostly it’s the latter- movies I want, video games I need, coffee mugs I crave (okay, maybe not). To put it simply, my mind gets flooded with stuff.

           I also find it funny that gifts upon gifts are given at Christmas yet, in all reality, come next Christmas, we will all have a fairly difficult time remembering what we received the previous year- was it Aunt Margaret who got me the sewing machine? Or was that Aunt Ethel, and why did I ask for a sewing machine anyway?!?!?!?!? 

I think a lot of people have the wrong ideas about what Christianity is exactly. Some see it as just another religion, which it certainly can become if we are not careful.  Some see it as a means of control and manipulation and sadly it has been used as such. Some see Christianity as a crutch for the weak, and while I do believe it is a crutch for those who realize that they cannot do anything without God, this is not WHAT Christianity is at its core. It is something so much more.

When we come to Christmas we give gifts and there is nothing wrong with this. I happen to like both giving and receiving gifts. But there is more to it than this. December 25^th is the day which has been chosen to celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus; the Prince of peace, Immanuel (meaning God with us), Savior, Redeemer, Lover of mankind, and….. adopter of children.

You see when one receives Jesus Christ they do not only receive forgiveness and freedom from sin. They also receive adoption. Through faith in Christ we are adopted into the family of God (Galatians 3:26) and given the Holy Spirit which is our direct connection with Father God (Ephesians 1). It is a spirit that does not lead to fear, for fear has to do with condemnation for sin (1 John 4:8), but is a spirit by whom we cry out to God calling Him Abba....daddy. It is a spirit which joins us with the eternal God, bringing us into the largest family of all time with the most loving parent in the universe; a parent who is unfailing in the love He has for His children.

            There is nothing more important than belonging; it is as if our very souls cry out for this. God has sent His son Jesus to save us and bring us into the belonging that we so crave. It does not matter to God how many times we have rejected Him or what our past holds. What matters is decision. We have this life to make up our minds about Jesus Christ and His gospel of grace, and so be invited into the greatest love anyone can know. It is a love that adopts the parentless; a love for orphans living in an unkind world.  A love for you and me.

There is nothing more valuable than belonging to God. Not even a sewing machine.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15

Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God

              
               We all come from different religious backgrounds. Some of us were raised in families that believed in a god of some sort. Some of us were raised in families that rejected the existence of one. Some of us were even raised in families that were religious on the outside, with big smiles in public places and at church, but with broken hearts and varying degrees of dysfunction at home in “behind-the-scenes” territory.

              Whatever the background we carry on our shoulders, we all have two things in common: we are sinners and we are loved.

               Just the other day I told the students at my youth group a story of one of my very first attempts to steal something. I was at a pharmacy with my mom and desperately wanted some Starburst. For whatever reason I was not allowed to have them, so I snuck over and began un-wrapping the package hoping to take just one. As I did, a lady older than God Himself (okay maybe that’s an exaggeration) came around the corner and grumbled something at me. Needless to say, I was terrified and ran away leaving the Starburst package half unraveled. I knew exactly what I was doing that day: I was attempting to take something that was not mine.
              We have all had those moments, and most likely, at the very least; continue to be tempted by them today. If thievery or dishonesty is not our stumbling block then perhaps its hatred or lust or maybe, if you are like me, you are tempted by all of them at times perhaps even falling to their prey daily.
God says in His word that whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it (see James 2:10). For those who are not familiar with the Jewish law, in the context here, James is speaking directly about the Ten Commandments which were the moral law that God gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai to help govern Israel. What James is basically saying is that whoever breaks one law (let us say the commandment prohibiting adultery for example) is considered guilty of breaking all the laws. From God’s perspective, it only takes one act of sin to fall short of His standard for moral perfection. This is a grave situation to be in, especially considering that we can all think of multiple times that we have done things that brought guilt on our conscience because we knew that they were wrong.
             The truth is, whether we believe it or not, we will all stand before God one day to give an account for our actions here on Earth, and we will all have multiple violations of God’s perfect standard to present to him, each one meriting an eternity separated from God. But Jesus Christ came so that we wouldn’t have to be separated from God for eternity. He experienced the punishment for our sin.
             Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Because of God’s great love for us he came to Earth wrapped in flesh and took the punishment for His creations rebellion. One only needs to depend on Jesus for salvation to be saved. Such an act of trust and dependence in Christ begins a relationship with God that never ends.
             The Gospel (or good news) of Jesus is simple: believe and have life. John 3:16 says that “…God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” The Greek for eternal life means not only heaven, but life as God has it. Life that begins at the moment of belief and forgiveness when God comes into our hearts and lives in us through His spirit (see Ephesians 1:13). It is life that begins now in a relationship with God, and continues forever on into beautiful eternity.
            Whoever you are, wherever you are, the gospel is for you. God’s love revealed and proven in Christ is readily available and is yours for the taking (see Romans 5:6-8). May you, dear reader, see the God who came for you. May you receive His love and depend on Him. His arms are a safe place to be.

Andy