Rediscovering Church

Community is Costly

"If we can't live together, we're going to die alone" (from the Lost clip).

This becomes a little more obvious when you're in a plane crash and stranded on a hidden island. It may be less obvious when we can surround ourselves with entertainment and other things to distract us. 

In certain place that I have been in Liberia and Mexico, the community only had one television. This, combined with a desire to watch the television, caused everyone to gather together to watch soccer matches or the SportsCenter highlights. What is a tool of isolation in America because everyone has one became a tool of community in a place where the town only had one.

Yet we have everything we need. We have our own televisions, tools, cars. We have become our own self-sufficent islands. And on our islands, we are alone.

And "if we can't live together, we're going to die alone." But it's not just about dying alone, it's about actually never really living. When we live alone, we miss out on so much.

We were made for community. Some get community as it within their biological family. Others get it at work or some other place. But the place of a healthy church is to provide the opportunity to be part of a healthy community to everyone, regardless of wealth, social status, or biological family.

Long ago in a distant land, a prince dreamed of creating more than a geographical or political kingdom. He dreamed of establishing a community in which all persons were committed to each other in loyalty and equality, where every person sought the welfare of the neighbor even at a cost to the self. So the prince called a great meeting of all the heads of clans, all the wise and trusted people of the land, and dared to tell his dream. Each chieftain and his clan were invited to join in the foundation of a new society. As part of the community's inauguration, each was requested to search his cellar for the best wine produced from his ancestral vines. These treasured bottles would be uncorked, poured into a great communal vat, and blended, as the true community it represented, into a common vintage.

"How can I mix my exquisite wine with that of my neighbors?" asked one of the winegrowers invited to this covenanting. "I would sacrifice the unique variety of grape, the special climate of the year, the sweetness of a late harvest, the indefinable magic of bouquet, and I would violate my art as a winemaker. Impossible! Give up my distinct variety? Lose my separate self? I will not be adulterated in such a common cup."

So he corked a bottle of tap water, affixed his most beautiful label to the bottle, and at the time of the ritual poured the water ceremoniously into the vat, thinking that nobody would notice one bottle of water mixed in with all the other bottles of wine. When the covenanting was solemnized, all filled their glasses for the communal draft, the toast that would seal commitment to community. As the cups touched their lips, all knew the truth. It was not wine. It was water. No one had been willing to pay the cost of community.

A modified excerpt from from David Augsburger's Dissident Discipleship: A Spirituality of Self-Surrender, Love of God, and Love of Neighbor (60-61).

A Brief Look at Community in the Bible

Community is costly. And the early church decided to pay the cost.

If we look at Acts 2:42, we see that.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.  And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,  praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47 ESV).

They were gathering together daily. They were sharing life together. A real relationship with God has as its natural consequence, community. If we aren't experiencing community, we need to grow closer to God. We need to spend time sharing meals with brothers and sisters in Jesus. We need to spend time praying together. Taking care of each other, as we see here, is a natural part of community.

They were the church. This is the type of church we need to strive to be.

So we have to shift the way we think of church and the value we attribute to church.

The writer of Hebrews wrote:

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,  not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV).

Some have given up meeting together. When they do this, it is to their own spiritual detriment. Others still attend, but they don't really encourage others. They just come to church and want others to love them. They will take, take, and take and never give back.

True community is just real friendship. It's people giving and receiving. It's a place where you belong rather than just go. A place where you know people will encourage and love you when you need it. And you look for ways to encourage and love others. This is the type of real community that we are called to.

It's overly obvious but we sometimes don't notice the overly obvious things and allow them to penetrate our thoughts and shape our life the way that they should. Jesus didn't change the world alone. He assembled a group of people to change it through. This group of people who followed Jesus became the first church. One conversion after another, we are part of that chain of disciples that go all the way back to Jesus Himself through them.

 

Stop Playing Church

Yet somewhere along the way, things have morphed. Our society has passed down to us a broken church, with broken people in and out of the church.

We have been taught to keep our faith personal, when Jesus always taught us and modeled for us to keep our faith relational. We are to reflect Him and have a transformative faith that changes ourselves and those around us.

True, he teaches us to love God. That may be able to be construed as just having a personal faith. But He links that with loving one another. That is relational.

The early church followed that model. They didn't follow Jesus in isolation from others; they followed Jesus together. They went throughout the world assembling believers into churches. These groups of believers learned to live a life of loving God, not in isolation, but in community with each other.

We have bought into the personalization/privatization of our relationship with Jesus. Just caving to the pressure of the secular culture around. Instead of having dynamic churches expressing the kingdom life in a relevant way, we have communities with struggling churches (struggling for vibrant spirituality, attendance, and funding). Instead of being the light of the world, churches just struggle to just keep the lights on. This shouldn't be.

Our communities aren't going to get any better by more people only developing their "personal/private" spiritual lives. They will improve when the people who claim to follow Jesus gather in a church community together and start doing life together, pray together, and serve the community they live in together. They will proclaim the Scriptures, which they fervently study together, when the opportunity arises and help out with the needs of those around them as they notice those needs and have the resources to meet them. This is church. 

Where did America go wrong?

Yet every church in my town  is struggling. And it's not just my town. Satan is winning the heart of America because he is winning the hearts of people in one community after another.

Where did America go wrong? Those who claim to follow Jesus stopped being the church. We started pretending to follow Jesus without the church, as if that is even possible. Now, before you want to project blame on someone else or something else, humor me for a bit and let me explain. I think we, the church, are at fault and are the ones that need to change.

Jesus came to establish His kingdom, not to just create Lone Ranger Christians following Jesus in their own way outside of the church. Jesus wanted to show the world the way it should live, and He did this through transitioning the Kingdom of God from the Old Testament kingdom of Israel with its military and borders to the Kingdom of God as we now know it, the church. The church is a kingdom without a military whose weapon is love. A kingdom without borders who welcomes everyone. We need to rediscover God's kingdom plan for the world, pray that it be done here on earth as it is in heaven, and begin to bring that will into this reality. We have to role to play as citizens in the Kingdom of God. And this can't be done alone. It must be done together. We need to live, following Jesus, together. We need to be the church.

A lot of the time it may come across as self-serving when a pastor stands in front of the church and asks people to be more involved in the church and to give more to financially support that church. Because it is true that if those things happen, the ministry of the pastor will often flourish.

That is not the case here. I won't benefit one bit by you getting more involved in your local church. I won't benefit any by increased offerings to your local church. But you should get more involved and make giving to your local church an important part of your budget.

Because you will benefit. 

But when I phrase it that way it is just appealing to your selfish ways. You get involved. You give more. You benefit. See the selfish appeal. 

What I really want to convince you of is that God made you for this. He made you, not to express your faith privately, but to express your faith through a community of believers. And you will probably benefit through this process. It is natural for benefits to follow in the wake of us following in God's plan for our lives.

God made us to be the church, to share life together, to love our communities, and, from there, the world. Together. Not alone. We were made for real, genuine community. We were made for life together.

Yet the world keeps lying to us, telling us to do it alone. To be self-reliant. To be self-sufficient. To be spiritual but not part of a church. Those are all lies, yet we fall for them time and time again. And when we believe the lies and live for them rather than God's truth, our lives suffer. From there, it spirals into our communities suffering. Consequently, our nation and the world follow in the suffering parade that we are grand marshalling. The lie that we can follow Jesus alone will not help us be the people that God has created us to be.

So I will not benefit one bit if you make being part of your local church community a greater focus of your life. However, if you have already surrendered your life to Jesus, there is nothing greater that you can do than to become a real active, tangible part of the church. Give your life to being part of the church. Help your local church, through the guidance and strength of God, transform your community. Be part of  a city on a hill. Be part of the light of the world. This is what God is calling all of us to. God transforms the world through transformed churches that are, at their core, just the melding together of transformed lives.

We can complain all we want about the world going to hell in a handbasket. Just seeing the news often makes us feel that way. From Iraq to Israel to Ukraine to Ferguson. It's chaos right now.

And then it may be more personal. Chaos may be entering our family life. Our relationships with friends. It may all be falling apart.

But in all of the situations we only control one person. Me. If we spend our time trying change others rather than allow God to transform us, we're really just projecting blame rather than being the necessary change.

We cannot change the world, America, or our communities through my own strength, knowledge, or methods. But we can allow God to change ourselves and allow Him to graft us into His church. Because the only reason the world, America, or this community has lost its way is because the church has lost its way. The people in the church have lost their way. And, most assuredly, the people who claim to follow Jesus but stay aloof from the church have lost their way.

The church has stopped being the hub of society. And that's not society's fault. That's the blame mentality. Blaming the world and others will get us nowhere. But if we take the blame on ourselves and say that it's our fault. It's the church's fault. It's my fault. Then we can change and, hopefully, see change around us.

Let's be honsest. Most of us aren't loving the people around us the way we should love them. We aren't showing the world the alternative plan for living that God wants us to express through being people who identify with Him and His kingdom more than we identify with any earthly affiliation or nation. 

The church isn't viewed as a safe place for sinners when we would should be the first place a sinner wants to go. 

Let's fix who we are. 

Let's stop complaining about who they are. 

Let's bring change, starting with ourselves, rather than focusing on who to blame. 

Blame is the tool of the lazy to not change. Change is the tool of God to bring about His will here on earth.

We shouldn't expect the world to be Christian when we aren't even willing to make the sacrifice and be an active part of a Christian community and radically, whole-heartedly follow Jesus with others who are also trying to figure out how that looks. 

An Alternative to SuperChristian Approach

Personal rant time. There is something that frustrates me more than nearly anything. People will watch Duck Dynasty and act superChristian. They will be political on certain issues that seem Christian, publicly proclaim a love for God and act superChristian. They will eat Chick-fil-a and act superChristian. Yet they have abandoned the church - the bride of Jesus. They expect the world to allow prayer in schools - our secular schools - when they won't even come to church and pray. The church should be known as a house of prayer, yet Christians are more concerned about getting prayer into secular schools than are they about actually getting together and praying. This is wrong!

Trying to force others to act Christian while we avoid doing the Christian things ourselves is not the response we should have as followers of Jesus to noticing that the world is out of sync with God's will. To project blame and excpectations on others is not superChristian, let alone even simply Christian. SuperChristians have taken some individualistic twist to following Jesus, wrapped the American flag around it, and act like that is the kingdom Jesus died for. But we are not to be about forcing others to live the life of a follower of Jesus through legislation, policy, or even social or peer pressure. Instead, we should live the life of a follower of Jesus as best as we possibly can and join in with others doing the same. This is church. Living the life God wants us to live together so that others can see the glory of Him.

When we see corruption, we need to be people who live together without corruption.

When we see hopelessness, we need to be living in such a way that we are hopebringers.

When we see selfishness, we need to model what it looks like to selflessly live for others.

When we see sin, we are called to live holy lives.

 

Rediscovering the Way

We are to provide the answer to society's ills through letting the Holy Spirit guide us. We let Jesus take over our lives and spread His love and bring Jesus to the world around us. We are to be a people set apart for the work of God.

This is what community should be like. This is what church should be like. A group of people living this alternative life - the Jesus life, the Kingdom life - in the midst of a world that has not yet joined in. We are to be a living example of God's plan for humanity.

Church is not just about gathering together at a certain time on Sunday morning or Saturday evening. It is more than that gathering although that gathering is an important part of a group of people being the church, but it's more than that. Church is about gathering together, encouraging each other, studying and praying together, and sharing life together.

The greatest witness of Jesus to our isolated, lonely, and disconnected society is those who claim to follow Jesus actually being a community of connected people - a group of people connected to each other because of our shared love for Jesus and His plan for this world. 

The cure for loneliness is real relationships. 

The cure for what ails our world is real relationships. 

This is why Jesus gave us the cure, the church. We are part of the cure. His death on the cross empowers us to have real relationships with each other, glued together by Him. Jesus established the church because the church provides the answer for the world's problems.

All of the other places that we experience community only offer earthly help. Church offers help of an eternal nature. And people are lying to themselves if they think they are in a right relationship with God without being in a right relationship with a church family.

Satan satisfies us with just enough community in other places that it distracts us from the essential, life-changing community with other Christians.

You may be in Rotary like I was, but as soon as you have to cut back on finances and stop going to the meetings, you are out of the community. You may have community at your workplace, yet as soon as you find another job, you are no longer part of that community. You may be on a softball team and you have community with the other players.

The church is a place that is different than all of those. The church is a place where people who have different interests, hobbies, and are from different walks of life can still have community with each other because we share the same Lord and Savior. Facebook users and Facebook haters can be brothers and sisters. Democrats and Republicans can worship together. Buckeye fans and Wolverine fans can share at the Lord's table.

It's true that when we give up gathering together or give up following Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we lose church community. But beyond that, if you change jobs, lose your health, get injured, lose all your money, move, or whatever would remove you from the communities in this world, you will still have community in the church.

The church has lost its way. We aren't loving the world the way we should love the world. We aren't praying together. We aren't doing life together. When we deflect self-reflection through wallowing in blaming the world for being the world, we stop the necessary change that needs to happen. Let's fix who we are. Let's stop complaining about who they are. Let us live in community together. Let us be the church. 

To My Christian Friends, Do You Really Want To Follow Jesus?

Do you really want to follow Jesus?

The American church has made it too easy for too long to pretend that we're follow Jesus. We have turned following Jesus into something similar to choosing your favorite sports team or television show. It's something you can decide to do and then put into one small compartment of your life. Even in doing that we've got it all wrong because, unfortunately, most sports fans and fans of specific shows are more passionate about their team or their show than they are about following Jesus.

Because of this, we have the church in America (and in a way our local church) in the state that it is in.

Which is a state much different than the state of the early church. When I read about the early church, I can't help but ask, "Why don't we have this?"

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,  praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47 ESV).

This is what I want to experience. This is the church I want to be part of. This is why I went to college and trained to be a minister. This is why I come here week in and week out, trying to convince you all of the things I preach up and try to motivate you to live them out. This is why I serve. Maybe it's the reason you are part of a church. But why don't we have this?

People coming to the Lord. People sacrificing to meet each other's needs. People passionately studying and praying together. People having real community. This is the type of church that God blessed.

But somewhere along the way, the church has lost this. So I ask again, "Why don't we have this?"

I'm pretty sure that God wants it. He's not the weak link. He's done what is needed to make this happen. He died on the cross, rose again, came as the Holy Spirit, established the Church, gave us the written word, and dwells within us. He is doing what He should be doing. He doesn't need me to encourage Him to do what He should be doing. We are the weak link. And this article, I don't need to convince God to do His part. He's done that. I need to convince us to be determined to pursue the life God is calling us to no matter what the obstacles. We must to be determined and willing to seek and do God's will.

Do you really want to follow Jesus?

Right before the church boomed and arrived as we just read, we see the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And we hear Peter's message to the people of that time. He tries to convince them to believe in Jesus.

At the end of His message, he states:

"Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified" (Acts 2:36 ESV).

The answer to why we don't have the early church that we read about earlier - something that should come about naturally when a group of people are in tune with God - is because we don't really believe that Jesus is both Lord and Christ.

We're quick to accept that He is "Christ." That word can also be translated "The anointed One", or "Messiah." This is the fun word. In using this word, we recognize that Jesus was the king who the Jews of the Old Testament times were waiting for. It's easy to accept and believe that Jesus is the Christ because it really makes no demands on our life. It's the good part. He's bringing about God's will. He took away our sin. He was the long-awaited savior of the world. Good. Good. Easy.

But we're not so quick to accept that He is Lord. Oh, we may state it, but we struggle to live it. The word translated "Lord" here literally means being the owner of something. When we call Jesus "Lord", we are renouncing our freedom and claiming to live for Him. We are giving up our will and desires and saying that we want to have the will and desire of Jesus. Do we really want to surrender our goals and desires and live for His goals and desires? Is Jesus really our Lord? Do you really want to follow Jesus?

Francis Chan wrote,

"Most of us use 'I'm waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life' as a means of avoiding action. Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday? Or to go on your last vacation? Or exercise this morning? Probably not, but you still did it. The point isn't that vacations or exercise are wrong, but that we are quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities yet are slow to commit to serving God." (169 in Crazy Love)

A while back, we did the First Fruits challenge and focused on giving God our first fruits for two weeks. If that was the first time that you did them, I hope that you have continued. I can tell you that these are things that God wants from your life. Prayer in the morning, giving your day to him, giving him the first of your earnings, encouraging others, and sacrifice your own desires to do His will. If you aren't even able to do these types of things, then you really need to ask yourself, "Am I really following Jesus?"

We like to skip ahead and not even do these minimal things yet expect God to guide us in less clear things, which He will, and give us eternal life. But here's the secret. He will do those things after you have given Him your life and made Him both Lord and Messiah of your life. We must remember that guidance, blessings, and eternal life aren't the goal; they're side effects of the life committed to Jesus as Lord and Messiah.

We turn making Jesus Lord and Messiah into something like agreeing to terms of service before installing some software we want to use. Of course we agree to the terms of service because we want to use the software. And of course we agree to Jesus being Messiah and Lord because we want the blessings of being His followers. We want guidance, protection, and eternal life. Yet we want the blessings of being His follower without actually being His follower.

Jesus shared a parable,

 What do you think? A man had two sons.

And he went to the first and said, "Son, go and work in the vineyard today." 

And he answered, ‘"I will not," but afterward he changed his mind and went. 

And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, "I go, sir," but did not go. 

Which of the two did the will of his father?

They said, “The first.”

Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.  For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. (Matthew 21:28-32 ESV).

Even after they saw it, they didn't change their minds and believe.

Think of it like my kids cleaning their room. Imagine, for some reason, my wife and I were  going to leave the house for two hours and rounded up our children and told them to clean their rooms. A few of the children said they would. The others said they wouldn't. Not that our kids would be allowed to say they wouldn't, but imagine we allowed them this time. - Now you may be thinking, "You let your kids say 'no' to you?" I don't. They know better than that. But the strange thing is that we turn around and say no to God all the time. - Anyway, we leave the house after giving our kids an assignment to clean, go do what we had to do, and come back.

To our surprise the kids that said "no, we're not cleaning our rooms" were in their rooms finishing up cleaning, while the kids that said "yes, we will gladly clean" never picked up a thing and played video games and watched the television the whole time.

Who were the kids that did what I wanted them to do? The ones who told me what I wanted to hear? Or the ones who actually did what I wanted done?

Too often, we're like the disobedient kids who say "yes" but then turn around and just entertain ourselves instead of following God. God doesn't want lip service. He wants changed lives and action. And changed lives are the naturally occurring results of really believing that Jesus is both Lord and Christ. Do you really want to follow Jesus?

Let's zoom back to the beginning of the early church again. We left off with seeing the end result. An incredible church where people gathered together to pray, shared what they had in common, had true friendships in the Lord, spent studying the word together, and saw greats signs and miracles. We saw this occurred after Peter taught them that Jesus was both Lord and Christ.

So how did they respond to that teaching. The story continues:
"Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'" (Acts 2:37 ESV).

Jesus is both Lord and Christ, and we should have the same question. What do we do? Notice "do". "Doing" naturally follows believing.

I want to read Peter's reply to the "What shall we do" question.

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”  So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:38-41 ESV).

Repent and be baptized. This promise of forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit was a promise to the and fro all those who are far off. It's a promise for us nearly two thousand years later. What should you do once you believe that Jesus is the Lord and Messiah? Just repent and be baptized.

Baptism is relatively easy. It's kind of like the "Lord and Christ" scenario mentioned earlier. You can choose today to be baptized and it will be done. It's similar to stating Jesus is Christ. It's the fun part. People celebrate it and throw parties. It's a big step, but an easy action. One time and it's done. So if baptism is an action you need to do, find a church to help you take that step.

Repentance, at least living a life of continual repentance, is much more difficult. Repentance means change. It means turning and heading toward God. It really implies, in the context of this passage, to stop making anything other than Jesus the Lord of your life.

Are you repenting? Have you been baptized?

Do you really want to follow Jesus?

Repenting is big. Unlike baptism being a one-time event, repenting has to be something we do for a lifetime. I would much rather have a church full of people who have repented and trying to live a repented life than a church filled with the baptized yet not repented. The first can be worked with. They're willing to grow. They latter are dead and they don't even know it. It's like they died in the waters of baptism and didn't rise to live in a new life.

Repenting means turning away from all the things our culture mistakenly thinks is valuable and turning toward God. Repent and head toward God. Oh, there may still be room for sports and entertainment in your life after becoming a follower of Jesus, but they will take a new place in your priorities. They will no longer be the goal. They will no longer be what we think can bring us happiness. Instead, they will be used toward reaching the real goal of glorifying God.

Francis Chan wrote,

"There is another path, an alternative to the individualism, selfishness, and materialism of the American Dream (even the so-called Christian version)."

Are we living that life? Or have we bought into the individualism, selfishness, and materialism of the culture around us?

The harsh reality is that we don't want to be found straying when Jesus returns. We don't want to be found lost when our time comes. Our lives are fragile. The longer I live the more tragedies that I see where people are unexpectedly gone in the blinking of an eye. Not all of us will die of cancer and have time to put our relationships, emotional state, and spiritual beliefs in order. Paul wrote in Romans, "Each of us will give an account of himself to God" (Romans 14:12 ESV).

What do I want to be doing when Christ comes back or my time here on this earth is over? Am I living that life now? Am I living the life that Jesus wants me to live? Do I really want to follow Jesus?

I worship a Savior who was beaten up and killed for me. He didn't come riding on a horse, a tactical missile, or a drone and take over the world. He came in love, eventually bearing a cross that He was nailed to. If you are willing to surrender yourself to Him and His mission to love others...If you want to be part of a group of people doing the same, then following Jesus and getting involved in a church should be just the thing for you.

In the New Testament we are never called to mimic God's justice; we're called to mimic His love. He reminds us that vengeance is His, not ours. We're called to love our neighbor, enemy, and everyone else. Even when it is not convenient, cultural, or safe.

We, the church - you and me - people in relationship with Jesus and each other - not a building - we, the church are striving to be the people God wants us to be, loving the world the way God wants us to love it.

Are we really doing that? Or do we just say it? Are we striving to be the people God wants us to be, or do we just want to do enough to "get saved?" Are we loving the world the way God wants us to love it, or are we just loving it when it is convenient to us, fits nicely into our schedule, and doesn't really cost us anything?

Last week, I was blessed with the opportunity to be the middleman in delivering a $1000 anonymous gift. God had laid it on another person's heart to give a certain family that money. They were faithful and did it. So I was able to deliver a great gift, a tremendous blessing, at really no cost to myself.

And I enjoyed being used to do that.

Then it struck me. Everything I do is like that. God has given me everything; it's all a blessing from Him. One of the greatest lies that we buy into as Americans is that we actually deserve this. We deserve to wake up every morning and have food available unlike others around the world. We deserve to be in a loving family unlike others around us. We deserve to have all the excess entertainment options we enjoy unlike those less fortunate. We deserve to have a safe home. We deserve this and we deserve that. Because we work hard. Because we're smart. Because of this or that.

But it's all a lie. We don't deserve it.

It's by God's grace. Don't get me wrong. I think we can create fair and just systems that help accommodate His blessing. We can live lives that God's grace can more easily flow into. But we have become prideful. We think we deserve God's blessings because of how great we are. And we don't.

That's the nature grace. It isn't something deserved. All our blessings, We don't deserve them. When we think we are deserving, then we fail to see all the love being poured into us.

We're coasting on the fumes of the faithful who have come before us. If we don't turn back to God soon, those fumes will run out. We'll sputter to a stop and find ourselves left on the side of the road of life - hungry, weak, without a family, without all the entertainment. All the blessings that our prideful selves have taken for granted will be taken from us. But the good truth is that you don't need to hit rock bottom to turn and respond to God's grace.

Instead of building up pride, God's grace should inspire selflessness, service, faithfulness. His grace should inspire in us a desire to draw as close to Him as we possibly can. It should inspire us to work toward His vision of living that we each have been called to. We should start (or continue if you are already) feeding the hungry, loving those who can't give back, helping the poorest of the world, giving unconditionally - repenting from the priorities of this world and turning to God.

We truly love God and live for Him when we love others. Love, in this case, isn't some emotional, fuzzy sort of thing. You can tell a needy person that you love Him and not help Him, but you can't trick God that way. He knows your heart, and He knows your actions. He says that if you love the needy person, then you should help her. If you care for the hungry, then feed him. If you love the homeless, then house them. He says that in doing those things, you are loving Him.

It doesn't matter how emotional you get when you worship God, whether you're spinning around in a wheat field with your arms raised, raising your hands in worship, or you imagine Him wrapping His arms around you in your quiet time. What matters is how you treat the least of these. Strangers. The hurt. The hopeless. That shows whether you truly love God and have made Jesus the Lord of your life.

Because all that we do to love others is like that opportunity I was given this week to be the middleman in giving an anonymous $1000. We don't earn what we are able to bless others with. It was given to us by God. It actually still is God's possession. And we must learn, if we claim to follow Jesus, to use the things that are His in a way that will bring Him glory.

Do you really want to follow Jesus?

God doesn't care about a commitment that you make here today; he cares about you going out and living it. But if there is a decision that you need to make today, now is the time. Every commitment must have a beginning. If you have something you feel you need to publicly confess, now is the time. If you want to take the step of baptism, now is the time. Did you once claim that Jesus was Lord but strayed and want to recommit, now is the time? If you feel led, please do not resist. Do it. We will all be blessed from it.

Do you really want to follow Jesus?

Like a Child

 “And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’ And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them” (Mark 10:13-16 ESV).

Jesus loved the children coming to him.

Just prior to this passage, Mark records the story of the Pharisees asking Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Immediately after this story is the story of the rich, young man who wanted to do the right things to get into heaven. I don’t think Mark accidentally placed them in this order.

As we age, we have a tendency to lose our zeal and passion for Jesus. Instead of having that radical faith of a child, we try to justify away remaining selfish in some areas. We try to find excuses to do what we want while keeping a modicum of religion. Just enough religion to get us saved.

But Jesus smacks these two ideas down. We must be like the children. The crazy, fun, loud children.

Francis Chan shares the following in his book Forgotten God:

When I was preaching through this passage (Acts 2:38-39) at my church, my seven-year-old daughter, Mercy, understood. She came to me afterward and said, ‘Dad, I want to repent of my sins and be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ I love the simplicity and greatness of her faith. She didn’t need to debate the finer points of how and when, exactly, the Holy Spirit would come. She just wanted to obey the passage to the best of her ability. I realize Mercy doesn’t have the biblical knowledge many of us do, but I wonder how many of us have the faith she has (69).

The faith of a child.

It’s the faith of the child that causes us to drop all of our doubts, our inhibitions, and our hesitations. It frees us to live fully in the glory of God, being used by Him to do His work and bring about His will here on earth as it will be in heaven. When we feel God’s prompting, it doesn’t need to make sense. We need to let go and follow. The love we will show. The change we will bring. The hope that will come. It will all surprise us. And we will be more blessed for it.

May we learn to love the children like Jesus loved the children. May we avoid becoming frustrated when they are loud and crazy. Instead, may we see a glimpse of how free we are to be in the presence of God.

The popular musician Beck said in an interview, “I think you have to keep a childlike [quality] to play music or make a record.”

It’s not just limited to making music. It’s necessary for living the beautiful music of God. Having a childlike faith is necessary to hear God’s tune, find your part, and to start making wonderful music with others hearing the same tune. God’s tune. Available to the ears of people with a childlike faith.