From the Trash Can to the MGM Grand

I pressed the up button on the elevator to get on the walkway that extended over Tropicana Avenue to get into the MGM Grand. We needed a bite to eat. The elevator arrived and I stepped in. The lights of the casino were green and mesmerizing. The skyline was the best that man could make. I was impressed. And then I stepped out of the elevator. There, twenty feet from me, was a man digging through the trash. Looking to get his next meal from something thrown away by the wealthy partygoers. Reality shocked me. All the pretty lights, beautiful art, groundbreaking architecture and design couldn’t keep the plight of humanity in the darkness.

The shock to my system was real. We want to have a magical pill to fix these things. We want to develop a government program to eliminate these problems, but those aren’t the solution to our problems. So what is the solution?

Oh, I wasn’t thinking about a solution for the homeless man digging through the trash. I care about that, but I think it will be solved if we actually solve another problem. I got ahead of myself.

If we actually fix the problem of the thousands of people just one thousand feet away from this homeless man – people waiting in line, extravagantly decked out in their finest to go clubbing. And who could really blame them? Steve Aoki was doing the mixing that night at the Hakkasan, a state of the art night club that the MGM Grand spent $200 million to build. A place where, if you’re feeling really extravagant, you can spend $500,000 on a bottle of Aces of SpadeGold Brut. The best that the world can offer. Anyone has the chance to mingle with the celebrities of our culture. But underneath that shiny veneer, all I could see were people desperately seeking to satisfy something missing in their souls. In the end, being decked out in the cutting edge of style wouldn’t cover that hole forever. The alcohol may numb it for a while. The beats and dancing may keep it at bay for a moment. Finding a person to sleep with for the night will just bring physical pleasure for a brief time. All the money spent will not fill the void. It can’t be filled by the material things of this world.

And yet we, the church, hold the solution. There’s a vibrant church here on the strip, yet it seems to barely even be putting a dent into the materialism, hedonism, and desperation of our culture. It seems to be the same even if we remove ourselves from the best society can provide, which slapped me in the face after seeing the man digging trash, and think about our communities in our normal lives.

The change must start with us. Jesus wants us to change. And when we change, things start getting better around us. God wants to transform us and transform those around us. That's really the core of the story of Jesus. God took on flesh and lived among us. To show us a better way to live. To provide us with the ability to live that better way. And to show us that even in the most dire situations, God can bring life and claim victory. These aren’t just things that God was in the process of doing two thousand years ago when Jesus dwelt on the earth. God continues to do these things through us living for Him today. Letting God guide our lives where we are, wherever we are. When we do this, our lives are changed. The lives of those around us are eventually changed. And our communities are changed.

The problem we have with this in practice is that it is a long game and not a short one. We like one step, quick, tangible actions that will change everything for the better. We would love to go back home and into our community and workplaces, do one great thing, and have everything changed for the better. I would love to do that here on the Vegas strip. That would be nice. We would like to master a convincing argument that would change those around us. But it doesn't work that way.

This is about total conversion. Our total conversion. The long game. This is about us really giving our lives to Jesus. Our whole heart. Every part of who we are. And I understand that it is very hard to commit to doing that and regularly do that in a society that tells us to just compromise a little here and a little there. It’s tough to do that when we feel that we are doing it alone.

But when we take that step, when we begin to live trying to bring God’s will into our world, things begin to change. We begin to change. And things around us begin to change. Not instantaneously as we would like. Instead, it’s about every day, bringing Jesus into our world, building His reputation, sharing His words, confronting people for Him when necessary, and then, being part of the transformation.

It’s not so much that we transform the world. Jesus does that. We really also shouldn’t make converting the world our goal. The idea of the gospel is much more about us living in community with each other in such a way that we minister to the world and others want to join in on the Incarnational life that we are exhibiting together. We don’t have to do this alone.

But in the end, if we have lived faithfully and the world still isn’t transformed, that’s out of our hands. We can’t control whether others are transformed by Jesus, but we can make sure that those around us encounter Jesus. The question is whether we have been a light in the world. They have free will just like us.

It's a lot like buttoning a shirt. You have to get the first button right on the shirt. When you do that, all the other buttons will then fall into place. Transformation is about getting our lives right with Jesus first. When we do that, everything else will just fall into place.

Jesus comes to town. He doesn’t come in a $200 million dollar extravaganza. He comes miraculously and beautifully. He once came in a manger. Another time, on a donkey. Today he comes through people like you and me, living for Jesus. It’s tough to see the something so unassuming as Jesus in a world that can amaze us with things like the Vegas Strip. But that’s just one example. Our distraction can be something else. Whatever it is, in the midst of lights and noise, Jesus wants us to see Him. He wants us to hear him. He wants to be the center of our lives. Will we let him? For the lights and the noise aren’t the solution. Jesus is. May we live in such a way that those around us experience the blessing of Jesus through us. We can't control whether they see Jesus or not, but we can control whether we show them Him. 

Is It A Magical Wish Or A Commitment?

Hard-working Liberian ladies helping to build a school. Those are cinder blocks being carried on their heads.

All too often, we say that we are going to do something. But we really mean, we'll do it if nothing better comes up. I remember that we were attending a church a while back. We were praying that we would have better community with the people in the church. And as with most things we pray about, we had to follow that up with action. A lot of time prayers are just wishes rather than things we are committed to. For instance, we might want healing. That usually entails that we have to change our lifestyle too. We may want more money. That can entail working harder, going back to school, or switching jobs. We want a better family life. That entails spending time together. We want to stop world hunger. That entails raising money and helping. But we like to keep what we want as a wish rather than a commitment. What we often really want is for our lifestyle to not have to change in order to accommodate the blessing we want to receive while our prayer wish just magically happens.

So we were at this church, praying for better community with people from the church. We were inviting people over for dinner. The whole nine yards. Attending Bible studies. Doing what we could do to make community happen. But nothing seemed to be clicking. Then we were asked over for dinner to a couple's house. Only the second invitation we had ever received in our time at that church. We couldn't pass it. Or could we? They invited me over during the Colts AFC Championship game. Now, I wanted to stay home because they asked us over during a Colts playoff game, a game they weren't going to watch. I was invested in the Colts. I had watched every Colts game that year. And I wasn't about to miss a playoff game. On the other hand, I had been praying for better community. Was my prayer just a wish, below my desire to watch a Colts playoff game? Was I really committed to better community? Or was it just something I wanted if nothing better came up?

How would just wishing have worked for Marlin, Nemo's father in Finding Nemo? If Nemo had just been taken by the scary humans and Marlin didn't go after Him, what would have happened? If Marlin had just sat around, watched television, and wished that he would have his son back, would he have got him back? Or if he would have posted every day on Facebook how he wanted his son back, would that have been enough? Or he could have joined a group and talked about how he wished he had his son back. Would talk be enough? But that isn't what Marlin did. He went out into the great unknown because he was committed to finding his son no matter what the cost. It wasn't just a wish. It was a commitment.  

Or, take a story from the real world. I met a guy named Eric Wowoh in Liberia.  He's one of the group of people from Liberia, who during the Civil War, found themselves in a refugee camp in Nigeria. Eric decided to go visit his friend in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria, to get out of the refugee camp. He knew that he could have a better life living with his friend. Yet when he got to the city and went to his friends' place, his friend had moved and nobody knew where. Eric found himself broke, destitute, and stranded in a strange city. He decided to begin walking back to the refugee camp. Eventually night fell, and he found himself tired. So he discovered an abandoned house to sleep in as he tried to walk his way back to the refugee camp. Yet a band of thugs found him, beat him up, and told the police that he was trespassing. While in jail, Eric and another inmate began dreaming of educating Liberians once they got out of jail, out of the refugee camp, and back to Liberia.

Now this is a crazy dream. You're untrained. You're broke. You're imprisoned in a foreign country. You can't start schools.

Big Dave. Right picture taken just one year
prior to the left one.

Crazier than a 385 pounder saying he's going to run a marathon. But now my friend Dave, has ran three marathons.

Crazier than me, a boy who used to go to school here in Antwerp wearing a shirt that said "God is dead", preaching here on Easter Sunday.

Crazy like Joseph, sitting in prison, being used by God to save a whole nation. Crazy like David, a shepherd, becoming the ruler of God's people. Crazy, like Esther, an orphan raised by her cousin, becoming queen of a foreign land and saving all her people.

God is in the crazy business. The impossible business. Our God wants to do crazy, amazing things. Things that will make this world better than it is. But it can only happen when we do things differently than we are used to doing them. Are you committed?

Back to Eric. He didn't know anything. All he knew was a refugee camp. He didn't have a clue. He hadn't received an education. He didn't know how to start a school. He didn't have any money to start a school. Eric was so clueless that when he flew to the US to raise funds, he didn't accept the food offered on the plane because he thought he would have to pay for it and had no money.

Yet, while in prison in Nigeria, a lady believed his story and fought for his release. She gave him a computer. Eric used this computer to start a computer training school in the refugee camp. Students would take fifteen minutes on the computer at a time. With little things, Eric was faithful.

The day came where they found themselves able to go back to Liberia. He sent his close friends, who had now become brothers, back to Liberia to start a school while he traveled to America to raise money for that school. But it didn't work out the way he wanted. About nine months after he arrived in the States, he still wasn't having any success in raising funds to start the school that God had laid on his heart. He was ready to give up.  He felt that he couldn't accomplish what God had called him to. He emailed a British friend named Martin, who had started making a documentary on him back when Eric was in the refugee camp in Nigeria. Eric told Martin that he couldn't do it and that he was going to give up.

Martin replied, "You are not a normal person. I wouldn't be following you around and recording you if I thought you were normal. You're extraordinary. You can do this." (this is not verbatim. It's going from memory.) And Eric kept on. Eventually, the money came.

Now, you can go to Liberia and see a school that is educating nearly 2,000 kids - providing a free education in a nation where everyone has to pay for their education. You will be able to see two more schools being built. Kids receiving education. Schools bringing hope to their community. Kids learning skills to make their own dreams a reality and their broken nation whole again. All because one man, in a prison in Nigeria, who wasn't qualified, who didn't have the training, stayed faithful and remained committed to the dream that was laid on his heart.

A commitment.

What are you committed to?

Why Are You A Christian?

Why are you a Christian?

I ask that knowing that everyone who reads this article is not a Christian. For those of you who are reading this who do not claim to follow Jesus, I have this to propose. Christians are much better people when they are actually trying to be Christians. So if you could challenge your Christian friends to be better Christians, the world would be a better place. There is nothing worse than a lackadaisical or lukewarm Christian. Unfortunately, many Christians are lackadaisical and lukewarm in living out their faith. We all struggle with falling in that rut at times.

This happens when we forget why we are Christians.

So back to you, my Christian friends. Why are you a Christian?

Some might argue that there is a right answer to that question. We are Christians because Jesus died on the cross for our sins, rose from the grave, ascended into heaven, and established His church to bring about God's will here on earth. All true, but that's not enough. Something opened up that core teaching to you.

What made those truths real to you? Was it someone who showed you love when you felt undeserving? Was it a truth that just clicked? Have you just always grown up in a Christian family and have known no other way? Did you have an amazing roadside experience like the Apostle Paul? Whatever the case, one path doesn't make you better than others. What matters is that you're still heading down that path.

It's easy to cling to some rituals and traditions and think that we are a Christian because we participate in them. I go to church. I take the Lord's Supper. I give my tithe. I do this or I do that. The rituals of baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the like, although important, are not what God is after. He is after the changed life that both practices should instill.

In the Old Testament, the Israelite people used to offer up burnt sacrifices. Burnt sacrifices are crazy to us.  In sacrificing the best of our flock to the Lord, we would also lose all of the opportunities to breed him. That is a costly sacrifice. Why sacrifice something that would be beneficial?

If we don't have an element in our Christian walk where we give things up to God, even when they don't make sense like a burnt sacrifice, then we are not walking with God. If we don't have an element of stepping out of our comfort zone and doing illogical things for God, then we are not walking with Him like we claim to. We're just walking with a God that we have made in our image. A god of efficiency, practicality, and pragmatism. An American god for a powerless American religion.

Do you realize that the word Christian actually means "slave of Christ?" If you knew that you were to be Jesus' slave, would you still choose to be a Christian? The conversion message is typically watered down. Come forward and get baptized. Raise your hand and say a prayer. How about become a slave to Jesus? Would things in your life change if you took seriously the call to be a slave of Jesus?

Many believe that the label Christian, which was first given to followers of Jesus in Antioch, was given out of derision. They mockingly said, "You're slaves of Jesus!" But the Christians responded, "That's great! Yes, we are slaves of Jesus." Ever since, followers of Jesus have been known as slaves of Jesus. Except we've forgotten that slavery to Jesus is what being a Christian really means. We've lost the meaning of the word. We confuse following Jesus with being a good member of the PTA, helping out in the community, or doing some other good act of service. We mistakenly think Christianity is some moral code or a framework to make us good citizens rather than enslavement to Jesus.

We like to ask the question, "What do I need to give up to follow Jesus?" Instead, with the burnt offering concept in mind, we should ask, "What would it take for me to completely follow Him? What would it look like for me to be His slave?"

What would it look like if I changed my retirement plans into what Jesus would have them be? If instead of living for myself, my family, and the dreams I always had, I invested myself into a radical, crazy, commitment to follow God? What would it mean to my business if I decided to use it to completely follow God? What would it mean to my job, my family, my whole life, if I decided that we were going to be who God wants us to be in every circumstance?

The outward form of obedience to God is merely a sacrifice. The inner form is whole devotion from which outward sacrifice comes naturally. We can have sacrifice without whole devotion, but in doing that, we have ritual with Jesus.

Bob Dylan once wrote a song that said, "You’re gonna have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody."

I think we forget that we have to serve somebody long after the routine of being a Christian sets in. Time begins to fog up the reason we went down this path to begin with. We forget the difference we chose to live for. We become complacent, beaten up, and disillusioned. We forget the dreams that God laid on our hearts. The hopes of restoration and blessings. In the midst of keeping the rituals, we miss out on God's plan in our life.

God has called each of us to something greater than just being routine Christians. He's called us to be His slaves. Slaves who will join in our bringing his kingdom on to this earth as it is in heaven.

When was the last time you did something for God that didn't make sense? When did you last follow Him?