Exodus 1 reveals two people who you probably never heard of, yet they are more clearly known than the most powerful man in the world of that time: Shiprah and Puah. They exemplified extraordinary courage in serving God rather than submitting to the oppressive orders of Pharaoh. Their unwavering commitment to preserving life, despite the risk. If they obeyed Pharoah they may have received something tangible from a “god” that they could see. Their dirty deed may have won them favor. Yet they chose the invisible God…who had not done much for them lately. 

Many scholars suggest that Shiprah and Puah were childless in a culture that saw children as a considerable blessing. That means they were looked down upon in that culture as being less than. They were servants and slaves like the rest of Israel. Perhaps pleasing the god they could see would be the more practical way to advance their lives. 

But they didn’t. They feared God. They didn’t have a Bible. They didn’t have a church. They just had a bunch of oral stories about their relatives who had some experiences of God speaking to them and being with them which led them to Egypt from Palestine and then saved Egypt. But then became enslaved.

Still these ladies chose to save families when they had been denied their own family without a promise of any reward. 

This challenges us to examine our own allegiances. In our lives, "Pharaoh" can represent anything that seeks to control and manipulate us—fear, societal expectations, or even our own desires. But like Shiprah and Puah, we can choose to serve God with courage. Let us resist the pressures to conform and instead bravely stand for what is right and just. By trusting in God's guidance and relying on His strength, we can find the courage to serve Him faithfully, even when it contradicts the expectations of the world.

Live For More!

Pastor Plek

The entire American world is starting to focus on one day. The first Tuesday in November looms in the future as half of the American public will celebrate as if they won a lottery, and another half will mourn as if their dog died. There will be a need for healing after a vigorous election season of name calling, intelligence questioning, character demonizing, and fear peddling. There is likely to be an assertion of cheating. There is likely to be a challenge to the count. The economy will swoon with the uncertainty. There may even be protests or riots.

Everything is now political and everything is politicized. If I wear a mask, I’m a deep state operative wanting to subtly control people. If I gather with a bunch of people to worship God, I’m a murderer. If I gather with a bunch of people to protest, I’m a hero.  Why would anyone want to be involved in any of that? Everything has become politicized. And there is a sense that as a Christian if I want to be above the fray and above the pettiness and nastiness of politics, I need to go and check out from the politics. 

Now God has told us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Now, I’m assuming that he doesn’t mean that we just leave that to a prayer and we are supposed to simply check ourselves out of any responsibility of bringing God’s kingdom to earth. However, all the cultural chaos makes everything feel surreal. So I wanted to take a look at some reasons we tend to remove ourselves from the civic role of life and ask the question should a Christian be involved with politics at all?

Why we abstain

The reasons to not be involved are fairly obvious. We have leaders we don’t like. When people do things that we don’t agree with we get frustrated. Other people's decisions affect our lives and so it can feel that their view or their policy has infringed upon something we consider sacred and we want to abandon the whole thing because we have deemed them a danger to society.

Some of us are perhaps a little more cynical. It’s more than just poor leadership that causes us to check out. It is perhaps that we don’t believe that our participation to make things better will matter. We can become fatalist in our approach. It’s the same feeling when you watch the miserable season of the Dallas Cowboys. No matter how loud you yell at your TV,  it won’t help the Defense stop an opposing team’s offense from making them look like my 7 year old’s flag football team.

There are those of us who are probably the most cynical. We listen to talk radio or cable news or social media feeds that are laced with angry people telling us that if we don’t vote a certain way, if our country turns red or blue, then we will all suffer.

God’s Word

I want us to take a look at the Bible (because that’s what pastor’s do). Israel, God’s people, had just been exiled. They didn’t like the leadership. A pagan ruler had just conquered them and removed them from Israel and told them to assimilate in Babylon. No individual person felt like their contribution to the community would change anything. They had no money, no clout, no power. And what was worse, is that there were false prophets running around telling them to check out. So although 2700 years removed from our current station, there were some similarities in facing the political climate.

Jeremiah wrote a letter to the captives. He wanted to reassure them of their role in Babylon. He wrote, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon…”

God is always intentional

Notice how The Lord of hosts doesn’t say…”to all the exiles who accidentally ended up in Babylon.” Their being in Babylon was intentional. God sent them there. Now if you know the back story on this, there was a lot of idolatry and a lot of darkness in the people of Israel. They were exiled for a period of 70 years to remind them that idol worship was not tolerated. But their punishment wasn’t forever. This was for their good. I send my sons to their room for punishment all the time. Sometimes they think that they are the parent and I am the child. I have to help remind them that Daddy makes the rules. However, sometimes they can’t understand and the consequence of them not understanding is being exiled from the living room to go and think about and realign themselves with Daddy. No one is ever really thrilled about going to to their room, but as a father I send them there for their good.

It’s not that I don’t love my kids, I love my kids. I want them to succeed. Their success in large part is in understanding appropriate relationships between father and son, between a husband and a wife, between people. My hope one day is that they transfer the authority and love that I provide and they receive that from God. And they would see that no matter where they were in the world, what their circumstances were, God is always out for His glory and their good. That was true of the Jews in their exile, and it is true of my sons in the midst of roomtime. It’s true for every one of us. God is not against us. He is for us. Even when the circumstances seem dire.

Okay, but does that really apply to us? Remember the whole 2700 year thing? Yes. I do. And yes, it does. Peter called Christians exiles three times in his first letter to the church. He wanted to remind everyone that although they lived in the Roman Empire, the empire wasn’t their true home. They were exiled here waiting for the kingdom to come. Paul said that while we are waiting we are ambassadors making an appeal to those who might be destroyed by the coming kingdom to be reconciled to God, the true king.

Playing the culture war

So then, does it really matter? I mean we give our time to better our community, if we get involved in the political process doesn’t that mean we play into the hands of those with political agendas and want to conscript Christians to join them in picking sides of a culture war? Ugh. That has been the reality for a long time. So much so that for a long time you couldn’t be anything but Republican and a Christian. The primary issue of course for strong believers has always been pro-life. I remember people in seminary and in the churches that I grew strongest in my faith say, “How can you be a Christian and vote anything but a pro-life agenda?”  To which I have heard Christian Democrats respond with, the abortion will happen anyway, let’s give them counseling and understanding and a chance. I’ve talked to Democrats who felt as strongly about the marginalized in the culture. The poor, the immigrant, the one who would not be represented well in court. To which Republicans respond with, “What about a baby who has no day in court and is murdered?”

The Care

On both sides Christians choose to be Republican or Democrat because they are Christian. Because of that, there are very heated exchanges. But why are the exchanges heated? Because they care. And this is important. The care means something.

When I was in the military, I was pretty easy going. I went to the field when the commander suggested we go to the field. I wasn’t fighting for training areas and range time. I wasn’t reading manuals to learn the latest in infantry tactics or special operations warfare. When I was in combat, I was looking to get my guys as much rest as possible and not create extra work for them that might get me promoted. I was a good officer, but I wasn’t a great officer. In contrast when I became a pastor, I cared about everything. I cared about discipleship, preaching style, community groups. I cared about every aspect of the church service from announcements to the quality of music to the quality of the slides on the screen. I cared about everything. And if you asked me why I care, I would say because God cares. Because God went into great detail about what Temple worship would look like. He went into great detail to reveal himself through the scriptures and that they are Godbreathed. I get passionate about keeping marriage holy within the church. I am passionate about teaching the value of human life, that God has a unique design for men and women. I am passionate about evangelism, because souls will be forever lost if we don’t cry out for people to turn from their sin and turn to Jesus. I am passionate about our benevolence ministry and helping the poor. I never want our church to be a place that would be an environment for those far from God to find Him. I could go on and on. And that’s why I am a pastor.

Politics and Religion Meet

Now back to where religion and politics meet with passion. Jeremiah 29:7 says, “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

Instead of using all your gifts and skillset to bless yourself and your family, God called the people of Israel to bless a pagan city. Imagine this for a moment. They are serving a pagan king whose own “sadistic tendencies drove him to bring about the slow, torturous death of Hiram, king of Tyre, but not before raping his queen (who was his own mother) before his eyes.The Talmud reveals that he would cast lots each day to determine which of his imprisoned kings he would sodomize.”

Remember, Daniel (Lion’s den Daniel) served King Nebuchadnezzar faithfully as did his three buddies Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel and his friends did protest when they are asked to do things against their religious conviction. They were willing to die for them. God blessed their efforts. But I love what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to Nebuchadnezzar when faced with death. 

They said, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Civil Disobedience

They took civil disobedience beyond imprisonment, they were ready to die. They lived in such a way that failure was guaranteed unless God intervened. They never tried to put an end to the king’s sadistic ways. They simply lived out God’s convictions on their lives and executed their civic duties to the best of their ability. At the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s life we see him repent and turn to the Lord. Now, I don’t know what policy changes that Nebuchadnezzar made based on that, but he honored Daniel’s God as the true ruler of the world. Even when a different ruler came to power, he noted Daniel’s allegiance was to God not to man. He put him over his people. Daniel was told to stop praying to his God. He wouldn’t succumb to political power. That earned him a night in the lion’s den. Whether it was to worship another god or stop worshiping the God who is, God placed his people in political power and empowered them to never give in to that pressure to yield their worship. That is what happened in Babylon, which prepared the way for Cyrus (a Persian king) to take over and then prescribe that the Jews would be returned to Jerusalem. 

Application?

So then in our modern culture how does this apply? First off, I’m not advocating that the President is in any form Cyrus or Nebuchanezzar. Israel was a theocracy. God as king sent them to Babylon as discipline. Christians live in the monarchy theocracy of the kingdom of God with Jesus on the throne. We are living like exiles on earth. Perhaps for this season we live in the United States. Our time of exile which may be 70 or 80 years and in that time we are to bring God’s kingdom to earth as ambassadors of our king who also designed us and gave us the command to love one another.

Within a democratic republic God has given us as exiles to have impact for His kingdom through governing ourselves. I’ve heard people say two things when it comes to the church. The church needs to say nothing of politics. Or the church needs to pick a side. If we say nothing, we are no better than the monks of the past who exited society and culture and took the gospel with them, leaving those who could not afford a monkan life to be crushed by the brutality of society as the salt and light were left to monasteries. On the flip side if the church picks a side it becomes a tool of a political agenda as opposed to the conscience of the nation.

I’ve also heard people say, and have said it myself, that you can’t legislate morality. But we do it all the time. Murder is immoral and illegal. Rape is immoral and illegal. How do we know that? If there is no God, then we are left to make up our own morality. Stalin was great at that. Polpot was great at that. People by the millions were murdered because of that. The church has had it’s share of awful misalignment with weird wars and savage brutality, but again, I think that is due to legit Christians retreating from public life to the monastery. So which morality?

Is abortion the issue that we should always address? Is sex trafficking the issue? What about racism and the mistreatment of marginalized people? What about a welfare system where it pays to not stay with the father of your child? There are passionate Christians on all sides of these issues. If the Gospel is central to who we are, then we will work out differences even in politics in love.

Unity

In John 17, in what is known as the High Priestly Prayer Jesus prays for those who would come after, namely you and me. Here is what he prayed in John 17:20-21

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” 

Jesus prayed for unity among Christians. He prayed for unity among Christians. Now we know that every Christian has been given the mission to make disciples. We like to say the mission has a church. In that vein, Christians will make disciples and spread the fame of Jesus when we love one another even on different sides of something we can feel very passionate about. One might argue capitalism teaches the personal responsibility that every Christian needs to feel in order to repent and turn to Jesus. While others might argue that socialism is the best way to meet the needs of the least of these. Both sides could point to Bible verses to argue their point. At the end of the day, their argument would have to end in a hearty hug and a respect for one another as followers of Jesus. 

To which people usually say, “That’s a slippery slope to socialism, where Christians lose their rights, and are ultimately persecuted.”

Maybe. But it didn’t stop Daniel and his buddies. It didn’t stop Jesus. It was Jesus death that won over humanity. It wasn’t his clever statements. It wasn’t his snappy putdowns of hypocrites. It was his ability to defeat death. And then He gave us that power. And He gave us a new home.

What was interesting in the day of the Babylonian exile, was there were prophets who mocked Jeremiah for his 70 year exilic prediction. They said don’t get too cozy in Babylon, this won’t last. It was riling up the people to be ready to revolt. Their patriotic fervor was intoxicating and hits to the gut of every red blooded patriot. “Get ready to take up arms!”

But Jeremiah was clear. “Just surrender.” Let it happen. Don’t fight it. This is from God. If you fight the exile you are like the 3 year old throwing a tantrum in their own room breaking all their toys. You are only hurting yourself.

Newsfeed

That was the problem that God’s people faced. Jeremiah wasn’t in Babylon. He was back in Jerusalem. So when it came to the public square prophets. The talking heads were all going against God’s Word and God’s Will. But they sounded convincing. They were live people, not just text read from a scroll. But they were hitting on all the heart strings of the Jewish people. Don’t capitulate to these infidels. How could this be God’s will?

Today we have the same problem. We are faced with an onslaught of people who peddle fear. Both sides do this. Democratic and Republican. When Obama was president, all I heard was Republicans calling him a fascist. There were Obama billboards with him looking like Hitler or the Joker. If he got elected, we were doomed. If he got re-elected that would be the worst thing for our country. And then Donald Trump came along. People called him Hitler and a fascist. They called him a tyrant. Now be honest, did your life change that much? At our church we have all races and all classes (okay we don’t have the super rich), and we have a lot of different cultures. Did anything really change other than rhetoric when Trump took over for Obama? No, but what did happen is that Christians during this presidency started to turn on each other. We started listening to the newsfeeds that weren’t God’s feed. Instead of turning to an ancient text that doesn’t change, we gave in to the fear of the left and the right.

Thinking Higher

Jesus prayed that we would be united. I think in the past, united meant, “We agree on everything.” Christians are to love one another despite the difference of voting record and opinion. The things we agree on are vast. We all agree that the government can’t solve our problem. Only Jesus can. We can all agree that humanity is cursed with sin. We can all agree that Jesus is the God-man who came from heaven to earth, lived a perfect life, and died for the sins of those who would believe in Him. He rose from the dead. He is going to fix all of this one day. Now, if you were to read that to a secular person, they would giggle, perhaps outright laugh. But it is that belief that brought the greatest change to our world. That faith is what built hospitals, ends human trafficking, gives orphans homes, gives clean water to the poorest of the poor, and teaches the world to love.

One of my favorite CS Lewis quotes is, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”

Let’s put our minds on Christ and subscribe to His feed that never changes. It is relevant in capitalism and socialism. It is relevant in democracy and tyranny. It reminds of our true allegiance and to never get so caught up in the politics of the day that we miss out on serving the true king.

This week I asked him point blank, why did you fall away? What prayer wasn’t answered? What circumstance caused you to give up on Jesus? After the jokes about how there is no God, and there was nothing to fall away from, he led me to the place where I think many of us go. It wasn’t a theological premise that he couldn’t hold. It wasn’t a prayer that wasn’t answered. It is why most people leave the church that haven’t experienced real inward heart change. He said he didn’t give up on the church, the church gave up on him. Of all the people that he had known in that season of his life, I was the only one that was still in contact with him, and that because I just answered his barrage of angry texts where most others just ignored them. The problem for my friend and perhaps the problem for many of us, is that our hope is tethered to people and not to Christ.

What I want my friend to realize is that God’s promises are faithful. Everyone of them we can trust. But if we are honest, a lot of us may simply virtue signal our Christian faith and don’t put our trust in God’s promises because we haven’t seen God’s promises fulfilled in our life. We haven’t seen the “I will never leave you nor forsake you” thing pan out. We prayed for something and felt like God promised us something on earth and didn’t happen. Or maybe we are confused or ignorant of what God’s promises actually are. We have let our time with the Lord move from something that was exciting to more drudgery. Or perhaps we have felt less than because we have not lived up to what we felt our end of the deal was with God. In a sense, we say, “God you saved me when I didn’t deserve it, but I have not held up my end of the deal and I don’t deserve to be in your presence, so I will remove myself from being your burden.”

In Luke 1, after Mary headed back to Nazareth to face her husband and to face that she was found to be with child (Matthew 1:18). Elizabeth has the baby and there is some confusion over what the name would be. Elizabeth said the name should be John. The problem with this is that usually when someone was named something, there was some level of family influence and keeping names of family members felt like their legacy lived on. But that didn’t happen. She named him John. Clearly she was on her own agenda and then motioned to the muted Zechariah what his name should be. Zechariah wrote the name John and immediately his faith was rewarded by speech.

Zechariah broke out into prophecy. He blessed God for his active work in saving God’s people. But what was interesting is that God first got Zechariah’s attention by leaving his prayer unanswered for 50 years or so. Think about that. Zechariah had every reason to give up on God. He had been taught to pray. He had prayed with other people and seen their prayers answered. But his prayer...his prayer lay dormant. I wonder how many others have lost hope in God’s salvation and God’s plan because they never saw God work in their own lives. And perhaps they had prayers answered, but they forgot they prayed, they forgot God heard, and they gave up.

But also look at this. Zechariah isn’t prophesying initially about his own son. He isn’t prophesying about his own kid. His focus is on God. And perhaps that’s what God was always after: his heart. I think there is a risk in all of us that if God gives us what we want in the wrong timing we may focus on the gift and not the giver. But Zechariah who has received the very thing he prayed so long for, is now focused not on his gift of a son, but on the giver and what he is wanting to do to save the world. 

This can happen in my world as pastor. I can get so focused on doing ministry. Exercising the gifts God gave me to preach, to counsel, to lead others, and then do well at that. And then not do the thing that gave me that opportunity, namely, spending time with God, praying, reading His Word and doing the spiritual disciplines which developed in me a passion for God’s Word, His church, and the world. You don’t have to be a pastor to have this happen. You pray for the job. You get the job. You stop praying. You pray for the relationship. You get into the relationship. You disengage from church or any activity that has anything to do with church, until you break up or get married...and usually when the marriage is struggling.

But when we see our prayer answered in light of what God is doing in eternity it feels more powerful. The gift draws you closer to God and you understand that it is not just about the gift, but the giver. You see this when Jesus fills Peter’s boat with fish. He has the power of all business. He could be a gazillionaire and corner the fishing market. But God isn’t in this for fish. You see this when Jesus turned water into wine. That family was about to lose its reputation. Yet Jesus comes in and saves the day.  Jesus could have started a wedding venue and made sure every wedding was a success. But God wasn’t in this for weddings. Jesus took a couple loaves of bread and a few fish and fed thousands. Jesus could have ended world hunger. But Jesus didn’t come to end physical hunger. He came to satisfy the soul. The problem with unending fish, wine, or food is that it may solve a temporary problem, but it leaves us facing our ultimate end...death. When you realize that Jesus solves that problem, it makes all our problems seem trivial in comparison.

Zechariah was able to see clearly all that God was doing because hidden in the recesses of an old priest’s heart were the promises of God’s Word. Over the centuries God had laid out a plan through various prophets at different times. But it’s funny how what you were trained with, comes out of your mouth when stress or struggle arrive. Oddly my dad had a saying that he said on repeat and verbatim. “I’d rather be lucky than good.” It was always said in a joking manner, but a joke said enough times becomes doctrine. And I think for my sweet dad, he started to believe that business, relationships, and most of life was about just being at the right place at the right time. Obviously that isn’t a Biblical principle and he paid for that by him being unlucky. And his skill and great talent didn’t go to its best use as he lived by a motto that probably started as a joke. On the flip side, my mom has a saying that she put on repeat in my life. “Always have reserves.” And as you would expect, I have a pretty stout savings plan. When the refrigerator went out, when the AC went out in the summer, our family wasn’t done for, because I kept my mom’s word close to my heart and it stuck.

Now watch, when we keep God’s promises close to our heart, the same thing is true. But we have to keep reading his promises. We have to keep working on his promises. We have to keep believing and teaching His promises.

Kevin Reese went into surgery this week for a kidney transplant. The day before he went in he asked me to pray with him. He wanted to make sure that Jesus would be with him when he went into that operating room. I said, good news, Kevin. Jesus promised “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Deut 31:6-8, hebrews 13:5)

2) I will protect you ( Deut 20:4 , Psalm 34:6)

3) I will be your strength (Is 40:31, 1 cor 10:13 )

4) I will provide for you (Matt 6:33, Philippians 4:19)

5) I will give you peace ( Philippians 4:6-7, John 16:33)

6) I will always love you (John 17:23, John 3:16)

7) I will finish the work I started in you. (Philippians 1:6, 2 corinthians 5:17)

Although the story involved us. The story involved Zaccheus. The story of Christian faith is all about Christ and what he came to do. Jesus was willing to come. He left heaven’s throne to come. He left Heaven’s throne to take on the issue of sin plaguing humanity. He came to receive the hell he had been dishing out. He’s not a God who can dish pain, but not take it. He took it all. And that is why we have hope. God wins. The darkness loses. His promises more importantly are about God and who we are placing our trust. One’s word is only as good as the person can be at fulfilling it. Look at God’s promises to us about Himself. 

1. I am unchanging. (Malachi 3.6, Hebrews 13:8)
2. I am all powerful. (Hebrews 1:3, Luke 1:37)
3. I am all knowing. (I John 3:20, Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 23:24)
4. I am all loving. (I John 4:7-8, 19, Romans 5:8)
5. I am all good. (Nahum 1:7, Psalm 145:9)
6. I am in control. (Matthew 10:29-31, Colossians 1:16-17)
7. I am patient. (II Peter 3:4, Psalm 103:8)

He can make a baby come from an old woman. He can bring fish and food from nothing. He can turn water into wine. He can meet any physical need. But he doesn’t always do that, because he wants us to trust Him beyond this physical life. So when we realize how powerful and good God is, it helps us to loosen our grip on the steering wheel and let God lead our lives, knowing that when we do what He is calling us to do, we are making the best decisions in spite of what circumstances may dictate.

And that is what God is doing now. After Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in us. That means that He is forever partnered with us. Paul wrote to Timothy a trustworthy statement, that even when we are faithless, he is faithful, because he cannot disown himself. We are forever linked to God’s promise to Himself and His promise to us. We are going to be a part of God’s redemptive plan to bring light to the darkness. To lean into the darkness and push it back. That is our hope.

So as advent turns to Christmas and the frustrations mount of dealing with DNA linked people, put your hope not in Christmas turning out right for once, but put it in Christ. He is our hope. He has given us his Word and His promise is always good. And for those of us who at one point enjoyed the blessing of God, but disappointments turned your heart cold, turn your heart anew for what God is wanting to do through you.

This is the question that is about to be asked about 50 times among my children in a couple weeks. I think this question has been asked probably 1000s of times over the years of students returning from Christmas break. There was always a strategy involved in asking and answering this question. If we are honest, we didn’t really care what the other person received, we cared that they knew what we got. It was a subtle way of playing the one upmanship game. A subtle way of letting the world know that someone valued us or we were able to use our manipulative powers to get Santa or a family member to dishout the goods and feed our desire for a little more. That sounds cynical and it might be, but isn’t it true? You may have thought that your “what did you get?” was an innocent question, until you felt the sting of realizing that they got more or perhaps you got less. Or perhaps the reverse, you felt satisfaction when they took a minor hit.

This is how we operated when we were kids. It’s how our kids operate now, and if we are honest it is what goes on in our hearts beyond the Christmas season. We know that God wants us to react with joy when others are blessed, but for some reason we don’t. We believe God for his abundance. We would say that God has the cattle of a thousand hills. However, we still get jealous when God gives a blessing to someone else. Or perhaps on the flipside, we get a blessing, but it is a little less. Or maybe it’s not that we care what anyone else receives until they remind us through prayer or cheesy lines about God’s goodness that seems to drive at our hearts. I think if we really just said what our hearts are saying out loud, we would be embarrassed. We would say, “God, you owe me.” 

I can feel you reading this and agreeing and then thinking perhaps someone else needs to read this. And if I’m honest that is how I felt as I first wrote this. But the more I have thought and prayed and asked for wisdom on this God has revealed to me how I am just like my three year old in demanding my benefit at someone else’s cost. And then when I get it...wanting more. ugh.

Just like you, I want to get past that internal struggle to a place where I can trust God for his good toward me. We all want that. We all want to be content with where we are and what we have without that gnawing feeling that we are missing out or that someone isn’t unfairly getting ahead? Let’s take a look at a Christmas story we have all heard, but perhaps never looked at from this point of view. Open up to Luke chapter one. Let’s take a moment and watch the emotional maturity through the Holy Spirit filling Elizabeth. First she had to overcome the envy. Envy centers around being upset about the blessing that someone else receives. It isn’t fair that you have a blessing that I don’t have and so therefore you need to pay your fair share to me. Elizabeth overcomes envy and jealousy by doing three things. 

1. Joins God in blessing.
2. Never compares her “less” blessing.
3. Celebrates with Mary in her celebration.

Luke 1 opened with Zachariah (John the Baptist’s dad) meeting the angel Gabriel in the temple. Gabriel told him his son was to be the forerunner to the Messiah. John had a moment of doubt and Gabriel muted him. Six months later, a young virgin named Mary got an angelic visit. She was told that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would have the Messiah. Less than a month into her pregnancy she went to pay her older cousin Elizabeth a visit and let her in on the big news.

First she blesses her younger cousin. As soon as Mary showed up at the house, Elizabeth responded with elation, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Now if you are not familiar with the story, you may not know Elizabeth was barren. And we are not talking pushing 40 barren, we are talking pushing 80 barren. In fact the text says that she was called “Barren”--tough nickname. Her response to her pregnant virgin cousin isn’t, “Well, well, well, looks like you took matters into your own hands. ]]> “So what did you get?”

This is the question that is about to be asked about 50 times among my children in a couple weeks. I think this question has been asked probably 1000s of times over the years of students returning from Christmas break. There was always a strategy involved in asking and answering this question. If we are honest, we didn’t really care what the other person received, we cared that they knew what we got. It was a subtle way of playing the one upmanship game. A subtle way of letting the world know that someone valued us or we were able to use our manipulative powers to get Santa or a family member to dishout the goods and feed our desire for a little more. That sounds cynical and it might be, but isn’t it true? You may have thought that your “what did you get?” was an innocent question, until you felt the sting of realizing that they got more or perhaps you got less. Or perhaps the reverse, you felt satisfaction when they took a minor hit.

This is how we operated when we were kids. It’s how our kids operate now, and if we are honest it is what goes on in our hearts beyond the Christmas season. We know that God wants us to react with joy when others are blessed, but for some reason we don’t. We believe God for his abundance. We would say that God has the cattle of a thousand hills. However, we still get jealous when God gives a blessing to someone else. Or perhaps on the flipside, we get a blessing, but it is a little less. Or maybe it’s not that we care what anyone else receives until they remind us through prayer or cheesy lines about God’s goodness that seems to drive at our hearts. I think if we really just said what our hearts are saying out loud, we would be embarrassed. We would say, “God, you owe me.” 

I can feel you reading this and agreeing and then thinking perhaps someone else needs to read this. And if I’m honest that is how I felt as I first wrote this. But the more I have thought and prayed and asked for wisdom on this God has revealed to me how I am just like my three year old in demanding my benefit at someone else’s cost. And then when I get it...wanting more. ugh.

Just like you, I want to get past that internal struggle to a place where I can trust God for his good toward me. We all want that. We all want to be content with where we are and what we have without that gnawing feeling that we are missing out or that someone isn’t unfairly getting ahead? Let’s take a look at a Christmas story we have all heard, but perhaps never looked at from this point of view. Open up to Luke chapter one. Let’s take a moment and watch the emotional maturity through the Holy Spirit filling Elizabeth. First she had to overcome the envy. Envy centers around being upset about the blessing that someone else receives. It isn’t fair that you have a blessing that I don’t have and so therefore you need to pay your fair share to me. Elizabeth overcomes envy and jealousy by doing three things. 

1. Joins God in blessing.
2. Never compares her “less” blessing.
3. Celebrates with Mary in her celebration.

Luke 1 opened with Zachariah (John the Baptist’s dad) meeting the angel Gabriel in the temple. Gabriel told him his son was to be the forerunner to the Messiah. John had a moment of doubt and Gabriel muted him. Six months later, a young virgin named Mary got an angelic visit. She was told that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would have the Messiah. Less than a month into her pregnancy she went to pay her older cousin Elizabeth a visit and let her in on the big news.

First she blesses her younger cousin. As soon as Mary showed up at the house, Elizabeth responded with elation, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Now if you are not familiar with the story, you may not know Elizabeth was barren. And we are not talking pushing 40 barren, we are talking pushing 80 barren. In fact the text says that she was called “Barren”--tough nickname. Her response to her pregnant virgin cousin isn’t, “Well, well, well, looks like you took matters into your own hands. ]]> https://www.wellsbranchchurch.com/devotionals/post/who-should-i-vote-for https://www.wellsbranchchurch.com/devotionals/post/who-should-i-vote-for#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2020 12:00:00 -0600 https://www.wellsbranchchurch.com/devotionals/post/who-should-i-vote-for 2016

In 2016, I didn’t talk about the election during election season. We had tackled a lot of controversial topics in the summer before and we were in the midst of a series called Margin where we were calling people to put margin in their lives timewise and moneywise. However, everyone else was thinking about the election. I got a text from a man about my age asking me if I was going to preach on the election. I flippantly responded with, “I’m not touching that.” To which he responded with something along the lines of I was a coward and we needed to be a church in mourning for electing someone so racist. I showed up to church Sunday and thought that his comment might be a one off and I keep my political party fairly close to the vest when it comes to church, in general, I didn’t want people thinking I’m sponsoring any party. I’m a pastor, not a politician after all. So the Sunday following Super Tuesday I went to church and an older man walked up to me and said, “Donald Trump is God’s anointed to save our country. God has blessed the USA.” My ‘pastor smile’ didn’t flinch and I think I said something to the effect of it was definitely God’s will that he was elected and then moved on. I didn’t mention the election in the sermon other than to say it happened. 

Over the course of the following weeks and months several people (okay it was like 5) left the church and wrote their feelings about our church on social media. Some left because we weren’t supporting Trump. Others left because we weren’t regularly preaching against him. So at some point you have pondered the question, “Who should I vote for?” Is there someone that all Christians should be voting for?

All the people involved were born again Christians. They all loved God. But somehow their identity shifted to a Republican Christian or Democrat Christian. These were fairly well informed people. They were all educated people. They believed they had the moral high ground and that God would be on their side.

So whose side is God on? Wouldn’t that be the question to ask as we are looking at the election?

What the Bible has to say

This question is one that is answered in the Bible. An ancient text that is often studied, but I’m not sure how often it is applied to politics. 

Take a look at Joshua 5. Joshua and the Israelites had just crossed into the promised land. They were preparing for battle. They had their side which they felt was where God would be. They despised their enemies as they stood in their way of their new homes. And then Joshua experiences a theophany. This is when God manifests himself as something. The burning bush was a theophany. In this case, He comes in the appearance of a man, so some people call it a Christophany.

At any rate, Joshua looks up and sees a man with a sword drawn ready for battle. Joshua boldly asks the man “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”  

This is a legitimate question. Here is a warrior with a sword drawn. It’s like two men working undercover with guns pointed at each other and Joshua yelling, “Show me your identification!”

The warrior responds calmly,  “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.”

Now he could have said, “Yes, I am. I was on your team in Eqypt and I’m on your team now. I am for you.” 

But he didn’t. I have thought about this a lot. Was the Lord just being intentionally obtuse? I don’t think so. It reminds me a bit of whenever my son says, “You’re just like me, Dad.” And I’m like “No, you are just like me.” The other way around doesn’t make any sense. And that is what is happening here. God is not on Joshua’s team. God is on God’s team. It is Joshua’s role to get on board with God. And we see this immediately as the Christophany tells Joshua to take off his sandals, because he is on holy ground. And Joshua obeyed.

BUT, who should I vote for ?

I think this is the problem that we struggle with when it comes to choosing who we should vote for. We get confused when people don’t align with us. Our defenses go up because we don’t trust people who don’t think like we do and don’t act like we do. We get suspicious that their motives are dark and we fear what might happen if their ideas go wild and we would be suppressed by those seeking to take advantage of our vulnerabilities.

What is interesting about the story about Joshua is that he is nearby the city of Jericho. Every male had just circumcised themselves. They were completely vulnerable. If you are a military strategist, the last thing you would do is cross a river with a miracle and draw a lot of attention to yourselves and then have everyone circumcised. We are talking about debilitating the entire force. And in their own history, the Hebrew people’s ancestors murdered an entire town of men because one of the town’s people raped their sister and wanted to marry her. They schemed and said they would only give their sister in marriage if they all agreed to get circumcised. They did. And that made them easy prey for brothers set on revenge.

So this was a bizarre strategy of getting close to the city you were going to attack, having no battering rams, no moving towers or catapults. They had slings, arrows, swords and spears--which is like taking a knife to a gunfight or better yet, a building fight. The walls of  Jericho definitely had the advantage. But Joshua and the Israelites obeyed. They made themselves vulnerable to the enemy. If the enemy had any sort of scouts they would have seen the men moaning in pain and the conversation of circumcision would have clued them into the fact the entire nation was defenseless.

So clearly we need to be on God’s team. He is our defense. Got it. But that still doesn’t tell me who to vote for. Isn’t what this post was all about to begin with?

Be Informed

I said in my last post that it was important to be involved in politics as we become influencers for the kingdom of God. We need to be involved or else we leave the wisdom of God out of civic life. So take your time and pray through your vote. There are a lot of resources that can help guide you on policies and ways to make Bible based decisions. 

GO VOTE!

God calls us to look out for the welfare of our city. And in a democracy you look out for your welfare by putting people in power who operate in a way that puts God’s common grace to work. What’s common Grace? It’s the work of God by believers and non-believers alike that bring order to chaos. It’s driving with roads that have stripes on it. It's a highway system that allows you to get across the city or state and trade goods and services. It blesses the sinner and the saint alike. It’s common. The opposite of common Grace is special grace or saving grace. That grace is bestowed upon those who believe in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Common Grace isn’t just about avoiding traffic jams it’s creating a pathway for life to flourish. God designed life and understands how cultures and societies best work.

When I say that it usually makes people nervous. Most think I’m promoting a theocracy. Far from it. Jesus is king. But we await for his return and seek His kingdom to come, His will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. We can not convert hearts (special Grace), but we can bring order to chaos (common Grace).

So what are some things that God desires for man?

Primary among them is justice: economic, judicial, and social. The problem with this is that this depends somewhat on worldview. Some think about a certain system as good or evil based on the party to which they belong. Is capitalism the most just? Is socialism the most just? Some feel a flat tax favors the rich, and hurts the poor, while some feel a progressive tax punishes success. I think those are all issues one can argue biblically. Some systems rely upon the good nature of humanity so that leaders and rulers make decisions based on the good of the whole rather than taking into account the natural greed and corruption of humanity. But Christians can believe in a variety or even combination of economic and political systems. This system is perhaps preference and how much freedom one feels the general public should have in their individual behavior. 

Republicans tend to favor freedom of economics with a laissez-faire( let it be) mentality where the market forces drive wages, earnings, success and failure of companies. In this model companies exist to make profit. 

Democrats tend to favor a more regulated and controlled system. This at times favors those who can pay for the regulations, and workers rights are at the forefront. In other words, companies exist to provide jobs.

Government leadership enforces the law. This allows for the chaos to be put in order and for the country to experience God’s common grace. Romans 13 is clear that the government does not bear the sword in vain, but punish the wrongdoer and rewards the righteous. A leader seeking God’s common Grace puts aside popularity to seek justice and order for the population.

The value of life is one that Christians should hold dear. If a candidate favors his own race over another or enacts policies that marginalize people, that makes it difficult for a Christian who is taking part in seeing “His kingdom come” to support one who actively marginalizes people. The way you treat the least says a lot about how the country will experience the common grace of God. The marginalized mean the poor, the orphan, the immigrant, and the unborn. Policies that actively seek to further marginalize or murder these unprotected people are not for the common good and therefore not a part of the common grace of God.

Now as you seek to make your vote here are some links that discuss what candidates believe and how they seek the best for our country. Remember no candidate will be able to be all things to all Christians. Prayerfully choose what God would emplace so that all could experience the common grace of God.

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Donald-Trump-vs-Joe-Biden

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Democrat_vs_Republican

If you were to take a moment and think about your life, wouldn’t you agree that most of your drama comes from family? As we approach the holiday season we are about to be really excited, really stressed, and perhaps really let down. I think I remember being in college, really excited to go home for Thanksgiving to see the family, which was...well...mom and dad. Being an only child had perks, but got kinda lonely. At any rate, I remember calling my dad and him telling me that he wasn’t going to make it to Thanksgiving. He had a business trip in France. I remember staring straight ahead at the payphone of my barracks (dorm for you civilian type) and thinking, “Who has a business trip on Thanksgiving?” 

There is a lot more to that story than I care to share in this blog, but my expectations were blown, and Thanksgiving came and went and we moved on with only a touch of sadness. I could feel myself sort of giving up on expecting my dad to come through. So many disappointments. I think it's moments like this that build up over years. We overlook family issues every now and then, and eventually you have a summer vacation that erupts into screaming, pointing, and accusations of selfishness. Ah yes, family.

Best Place to Work?

No healthy person would ever say I intentionally want to hurt my family. For the most part, society in general values taking care of their own people. Every company strives to be the best place to work for. HubSpot, the 2020 “Best Place to Work”, had an employee say this, 

“HubSpot works hard to create a truly diverse and inclusive work environment where everyone can feel comfortable bringing their true selves to work.”

On first read that is exactly what we would hope to hear. Here is a place that accepts people right where they are at. This workplace reflects what heaven would look like in Revelation 7:9. Every church would love to experience that. Now what happens if at HubSpot someone’s personal life starts to take a nosedive. What the people at HubSpot would say is as long as they get their work done, what they do on their own time is their own business. When they hear about the debt that one of their employees are in, the relationship fiascos and binds they find in themselves, no one asks questions, no one prods. That goes into the category of “Nunya” as in “Nunya business.” As long as you produce, you are accepted.

To which you would say, of course they would do that. There are HR Laws and that is a violation of privacy. No competent workplace would ever place themselves in that position of liability. Then you might say...wait a second...the church isn’t a business. That’s different. Okay fair enough. Let’s take a look at our beloved political parties. Is it there that we can be involved in people’s personal lives? As long as they agree with our core values of the party platform, we are generally okay with their personal life choices. We all know that to be true, because when scandal breaks out, not only do people publicly defend their political colleagues' choices, they back it up with something that justifies what they did. As long as that person can further their political aspirations, they back them. If they become a liability. You cut them. In other words, as long as you produce, you are accepted.

Politics

Okay, fine you might say, that’s politics. Churches are more like a non-profit or an NGO. There are great organizations that do great work among the urban poor. As long as you are volunteering, they would say, “Thank you.” You might even be honored for your selfless sacrifice at a fundraising banquet. But what nonprofit leader would ask about your family and tell you that you need to focus on being present with your spouse and your children and reconcile relationships that are broken instead of volunteering? Again, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that as long as you are producing, then you are treasured. But what about if you are not? Again, for the most part nonprofits are used to people who can give what they can give and they aren’t offended by people not serving. But are they going to go beyond what they can see and get involved in your life in a way that says I don’t care about your production. I care about you and that you are living how God called you to live. 

Now, we are getting personal. This is where we put up the hand and say, “I don’t know if I want that kind of relationship with anyone.” Finally, we have reached honesty. 

Real Family

Back to real family. Have you ever wanted your children to perform for your parents? Sure, we all want that. And depending on what kind of family you have, that performance is met with criticism, applause or apathy. Which we either handle well or we don’t. However, if that grandparent then gets involved with that child’s life and takes ownership of the non-eating, discipline issues, and the general child raising struggle as a team mate and not as an obstacle, we feel family. 

Being Known

Now what if we had that kind of relationship at church? This is where we move from acquaintances to friends to family. And in theory we all want that, up until the point where you see my anger get out of control. Up until the point where you see my marriage is struggling a bit. Up until the point where you see that I would rather watch football than parent. 

We don’t want to be known. We don’t want people to know we are struggling. Because although we know we aren’t perfect, we don’t want anyone to point out what it is that we are doing wrong. Primarily, because to point out what is wrong in someone, is that there must be relationship capital there. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. It’s a fine line to warn someone that the person they are dating will cause them to struggle for the rest of their life. We have all had that go wrong. It’s something to mention to another parent that their kid is showing signs of autism. That goes over like a lead balloon. But isn’t that the warnings and wounds we actually want, better yet, need?

Resistance

So why do we resist that? 

It might have to do with growing up and not being known. Learning to tell small lies to get yourself out of some form of discipline where you feel like you lost love. And everyone wants to be loved. So we learn early and often to protect those we care about from our real self so that we might never lose that which is so precious. 

Or perhaps we have convinced ourselves there really is nothing in it for us to be so intimately involved with others. We have enough drama with the family we already have. We have loaned money, we have loaned cars, we have covered bills and to think of opening ourselves like that to someone else feels, well, excessive.

Of course, I’m a pastor and so I’m going to bring the Bible into this.

John

The apostle John wrote a letter to the Church where he described that Jesus was fully God and fully man. He reminded Christians to know, feel, and do Christianity through sound doctrine, great love for one another and obedience to God’s Word. In explaining the way we are to love God, he wrote, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

This is huge. And within these words are something that may free many of us from our relationship insecurities. There is no fear in love. When you love people, you don’t fear them. Why is that important? What might make more sense is perfect love casts out hate. But hate isn’t the opposite of love. When you hate, you still have emotion going toward them that might be resolved by one of three ways, you absorbing the debt, them paying their debt, someone else paying their debt. Then all of a sudden, we are cool. But what happens with fear is that we cease emoting their direction. Instead we go on defense and put up a wall to protect ourselves from them. It’s a standard coping mechanism from those who have been hurt, wounded, or just worried. We put up fences not based on what we want to protect. Fences hide our vulnerabilities.

But perfect love takes away those fences, because we are fully known by God. He will never reject us. He will always work alongside us. He is always for us. And if He is for us who can be against us?

Eternal punishment results in terminal separation from God’s love. However, God’s discipline results in restoration. In speaking of this type of relationship the author Hebrews reminds us, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.

How Love Changes Us

This goes back to middle school when you came home from a day of people making fun of just about everything possible. You come home to a place of love and affection and you are able to go back out and not be angry, face up to those who mocked you and perhaps through kindness bridge the hostility and form a relationship. But you know the kids that didn’t have that, it was a battle. They kept their emotions close to the vest or they acted out in such a way as to protect themselves from hurt and harm. We all experienced that. The question is what was your homelife like. Now I would love to go down that road and help us discover our wounds from our past that explain our vast amount of coping mechanisms, but this isn’t the blog for that. However, I do want you to see that if you were perfectly loved at home, you could face hell at school. It didn’t matter what you experienced at school, because at the end of the day you were safe. 

Jesus

Now this gets to our relationship with Christ. If He loves us in spite of us, we can love others in spite of them, because our fear of rejection has been handled. Our lives are determined by likes and subscribers, but by the fact that Jesus chose to redeem us from darkness and hell and to be heirs of eternal life and have access now to resurrection power. So lean into community. Enjoy the family of God.

Is This For Me?

I can hear the scoff in your throat. Why? What is in it for me? Sure, I love Jesus. But I’m not really looking for friends. I have friends. I have people that I can call if I ever need anything. Hmmm, do you? I know that is presumptuous of me. But do you really? You have someone you can call that would loan you a couple grand if you were in a pinch? You have someone in your life that has been invited into your inner circle so that if you get a little testy with your spouse, that friend can call you out? You have people in your life that know your kids well enough to stay over at your house while you and your spouse take a vacation--and they don’t need to be paid?

That’s what I thought. That’s why being involved in church community is not only important, it is essential to live a life fully. To be known by God and accepted and challenged to do more is awesome. To be known by others who are open to being challenged and have the invitation to challenge you is complete.

Personal Assessment

So as you assess your spiritual life, do you have family in it. Do you have a church community that would lay down their life for you, love you in spite of you, and help you to experience all that you were made to be. Email me and I’ll help you take the next step, whether you are local or global, I’d love to help.

Worship is a word our culture tends to use improperly or to look at with disgust. For example it’s okay to worship your idol as long as what you mean by worshiping, is that you love them a lot, you do whatever they say, you defend their honor even when they say and do awful things, and you pay them money to listen to their words of wisdom and memorize their songs. On the flipside if what you mean by worshiping is that you are ascribing to a set of core beliefs based upon an event in history and a hope in eternal life and a lifestyle that doesn’t compromise, well, you are looked upon as one whose draconian outdated views have brainwashed you and clearly you are no longer relevant nor welcome to the conversation.

Seriously, what happened here? How did our American mainstream culture suddenly flip from being a place where those with religious affiliation and devotion were given much respect and honor to now, being people in society that are equivalent to a benign tumor at best and at worst a terrorist to what is good and decent? Now on the one hand, I’m not a fool to think that the Enemy hasn’t gripped our culture by the throat and perverted things once thought of as holy as now completely defiled. However, it might be that for those of us who feel the weight of the culture pushing up against our faith that we haven’t helped our own cause. Purity of worship has seen better days.

Now if your first thought is “Yeah, tell the heathens to back off” or you have aligned your faith to a political party, then sadly you are part of the problem. But first let me get to where I think we need to start the conversation. What is real worship?

Real Worship

Real worship is composed of what we believe, what we feel, and what we do. In seminary, we called this orthodoxy, orthopathy, and orthopraxy. Ortho→ like orthodontist. Ortho means straight or right. Doxy means glory, but is used to represent the right thinking associated with faith. Pathy means feeling. Praxy means practice. Orthodoxy=Right Thinking. Orthopathy: Right Feeling. Orthopraxy: Right Doing (Action).

Now we resist using these three things in harmony for a lot of reasons, but I think it mainly has to do with our wiring. Either nature (being born in sin) or nurture (being raised in sin). Either way what God designed to be perfect, sin marred. But it manifests itself like this.

Seminary student : one who is constantly thinking and learning new things about God, but isn’t seeing his heart or hands activated to worship. 

Hourly Employee: one who is just doing a job. The first opportunity that there might be something better, I’m out. 

Or a pep rally leader: Doing a whole lot of passionate yelling, but not necessarily engaging the brain or doing any activity that would be associated with what that person passionate is talking about. 

In fact it’s more than that, you combine a seminary student (head) with a pep rally leader (heart), then all of a sudden, you have a hypocrite--the classic Pharisee, because they are not practicing what they are preaching. Or if you combine a seminary student (head) with a hard worker (hands) then you get burnt out from work that you know is the right thing, but your heart isn’t in it. Or if you are a hard worker who is passionate about whatever they are doing, they have someone who has zeal without any knowledge.

What does worship look like? 

Okay so we understand that all three orthodoxy, orthopraxy, and orthopathy are a part of the Christian life. But what does that look like? I think this is a fair question. It means having a proper understanding of Christian doctrine, an identity is inextricably linked to the love that God has for them, and finally consistently doing the right thing. When you read that, you probably would feel disqualified. It can feel like we have a checklist of to-dos and all of a sudden our worship doesn’t feel organic, but rather forced. So how is it possible to worship God where you cover all that true worship is supposed to cover and not be a person who then becomes works based and not grace based.

Joshua

This reminds me of Joshua giving a final rally cry to the people of Israel before they fully took on the land that was to be their inheritance. He challenged them to decide that day who they would worship. Would be the gods of their past that they left in Egypt? Would it be the gods of the land in which they were entering? Or would they just look to their own eyes to find what was right for themselves. Joshua said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

The rest of the Israelites responded, with, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

When Joshua hears that, he doesn’t simply go, “Awesome! I knew I could count on you.” But rather he said, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God.”

He then warned them that the Lord who is a jealous God would consume them after they turned from Him.

To which, if you are a motivational speaker, perhaps you are trying to build the Israelite crowd into a religious frenzy so that they go and obey God whole-heartedly. However, if you are a parent, you can only manipulate the behavior of your kid so much before their true colors come out. So, I don’t think Joshua was using a trick of rhetoric, but rather was using his discernment. He knew the human heart. He had watched Moses in frustration get an early graduation to heaven and miss out on seeing with mortal eyes what he had been walking toward for 40 years.

What Joshua predicted happened. Judges, the book immediately following Joshua, has a theme verse found in Judges 17 and Judges 25. “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

The Israelites no longer sought God. Their pride got in the way. They took care of disappointment, frustration, and hurt in absurd ways. Ways that even pagan religions didn’t do. And they also served the gods of the culture. They worshiped local carved images. They intermarried with people who didn’t believe in the God who brought them out of Egypt and their lives were consumed with idolatry and pride. Everything that Joshua said came true. Sure there were moments of revival. But the revival lasted only as long as a great personality was around to give physical presence to the Spiritual One he wholeheartedly worshiped.

Fickle Hearts

Now why is that? How could a people experience miracle after miracle and still turn from God? How could people experience the mighty power of God and still not fully yield to Him? Because the human heart is that broken. It’s so broken that even the threat of annihilation or salvation will only give it a momentary boost. 

We saw it when Adam ate the fruit. We saw it when Abraham gave his wife to a harem (twice). We saw it when David slept with the wife of his battle buddy, Uriah and then murdered him to cover it up. We saw it when Solomon started worshiping other gods to appease his wives. The Bible is full of great worship fails. Jeremiah wrote about the condition of the heart, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Paul after receiving the Holy Spirit wrote, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.“

He then wrote about the hope that he did have in his distress. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

Romans 8:1 points to the release that comes from experiencing the power of God in his life. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Worship Means...

So then worship means leaning into that truth. Trusting Jesus when your heart wants to trust yourself. That’s worship. Trusting Jesus when your heart wants to do what’s safe, comfortable or will get the approval of man. That is worship.

But we have to train our minds to trust like that. And that is done by studying God’s Word, praying that God would transform you by the renewing your mind. That by God’s testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

It is done also by doing the right things. It is done in letting your heart become vulnerable to God. In all the places we close up. In all the places where we have been let down, wounded, and felt abandoned, we must recognize that God was working in a way we may not understand and will not understand this side of glory. Yet, we trust him, and open our heart to him. And we can’t do it. Joshua’s point. Jeremiah’s point. Paul’s point. We can’t do it. We can only use the faith that God has given us to bring us back to the place where we put ourselves willingly under the control and care of the one who gave everything so that we might inherit more than we could ever imagine, in a time where we didn’t deserve it. 

I once had a neighbor who scoffed at the idea of Christianity, especially the evangelical kind. She came over with her kids to carve pumpkins one October before I was to preach the next morning on giving and I told her I was a little nervous about it, because people get defensive when preachers talk about giving. But then she said, “Do you believe in God?”

“Um, yes.”

“Do they believe in God?”

“As far as I can tell,” I said wondering where this was going.

“Well then just tell them to give. Why would you not just give to what you believe in.”

I remember just nodding and asking her to come to church with me to tell them. And we all would say it’s more complicated than I believe in God, so I give Him my money. I think we, as Christians, all are in this place of being sensitive to money. 

Money Sensitive?

I think it is because we all feel we have earned the money we have. We didn’t waste money. We saved money. We didn’t get the latest in tech, We didn’t eat out every time we could have, we didn’t buy NFL Sunday Ticket even though for a moment $50 a month didn’t seem like too much. We didn’t do a lot of things that we wanted to do, because we think of ourselves as good with money. 

Second, we don’t want to run out of money. We have children and we want to provide them with all the things we had or perhaps didn’t have as a kid. We want them in sports programs, we want them to have advantages at school, we want to prepare financially for them to go to college and not to be drowning in debt. 

We also have a tendency to not think about our investment in heaven. And why would we? We don’t have a portfolio that we can watch grow. We don’t get a deposit receipt for the times we have been generous. We have no idea what we can buy with our heavenly resources.

A Note to Rich People

When Paul wrote to his pastor protege Timothy about talking to rich people. To be fair, if you are reading this, you are probably saying, “Well he’s not talking to me. I’m not rich.”

Well that is tough...what is rich? It can be seen as having a great deal of wealth or assets. To which the question becomes what is a great deal? If you are in Tanzania, having your own car and not having to ride public transportation makes you rich. The reality is that if you are reading this blog you are probably in the top half of the world in terms of wealth. It just doesn’t feel that way, because we can’t see enough poor people to feel better about ourselves.

But even if you are not rich, you want to be. You don’t want to be the bad rich, where you are greedy, a scrooge, and in general an arrogant person no one wants to be around. So let’s see how we can learn to be the good kind of rich. 

Paul wrote, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

What do we do with rich people?

On the first read, one might take offense that Paul is telling Timothy to charge the rich people. This isn’t a bill, but rather to command the rich people to do something. As independent Americans anyone telling me to do anything with my money would be offensive. Unless, that person was representing the one who actually owned all my money. Here is what I mean by that. You probably heard somewhere that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, but have no idea where that is in the Bible. Psalm 50 is where that is and he doesn’t own just the cattle, in verse 12 God gives us his perspective on the planet. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”

God owns it all.

So God makes a claim on everything. That means no matter how hard I have worked, he owns it. I guess that makes sense. He did give me the brain and the brawn to accomplish all that I have done. So what exactly is God charging me to do with what is his?

Don’t be haughty. 

Don’t set hope on riches. 

Do good.

Be rich in good works.

Be generous.

Be ready to share.

Interestingly, Paul doesn’t ask Timothy to ask the rich people to take a vow of poverty. He asked them to not be like the world in their vanity by placing their trust in the wealth and being miserly to protect it. He tells them to do good things. And so far no one has an issue. It’s when we are asked to be generous and ready to share that our nerves start to get on edge. But I think what we have to remember is that if God owns everything that makes us simply stewards of His wealth.

Stewardship of God’s Money

Part of stewarding His wealth well is that we need to be generous with His money. We pay ourselves fairly. But we also make sure that the priority of the wealth with which we have been entrusted advances the agenda of the owner.

To be generous with the owner’s wealth, we can’t be upside down on things that don’t advance the kingdom. This is where as a pastor, people kindly and not so kindly ask me to butt-out. They don’t want me to look at what they are spending their money on. They don’t want me asking questions like, “How does this advance the owner’s agenda?” Apparently, that’s none of my business. I can ask questions about porn addictions, anger directed at children or a spouse, but to ask a question if money is being spent wisely seems to be out of bounds. But this is where Paul is telling Timothy to charge the rich people to manage their wealth well. According to Pew Research, 80% of Americans are in debt.  It is difficult to obey the command of being generous when most of us have debt to pay off. 

Now on the flipside what about giving back to God. David when he donated several billion dollars to the Temple Capital Campaign said this, “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.”

Give me the bottom line: How much do you want?

This might be what you have been waiting for. How much am I to give? Is it 10%? I heard somewhere that was just an Old Testament thing. This is a great question and it really gets us to a place of understanding what people gave in the Old Testament and what Jesus asked people to give in the new. Malachi 3:10 told Israelites to bring the whole tithe to the storehouse that God would have food in his house. And right there is where people usually go, see that is what we should give. That is what God commanded us to do. Well, sort of. The ESV translated it as ‘whole tithe’. As if the people back then were not bringing in 10%, but rather were at 9.5% or perhaps lower. I don’t think that is what that is referring to. The KJV translates whole as “all.” In other words, bring all the tithes. Or all the 10%s. That would be confusing unless you understood the way that Israelites were to give. 

Old Testament Giving 

In the OT, there was a first fruits offering that was the best and the first of the crop. It was literally the first apple or orange that was picked from each tree. The first strawberry picked from each strawberry plant. It was also the first male goat as well as a sheaf of grain. All in all, the gift could range from $200 to $400 depending on how large the property was and how many trees or plants the owner had. But if you think about one apple from an apple tree. That isn’t that much. But it was the point that the Israelites always were to remember from where their blessing came.

Now to the tithes. There was the Levitical Tithe. 10% of one's income to support the Levites who did not have an inheritance, but were to trust the Lord’s provision. The second tithe was for national festivals (Passover, Feast of Booths, Feast of Weeks). The third tithe was for the poor, the traveler, and the Levites again. This tithe was only required once every three years. 

So right off the bat, we have at least 23.3+% given off the top to government, clergy, and the poor.

The next thing to think about is how the Old Testament put emphasis on being wise with money. Saving money now so that in times or plenty or in want, they were prepared. Finally there was a command to not harvest right up to the edge of your land so that you could provide for the poor in the community and the traveler.

Percentage Giving

So when someone says we need to tithe like they did in the Old Testament, they need to specify what they need? The problem is that it doesn’t compute the same way. The tithe was more of a mandatory tax. It was also a theocracy where church and state were one. Now you may say that means that we pay the taxes to the state and pay 10% to the church as it has to pay the salaries of our modern day Levites. But then who pays for the buildings, the maintenance, the paper, the websites, the instruments, and everything else that goes into running a church?

So although a firm number of 10% is convenient, it may not be the best way to measure what we should give. This is where I firmly believe that we need to ask God what we should give. And we have been teaching at our church to pick a percent and ask God each year if that should change. 

Starting at 10% and asking God if you can do that is a great place to start. It might be more than 10%, or it could be less. Remember this isn’t some legal requirement to earn your salvation, but rather a place to stretch your faith. Remember the back half of Malachi 3:10. After talking about bringing the whole tithe to the store house, God challenges the people. “Test me in this, says the Lord of Hosts, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

Giving and Blessing

Again the ESV doesn’t really do this verse justice. The phrase “no more need” is translated from the Hebrew words ]]> My Old Neighbor

I once had a neighbor who scoffed at the idea of Christianity, especially the evangelical kind. She came over with her kids to carve pumpkins one October before I was to preach the next morning on giving and I told her I was a little nervous about it, because people get defensive when preachers talk about giving. But then she said, “Do you believe in God?”

“Um, yes.”

“Do they believe in God?”

“As far as I can tell,” I said wondering where this was going.

“Well then just tell them to give. Why would you not just give to what you believe in.”

I remember just nodding and asking her to come to church with me to tell them. And we all would say it’s more complicated than I believe in God, so I give Him my money. I think we, as Christians, all are in this place of being sensitive to money. 

Money Sensitive?

I think it is because we all feel we have earned the money we have. We didn’t waste money. We saved money. We didn’t get the latest in tech, We didn’t eat out every time we could have, we didn’t buy NFL Sunday Ticket even though for a moment $50 a month didn’t seem like too much. We didn’t do a lot of things that we wanted to do, because we think of ourselves as good with money. 

Second, we don’t want to run out of money. We have children and we want to provide them with all the things we had or perhaps didn’t have as a kid. We want them in sports programs, we want them to have advantages at school, we want to prepare financially for them to go to college and not to be drowning in debt. 

We also have a tendency to not think about our investment in heaven. And why would we? We don’t have a portfolio that we can watch grow. We don’t get a deposit receipt for the times we have been generous. We have no idea what we can buy with our heavenly resources.

A Note to Rich People

When Paul wrote to his pastor protege Timothy about talking to rich people. To be fair, if you are reading this, you are probably saying, “Well he’s not talking to me. I’m not rich.”

Well that is tough...what is rich? It can be seen as having a great deal of wealth or assets. To which the question becomes what is a great deal? If you are in Tanzania, having your own car and not having to ride public transportation makes you rich. The reality is that if you are reading this blog you are probably in the top half of the world in terms of wealth. It just doesn’t feel that way, because we can’t see enough poor people to feel better about ourselves.

But even if you are not rich, you want to be. You don’t want to be the bad rich, where you are greedy, a scrooge, and in general an arrogant person no one wants to be around. So let’s see how we can learn to be the good kind of rich. 

Paul wrote, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

What do we do with rich people?

On the first read, one might take offense that Paul is telling Timothy to charge the rich people. This isn’t a bill, but rather to command the rich people to do something. As independent Americans anyone telling me to do anything with my money would be offensive. Unless, that person was representing the one who actually owned all my money. Here is what I mean by that. You probably heard somewhere that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, but have no idea where that is in the Bible. Psalm 50 is where that is and he doesn’t own just the cattle, in verse 12 God gives us his perspective on the planet. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”

God owns it all.

So God makes a claim on everything. That means no matter how hard I have worked, he owns it. I guess that makes sense. He did give me the brain and the brawn to accomplish all that I have done. So what exactly is God charging me to do with what is his?

Don’t be haughty. 

Don’t set hope on riches. 

Do good.

Be rich in good works.

Be generous.

Be ready to share.

Interestingly, Paul doesn’t ask Timothy to ask the rich people to take a vow of poverty. He asked them to not be like the world in their vanity by placing their trust in the wealth and being miserly to protect it. He tells them to do good things. And so far no one has an issue. It’s when we are asked to be generous and ready to share that our nerves start to get on edge. But I think what we have to remember is that if God owns everything that makes us simply stewards of His wealth.

Stewardship of God’s Money

Part of stewarding His wealth well is that we need to be generous with His money. We pay ourselves fairly. But we also make sure that the priority of the wealth with which we have been entrusted advances the agenda of the owner.

To be generous with the owner’s wealth, we can’t be upside down on things that don’t advance the kingdom. This is where as a pastor, people kindly and not so kindly ask me to butt-out. They don’t want me to look at what they are spending their money on. They don’t want me asking questions like, “How does this advance the owner’s agenda?” Apparently, that’s none of my business. I can ask questions about porn addictions, anger directed at children or a spouse, but to ask a question if money is being spent wisely seems to be out of bounds. But this is where Paul is telling Timothy to charge the rich people to manage their wealth well. According to Pew Research, 80% of Americans are in debt.  It is difficult to obey the command of being generous when most of us have debt to pay off. 

Now on the flipside what about giving back to God. David when he donated several billion dollars to the Temple Capital Campaign said this, “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.”

Give me the bottom line: How much do you want?

This might be what you have been waiting for. How much am I to give? Is it 10%? I heard somewhere that was just an Old Testament thing. This is a great question and it really gets us to a place of understanding what people gave in the Old Testament and what Jesus asked people to give in the new. Malachi 3:10 told Israelites to bring the whole tithe to the storehouse that God would have food in his house. And right there is where people usually go, see that is what we should give. That is what God commanded us to do. Well, sort of. The ESV translated it as ‘whole tithe’. As if the people back then were not bringing in 10%, but rather were at 9.5% or perhaps lower. I don’t think that is what that is referring to. The KJV translates whole as “all.” In other words, bring all the tithes. Or all the 10%s. That would be confusing unless you understood the way that Israelites were to give. 

Old Testament Giving 

In the OT, there was a first fruits offering that was the best and the first of the crop. It was literally the first apple or orange that was picked from each tree. The first strawberry picked from each strawberry plant. It was also the first male goat as well as a sheaf of grain. All in all, the gift could range from $200 to $400 depending on how large the property was and how many trees or plants the owner had. But if you think about one apple from an apple tree. That isn’t that much. But it was the point that the Israelites always were to remember from where their blessing came.

Now to the tithes. There was the Levitical Tithe. 10% of one's income to support the Levites who did not have an inheritance, but were to trust the Lord’s provision. The second tithe was for national festivals (Passover, Feast of Booths, Feast of Weeks). The third tithe was for the poor, the traveler, and the Levites again. This tithe was only required once every three years. 

So right off the bat, we have at least 23.3+% given off the top to government, clergy, and the poor.

The next thing to think about is how the Old Testament put emphasis on being wise with money. Saving money now so that in times or plenty or in want, they were prepared. Finally there was a command to not harvest right up to the edge of your land so that you could provide for the poor in the community and the traveler.

Percentage Giving

So when someone says we need to tithe like they did in the Old Testament, they need to specify what they need? The problem is that it doesn’t compute the same way. The tithe was more of a mandatory tax. It was also a theocracy where church and state were one. Now you may say that means that we pay the taxes to the state and pay 10% to the church as it has to pay the salaries of our modern day Levites. But then who pays for the buildings, the maintenance, the paper, the websites, the instruments, and everything else that goes into running a church?

So although a firm number of 10% is convenient, it may not be the best way to measure what we should give. This is where I firmly believe that we need to ask God what we should give. And we have been teaching at our church to pick a percent and ask God each year if that should change. 

Starting at 10% and asking God if you can do that is a great place to start. It might be more than 10%, or it could be less. Remember this isn’t some legal requirement to earn your salvation, but rather a place to stretch your faith. Remember the back half of Malachi 3:10. After talking about bringing the whole tithe to the store house, God challenges the people. “Test me in this, says the Lord of Hosts, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

Giving and Blessing

Again the ESV doesn’t really do this verse justice. The phrase “no more need” is translated from the Hebrew words ]]> https://www.wellsbranchchurch.com/devotionals/post/secrets https://www.wellsbranchchurch.com/devotionals/post/secrets#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2020 10:00:00 -0500 https://www.wellsbranchchurch.com/devotionals/post/secrets Punch

In a time long past, when kids clustered in cafeterias without fear, held teachers hands, and when washing your hands was seen as a good thing, but not life or death, my son got in trouble at lunch. Austin was playing a boys game called “Punch.” Essentially Austin and his friends would punch each other and see how big of a whack each other could take without crying. Of course, there is nothing that could make me more proud, but I would never condone such actions publicly.

The lunch monitor put an end to this game within a couple hits and there were tears. Not because of a punch, but because they got in trouble. Instant shame overwhelmed Austin. It was all he could do to pull it together to go back to class. When he got home, he told my wife what happened and as he told it, he burst into tears. As Adrienne consoled Austin he said something that I haven’t stopped thinking about. 

“Mommy, don’t tell Daddy.”

Tim Keller 

One of my favorite Tim Keller paraphrases is this.

To be unknown and accepted is comforting, but superficial.

To be fully known and rejected is our greatest fear.

To be fully known and accepted is to be loved like God would love.

Where lying starts 

That is where lying starts. We feel shame. We feel we won’t be loved. We feel that if people really knew who we really were, then they would see us for the fraud we are. This happened to Adam in the garden and this happened to Austin in the cafeteria. Adam when he heard God coming in the cool of the day hid. Austin wanted to hide his sin from Daddy when he came home. Lying to cover shame only exacerbates the problem and that is what makes us slaves to sin.

Our culture further gives us reason to hide. Everytime a new person enters into the political arena every indiscretion, every sin, every mistake is highlighted and people are grilled about what they did and didn’t do 20-30 years ago. So there is a reason to hold our secrets close. In a world where karma rules and grace is seen as giving in to the other side, we of course have become a culture of secrets.

Bible Hero Shame

A casual perusal of the Bible reveals something really interesting about even the most godly humans. 

Adam had only one rule and had only one other person on the planet and he ended up disobeying God and trying to cover it up. Abraham the “Father of our Faith” lied about his wife Sarah and gave her to two different harems, because he was afraid of being killed. Isaac followed in his father’s footsteps and did the same thing. Jacob lied and stole his brother’s blessing. Judah sold his brother into slavery and then hooked up with a prostitute who happened to be his dead son’s wife, and through their union, Jesus would come. Abraham’s nephew Lot who was considered a righteous man, got so drunk he didn’t realize he was having sex with his daugthers who used him to get pregnant, creating nations of peoples who would be enemies of God’s people. 

Moses murdered a man, covered it up, and then ran away before God called him to lead Israel out of slavery at age 80. Rahab was a prostitute whom Israel trusted to help their battle in Jericho and somehow she got into the lineage of Jesus. Gideon led a battle against the Midianites and freed them from slavery and then spirituallly enslaved them all by having people worship his golden ephod. Samson was a hulk of a man who put his own strength and sexual desire ahead of God’s heart and yet he judged Israel for 20 years. Eli was the high priest of Israel who got fat off the sacrifices of the people and failed to discipline his sons for extorting the people of God. 

King Saul after leading Israel to victory, built a monument to himself, murdered the priests of God, tried to kill David and eventually turned to witchcraft. King David committed adultery with the wife of one of his most loyal soldiers who was also known as one of his Mighty Men. And then he had him killed. King Solomon built the temple and dedicated himself and Israel to worship God and did so until his wives led him to worship foreign gods. Elijah who had God speak to him, did incredible miracles demonstrating the power of God, was able to run at the speed of time, became so depressed that he became suicidal. Jonah heard from God, disobeyed God, was disciplined by God in a fish and still couldn’t get on board with God’s agenda to save people and not destroy them. 

Peter after boasting he would never deny Jesus, denied Jesus to a middle school aged girl. Peter to whom God revealed that the Gentiles should be treated as equal heirs of the kingdom of God, went back to racist ways when he got around racist Christians. James and John had competition issues and wanted to make sure they got more special treatment than Peter and even brought their mom to beg Jesus for it. James and John also wanted to murder an entire Samaritan village for the Samaritans rejecting them. 

I don’t think anyone would say that the people listed above didn’t want to love and serve God. I don’t think anyone would say they aren’t in heaven, but there were moments when circumstances overwhelmed them. There were moments when temptation won out. There were moments where the darkness crept into their hearts. 

God still used them. He still loved them. And more than likely they had more issues than the Bible revealed. We just got a highlight reel of their sin. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it is a complete guarantee that anyone reading this has issues they aren’t proud of and would be humiliated if any of their darkness came to light. It’s out of this hiding that Christian pastors have fallen as well. Men who did great things for God but like Moses, David, and others sinned and sought to cover it up. It’s the cover up that bothers people. And I’m not talking about the cover up that is obvious, like hiding a dead body or concealing an affair. I’m talking about the way before the sin gets big enough to appear at a Supreme Court nomination hearing. What happens to Christians who get put on pedestals is that they have a reputation of perfection to keep. Even though they would say, “Nobody’s perfect.”

Image Management

Image management is something that is an actual profession. I just looked up you can get a Public Relations Image Management Major. We have turned covering up someone’s flaws into a career. But what if you could live so authentically, you didn’t need that. If your public relations tool was just Jesus saved me. Wouldn’t that be freeing?

In John 4, Jesus meets a woman who has been divorced 5 times and the man she was currently living with was not her husband. She had shame. She had gone to a place of isolation and made life work in spite of the myriad of bad choices and the struggle of being ostracized from society. Maybe people were pointing and talking about her bad decisions and constantly criticizing her. Maybe her name was synonymous with prostitute in the culture. Or maybe it was all in her head, and nobody really thought about her. Out of sight, out of mind. Who knows? All we do know is that when Jesus meets her she is at the town well at the heat of the day when no one else would dare get that sweaty to get water for the day's chores.

Jesus sits down and asks for a drink. The woman immediately gets defensive. 

“Why are you talking to me?”

Jesus leans in, “If you knew who it was who was asking you, you would ask him for living water.” 

The woman plays along. “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? “

Jesus forces her to ask him for it by revealing that if she asked him she would never be thirsty again and that she would have a well of living water within her.

“Sir, give me the water so I won’t be thirsty or have to come to this well again.” she said.

“Go, and get your husband and bring him here,” Jesus said knowing exactly how she would answer.

“I don’t have a husband.” she stared at the well.

“You are right, you don’t have a husband. You’ve had five, and the one you are with now is not your husband. That’s very true.” Jesus said. No accusation. No cry for repentance. No denunciation. None of the things she expected. But she doesn’t miss a chance to change the subject to worship locations and Jesus lets her know that true worship isn’t location, but Spirit and Truth.

“When the Messiah comes he will explain it all,” the woman said expecting that to be an end of the weirdest conversation ever.

“I, who speak to you, am he.”

Now when Jesus said that, she changed. She dropped her jar and ran into town and she was not trying to be inconspicuous. She found everyone. She let them know she was free. He knew everything about her. All of her sin, all of her hurt, all of her secrets. He had accepted her. He hadn’t even done anything. No transactions. He just knew her. He didn’t reject her or look to use her. All the fear of people faded. She had come to know what real love is. God had chosen to reveal to her who the Messiah was.

Imagination

Now imagine living like that all the time. Imagine feeling so loved and so forgiven that you wouldn’t look to fill your insecurities with more brokenness. Instead of living in anticipation that things might get better, living with the understanding they already are and the best is yet to come. That changes things. That is how people grow and change. 

Skeptical?

I think when people read that, their first inclination is to go, “Yeah, I did that already.”

What they mean when they say that is I had that incredible moment where I realized I was a sinner and that Jesus saved me. But I’m way beyond that now. And what they are really saying is I’ve gone back to being afraid of people and what they expect me to be now that I am saved. 

How Sanctification Works

But Colossians 2:6 reminds us to live in the moment of our salvation well beyond that day when we chose to give our life to Him. 

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

But how? What does that look like? The answer is fairly simple. Confession.

Confession to God= forgiveness. (1 John 1:9)

Confession to people with prayer=healing (James 5:16)

1 John 1:8 lets us know how bad we really are. To say otherwise is self-deception.

 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

1 John 1:9 explains that God is that good to forgive us from all sin.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 5:16 explains that restoration and our healing are connected.

Confess your sins one to another and pray for each other that you may be healed.

My House

I’ve wanted my home to be a place that would welcome vulnerability. We have a set of phrases at our house that I make my boys repeat anytime I have to discipline them.

“Daddy loves you when you make what?” I ask.

“Good choices and bad choices.” they respond.

“It makes Daddy happy when you make…”

“Good choices.”

To make sure that they don’t get confused because this phrase is only used in times of discipline I have implemented a strategy that I remind them in their success that my love isn’t dependent on behavior or success. I remind them that I love them for no reason other than that they are my sons, and we go through the phrases again. My hope is that one day they see the easy transition from their earthly father to their heavenly one. 

What Now?

I don’t think if you are reading this that you think that confession and repentance is bad. You agree in theory. However, making this a practice, let alone a habit seems daunting. Where do I start. Perhaps the first step is taking the blog and sharing it and then talking about it with someone you trust.

I have been recently watching the Last Dance on Netflix. I know. I’m late to the party. But it has been awesome. It’s like going back to my childhood fantasizing about one day being Michael Jordan. The interesting thing about the Bulls was when Phil Jackson took over the team, they went from an offense focused on Michael to an offense focused on a team that would allow Michael to flourish. Michael Jordan alone could not win a championship. He needed his team.

However, what we find in church circles is a whole lot of individualism. As Westerners we are all about individual rights over the collective. We approach our salvation in a very independent way. That can be helpful since there are not many Westerner’s who believe that anyone else’s faith will get them into heaven. Western Christians agree that righteousness can never be passed horizontally, but only vertically. Where things get tricky with Westerners is the idea of church membership.

Is Membership Biblical?

We resist membership for several reasons. First we go through the Bible to find the membership class section. When we don’t find it, we say, “I believe the Bible, not the traditions of men.” Membership is not in the Bible so therefore I won’t participate in a manmade institution. This is weird because we somehow don’t have a problem with every other manmade institution like governments, fraternities and sororities, and playing rec league softball.

Bad Leaders

Now to be fair part of our hesitancy with being a member of the church is because there have been some terrible leaders in the past. I’m sure there are some maniacal church leaders out there who are simply trying to take control and power, and are using their ministries to fuel a coping mechanism for a childhood inadequacy for which they desperately need counseling and repentance. I’m a pastor, and I’m sure at some point, people have said the same thing about me. “The Pastor is just flexing his spiritual muscles to get us to do what he wants us to do.” *Sigh* Being a pastor brings with it heartache, betrayal, and frustration. That is why it is referred to as a calling. You would quit and do something way less emotionally draining if God didn’t actually put this desire to unconditionally love people who won’t love you back in your heart and reach them with God’s love. But again, as Westerners, we have heard somewhere that pastors are greedy and just want power and so we further arm ourselves against the idea of membership.

Independence

And there are some of us who love our freedom and independence from any governing body, government included, and see any commitment as an infringement of our rights. There are some who want to do ministry on our own terms and don’t want the burden of a church staff member or committee telling them that they are doing it wrong. There are those of us who love to hear great sermons preached and love to experience Holy Spirit filled worship, but don’t want the inconvenience of loving difficult people. It’s so much easier to love people from afar. When you get close, you see their flaws, you experience their idiosyncrasies. Why tie yourself down and endure being connected to those people.

Membership in the Bible

So let’s go to what the Bible says about membership. Specifically that there is no specific verse. First off can we acknowledge that churches didn’t have to file for a 501c3 in the New Testament. That early church came together with no formal letters of incorporation. But somehow they knew numbers of people getting saved and baptized (Acts 2). They had specific issues where members were not acting in accordance with God’s Word and they were removed (1 Corinthians 5). They had leadership appointed (Titus 1). But let’s get to the verse that clearly indicates Church membership. 1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

Speaking Texan

The word you, in 1 Corinthians 12:27, is an okay translation, but giving it a little Texan helps it out a lot. It is the second person plural, or as we Texans say, “y’all.” So [y’all] are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 

The word member is in this verse. What this verse is referring to is a member of your body, like a limb or a leg. In fact, Paul spends the preceding 23 verses describing the church as a literal body and that one cannot say they don’t belong. 

Now when I usually talk about this, people say, “See...you just said it. They are members because they are Christians, not because they signed a piece of paper.” However, there was a formal process for people to enter into churches during that time: Baptism. It symbolized being born again and being born into a new family, the church. The only church for miles in any direction. The point that Paul was making was that the Corinthian Church represented Christ as His body on Earth in a physical and tangible way meeting physical and spiritual needs of their community. The point Paul was making was that people could not be disunified. They had to come under the leadership of the church to live out their God given roles within the church to help the church internally, as the church reached the community externally. Rogue hands might help someone, but would leave them disconnected from the protection and health of the church. Limbs that are not submitted to the head and are doing their own thing cause the body as a whole to suffer.

Now to be fair, there has been a modern Christian heresy that is pervasive throughout the world. Secularism: The pursuit of the kingdom without the king. Several Christian bloggers have emphasized this thought like Mark Sayers. But what might be worse is pursuing the king without His kingdom. This goes something like this. I want Jesus to be king of my life, but I don’t want all the inconvenience of dealing with his kingdom. His messy people irritate me. They are too in debt. They are too emotionally needy. Their marriages are train wrecks and I have my own life to worry about. That whole love thy neighbor stuff was really great when everyone looked like me, had the same values as me, and acted like me.

I think what has happened to Christians is that when we stopped believing in the King and his power to work through us to change people, we then disconnected from the church because it’s “too much”. We like being unaffiliated. We like being non-denominational. We like being independent. We like being isolated. In reality, a King disconnected from his kingdom isn’t the real king at all. That king is an imposter that we have set up to condone our desire for independent comfort. 

Who do we follow?

In Acts 20:28, Paul called the Ephesian elders to him at Miletus where he said a tearful goodbye to them. He then challenged them, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” 

Paul challenged the Ephesian elders to pay careful attention to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit had made them overseers. Now, did the Holy Spirit come down and speak to Paul and say these are the men that are to be elders? Perhaps. Or was it that they were nominated either by Paul or by the church itself to lead and care for their specific people. I think the latter to be more likely.

Romans 13:1 says,” Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”

Paul wrote that people should be subject to secular governing authorities. He also said that elders were there to protect the people from heresy, from abuse and from people living in unrepentant sin. Paul told the leadership of the church to remove the man in unrepentant sin. 1 Corinthians 5:4-5   “When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”

*Record scratch*...everyone stare at that verse. This makes everyone shiver. Removing a person in unrepentant sin. Paul gets more clear in verse 13, “God judges those outside [the church]. Purge the evil person from among you.”

Leaders are to protect the church from abusive people. We may all disagree on when to remove a person, and what lengths of restoration we should go to, but no one disagrees that church elders are commanded by God to protect the church from harm. But to do that, they would have to know who was outside the church to leave them to God and who was inside the church for whom they were responsible.

Discipline for none or all?

So for whom do elders execute church discipline? If there is no formal membership process, do the elders exercise church discipline on visitors? Let’s use an example to help the rubber meet the road. If you have a new college couple show up to church. The girl is hanging on her guy like a robe on a hanger. The pastor introduces himself. He finds out that they are dating. Cute. Then he looks at the connection card where they have filled out that they are cohabitating. Does the elder board now convene and initiate the church discipline process? What if they had never been to church before? Is it after 20 times at church? At what point would you feel that they have had enough time to adjust to the culture of the church? Do you wait for the sermon series on marriage? What if they miss the series? At what point are elders called to execute church discipline for the sake of the flock? This is where the barrage of questions comes into play. Either church elders exercise church discipline on no one or church elders exercise church discipline on everyone.

Whom do we obey?

There are plenty of churches that do things that I disagree with. You probably would disagree as well. If a pastor of another church tells you that you need to go protest at a military funeral, do you do it? 

Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage to you.”

If we are talking about leadership, which leadership? If there is no formal leadership, who authenticates the leadership from God? I think I have heard of plenty of self-proclaimed Bishops and Apostles. Those sound like very important titles, do I obey them?

Which leaders do we obey? If there is no church membership then any leadership that we have is self-proclaimed or nominated over a geography not a people. People must know who the leadership is. And apparently these leaders must give an account of the Christian. How would they do that without a formal membership process. After that formal membership process one could say I belong to this church body and am ready to serve under its leadership. Until then, you are either beholden to everyone who calls themself a leader or you are beholden to no one.

Since we know that we must submit to some church leaders, it can’t be that we must submit to no one. And we can agree that different churches have conflicting stances on issues ranging from salvation in Christ to the definition of marriage. Clearly a formal membership process is practical and beneficial for all those involved.

What will you do?

Church membership is biblical, spiritual, practical, beneficial, and covenantal. Will you commit to a local body of believers?