When the Tree is Green

“For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when the tree is dry?” Luke 23:31

These are the words Jesus speaks right before he is crucified. He is speaking to the Daughters of Jerusalem who are weeping over the cruelty being brought upon Jesus. He foretells of a day it will better to have a barren womb than to give birth.

Now that we have this uplifting and inspiring moment defined, lets deal with depth of the statement Christ makes. The reality is that when we see tough times we never imagine tougher days. When things are not going the way we want them to go, we rarely consider how far they may go. Jesus is foretelling of a day in which humanity has such little regard for God and the things of God that it will be even worse than the day he was crucified.

I think this statement has powerful implications in our lives spiritually and practically. If men will do these types of things in a season in which the tree is green…meaning the tree is alive and bearing fruit…if men are evil in those days how much more evil will they be in the days of drought?

Let’s apply it to our lives a little.

For example…
If a man is a jerk when your love is new and fresh, he will not be a servant husband when your relationship is old and in a drought.
If a person cannot be obedient to God with their finances when they are blessed and have plenty, they will never be faithful in times of trouble.
If a person is too busy to be faithful to serve God when life is good and the blessings of family abound, they be unfaithful to God when times are hard.
If you don’t have time to spend with the Lord when the schedule is full because you have great opportunities, a lack of opportunity will not cause greater faithfulness.
If your run up piles of debt when you make little, you will not be a wise steward when you make much.

Basically, I am challenged by the fact that most often today the excuses (or reasons) I hear from people about why they believe they have little time, talent, and resources to be faithfully serve God with is because of all the blessings in their life.

They are too busy at work….or too busy with the family….or too busy buying new things…etc.

Well if we are unfaithful when the tree is green, how unfaithful will we be when the tree is dry?

Don’t allow the blessings of God in your life to cause a drought in your life.

The Crowd’s Place

The "crowd" is treated very differently by different churches and church leaders. The priority the crowd should take in decision making and Church activity is an active and ongoing debate. Most church leaders even struggle to define the crowd.

Crowds are fickle. They come and go. They arrive and they depart. May people desire to be an anonymous member of the crowd while others are starving for the day someone knows their name. Some people that attend church want to stay in the crowd so that no one in the church will know how they really live their life. While others in the crowd are desperate for someone to know about their life, to know their story, and to help them write a new one.

In my Scripture reading this morning I read a parable of Jesus in which he teaches strongly against the religious leaders and even foreshadows his own death at their hands. After this interaction the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were angry with Jesus for teaching against them. Mark 12:12 says, "Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away."

This little verse speaks volumes to the religious leaders of our days. It speaks volumes to me as a church leader. How often do we walk away from something because we fear the crowd? How often does the desire to appease and maintain the crowd in our church prevent us from speaking Truth? How often does it prevent us from creating times of worship that are deep and meaningful for every believer in attendance?

Is the fear of the crowd driving you? One of the axioms of our day in church is this truth, "What you reach them with you must keep them with."

If you reach them with creativity without content, you cannot keep them with content.
If you reach them with secular music without spiritual reason, you cannot keep them with spiritual reasoning.
If you reach them with love, you cannot keep them with condemnation.
If you reach them with passion, you cannot keep them with guilt.
If you reach them with guilt, you cannot keep them with love.

Do you get it?

Are you driven by the fear of the crowd?

The fear of losing them.
The fear of turning them away.
How about the fear of them never showing up in the first place?

I have dealt much in my ministry with the fear of the crowd. I remember early on in church planting being in constant fear a crowd would never show up. Honestly, some might say it still has not, but I believe one has. Actually many have.

But I still wonder, how often do we fail to do what is right (to us) because of fear of the crowd?

There is no truth too ancient, no song too old, no practice too difficult, no Word too timely, no grace too small, no standard too high, no message too difficult, no act of compassion too costly to prevent us from doing that which is right.

That must be our standard. If the fear of the crowd drives you, the Holy Spirit does not lead you.

Love the crowd, but never fear it.
Reach and teach the crowd, but do not appease it.
Beseech the crowd and belove the crowd, but never, ever bow to it.

(If you want to see why the crowd is so important read on further in Mark 12 in verses 28-34. How much did Jesus value the soul of this one man who stepped in closer out of the crowd?)

Reality Check

The beginning of Matthew is something many readers skim over quickly to get to the good stuff. It is after all, a genealogy, a simple list of names listing fathers and sons. We realize it has some significance but as we simply look at the "big" names in the list we often fail to see the message behind Matthew's opening facts.

Yes, Matthew wanted everyone to know the reality of Jesus' genealogy so they could understand that he was the long promised Messiah, a descendant of the patriarch Abraham, and indeed a son of King David. Yet if you read carefully and look into the facts that Matthew decides are notable enough to point out, you will see a pattern in his teaching.

The genealogy is a total of 42 generations. It is broken into 3 groups of 14 which he points out and states why that is significant. It is important because we need to remember where we have come from and it has not all been good. The genealogy begins with Abraham, a man of faith and obedience. He was given a promise and he lived it out, he doubted and tried to make his own route to the promise, but in the end, he was faithful. It began with a promise. The next major point in the genealogy is King David. David represents the height of this family. It reminds the people of their rise to prominence in the world. The third spot is the lowest point in the history of this family. It is the Babylonian Exile. A time in which this family that became a great nation was humbled as a result of years and generations of disobedience and idolatry. The fourth point and stopping place in this list is the fulfillment of that promise. In Jesus Christ, the promise that Abraham's family would be a blessing to all people became true.

Do you see the importance in this information? Jesus' family was not perfect. It was a family that had risen and fallen. They had both succeeded and failed. They had walked in both righteousness and unrighteousness.

I think if you take just a little more time and see the things Matthew decides to give commentary to, you will discover this honesty and openness continues. He speaks of Salmon's wife Rahab, who had been a prostitute and foreigner before honoring God in Jericho. The next woman pointed out (which is not the norm in a Jewish genealogy, it is built around the men) is Ruth. This was a woman of great faith and honor, yet she had also been a foreigner.

The next commentary is very telling. It is about David and his son Solomon. Solomon was the son of Bathsheba who had been Uriah's wife. The family's dirty laundry is put front and center. David had committed adultery with this woman and had her husband murdered to cover it up. "Thanks, Matthew, for bringing out the worst in us to the world to know."

Then we move further down to here the exile mentioned. This, too all the original readers, was a reminder of the lowest point in the history of its family and nation.

What, however, was Matthew's purpose in sharing this information with the world?

His purpose was to remind us that we all rise and fall…we all fail and succeed…all of our families have done both good and bad…as have we.

Failure, however, is not the end of God's promises in our lives. We fail to experience God's promises in our lives when our faith in the One who has made that promise fails. God's promises are not dependent on our faith, but our experience of them and relationship to them is.

Perhaps today you feel stuck in some ups and downs, peaks and valleys, failures and success. Perhaps you feel stuck in the never ending ebb and flow of life and you are losing the purpose behind it.

Don't give up. God has a great plan for you and for those that will follow you. Be faithful with this day. Quit being obsessed with what might be written in your genealogy because of your past and wonder what might be said because of your future. God loves you and has plans for you. These plans will prosper you. You will find your hope and your future there in those promises.

So make a bold move and set a new direction for your genealogy.

(Another side note to leaders and teachers, people learn more when you share the realities of such ups and downs in life instead of pretending they don't exist in your life. The reality is that authenticity is model of Scripture…find some…and share your story without fear.)

The Resolution Rundown

It is January 12, 2011. That means most people who have set resolutions for the New Year are starting to feel the rundown a little. If it has not happened yet, it is coming. The resolution rundown is simply when our old habits and ways begin to rundown the new ones we are trying to embrace. It is when the first smell of freshly baked pizza hits the nose of the newly disciplined healthy eater. Or when the alarm clock goes off entirely too early after a late night ball game for the newly committed early morning Bible reader. Or when the temperature is below freezing and the bed is toasty when it is time to go for the run. Our old ways like to run down our new ones.

It is in that exact moment that the defining word for resolution must be true of us. That word is, of course, resolve. Resolve means "to come to a definite or earnest decision about." The decision seemed definite and earnest when you wrote it down on January 1. You were definite about and earnest in your desire, but reality is writing down a New Year's resolution requires zero resolve. It requires desire and hope, but not resolve. It is on January 12 or 13 or 29 or February 8 that the resolution one wrote down on January 1 requires resolve.

So, I want to share a little Scripture passage I like about resolve. It is found in Daniel 1:6-20. Verse 8 really stands out to me. First you need to know these young men were in bondage and exile in a foreign country that had completely different standards, beliefs, and customs than theirs. Also, as Jews much of their standards, customs, and beliefs were not simply a cultural thing, they were religious convictions. Daniel also had to have a plan. His resolve was not enough. Living out a standard that was different than the culture and setting he found himself in required him to do more than just commit. Daniel had to have a plan to live it out.

So here are a few principles for beating the resolution rundown…

1. Resolve what you believe instead of believe what you resolve.
Resolutions are rundown, not by a lack of desire for change, but because of a lack of conviction behind the change. Conviction causes change.

2. Plan what you will do instead of what you will not do.
Daniel had a plan in mind concerning what he would eat not just what he would not eat. Life is not lived in the "I will nots" it is lived in the "I wills."

3. Don't expect the world to change because you are changing.
The most difficult moments in change are when we have to do what is different and out of the norm…like ordering a salad at a burger joint.

4. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
You will be surprised how often other people want to see you reach your resolution even if they do not share the same conviction.

5. Pray.

I hope these principles help you…now I better get home and run or my resolution will officially be rundown.

Will your community thrive or die?

I believe that the church can be described as a community.

The dictionary defines community as a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists.

The Church would most certainly describe itself this way. We are a religious group…whether we like that terminology or not…that is what we are. We have common characteristics and interests. And we most certainly perceive ourselves as distinct from larger society…although I am not sure society sees us all that different. They should, but in a very positive and good way, typically society sees this difference in a very negative light.

I have a couple of thoughts I hope to share over the coming days and weeks about community. I have started this already some, but am quite admittedly, a bad blogger.

Today, I start with a few practical thoughts about community and just some questions. I would love your thoughts.

There are three things that should be true of me as I exist within a community…
1. I consume.
2. I contribute.
3. I communicate.

If one of these three things is not true of me as I exist in community, I really mess up community life. I mean it is quite awkward and frustrating to try to serve the consumption needs of a person that does not communicate. (Ever tried to figure out if the baby needed a diaper, food, to burp, or to sleep?) In a healthy community we consume what others have to contribute and we contribute what others need and want to consume and in the midst of that we communicate with one another.

So here are the two questions as this community thought applies to church and life…

1. If everyone in your faith community (local church) consumed as much as you consume and contributed as much as you contribute, would your faith community (local church) thrive or die?

2. If every organization within your community (city or town) consumed as much as your organization (local church) consumes and contributed as much as your organization (local church) contributes, would your community (city or town) thrive or die?

This principle needs to apply to us individually within our communities…for my purposes as believers in the local church…but it applies to other communities as well. But the principle also applies to the bigger picture of our geographic and physical communities, our cities and towns.

If we all consume more than we contribute, our communities die. But if we choose to live beyond ourselves and contribute to this place more than we consume, the whole community thrives.

May the living Church of God be so filled with the life of Christ that it contributes a vastly greater amount than it consumes. My this cause our community, not just our church, to thrive and not die. May the source of this contribution be so obvious that our society would know that our God reigns…or As Jesus said, "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

Running in and into the dark

Last week, while at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, I got up for an early morning run twice. This teachings I heard there continued to speak into my life where God has been leading me for about a year now. It is an uncomfortable yet thrilling place to be spiritually. Hard yet light. Convicting yet life-giving. So I want to share a little story and where I find myself on the sidewalk of life.

The first day I left my hotel and took off down the sidewalks there in that area of John's Creek, GA. It was a beautiful morning for a run and I enjoyed the hills and challenges, but there was one main problem. There was no consistency in their use of sidewalks. I would take off down one road on a sidewalk and get to the next corner…and no more sidewalks. I ended up in running dead ends. I simply did not understand the rationale behind certain roads having sidewalks and others not. It was a nice but frustrating run.

I did discover one area that seemed to have better sidewalks toward the end of my run and decided I would head that way the next day. Well, I was lazy the next day and slept in. So two days later I take off on my run into the darkness to an area I am confident in the sidewalks. As I turned off the main road and headed down the side street I had chosen the run before I was surprised at how poorly lit the area was, but no worries, there were sidewalks. So I continued down knowing I was keeping a good pace and burning off some much needed calories. As I ran along in the dark, I found myself suddenly on the sidewalk, falling and scraping my hands up and knee up as I caught my fall. The sidewalk was messed up in one place and in the darkness I could not see it. I almost decided to go home…being a big wimp and all. But I decided to get up and finish my run. So I ran down to the next corner. I had not gone this far the run before but had assumed there would be a sidewalk when I got there…but no. So I turned around and made my way back down the path I had fallen on but more carefully this time. I finished out my run and felt good for having gotten my exercise and glad my next run would be on familiar ground.

My question for those of us who are Christ-followers is, "How often is this the experience of those who experience our faith communities?" I wonder if the world ever runs along next to those who claim to live their lives by the power and mission of the Jesus Christ and wonder, "Why did the path end here?"

Our world knows more and more about the teachings and claims of Jesus yet they believe in him less and less. Why?

I wonder if it is because they see churches make good paths into the darkness but after traveling down the initial path they find a dead end where there should be a deeper trail. They have read about how Jesus cared about the poor and the hurting and down-trodden and they go to church and get involved and realize that no one there does. Some perhaps even take off running into the darkness in the name of Jesus but they get tripped up over the broken systems and structures in our churches and denominations. Some, choose to get up and keep on going, only to find the sidewalk ahead is a dead end.

What most of us have chosen to do is to turn around and run the same path we already have. We make more programs for ourselves and spend more of our money on bigger buildings and better lights and more staff. Our faith communities…our churches…too often decide that sidewalks are too costly and the darkness is too great. We don't say it…we live it. We run in the familiar…afraid to forge into the darkness.

I believe it is why Casper in the book Jim and Casper Go to Church simply ask Sunday after Sunday (he is an atheist hired by a friend to tell him his reactions to some of America's best churches), "Is this really what Jesus told you to do?"

He would ask the same question if he came to Fellowship…I know that. So this is no soap box blog. Instead I am a man picking himself back up after falling on a crack in the sidewalk and looking the dark dead end square in the eye and saying…

I will not turn back. I will not run the familiar. I refuse to find the easy and the already laid down paths of religion. I choose to honor and appreciate those who have forged the ones I have travelled this far, but I realize that we must go further into the darkness. We must choose to run where there are no paths and where darkness prevails, realizing that we will trip and fall…there will be scrapes and bumps and bruises. But down that path somewhere there is a crown…a crown of righteousness laid up for us. That crown will not be found by simply walking along the paths that are nice and easy. The path that God has marked out for you is not the one you want by your flesh. It is one that only the Spirit would cause you to run. It is found in the poverty-stricken communities of this world…it is found in broken messy lives falling apart in the most expensive neighborhoods in our community. Quite honestly, it is found where you have already been and where you have not yet gone…finding that path is not just about going where you have never gone but going everywhere you go with a different mission.

The hard part is I don't know how to lay the sidewalk…which I feel is my responsibility as pastor. I don't know where the broken places are…the tripping points. I am not sure how to lead my family into this lifestyle. I am not sure how to lead my church into this missional place. I have realized I can't make it easy and I can't cause it to be travelled without fear and, therefore, without faith. But that, perhaps, is what faith really is, and the true calling of a pastor is found…leading people into what they fear so they must live by faith. You see, faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.

I do not yet see the church being what God has called it to be…but I am catching glimpses of it at Fellowship…and I have the faith we will see it more fully in the days ahead. I hope to be a man that lives a lifestyle that allows him to be generous and gracious in every opportunity…I am not there yet…but I am seeing glimpses of it…and I am confident we will get there.

You must understand, I am not standing on the sidewalk of life in guilt and shame but in hope and joy. God is allowing me as pastor to see what He is doing instead of what we are not doing. He is allowing me to see the masterpiece that is in His people and not just the mud in their lives. He is allowing me to see this in myself. Yet, he is also keeping me keenly aware of the mud and the shortcomings.

The question is…are you willing to stop and look at how you are living your life? Do you desire the comfortable and well-lit expensive sidewalks of cultural American Christianity…built for leisurely strolls to nowhere? Do you really enjoy that? Is it really all that fulfilling? Or do you desire to run a little deeper into the darkness?

I believe you do. You just don't know how to do it and are afraid to go alone. So don't…let's go together…and let God light the way.

Are you GOOD TO GO?

P.S. I have turned the comments portion of my blog back on. I would love your honest replies. What do you think? Are you dealing with this tension? If so, what are you doing with it?

Also, I encourage you to read the book The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons.

Attention Stealers

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' Mark 12:30

I have been preaching a series titled "Directionally Challenged." The series is birthed from some truths I learned from Andy Stanley's book The Principle of the Path. (a book well worth the read.)

The Principle of the Path is a simple, profound, and unavoidable truth and reality in life. Direction, not intention, determines destination. All the good intentions in the world will not take you where you want to go. The only thing in life that takes us to the right destinations in life is making the right decisions to go in the right directions.

The biggest issue with direction and intention, however, is attention. Another truth and perhaps my favorite out of the series and the book is the role of attention. What gets our attention determines our direction, and ultimately, our destination. (per Jesus…where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.)

I believe the majority of church-goers read Mark 12:30 and say I want to love Jesus like that. They give that thought their undivided attention until they step outside of their stain-glassed buildings and the sin-stained world begins to distract them. The things of this world begin to quickly rob each and every one of us of the attention we desire to give to the most important things in life.

The problem that I see in this real issue is that we must come to grips with the biggest reason our attention is stolen. The issue is not what we like to consider. We like to consider the symptoms or the actions in our lives, but the real issue is not about our actions…it is our heart. We do not love the Lord with all of our heart because we love other things with too much of our heart and our soul and our mind and our strength.

In this past week's message I shared the five main attention stealers I see in life. I have gotten some good feeback on this and would like to share it in my blog, then I will wrap up this blog with a little information about this next Sunday.

Attention Stealers…
1. Self – You will never give your full attention to God (or to others in serving Him) while living life to fully attend to yourself.
2. Wounds – If you continue to focus on the wounding in your life you will never experience healing in your life.
3. Disabilities – Living focused on what you cannot do will rob you of the ability to do what you can.
4. Failures – Giving today's attention to yesterday's failures will rob you of tomorrow's successes.
5. Good – Living life for that which is good often prevents us from experiencing that which is God.

The comment about failures…Giving today's attention to yesterday's failures will rob you of tomorrow's successes...is the thought I want to wrap the series up with this weekend.

The truth is we have all failed, but some of you are locked down by it. Your life has been taken captive by your failures (or the failures of others against you). You are living life in a stand still spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.

The direction you took yesterday is preventing you from dealing with the destination of today and robbing you of the intention you desire to live out tomorrow. This Sunday I am preaching on where do you go from there?

What do you do when God says, "Road Closed"?

If you are a part of Fellowship and know someone who is living life frozen at the "Road Closed" sign, bring them Sunday. It is time they learned the value of a detour with God and the joy of the Road Ahead.

See you Sunday!