Jesus and Super Tuesday

Jesus and Super Tuesday

1.      Jesus is not up for election.  He reigns whether man acknowledges his Lordship or not (one day everyone will with knees bowed and tongues confessing, but it might not be today…although it might…are you ready?)

2.       Remember Jesus reigns as we talk about what is happening today.

3.       The truths of the Bible must influence our voting if we are followers of Christ.  MUST!

4.       Vote for people God would honor as a leader.  (more on that in a minute)

5.       There are foundational principles that we cannot violate and vote Biblically.  (more of that in a minute, too.)

6.       We each are given one voice and your voice matters.  Vote.

7.       If you do not vote, say nothing about the vote.  That lacks integrity.

8.       Honor the Lord when we speak about people, even political candidates.  We are not respectable when we are disrespectful about someone’s disrespect.  We are just like them.

9.       We can disagree with people without being arrogant.  If you have not learned that skill, avoid Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.  We make Jesus look like a jerk when you confess him as Lord and talk like a jerk.  Stop it.

10.   Pray for our nation.  Pray for every candidate, not just the one you want to win.

11.   Stay humble.  Few people who say much on these issues are half as intelligent as they think they are and, therefore, sound twice as ignorant as they think they do in most everything they say, especially on social media.  I realize I am risking this reality with this post.  So I humbly submit what a life of learning Scripture has taught me that applies to votes like today and what I learned from majoring in the Social Studies in college, but I am not the all-knowing.  Read accordingly.

12.   Speaking publicly as a Christian should have some direction to it.  Insulting candidates and those who support them is not a direction.  It is useless.

What type of person does God honor as a Leader?
There is no candidate that perfectly represents this list.  That person would, basically, be Jesus.  So let us not forget grace when we consider these truths.  Who most closely fulfills such Biblical priorities?  Consider them highly.  Who most obviously violates these principles?  Mark them off as a possibility and do not vote for them.

1.       A person after his heart.
This is not a person that gets it all right.  This is a person that truly desires what is right.

2.       A person that owns their imperfections.  A person that confesses and repents when wrong. David was after God’s heart even after adultery and murder.  He was broken over his sin.

3.       A person of integrity.
Integrity does not mean a person always does the right thing.  They do the right then even after they have done the wrong thing.  Never, ever vote for a person who is covering their lies and wrongs.  This is a person with no integrity.

4.       A person who stands for life.
A Christian cannot vote Biblically and vote for a person that is anti-life.  It is a water-shed moral issue.  It is more important than finances or foreign policy.  Life matters to God more than politics, economies, and social agendas.  It matters so much he gave His life to give life.  We must not discredit everything Jesus lived and died for when we vote.  He did way more than not dishonor innocent life.  He died for guilty life.  (He gave his life not just for the righteous, but for the unrighteous.)  We must at least be willing to stand for innocent life as his followers.  We cannot honor God’s creation of and priority of life and treat it, in its most innocent and vulnerable state, as if it is nothing.  A Christian who violates the priority of life makes very little of the life of Jesus.

5.       A person who stands for personal responsibility.
Personal responsibility is a bedrock Gospel issue many Christians gloss over.  We are not condemned to death simply because Adam sinned.  We sinned.  We failed. One must accept this truth personally and apply it universally.  An attempt remove personal responsibility for people is an attempt to make the world not need the Gospel.  The world needs the Gospel.  Any candidate that believes in systems that remove personal responsibility for one’s decisions and actions – whether that is judicially, financially, or morally – believes in principles that are not founded on Truth.  These principles are founded on the lies of the world.  Personal responsibility matters in government decisions because it matters in eternal decisions.

6.       A person who is generous.
A person who does not have a known pattern of generosity cannot lead a nation to honor truths that God honors.  Generosity, however, is always a personal choice.  Any system that forces generosity ends generosity.  Government run and tax based systems for generosity will never be your answer to God’s command to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.  It, by its very existence, cannot be the answer to that command.  That command is personal.  Those not in the group being taxed for such purposes have deceived themselves and convinced themselves that they are obedient to this command when someone else does it on their behalf.  (Christians make the same mistake when they believe they are obeying this command because their church is generous yet they never personally participate in the actual acts of generosity.)  Such systems, in our country, cannot honor Jesus.  Christians who promote such systems would rather generosity exist without the name of Jesus than make the personal sacrifice necessary to be generous in the name of Jesus.

7.       A person who is speaks truth in love.
Truth is offensive to those who refuse to believe it.  The test here is not whether people like what a candidate says.  How does a candidate say what they say?  Are they quick to listen?  Are they slow to speak?  Do they mock?  Do they interrupt?  Do they insult?  Never vote for a candidate that lacks simple courtesy and respect.  That person lacks character.

8.       A person who will count the cost…and pay it.
If a candidate has not had any significant impact in the country already, they are not willing to count the cost and pay the price.  If the most significant thing a candidate has ever done was get elected, do not vote for them.  They either need more time serving to show their willingness to sacrifice to lead or they are too selfish to lead.  If the only impact they have had in the world is their own benefit they have already shown they are not willing pay the price for the good of the nation.  They only care about their own good.

9.       A person who knows the condition of their flock.
If much of what a candidate says fails basic fact-checking, do not vote for them.  However, most fact-checking needs some fact-checking.  Do your own homework.  I have researched after seeing posts about fact-checking after debates and each one someone has shared was in as much need of fact-checking as the candidate was. 

10.   A person that is respectful.
Disrespectful people are not respectable.  Will your candidate sit down with and honor the people of another nation in such a way they will represent us well?  Do they have the respect for others that will allow others to respect them?  It is an act of disrespect to vote for a disrespectful person.

Abundant Life's Great Enemy

The greatest enemy of the abundant life is the superficial life.

God is able to make all things new, including you.  This theme for our re:NEW series is a refreshing, yet challenging topic.  The great truth that “He who sits on the throne” is making all things new is both a comforting and concerning thought.  It comforts because we have hope.  It concerns us because some things have not changed.

Real and lasting change does not always come easy.  Actually it takes some real authenticity and vulnerability.  That is why the greatest enemy of the abundant life is the superficial life.  Those who pretend to be what they are not yet will never become it. 

In James 5:13-20 we learn the principle to release to resist.  The first step in resisting temptation is release.

1.  Release yourself by admitting your situation.
Honesty about suffering, praise, sickness, and sin is the first step in healing.

2.  Release your fear by hiding nothing.
We have nothing to hide when nothing is hidden.  Releasing this fear will be the scariest thing you have ever done.  Just like Adam and Eve, we all know the shame of our spiritual nakedness.  Releasing this fear means we know others know.

3.  Release your control in honest and open communication.
Real community is necessary for real change.  Real community requires real communication.  We must learn to be honest, open, compassionate, accountable, and responsible with and for one another. 
As long as you think you have a sin under control you are still under its control.
Put the darkness in the lie…and the darkness will flee.

4.  Release the results through prayer.
Trust God to do what he wills and not what you will.  This is toughest part of healing and change.  Some things God does not heal as you want nor changes as you planned.  This passage speaks of being saved and raised up.  These words are the same for salvation and resurrection.  God’s change often does not come in the time frame nor the package we prefer.

If you hide the part in you that is dying, you hide the part in you that is living.
You have nothing to hide in Christ, but much to find.  Press into the Body of Christ and learn to live in hope with other followers of Jesus.

The Rest of the Story

“And God rested from all his work.”  Why?  Was God tired?  Did “who does not sleep nor slumber” need a nap?  No.

God completed his work by creating rest.
God created rest, not because he needed it, but because His creation does.  The Laws of God are for the good of the created.  In the 10 Commandments found in Exodus 20, God requires us to keep the Sabbath holy unto the Lord.  He commands that we take a day of rest from work and devote it to Him.  In Mark 2, Jesus tells us that man is not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath is made for man.

God did not create us to rest.  He created us to work.  Yet, he created in us the need to rest.  Each of us needs to time to rest and focus.  And that focus must be on Him, not us.  The Sabbath is holy unto the Lord, not unto ourselves. 

God created and commanded you to live in a rhythm of work and rest.
When you defy that rhythm both work and rest become warped.
When you get out of a healthy, God-honoring rhythm of work and rest, all types of problems arise.  It is in these seasons that we typically begin to “cheat.”  We “cheat” work for family and then we “cheat” family for work.  We “cheat” God for recreation and entertainment because we “cheated” rest for work the last month.  The lack of rhythm throws everything off.

Rest is a lordship issue; not a laziness issue.
However, when we do not honor the Lord in rest, it eventually causes a laziness issue.
Marc Driscoll worded this danger reality well.  Without a break you'll break. The question isn't whether you'll stop but whether you'll stop joyfully or painfully.

You must choose to joyfully pause and rest in your daily, weekly, and seasonal rhythm.  God created such occasions from the example of Christ with early morning prayers, to the Sabbath day, to the rest of a field, to celebrations and festivals…God created rhythms for renewal, rest, and rejuvenation.

If you do not honor the Lord with this rhythm, you will eventually dishonor him.  You will find yourself in a place of needing to abandon priorities and bail on commitments, not because you have too much to do, but because you did not honor those priorities and commitments before you had more to do.  Rhythm matters.

When you find yourself out of rhythm, do what great drummers do. Stop, but don’t quit.  Stop, listen, find the rhythm, find your place in the song, and jump back in.  The more responsibility you have the more important this principle is.  Men, when you live out of rhythm, your family does too.  Pastors, when you get out of rhythm, you eventually fall, and so do many behind you.  Stop, don’t quit.

The Motivation of Multiplication

In Genesis 1 God gave Adam specific instructions about life in the Garden of Eden.  I think it can be summed in these three concepts:  Multiplication  (more people), Dominion (more responsibility), and Cultivation (more production).

These three layers of work fill our lives.  We become very busy, but also very blessed in these works.  Multiplication is the work at the family level.  Children are always a blessing from the Lord, but they are also much work.  Stewardship and ownership of things in this world is a blessing but it is also much work.  Productivity and contribution into bettering the world is a blessing but it is also much work.

Where do we get the motivation to see all our work at all levels as blessing and not burden?  The Motivation of Multiplication

Multiplication is what causes the motivation to do the work of dominion and cultivation. 

The physical reality of this is seen in family life.  As I write this, I am more deeply motivated to pray for and encourage those who struggle with infertility.  We all know someone who has struggled for years with the real and personal pain of not being able to multiply.  The desire for “more people” is natural.

The truth is multiplication causes motivation.  I believe most men start maturing and “growing up” when they have kids.  Life changes, instantly.  They see work and responsibility and marriage and home differently than they ever have before.  Why?  They are motivated by the lives they have responsibilities of dominion and cultivation towards.

The same is true spiritually.  Doing the work of church will lose all motivation if it is not the work of Christ.  Having responsibilities of dominion (stewardship) and cultivation (production) while not being a part of “new birth” is draining and exhausting.  Why?  The purpose is lost.

Seeing a person confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will never grow dull.  It motivates me to do more work. I am more committed to be more responsible and more productive in my work when I watch one life step out of darkness into the marvelous light.

Are you doing the work of multiplication?  Are you being a part of the celebration of multiplication with your Church?  If not, then you are facing a loss of motivation that no one else can change.  Changing ministries, changing churches, changing groups, etc.  will not solve this spiritual problem.  Only obedience in multiplication will.

Who needs to hear the hope, grace, and life found in Jesus Christ from you this week?  Pray that God would send workers into the harvest fields…and then say (as Isaiah did, “here I am, Lord, send me.”

A side thought:

Many churches have gone to special times of celebration for baptism.  I know at our church with 3 services and 2 campuses, this is the only way we can all pull together to celebrate multiplication together.   So that is the positive side.  The negative side, is that many church members do not participate in these celebrations.  Honestly, you will love motivation if you consistently miss that celebration.

Last night we had an amazing FC United service.  Everyone there left motivated to be about the work of the Gospel.  I realize some miss such times because of other commitments, but many miss because they did not see the value in it.  This is the value.  Celebration of confession (multiplication) causes motivation.

If you want to find value in teaching in the Depot or greeting at the door or serving the homeless in a ministry, then you need to be with your church family for the celebrations of salvations.  You need it deep in your soul.

FC is not the only church doing these “special services.”  It is a growing trend.  As leaders, we need to make sure we are not missing something our people need, but also church members, make sure you are not missing something you need.  It is not simply an event at church…it is THE event that helps us all remember why we do what we do.

Run Harder...with me

Today I conquered a recent obstacle...the eight mile run. I have for some reason struggled to get back to this distance. Today I set out to the levee to run. I stopped by the church and saw my friend Chris Ladd. He is a strong runner and said he wanted to run with me. 

So we took off. I finished eight miles strong. The last mile especially. 

You see Chris has been an elite distance runner. He pushed me in three ways:  Encouraging words, Pace, and Technique. 

All 3 helped make the difference. In life, in faith, and in work we all need these things. 

I actually have struggled to go the distance because I am stubborn about pace. I want to maintain my 5 mile pace. Today I was off of that by around 30 seconds but I made it. Listen to the wisdom of others on pace. Some of you need to speed up; others slow down. 

The technique on how to finish helped. I was able to push through because I pushed different.

The encouragement made all the difference in the world though. "You can." "Push through it." "Great pace" "Keep it up" "Almost there" etc.

Find people in your life that speak these things and be this person in the lives of others. Honestly I feel as a pastor I have recently been speaking pace and technique well but without enough encouragement. Today's long run helped me remember the importance of the words that change nothing yet change everything. That is what encouragement is. 

I commit myself to encourage more. What about you?  Who needs to hear words that change nothing yet everything?

Thanks for the life lesson Chris, you will be missed but supported.