Extraordinary, Never Ordinary

I am aware that we often encourage people by letting them know that God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways. It’s a good sentiment and I can relate, as I’ve been humbled often how God is able to do much more through me than I thought possible.

At the same time, we are not ordinary people, we are actually beyond extraordinary. We are not even mortal but once born, are now immortal. God is the only one that is truly eternal and immortal meaning that He has no beginning and no end. However men and women have been created in His image and are not like any other creature as they are immortal.  Jesus speaks of eternal life often and since the Third Century the creeds of the Christian faith speak of eternal life both for those that are saved and will be eternally with Christ as well as those that are without that hope. In John 10:26-27 Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me”

Understanding that we are not mere mortals should change our perspective in life. It’s unfortunate when we are taught in our schools that our life is a result of mere chance and evolution; that somehow mankind is just one of many earth specie. In reality, we are the product of a loving God, designed and created to be like Him in that we are also creative and can have a relationship with Him.

The 20th Century novelist C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

Don’t be ordinary; understand you are extraordinary. Extraordinarily loved, created, purposed and designed to live forever with your Creator and your Redeemer.

God's Blessings are Conditional

I wonder if watching the Olympics is as much fun in some of the other countries. 

The US, China, the United Kingdom, Korea, France, German and a handful of other countries are winning most of the events. 

Gabby Douglas, the 16 year old nicknamed the 'flying squirrel" won the Gold in the gymnastics all-round and became the first African-American gymnast to be an olympic champion.    She testified of her accomplishments, "I give all the glory to God.  It's kind of a win-win situation. The glory goes up to Him and the blessings fall down on me". 

Blessings from God.....but conditional on commitment, performance and perseverance. 

The US swim team has dominated this Olympics, winning a majority of the events.  Michael Phelps with his record 22 medals continues to amaze all of us with his accomplishments.  Phelps was a product of a huge United States competitive swimming program that trains young people and provides opportunities for them to test themselves and compete on a national level.  Phelps starting swimming at age 7.  He has parents that supported him and encouraged him and he had a personal coach, a special diet and a scholarship to the University Michigan that provides an environment of academic and athletic excellence. 

In the very first verses of Deuteronmy 28 God says, "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God twill set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

Are we carefully observing all His commandments?   Just as these Olympians carefully listed to their coach we need to listen to what the Word of God says to us today.   These accomplished athletes, competing at the highest international venue have dedicated their very lives to their cause.   Their discipline to embrace those things that benefit the cause and avoid those things that are a distraction was the reason for their success.  They have been blessed but their blessing was conditional upon their observing the voice and the words of their coach. 

What will it take for us to be blessed?   When will be be careful to observe all that He commands so that the blessings of God literally overtake us?   Then we will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 

But the Sabbath was made for man

Jesus helped clarify a lot about religion. We now know that it’s not about rules and regulations but about a relationship with God. Many times, the Pharisees criticized Jesus and His disciples, claiming they were breaking the rules including the Sabbath. He said to them “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

Today, we continue to keep a vigilant watch over creeping legalism in our churches, as it’s easy for the symbol to replace the substance.

Our churches have gotten bigger!

As our churches have gotten bigger, we’ve added some new roles including the roles of the executive and administrative pastors.  Men and women who in addition to a calling to ministry also had extensive business training and experience filled these roles. They were instrumental in adding processes, systems and procedures that helped the church grow larger. Glass ceiling lids were broken as many churches grew beyond 500 and 1,000 to over 5,000 in attendance.

These new processes, systems and procedures came often from business and industry where multimillion-dollar budgets are common and where government and public scrutiny require exactness, full disclosure and a good paper trail.

A little bit of control goes a long way!

For years I’ve championed financial accountability, transparency and good governance for both nonprofits as well as churches.  At the same time, I’ve cautioned both nonprofits and churches to be careful to have only enough controls in place to provide proper management reporting and appropriate governance without being overburdened with time-consuming and expensive financial, system and procedural controls.

A little bit of control and procedure goes a long way.  Churches with a few million dollars or less in contributions and 40 to 50 employees should be cautious about embracing systems and controls designed for multimillion-dollar and multinational corporations.  Often there are compensating and more appropriate controls for these churches that don’t require the extensive and expensive systems.  Even smaller churches can still be managed very successfully with a little separation of duty and a simple spreadsheet.

The sayings of Jesus are ever appropriate, even in this situation.  The Church was not made for financial controls and systems, but financial controls and systems were made for the Church.

Reprinted from ChurchExecutive Magazine.  July 2012 http://churchexecutive.com/archives/but-the-sabbath-was-made-for-man

Belief in Heaven

I was recently counseling a couple that had lost a loved one and as I was talking with them about the memorial service it became apparent that their view of Heaven was not Biblical.

There had been some Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) influence in the family, which was unfortunate.  Unfortunate for this couple was now a little unsure about the Biblical teaching of Heaven.  This JW religion that they had been exposed to is one of the more harmful cults competing with Biblical christianity.  Jehovah's Witnesses appear and even claim to be Christian but are spiritually bankrupt.  In many ways they are the poster child for 2 Timothy 3:5, “having a form of godliness but denying its power”.  Paul finishes this verse in his letter to Timothy with good advice with respect to our dealings with those that adhere to Jehovah’s Witnesses teaching, “Have nothing to do with them!”

I believe that our belief in and about heaven has an impact in and how we live our life on earth.

For example, how are we to deal with trials and suffering?  The Apostle Paul said, "For momentary, light affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison" (2 Cor. 4:17).

In essence the Apostle tells us that the knowledge of the glory of heaven provides a remedy to the trials of life.   Rather than grieving like the unbeliever over loss of property, relationships and life itself, we are to encourage one another.   We are to believe and act on the belief that there will be a time when the Lord Himself will bring in a grand finale that will usher in a time of being together with the Lord and our loved ones and those that have gone on before us.

Finally and in direct contrast to the teachings of the JWs, when we leave our bodies, when we die, we are immediately present with the Lord.   Paul was torn between two realities.  If he died, he would be with Christ (immediately, not after some undetermined time of soul sleep) which would be “better by far” (Phil. 1:23) or he could remain in his body and be of good use to those in his flock.

Understanding the reality of heaven and a faith and forever being with the Lord will change both our attitude about and our appetite for the things of this world. 

Love leads to unity

Both Jesus and the Apostle Paul spoke often of unity.   Jesus prayed, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:21) 

Unfortunately, for over 14 centuries, the way that unity was expressed in the church was not in a oneness of heart but a fierce enforcement of the same teaching.   This was most unfortunate because the sword often enforced this type of unity.  You were either ‘in-step’ with the teachings of the church or you were killed. 

At the beginning the 4^th Century, Christians went from being under horrible persecution to seeing in 380 AD, by a decree of the Roman Emperor the Catholic church become the official and only sanctioned religion of the Roman Emperor.   Looking back, the earlier persecution was probably better; fewer believers were killed and their love for each other was stronger. 

While things have changed, we in the church haven't always understood what unity was truly about. However, more and more we are seeing it. Today, we know that people are more likely to be attracted to the church because of how we act out or exemplify our love for people and the Gospel than what version of the Bible we read.  Non-essential matters like the type of music used in worship or whether we believe in a pre, mid or post-tripulation of the church or our definition of election are best left to the theologians rather than something we put on our calling card or our church vision statement. 

The Apostle Paul said in his Letter to the Colossians (Col 3:14) that love is the perfect bond of unity.  If we love deeply enough we will work together and not be so concerned about issues that tend to divide. 

Christian Subculture

Culture is an interesting phenomenon. For many people, the word culture refers to the arts including the visual, culinary and performing.  More academically stated, culture has to do with values and behavior in society and is typically defined by three parameters:

1. Language, including slang, speech style, accents and words used;
2. Symbols, including verbal and nonverbal, written and unwritten;
3. Borders, sometimes defined by rivers, oceans and mountain ranges, but often as simply as a neighborhood or even a building.

In the movie “Scent of a Woman,” Colonel Frank Slade, played by Al Pacino, is blind and hires Charlie Simms, played by Chris O’Donnell, to escort and accompany him on a busy weekend trip to New York and a number of different locations.  In one scene, Charlie and Colonel Slade walk into a building and the Colonel asks his young assistant, “What are we doing in a church?” Charlie hadn’t told the Colonel it was a church, but Frank Slade, while blind, could tell just by a number of cultural clues, such as the hushed talking, the distinctive echo of the building and the smell of the candles.

Christian subcultures are very interesting and can be just as pervasive in our modern nondenominational churches as they once were within our more traditional denominational churches. The advantage of a subculture is that it persistently and powerfully reinforces some values that the group embraces. Like an invisible hand, it arranges the language and symbols to fortify the culture. The disadvantage of a pervasive subculture is that it often communicates to people outside the group the wrong message and delivers an obvious barrier to entry.

Here in the west, many of our churches have been sensitive to the impact of overtly Christian cultural symbols and have eliminated to a great extent the most obvious barriers to entry. Most new churches and church campuses start in public school buildings, storefronts and are nondescript. New church buildings are often more about function and usage than about ornamentation. Signs, chairs and functional auditoriums have largely replaced crosses, pews and traditional sanctuaries.

However, all of these contemporary, nondenominational churches and traditional churches still have to beware of the subculture that easily develops around the language that we use as well as the patterns and rituals that very easily define our behavior when we gather together.  Diversity or the lack of it is one of the major identifiers of culture.  Diversity includes the young and old, rich and poor, as well as the more easily identifiable racial, ethnic and gender differences. Many churches have come a long way, but most of us can still learn about diversity from organizations like Disney, Marriott and McDonalds.

The use of words that are more branded than descriptive can easily become a barrier to people that are outside of the subculture. Modern churches often don’t have altars, but we often invite people to come upfront to the altar. Communion is offered in our churches sometimes weekly or much less frequently, but always needs to be described rather than performed.  Activities, including children and student instructions, new-member orientation and volunteer appreciation are often clouded by our language and need descriptive sentences that help acculturate visitors. Brand-new attendees need neutral language and descriptions that help them understand and hopefully respond to what is being communicated. In addition, all too often, ‘insider jokes’ are a part of sermons, weekly announcements and even written communication. These anecdotes and mini-narratives are intended to be good-natured and often are, but they also communicate clearly that you are outside of the group if you don’t get the joke.

The best way to eliminate the barriers of entry that a Christian subculture may unintentional create is to intentionally extend the borders. Borders are the third defining element of culture after language and symbols. Borders, however, shouldn’t define the church. The Great Commission is about taking the Gospel to the people, and the true definition of the church is a people that are called-out. Buildings, auditoriums and comfortable chairs are great, but the kingdom of God grows when the people of God become the church and reach all people, subgroups and subcultures.

Reprinted from ChurchExecutive.com, June 2012 

Gates of Hell

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus told the Apostle Peter, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it"

As we look at our local churches, it's pretty easy to see that some are growing and others have been in decline for years.   

What makes the difference and is how is it related to the promise that Jesus made to Peter that the 'gates of hell will not prevail against it'?

This word 'hell' that is translated in most of our modern translations is actually the Greek word, "hades" and was the temporary place for both the good and the evil.  Jesus referred to this place when he taught about the rich man and Lazarus. 

The transition into hades or the gates of hades is accomplished only by dying.   Jesus tells us that true life only comes through dying.  In the Gospel of Luke Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."   Jesus often talks about death of self and denying 

Both physical death and 'death of self' have advanced the Kingdom of God or the Church since its inception.  The ancient Church as well as the Church in many dangerous places in the world today is advanced by the death of Her saints.  We read of the early martyrs of the church who were witnesses and evidence of this verse in Luke.   Strongs word G3144 "martus" is the same word as 'witness'.

When we 'die to self' we transfer our leadership and right to control the local church to the true head which is Jesus. He is the one that is building the Church.  The Church is not a building or a denomination or even a non-denominational church.  It is the living, breathing, and growing Ecclesia.