Taking Back Christmas: December 18th

Yesterday we saw how people in the Bible reacted to the gift of Jesus by sharing the gift with others. Today we want to challenge you to do the same, to share the ultimate and true Christmas gift. You know the people in your life that need Christ better then we do, so we don’t want to tell you exactly how to share this gift with them. We’ve included a variety of ideas here, but feel free to add your own. No matter what approach you take, do something today that shares the true Christmas gift with those who need it.

• Invite someone to attend one of our Christmas Eve services with you (5:30pm and 10pm). Offer to even pick them up. People tend to be much more willing to try something new if they don’t have to do it alone.
• If Christmas Eve does not work invite them to church another Sunday, again offering whatever help you can to make that happen. You could even offer to treat them to breakfast or lunch after the service.
• Invite someone to coffee/lunch/etc. and take some time to simply explain why you follow Christ.
• If someone in your life seems very resistive to church and/or God simply find some brief ways to share what God is doing in your life. Start this today and keep it up for awhile. You’d be amazed at the seeds you end up planting. Here’s an example of a “one liner”: “I’m really enjoying our Christmas series at church. We’re really being pushed to remember what Christmas is really about and to do things for the benefit of others.”

 

 

 

 

12 Days of Taking Back Christmas

 

After taking the crazy month of November off from blogging I wanted to come back full speed ahead here in December. At Central Reformed our advent theme has been Taking Back Christmas, with our focus being on peeling away all the “stuff” that has been piled onto Christmas, getting back to what it’s really all about. Over the next twelve days I would love you to join us in what we’re calling The 12 Days of Taking Back Christmas. Each day features either a devotion or an action to take that will really help you take Christmas back. If your like me Christmas has become so busy and convoluted that Jesus tends to take a back seat, and it always makes me feel guilty that I do that. This Christmas will you join me in carving our some time every day to Take Back Christmas? Here is the devotion for today. Check back for a new devotion or action step each day as we head into Christmas.

Monday, December 17th 

Scripture: Luke 2:8-20, Mark 1:40-45, and Acts 1:7-8

Commentary: Can you remember your favorite Christmas gift when you were a kid? Mine was receiving EA Sports College Football, a game me and many of my friends had wanted for awhile. Within two days of Christmas I had invited almost all my friends over to play the game with me, and I’m pretty sure there was not a day the remainder of Christmas break when there was not someone at my house enjoying the my new gift. I have a feeling many of us have had that same experience. That’s the reaction we see in the Bible when people discover the gift of Jesus. The shepherds rush to tell everyone they can, and all that hear believe. The man with leprosy experiences Christ’s healing power, and can’t help but spread the news to anyone with ears. Sadly, I think many of us have lost this excitement. We just don’t jump to spread the good news of Christ to others with the same enthusiasm we have when sharing about other gifts we receive. This Christmas, think about the gift you have been given by Jesus: eternal life in a perfect heaven. Let that gift truly give you joy, and like those before you start sharing that joy with others. Remember, every gift you give this Christmas will eventually be rendered useless in some way, but the gift of Christ will affect someone forever.

Pray: Take time today to pray for the following:

• Give thanks to God for giving you the only gift that lasts forever: eternal life in a perfect heaven.
• Pray for people in Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa, the United States, and throughout the world that have yet to open that gift. Ask God, by his Spirit, to help them receive it.
• Pray for people you know that have never accepted Christ’s gift of salvation. Pray that God may help them to do so by His Spirit.
• Ask God to give YOU the courage, wisdom, and words to tell someone else about Jesus Christ. Ask God to place you in situations where you can share the ultimate gift with those who need it most.

Un-Holy Distractions

Those of you that know me know that I can get distracted well, incredibly easily. My ADD is so embedded into my entire being that its really nothing to bounce around more times in an hour then there are minutes in said hour. I am an easy to distract creature, kinda like that dog in the movie UP, whose every conversation gets sidetracked by seeing a squirrel. In truth, though, don’t we all get distracted far too easily from what life should really all be about? Aren’t there things that, in the grand scheme of things, are not a big deal, but they keep us from doing things that God asks of us that are indeed a big deal?

As both churches and individuals we are way too often the victims of what I call Un-Holy distractions. These are things that are not necessarily sinful or evil in and of themselves, but serve to distract us from doing what God requires of us. In other words, they’re not holy things, so they are by definition un-Holy. I sat in a church board meeting once where the majority of the meeting focused on the most deep of theological dilemmas: why were the carpets dirty, what’s the cheapest way to clean them, and how many new rules do we make to ensure they never get dirty again? I’m not kidding, we walked out of that meeting with TWO PAGES of new policies regarding food and drink in the church building, but we really never talked about how we as a church should be living out God’s purpose. I’ve fallen pray to this myself more times then I can remember. I’ve sadly had times where I spent more time on a silly video illustration then researching and writing message, talked to my friends instead of tending to someone who really needed me, or watched 6 hours of Battlestar Galactica in a day I spent no time in the word.

One of my favorite Bible verses, Romans 12:2, is a great reminder of our need to fight against Un-Holy Distractions. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God- what is good and acceptable and perfect. Don’t let all the things around you in this world distract you from doing what is “good and acceptable and perfect.”

My question to you today is this: what are the un-Holy distractions in your life? What are the things that make you wonder away from doing God’s work? What are the things that make you randomly yell “squirrel!,” when you should be screaming out the message of the Gospel? This week work on getting those un-Holy distractions out of your life. Don’t let distractions keep you from sharing the gospel, speaking up in God’s name, serving the needs of others, and shining your light for God. Don’t let your disagreement with another at church keep you from worshiping. Don’t let your desire to converse with friends distract you from talking to those who really need you. And don’t let your desire to please yourself distract you from God’s desire for you to serve Him and others.

STOP IT!

Had the joy and honor of speaking at our ALPHA ministry last night on the topic of resisting evil, and had some people ask for me to put some of what I talked about. So, here you go!

If you’re anything like me you have had someone in your life who drove you crazy because they seemed so incredibly perfect. They had the looks, the smarts, the friends, the athleticism, the talent, and even the perfect shoes. They were so madingly perfect you wished the perfect shoelaces on their perfect shoes would come untied, forcing them to trip in front of a perfectly gigantic bus. Or maybe that was just me! Here’s the thing. We get irritated when we see “perfect people” because we’re not even close to perfect, and we kinda wish we were. In our lamenting we need to remember that we were not made to be so imperfect. Ephesians puts our creation in God’s image like this: For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

We were made to be a masterpiece, but we’ve chosen repeatedly throughout our life to screw that up by giving into temptation and letting sin into our lives. One way to illustrate this is the life of David. Here is a guy that from the beginning seems to do nothing wrong. He’s just a little guy and he’s killing lions and bears. He’s a young man and taking out giants with a little stone. He’s a shepherd who becomes king. Sounds like God’s Mona Lisa to me. Then one day he sees this beautiful woman bathing and, in an instant, flings himself into lust, adultery, and eventually murder. David basically spills paint all over God’s Mona Lisa. 

David’s reaction is one we can learn so much from. When confronted by his sin David quickly responds: “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin.” That’s God’s grace at work. We follow a God who creates us as masterpieces, watches us spill paint all over them, then gracefully cleans it up when we are willing to confess our wrongs at the foot of His cross. That needs to be our constant response to sin and evil in our life: we confess it at the foot of the cross, asking the God of grace to forgive us.

Here’s the next part, and a part many of us don’t do well with. We need to actually work at cutting the sin out of our lives, resisting evil and temptation at every turn. Here’s an acronym I came up with that has helped me in resisting evil and sin in my life. Hopefully you will find it helpful as well.

STOP IT:

Seek God’s way in all things. No matter how much YOU may want something remember you were formed masterful not for your own pleasure, but for God’s. Constantly be evaluating your decisions against God’s holy standards

Trust in Christian friends. Surround yourself with Christ followers willing to call you what you often are: an idiot! Get people in your life who will love you no matter what, but who will also hold you accountable and point you in God’s direction.

Overcome by God’s grace: Remember, it is only God who forgives sins, and God had to come to earth in the flesh and suffer and die in a horrendous fashion to forgive your sins. When tempted to sin picture Jesus on that cross, and remember what had to be done for you. Don’t take advantage of that gift.

Pray constantly. Pray for your weaknesses, your sins, your impure thoughts, and that God’s spirit my guide you in all struggles. Oh, and do it all every single day!

Ignite a passion for God in others: you can’t give into evil when you fully engaged in fighting it, so fight it by investing in the lives of others in Christ’s name.

Taught by God’s Word: You’ve been given the ultimate cheat sheet for success in this life and eternity, so use it! Take out the Bible every day and cheat to win now and forever!

Praying for God to help you in overcoming whatever struggles you are facing.

 

Fuel Yourself

Right now our church is in a series in worship and small groups entitled 40 Days in the Word. As I’ve been taking in the messages, participating in my small group, and doing the daily devotionals I’ve been really struck by the following: it’s really stinking hard to be all God has made us to be if we’re not getting into His Word AND putting into practice daily. I think this is a fact many of us, including THIS GUY RIGHT HERE, tend to forget as we go about the hustle and bustle of our lives, but it’s something we do need to be hyper mindful of.

Last winter I drove from Wisconsin to my parents’ house in Iowa (about a 9 hour drive) to help them out while my Dad recovered from knee replacement surgery. In my effort to make really good time I tried to limit stops as much as possible, which meant pushing my gas tank to the limit. Unfortunately there are sections of Iowa more sparsely populated then a crater on the dark side of the moon (i.e. all of Sac County!), which kinda sorta led to me running out of gas. My desire to make great time ended up costing me hours as I got to mush through snowy fields to the nearest gas station (my gas can also ended up having a leak, covering me in gas, which I smelled like for about 2 weeks).

Here’s my point: when we skip filling up with the fuel we need we tend to fall pretty flat, and that’s exactly what happens when we fail to take the time to be charged up by God’s Word. I love how Paul puts this in Colossians 3:16: Let the Word of God Dwell in YOU richly. Want to live the fullest life possible? Get into the Word daily. Want to truly be a disciple of God who makes a huge impact? Fill up with the Word? Need guidance amidst the trials of life? Seek it in God’s Word. Is it hard to find the time to do it? Sure. Is it harder to mush through the messes of life caused by going a different path? You better believe it!

What We’re Fighting For

Many of you probably know by now that I lost one of my best friends this past week. Anan Smith was my roommate at Simpson College for 2 years, a groomsman in our wedding, and just one of the singularly most unique and loving guys I ever met. As I’ve thought about his passing and attended his memorial service in Kansas City last night (a service which should get it’s own post!) I felt challenged in two pretty big ways, and wanted to pass those challenges on to you.

1. We ALL NEED to live as large as Anan did. Anan was large in size, but even bigger in impact. In college I would sometimes go a day or two without seeing him, even though we were roommates  I’d find out later he’d discovered a problem someone else was having and had spent countless hours helping them or cheering them up. Last night the pastor of Blue Ridge Church in Independence, MO shared about Anan starting a Boy Scout troop there. Anan target underprivileged city kids and changed their lives in major ways. He even started having the church be open for special classes for kids on the weekends, classes that gave them skills and one of their only good meals for the week. When the troop grew to such a size that Boys Scouts of America put Anan on the payroll he simply wrote the check right back over to the kids. I could go on and on with the stories I know, and that would still only be a fraction of his impact. Life on this earth is short, but the need on this earth is MASSIVE. I really want to challenge you to live more like Anan, which in reality is living more like Christ. Think about it. Where do you see Christ seeing a need and not meeting it? When someone needed healing, he healed, when they needed forgiveness he forgave, when they needed rebuke and refocusing he pressed them to repent and change. FInd ways to impact others throughout your life, even if it means some sacrifice on your part. Last night I saw dozens of young men whose lives, and in some cases eternities, were changed by Anan. Whose life do you need to change?

2. Life is short, and not everyone has eternity. As Anan once said, life has a 100% fatality rate. As I’ve dealt with the shock of someone my age passing I’ve been reminded that life can end at any instance for anyone, and that scares me. It scares me because of the vast number of people who do not know Christ, and sadly some of them are good friends of mine. I can’t stomach the thought of people spending their eternity anywhere but God’s perfect heaven, and that feeling is what really drove me to ministry. I think many of us put off “that conversation” with our unsaved friends, thinking “well, someday when they’re ready I’ll talk to them or invite them to church.” The problem is, we never know how many somedays are left. I want to really challenge you this week to stop putting off the conversations and the invites. We wouldn’t fool around with a friend’s health, and neither should we fool around with their eternity. I love how Paul puts it, as he talks about his work telling others about God: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith” Romans 1:16-17. Don’t be ashamed, and don’t be shy. Lift up those who need salvation in prayer, prayerfully ask God to guide you as you guide them, and be God’s tool that bring’s them to the foot of the cross. God’s Grace will meet you there to do the rest.  

Just Fix the Problem!!!

I love my church! I take a little hiatus from blogging and they’re all kinds of over me for it. Love them for pushing me. So, with a little more solemn afternoon ahead of me, time to get back to it.

This morning I awoke to yet another disheartening national poll. A new survey has shown that 1 in 5 Americans now identify themselves as having no religion, a 25% increase in five years (thats 33 MILLION PEOPLE). The fastest growing religious group in America is now “no religion.” I’ve watched the blame game take shape in blog-ville and Facebooklandia today, and man is it flying around. It’s the fault of mega-churches, the traditional churches, the liberals, the conservatives, the Muslims, the Iowa Supreme Court, pretty much everyone except the people doing the blaming. So let me switch it up a bit: as a Christian I’m here to say that the blame lay with me, and likely with you as well.

Here are some steps I think we can all be following to get things turned around in our world.

1. Live life with the Word front and center: I dislike the irony that in a time and place where the Bible is accessible to a jaw -dropping degree Biblical literacy is at a historical low. We have dozens of translations, free access via websites and apps, not to mention religous freedom in our country, yet most of us still don’t dig into the thing. I went on a cruise this summer and listened to some people complain about their boredom. I so wanted to slap them in the face and say “your on a cruise ship for crying out loud!” They had so many exciting and amazing options all around them, yet were choosing to miss it all. That’s exactly what most of us do with the Bible. We have this amazing guide to life and eternity right in front of us, and yet we choose to get nothing out of it. I’ve often wondered what would happen if American Christians actually chose to regularly read the Word AND act on it? The Bible is the ultimate guidebook to a life that is best for us now, best for our world now, and best for all for eternity. If you’re frustrated by what is happening in the world start by consistantly reading the Word and letting it guide you. I don’t think there can be a better first step.

2. Stop whining and do something!!! I often sit in coffee shops, and I’m amazed how often the conversations around me are about church. But, seldom are they positive. People complain about low giving, low attendance, low participation, apathy, etc. They blame the pastor, generations other then their own, worship style, and lots of other factors. But I never hear THEM talk about PERSONALLY doing something about it. As long as we Christians play “pass the blame” we are headed for failure. Own the problem! With 1 in 5 Americans irreligious chances are you know a whole lot of somebodies who are far from God. Ask them why. Address their concerns. Bring them to your church, your small group, or some other ministry. Show them what they are missing: the eternal love of God, who died to save them. Please, just own the problem! Stop passing the buck to church staff and step up to the plate.

3. Live attractively: My ego moment every week is when I help at our local food pantry, where I am referred to as “the muscles.” This is likely due to me being the youngest in there by about 4 decades, and often the only male, but I like feeling muscular instead of fluffy. Look, we all want to be attractive like that right? Known by some awesome quality that builds our self esteem. Why not be attractive for God? Why not read the Word, live the Word, and regularly seek to defeat the problems in our world? When you do those things the natural by-product is something amazingly attractive, and amazingly powerful to others.

 

Letting Frustration Lead to Grace

I’ll admit it. My blood pressure has not fully come down from Monday Night Football. For those of you overseas, or under rocks, my beloved Green Bay Packers lost last night when replacement referees (the NFL’s officials union is currently locked-out due to a contract dispute) decided to somehow call a Green Bay interception a Seattle touchdown. In a matter of 5 minutes my Facebook feed contained 45 CONSECUTIVE updates from friends that include the word referee and a well, not so nice word. It was a ridiculous call that cost Green Bay the game, and I and millions of others remain frustrated and enraged by it today.

This and many other things tend to frustrate me, from the merely annoying (people’s inability to corral their carts at Wal-Mart) to the much more serious (the millions of people who have never heard the gospel and the billions that are hungry, despite the fact that we have the resources as American Christians to address both in huge ways). I frustrate myself sometimes as well, keeping up some habits that are simply not great (my food intake being substantially higher then my exercise frequency), and some that are flat out sinful. Yet, as I think about it, what do I really ever do about any of it? Sometimes I vent my frustration, as I did with the refs last night, but often I do nothing. Sadly, I think I’m in the norm as an American Christian. Lots of things in the world frustrate us, but that frustration hardly ever leads to any action. I think we are at a point in the church where the problem is not that we do not know what the church and those in it should be doing, we simply choose not to do it.

I Love James chapter 2 on this: Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:15-17. We need to stop simply paying lip service to the problems in this world, and start doing something real in the name of Christ about it. 

Here’s my suggestion to you this week: seriously ask yourself: what in this world breaks my heart? What really frustrates me on a deep level? Is it the hungry? The millions who have yet to hear the gospel? Is it a particular person who is lost? A thing systematically wrong in our culture that needs fixing? Figure out what really frustrates you, then seriously and sincerely pray to God, asking what he is calling YOU to do about it. I tell you, God really and truly calls us individually to tackle these things in His name and with his help. This Sunday our Senior Pastor challenged people to truly listen to God’s calling in their life, and we’ve been blown away by how people have been responding to their call. Just mind boggling what God is doing in people’s hearts at Central right now!

So, now that question is put to you. Your obviously frustrated by something in this world that’s simply not right. Consider that the frustration is God calling YOU to stop paying it lip service and to start doing the good that is needed to address it. Answer it please. And see what God will do through you. 

Dream Bigger!

When I was little I dreamed of being a mediocre hockey player that no one never knew, unless he got in a bloody fight or something. I dreamed of being a baseball player like Bill Buckner, remembered for doing something like letting a ball through my legs. I dreamed of being a one hit wonder musician, whose one hit was so annoyingly memorable that people decades later still considered driving off cliffs to get it out of their head (hey, Macarena!). I dreamed of running for political office, but losing in a landslide…

Now, if any of that were true I would have major issues (not that I don’t anyway, but you get my drift). Those are far from the sort of big hairy audacious dreams most of us really have as youngsters. We want the best possible, and dream often of seeing that happen. Sadly, I think churches have begun dreaming like my above example. We seem to no longer shoot for excellence and perfection, but settle for survival and mediocraty. People are busy, so instead of dreaming of expanding our children’s ministry lets just focus on getting enough teachers. High schoolers are in so much, so instead of reaching for raising involvement lets just shoot for not losing anyone else. I’ve even heard of churches setting NEGATIVE goals, like “lets limit the decrease in church attendance to just 5% over last year.” When I see and hear about all of this it makes me wonder: when did we as Christians stop being full of faith and audacity? When did we become maintance workers instead of planters, nurturers, and harvesters?

Steven Furtick, Pastor at Elevate Church in Charolete, NC, has a challenging book out called Sun Stand Still. In it he argues that as Christ followers we need to be audacious in our faith, asking God to use us to do enormous, often seemingly impossible, tasks. The book is based in events that happen in Joshua chapter 10. In a battle in which the very survival of God’s people, the Israelites, hung in the balance Joshua asked God for something simply audacious: he asked for the Sun to stand still. You see, as night was coming there was the very real chance the opposing army would be able to regroup and defeat Israel in the morning. Joshua realized he could not do God’s work best on his own, so he asked God to do the impossible: to make the sun stand still. Think about the faith required to ask that. Joshua obviously had it, but do we?

Here’s the problem. We don’t think of ourselves as great. We say things like: I’m not capable of leading someone to God. I”m not creative enough to help my church go to next level. I don’t have the training, the time, the ideas, the personality, etc. And you know what? Your right. Nearly all of us don’t have what it takes. We’re imperfect. But, God’s perfect. So why not start trusting the perfect God to use the imperfect you to do great things in his name? Why not start having faith that God can use you, yes imperfect you, to do what is needed in this world? Here’s my challenge to you. Would you start going to God in prayer, asking what big audacious thing he needs you to do? And when He starts revealing that to you would you simply pray “God, this seems beyond me, but make the difficult and impossible happen so I may serve you.” Dream big. Be audacious. Be full of faith.

Heady stuff huh? I’ll be back to this subject in a more concrete way next week. Stay tune, and have a blessed weekend!

Being a Team Sport in an Individual World

We LOVE superstars in our world. The athletes that can take over a game, the actor that steals the show, the vocalist that brings down the house on American Idol without a back-up band. Yet, when you think about it, seldom do these superstars truly succeed entirely on their own. Lost in Michael Jordan’s six world titles is the following fact: the Chicago Bulls were a whopping 205-205 with His Airness before he was joined by the likes of Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and coach Phil Jackson. Only then did Air One morph into Team #1. Ever heard of the Quarymen? It had probably the greatest musician of all times, one Sir. John Lennon, and played local bars to little fanfare. When Sir. John teamed up with some guys named Paul, George, and Ringo music changed forever. The point is, one person teams seldom go all the way, even if they have the biggest star on earth on them. Yet, I think many of us think church works that way. Hire the right Senior Pastor, Youth Pastor, Outreach Director, etc. and your church will grow by the thousands. I cannot tell you how completely and utterly wrong such thinking is. I have never known a church to grow and thrive simply because of the work of the staff, yet churches continually believe if they just hire the right good looking, hip dressing, good voiced, and charismatic guy everything will be perfect.

Let me let you in on what really should not be the biggest secret in ministry, but sadly seems to be: Churches are best positioned to thrive, grow, and be the place God needs them to be when staff and congregants are one team. In other words, YOU are just as important to the work of the church as anyone on staff. Instead of whining about how their Pastor/key staff person is not Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, Steven Furtick, or Bob D. Superpastor of First Perfect Church Two Blocks Away church members have to buckle in and and go on the wild ride with their staff. Look at Acts Chapter 2:42-47. Here it describes in detail how the early church thrived. But, notice it doesn’t mention Peter the superstar preacher, but instead talks about the work the WHOLE church was doing. In five years at Hingham Reformed Church we saw dozens of kids come to Christ and/or get involved in our programs that were not from Hingham Church. Wanna know how many of those came solely due to Andrew David Baker? ZERO. NONE. NADA. ZILCHO. Did my team and I help create an atmosphere conduicive to reaching out? Sure. Did we give our churched students tools and encouragment to reach out? Yep. Did we take the message to where kids were at? You bet. But it was God working through our students that led people to our church and, ultimately, the cross. It was they who did the inviting, the witnessing, and the caring for friends that brought them in the doors and, with God’s help, ultimately to the foot of the cross. It was the triumvirate of teamwork: staff, students, and God that produced results.

Don’t ever think that your church will be all it can be because of the paid team you have in place. The Rick Warrens and Steven Furticks of the world would have likely been ministry flops had they not had legions of people in their churches who stepped up to the plate by inviting the lost, shinning for God daily, praying for those who need it, and starting thousands of conversations leading towards God. Wanna see your community change and your church and God’s kingdom grow? Get on the team. Start loving on others. Start inviting others. Ask your pastor and other staff members what you can do to get on the bus and start changing the world around you. Get on the team, and together let’s change the world.