A Consumer Buys Jesus

On my way to the airport this morning, I drove past a car with a price tag I know is well over $100,000.  The driver was going just as fast as I was, riding on the same kind of seat, and cooled by the same kind of air conditioning, but the his car had a special nameplate that gives it a special desirability.  He not only purchased transportation. He bought an image when he got that car.  A lot of us do this.  We will spend more to get the things that somebody else says we must have. It’s called be a ‘consumer.’ 

The Church (not just Faith Discovery, but all churches) is suffering decline at the present time, largely because consumerism is woven into spirituality. Unconsciously, yet powerfully, people think:  “Give me a Jesus Who works for me, makes my life better right now, and promises me customer satisfaction.”  In an article “Jesus Is Not a Brand” published in Christianity Today, January 2009, Tyler Wigg-Stephenson responds to that idea. He writes, “This attitude inhibits the disciple’s growth into living God-centered, neighbor-focused life. Yes, the Christian life brings fulfillment beyond imagination, but such fulfillment is strangely elusive if it is your main priority as a Christian. Indeed it only comes when we seek God instead of ourselves. Those who come to the Church expecting to find brand satisfaction or seeking to save their lives will find neither. … How do we convince people who are dedicated to self-creation that life is really about the grace and power of God?”

Christianity cannot be all God wants it to be for us, if we are unwilling to radically love others and abandon our clamor to be served!  The true life of Christ is about death of Self and forsaking of all things related to image. It’s about finding meaning and purpose in serving others, which is serving Him.  The true paradox is that if buy just enough “Jesus” to make us feel as though life is working better for us, we will not experience the ‘abundant life’ that is the disciples birthright!  Only when Jesus owns us (not the other way ‘round) do we find the love, hope, and peace that is so highly prized. We cannot hold onto our selves and cling to Him at the same time.

Jesus said,  “You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. … “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?

What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met." (Matthew 6:24-33, The Message)

Are you a consumer attempting to buy a little bit of Jesus, or are you a true disciple who has forsaken all to follow Him?

Here is the word from the Word. It’s challenging. Take a few moments to ponder the implications for your life.

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26, NLT)

I just lost my faith

He was a pastor, a good one, in the past. Today, he’s a filthy-mouthed, cynical, miserable man. I asked him why the change and his response was to the point: “I lost my faith.”  Further conversation revealed that he ran into some disappointing situations that he allowed to grow into bitterness.  In his misery, he turned to a woman other than his wife for solace. When guided to repent of his sin, he refused, angrily justifying himself. In the end, he just claimed to have ‘lost his faith.’  No, he didn’t lose it; he abandoned it. There’s a difference.

For 40 years I have walked with God, through good times and bad. Yet, there are days when I do not sense His Presence. Does that shock you?  I’ll be candid.  There are weeks when I can barely muster the faith to pray a simple prayer of thanksgiving for the food in front of my face, much less a faith-filled prayer for some impossible set of circumstances. This is actually quite normal in the human experience. Fatigue, illness, brain chemistry, and personal choices all effect our ability to sense the Spirit.  Yet, just as I know the sun shines behind the dense layers of rain clouds; I know that God reigns even when I cannot feel Him near. When it looks as though I have mislaid my faith somewhere, I do not fall into despair or disobedience. I could abandon my faith, but I trust Him to keep me. I make the confession: "We live by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7, NIV)

Faith is both a gift of God and a choice we make. Neither part can exist without the other.  God, the Holy Spirit stirs faith in us. But, there we choose to accept and live in it. Mark’s Gospel records an incident in which Jesus cursed a fig tree. The next day when the disciples were passing by they saw it withered and were astonished. “How did that happen?” they wondered. Listen to what Jesus told them. “Have faith in God!” (Mark 11:22, NIV)  The Lord used an imperative voice that places responsibility for faith on the disciples. “You see this thing,” He said, “so exercise faith and believe.” 

 Faith must be nurtured. We know that our bodies will grow weak if we do not fee them. We know that muscles are strengthened when we exercise them. We cannot maintain a vital faith in God if we do not feed faith with the Truth.  The Word reminds us that "faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ." (Romans 10:17, NLT) Then, too, we must choose to build faith by trusting the Lord in ever increasing ways. Many of the decisions that I make at this point in my life are grounded in a faith that would have been beyond me 25 years ago. I saw Christians of great, mature faith who stood without wavering and fearlessly moved ahead and I wanted to do what they. No amount of ‘wanting’ made it real! Faith has grown deeper and stronger through the tests and choices to trust the Lord, each new day.

 You won’t just ‘lose your faith!’ God is faithful, even when we are faithless. But, you can abandon it, neglect it, and let it go dormant; OR, you can feed faith, pray for increased faith and let God lead you to a mature ability to trust Him ‘come Hell or high water.’

 Here’s a word from the Word. Ponder it, pray it, live it!
"In the morning, walking along the road, they saw the fig tree, shriveled to a dry stick. Peter, remembering what had happened the previous day, said to him, “Rabbi, look—the fig tree you cursed is shriveled up!” Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, ‘Go jump in the lake’—no shuffling or shilly-shallying—and it’s as good as done. That’s why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything." (Mark 11:20-24, The Message)

Frog in the Kettle

Capable of naming sin?

Christians deal with the proverbial ‘frog in the kettle’ syndrome. Allegedly, if you put a frog in room temperature water and slowly heat it, it will stay there and cook to death, unable to sense the change in its environment. We who claim the name of Christ live and move in a culture that pulls and pushes us to choices that are inconsistent with the life of a Christian. Various media sources pour a philosophy of sensuality, self-centeredness, and materialism into our heads, but we convinced ourselves we are ‘mature’ and that we’re above being influenced. Friends with whom we rub shoulders make choices that we don’t agree with, but over time we confuse accept the person and accepting his sin. Gradually, we can (and many do) become indistinguishable from Joe Pagan who lives next door.

Many Christians are incapable of naming sin because they have lived with it and in it for so long. All sensitivity to unholy ways is lost. There is a long history of this happening to God’s people. The prophets of the Old Testament preached, cajoled, wept, and thundered as the people gradually slid into the ways of the nations around them. Eventually, God’s patience wore thin and He let them drink the dregs of the cup they poured for themselves. The results were death and destruction. Despite the soothing assurances of modern preachers who major on ‘grace,’ God can and does still let people reap the harvest of their ways.

Why does this insensitivity to sin happen? Because the Spirit’s life ‘leaks away’ and there is no expectation of renewal. Instead of pursuing God, Christians try to limit sin’s influence as they continue to dabble in it. Dallas Willard describes their spiritual experience as the ‘gospel of sin management.’  Because the Spirit is not alive and active, because Christ is not Lord, they work hard at being marginally better than the people they live around who make no claim of religion, at all. It does not work. Sin cannot be contained by self-help, resolutions, and regret. Our spiritual enemy is actively seeking our destruction. Peter descriptively says, "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8, NLT)

Disciple, pursue God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength!  Begin each day with a time of prayer in which you invite the Holy Spirit to take charge. Some say it’s a silly exercise, but as you enter a place, turn on a movie, or tune in a radio station, ask yourself if you would do the same if the Lord Jesus were there with you. (He is!) Name sin and pray that the Spirit will kill it. Compromise will always end with a win for sin. The way of the saint, and we who are in Christ are saints of God, is a beautiful way, a way of life, peace, light, and love.

Here’s the word from the Word. It’s a high and holy calling. Embrace it for God’s sake.

"Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified. Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original." (Galatians 5:24-26, The Message)

Getting off the Interstate

Today I start a new chapter in my life, one I could not have imagined even a year ago. Circumstances that define my explanations or understanding have brought opportunity my way and in the will of God, I said “yes.”  I am committed now, in major ways, to a road that will be full of twists and turns I cannot begin to anticipate. Am I fearful? Perhaps a little. More accurately, I would say I am wondering.

One of my favorite authors, Gordon MacDonald, says that God sends ‘disruptive moments’ to us so that He can reclaim our attention and allow us to experience His purposes more fully. He illustrates the point with our American road system. The interstates allow us to drive at 70 miles per hour, quickly going from point “A” to “B” with efficiency.  Stoplights are non-existent on an interstate highway. Curves are long and sweeping so as not to slow traffic. However, when a person travels on those roads, Americana is lost. MacDonald says that if you want to experience these United States, you have to travel  on secondary roads.  “They wind through small towns and villages … you see things on them, even though it takes more time and caution to travel them.  Secondary roads do not promise unhindered passage. Sometimes they are poorly maintained.  … Each town has one police officer with a radar unit designed to raise revenue. … Be prepared for the inevitable slow-moving vehicle that keeps you crawling along for miles in no-passing zones. … There are many potential disruptions along the way.”  (The Life God Blesses)

 For much of my life, I have spent my time figuratively on the Interstate Highway. My goals and destinations precluded stops to experience people and places to their fullest. And, for all my efficiency, I am poorer having missed the opportunities that might have emerged in a slow conversation over a cup of coffee that was not scheduled on my full agenda!  God, in His infinite wisdom, has detoured me onto a secondary road. Some destinations and dreams are now out of reach as the trip will be slower. But, I believe that I will live a richer, fuller life, more accessible to others and loving better than I have in the past.

Are you open to the Lord’s ‘disruptive moments?’  Can you allow for the fact that your recent job loss may be His call to a new way of life along lesser traveled paths of deeper intimacy with Him?  Could it be that what you have fought so long and hard is actually His persistent urging to a life more centered on people and less on things? That painful situation you have resented so bitterly could be an invitation to greater faith and to a new dream.

 Here’s the word from the Word. May it bless you with His peace this day.

"To keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”
So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me." (2 Corinthians 12:7-9, NLT)

____________________

Blessings

We pray for blessings,

 We pray for peace.
 Comfort for family,
Protection while we sleep;
 We pray for healing, for prosperity,
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering.
 All the while, You hear each spoken need,
 Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

 ‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops?

 What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near?
 What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom,

Your voice to hear.
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near.
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
 As if every promise from Your Word is not enough.

All the while, You hear each desperate plea

 And long that we’d have faith to believe.

What if my greatest disappointments
 Or the aching of this life
 Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?
 What if trials of this life
 The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
 Are your mercies in disguise?

 Blessings
Laura Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGniRk_GcLs&playnext=1&list=PL6190A1E2F290A3EA

Great Worship, Pastor!

Yes, I am human enough to appreciate when somebody says they thought our church gathering was good. Since I'm the guy 'managing our church services' I am quick to think about the mechanics of the 90 or so minutes we spend together on Sunday morning.  Did the people seem to enjoy being there?  Did the technology; sound, PowerPoint presentations, projectors, air conditioning, all work properly?  Yes, and as a communicator, I then to think about if the congregation grasped the main points and/or stayed interested in the sermon. How easily I allow myself to get caught up with all of the 'human elements' of worship. And, if I do this I am inevitably dissatisfied with the experience of worship because a performance can always be improved.

Kierkegaard, a 19^th century theologian, turned worship, as it was then conceived, upside down by insisting that worship is focused entirely on God and He alone is the audience for the acts of worship. Our songs, sermons, and prayers are offered up to Him; the 'Audience of One.' The question that becomes important is this one: am I pleasing to God? That question extends our worship beyond 'church' and into every part of my life. I am as much a worshipper in my office as I am in the pew, in my private reverie in my backyard as in the public proclamations of my pulpit!

As you begin this new week, let me encourage you to consider your life as an extension of worship. We do not just worship Him in our church buildings. David's Psalm captures the true heart of worship with this prayer: "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (Psalm 19:14, NLT)

Matt Redman's song, Heart of Worship, says, "I'll bring You more than a song for a song in itself is not what You have required.  You search much deeper within through the way things appear. You're looking into my heart!" © 1999 Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)

Do something radical today. Hold a worship service in your car as you drive to work, or at lunch, or even in a conversation with your kids. How? Find a way to tell the Lord how much He means to you right then and there, a 12 second worship encounter. That's the heart of worship! I know this: if we are worshippers who learn to worship Him everywhere, all the time; if we 'connect' with His Presence during our commute, in our living rooms, at the lunch room table - we will be better worshippers when we come together for corporate worship because we won't be trying 'catch up' on our acquaintance, we will be coming together to celebrate a mutual Friend.

Here is the word from the Word.

"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God.
Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth.
That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for:

those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship.

God is sheer being itself-Spirit.
Those who worship him must do it out of their very being,
their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."  The Message, John 4:23-24

 

____________________

The Heart Of Worship

When the music fades

All is stripped away

And I simply come

Longing just to bring

Something that's of worth

That will bless Your heart

I'm coming back

To the heart of worship

And it's all about You

All about You Jesus

I'm sorry Lord

For the thing I've made it

When it's all about You

All about You Jesus

King of endless worth

No one could express

How much You deserve

Though I'm weak and poor

All I have is Yours

Ev'ry single breath

I'll bring You more than a song

For a song in itself

Is not what You have required

You search much deeper within

Through the way things appear

You're looking into my heart

© 1999 Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)

Matt Redman

CCLI License No. 810055