Missing the Christmas Story?

It's the Christmas Season again! Typically, many are anticipating the events of the season by making plans, buying presents, developing menus, and finalizing travel arrangements. For believers, we are trying to do the same things yet, we also try to add Jesus to the mix by recognizing that “He is the reason for the season.” And while I believe that we get the “point” of Christmas, we sometimes miss the most important aspect of the Christmas story. Matthew's and Luke's account (Matthew 1:18-2:12 and Luke 1:26-2:20) give us the details surrounding the birth of Christ and the prophetic implications of His coming, namely, bringing salvation and the kingdom of God to a world in captivity. John's account of the Christmas story, however, provides a picture of what those things actually mean. You might be questioning the fact if I've ever read the gospel according to John because there is no mention of Mary and Joseph before Jesus was born, the virgin birth, Bethlehem, the wise men, shepherds, angels, or a baby in the manger. In fact, John's description is summed up in one, yet extremely powerful verse that states: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us...” (John 1:14).

For many, that verse reminds that Jesus came to us in the flesh and walked this earth clothed in humanity. The phrase of “making His dwelling among us” is often translated “tabernacled” among us. In other words, the God of the universe pitched a tent on earth and lived among us. We sing songs about Emmanuel or “God with us” and we're reminded of this great mystery of God making Himself flesh. Yet, how often do we consider the implications of this truth and its relation to the Christmas story? Its easy to relegate this to a picture of a helpless baby in a manger who grows up to die on a cross for our sins. After all, that is the reason why He had to come--there was no other way. The unfortunate thing in all of this is in seeing Emmanuel through the eyes of history and not through the truth of reality.

Jesus did come in the flesh and dwelt among us. It is an historic fact that cannot be disputed (unless you're a rouge secular scholar who ignores what even the most critical of skeptics have conceded to recognize). In the Christmas story, we as believers, tend to capsulize the event into a “silent night, holy night”“ which was on a “cold winter's night that was so deep.” We look back on the story during this season and create a nostalgic feeling that brings about excitement when we reminiscence about the coming of the child-King. John's statement, however, runs much deeper than to simply remind us that Jesus came as Emmanuel. Rather, John offers us a picture of what the coming of Jesus would be in reality to “all who received Him, to those who believed in His name...” (John 1:12). In becoming “children of God” something incredible happens----we become the Christmas story!

If I were to ask the simple question of “where does God dwell?” many would respond, “In heaven.” If I were to ask “Where does Jesus dwell?” to a believer, the answer would most likely be “In my heart.” The reality is that as believers, God has chosen to make His dwelling in the tent of our flesh. Its not that He “dwelt among us” as the KJV renders, but that He is even now “dwelling among us” in the tabernacle of our flesh. As Christians, we carry the light within us. We are the helpless babes who are completely dependent upon our Father to help us live as we should in this world. We are the one who have been called to tell a world bound in captivity that “salvation has come” and the “kingdom of God” is at hand. Emmanuel has now become “God with us, GOD IN US!” Christmas is not a story that is confined to history but it is a story that is continuous until the day when Jesus comes once again to bring all things to completion. So while we may enjoy the traditions of this Christmas season and indulge in some things that in light of eternity really have no importance, let's not forget the most important truth of the Christmas story: We are the dwelling of “the Word made flesh” called to shine light into the darkness and to proclaim “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth to men” for salvation has come through Jesus Christ!

A Subtle Deception

Life as of late has been distracting! The demands of being a husband, father, son, employee, church leader, friend and even a follower of Jesus Christ (not that this is a separate entity in itself) makes me feel as if I am being pulled in a hundred different directions. Some may dismiss this as being the result of the holiday season; however, I know that this is not the case. Instead, I believe it is a ploy of the enemy. When we consider the weapons of spiritual warfare in which the enemy can use against the saints of God, in reality, there are only two which he can wield: deception and accusation. The problem for the believer is in seeing “how” he actually uses these potent weapons from his arsenal. I would be lying if I did not say that I feel “accused” during this season of my life. Am I being a good enough husband and father? Am I being the best leader at my church? Am I even being as faithful of a follower of Jesus as I can be? The answer is simple: No! I will never be good enough----because nothing good is in me apart from Jesus Christ. I understand that and I am able to thwart his accusations of my unworthiness based upon the fact that I am worthy in Christ Jesus (Romans 5:1-11). The real struggle, for me, is in not buying into the enemy's deceptive ways.

Most of us think of deception as being an intense cover-up of the true facts. In church circles, we look at people who are in cults such as Jehovah Witnesses, Mormonism, and Islam as being a viable example of being “deceived.” We also tend to look at someone who knows the truth of Christianity and has chosen to live a life diametrically opposed to it as being “deceived.” For me, the enemy will never capture me in one of those two camps. When the truth of Scripture is being violated by false teaching, I am immediately stirred to combat. Although I am prone to sin, I am also well aware of that the life Christ has mapped out before me is better than anything this world could ever offer. Does that mean I am immune to the enemy's deception? I wish I could say I am, but then I would be deceiving you. Satan's deceiving tactics upon mature saints is far less subtle but just as potent as his blinding the minds of those in the world. You see, the very fact that we get “distracted” shows that we are susceptible to a lethal form of deception by the enemy.

God has an intended life for all of us to live. He has a plan and purpose for us. The problem is that we too often define the things that are “important” to us in that plan as opposed to allowing God to define the things that should be important to us----and this is where the enemy deceives us. By making us believe that the various aspects of our lives are ours to manage, organize, and freely pursue, he gets us to live in a place where life becomes so cluttered that God's purposes cannot be fully realized in our lives. He takes our relationships, schedules, obligations, concerns, desires, and conflicts and magnifies them in our lives. We begin to believe that these things are necessary priorities in our lives and because we have so many, we become overwhelmed with the day to day management of them. Even as the Christmas season approaches, many believers are experiencing unnecessary stress because of the demands they believe to be placed upon them during this time of year. In the end, we allow little time for what truly matters and much emphasis to the fleeting traditions of the holiday.

Hebrews 12:1 tells us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that easily entangles us.” Rather than just telling us to do that, the writer of Hebrews gives us the solution: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus...” (Hebrews 12:2). The enemy's plan is to hinder God's purposes in us and to entangle our lives so that we will be ineffective as the children of God. The writer of Hebrews suggests that this happens because we get focused on the wrong things in life. In essence, we get “distracted.” Only when our eyes are fixed upon Christ can the things of life, which are important, be determined. We may think certain people and plans need our attention, but according to the Lord, they might not. Unless we are constantly fixed upon Christ, we run the risk of being distracted and deceived into believing that what we're doing is productive and essential to the plan of God. For the believer, Satan's deceptive power exists in the lie that all that is a part of our lives matters----concealing the truth that it's not the life we have been given which matters but the One who gives us life that demands our full priority.

Cheap Worship or Cleansed Temple?

It has been some time since I have posted to this blog. Although life has been busy, I would blame my absence upon something much more significant----wandering aimlessly in the wilderness. I’m certain that for all of us, we have at one time or another found ourselves there. For whatever reason, God allows us to experience the harsh conditions of desert living to help in fulfilling His purposes in our lives. In my case, the painful journey of my soul over the last few months has resulted in a glorious resurrection of passion and love for Christ. This past weekend, I experienced my eleventh silent prayer retreat. As is my custom, I’ve learned not to have any particular agenda to fulfill; rather, I simply knew I wanted to meet with the Lord.

During my first day of retreat, I was directed to read Mark 11:15-18 concerning Jesus’ cleansing of the temple. At first glance, I pictured myself there with the Lord. I saw His face in expectation to worship the Father in the temple and then, suddenly it turned angry as He was greeted with the unholy activities taking place in the temple courts. With a righteous indignation, I pictured Jesus grabbing a whip, snapping items off of the tables and overturning them as He proclaimed, “This is a house of prayer!” That’s right Jesus! Get those people out of the temple who profane it by using it for the purpose of lesser things….oops! At that point, there were only two people I pictured in the temple: Jesus and myself. The bible tells us that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19). If we consider that thought for a moment, we have to ask ourselves, “If we’re the temple, then what is the temple’s purpose?” The Old Testament imagery allows us to understand that the temple was the place where God dwelt among His people. As believers, we understand that particular dynamic of Christ dwelling within us; however, do we ever consider the other function of being the temple? The temple was also the place of worship. When Jesus came to the temple that day, it wasn’t for the recognition that God was dwelling there. Instead, Jesus came to make it his place of worship and prayer. Yet, he discovered that the activities taking place within the temple was anything but glorifying God.

I wonder how many of us have a temple full of merchandise that doesn’t belong. How many times do you suppose the Lord examines His temple and sees only that we have made it into a den of thieves that steal from the purpose of our lives in worshiping Him?  We are created to worship the Lord----but what have we made of it? When Jesus entered the temple that day it still appeared to be the temple. All of the elements of Jewish worship were present, sacrifices were being made, and people were even engaged in worshipful activities; yet, the other things taking place in the temple is what drew the Lord’s attention. Jesus could have dismissed the buying and selling going on in the temple by recognizing that there were some areas of the temple that was experiencing genuine worship---but He didn’t! In fact, he accused the entire temple as being a “den of robbers” that stole from the true essence of what the temple was intended for.

As I reflected upon those thoughts, it became clear to me that I had things within my temple that hindered my worship of the Lord. These things go beyond the issue of “sin” and touch the happenings of everyday life. Believe it or not, our lives are not our own. We were not created to decide what we want to do with our lives. We were created for worshiping the Lord and anything else that falls short of that in our lives profanes His temple. In essence, anything in my life that would compete with my worship of God is nothing more than robbing God of the glory that is rightfully His. I discovered that I have a temple that is cluttered with worthless things that steal from God. I believe that if we were honest with ourselves, we might all discover areas of our temple that fall short of truly being a house of worship. It would be wise for us to understand that anything in our lives that cause us to be distracted from our relationship with Christ and anything that would cheapen our existence in glorifying Him is what Jesus desires to cleanse from our lives. When we allow Christ to overturn the tables in our lives and reveal all that does not belong in His temple, we will finally begin to live in that way that God intended us to live for Him.   

  

Don't Be Hatin'

Over the last few weeks, I have noticed an alarming trend that is growing within the body of Christ. From the controversy surrounding a major fast food chain and a myriad of snippets posted on Facebook, I’m concerned that the church has lost something of great significance concerning its purpose. Put simply, we have misunderstood the love of God to the point of rendering us ineffective to make an impact upon the world we live in. We certainly know that God loves us and that He loves others. We can stand upon the truth of John 3:16 and confidently proclaim that God loves the world; however, the problem we face is in understanding what God’s love actually means. For too many, His love is equated with this idea that we cannot judge the fruit of righteous and unrighteous living. In fact, many are now holding to the belief that it would be wrong for us to hate the sin of others because we have enough sin in our own lives to worry about. We’ve created a new church culture that holds to an “I’m okay, you’re okay” mentality and we’re all in the sin boat together so let’s not talk about it! We so want to love people into the kingdom of God and make them feel warm and cozy about Jesus that we forget, unless there is a reckoning of one’s sin, THERE IS NO SALVATION! Without a world seeing its sin for what it is, the idea of Jesus makes no sense. Furthermore, how does a world that is blinded in deception even begin to recognize sin if the church is not revealing the truth of their condition?

Jesus gave the church the commission to “go into all the world and make disciples of the nations” (Matthew 28:19). In other words, we are called to reach this world with the message of the gospel and to reproduce disciples who follow Jesus Christ. Part of this mission is in embracing God’s expectations concerning sin. God’s Word has commanded the church to address the subject of sin on an ongoing basis:

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness (sin) but rather EXPOSE them” (Ephesians 5:11).

“The acts of the sinful nature as obvious…I WARN you as I did before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified; that you should avoid sexual immorality…the Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already TOLD you and WARNED you” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-6)

“The Spirit clearly says that in the later times some will abandon the faith and following deceiving spirits…if you POINT THESE THINGS OUT to the brothers you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 4:1-6).  

Sin should be and needs to be dealt within the culture of the church. We are to be a people who warn and tell others about the devastating consequences that sin brings to our lives. We are to recognize sin and to eradicate it from our lives and from the church! If we do not do these things, we fail to exercise the love of God to others. Avoiding the obvious sin of others and looking the other way because we do not want to offend, is much like letting your child run into a busy street after a ball. If you love your brother and sister in Christ, you much rather offend them to the pathway of life than to condemn them to the highway of death. Sin ALWAYS has consequence. We have biblical permission to point sin out in other’s lives---not to condemn, but to show love and help them to become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

We too often forget that the message of the gospel is “repent for the kingdom of God is near” (Matthew3:2, 4:17). Even Peter’s first sermon after Pentecost made no mention of God’s love; rather, Peter pointed out the people’s sin and there need to recognize Jesus Christ as the only one who can save (see Acts 2). We cannot convince the world that Jesus loves them by making them believe that being a Christian will give them a better life. God’s love can only be understood in light of the subject of sin. By the church refusing to stand for righteousness, holiness, and truth, we refuse to show the world God’s love!  As God’s people, we need to address sin in our society and call this world to repentance. Why do we think it is impossible to hate sin and love the sinner? Our hypocrisy in the church screams when we will not hesitate to rally for a good cause that will help someone in a crisis. We hate what the person is going through and we’ll even voice our concern over their condition. We’ll ask things like, “What are you going to do about your cancer? What is your plan in looking for a new job? How will you handle life during this divorce?” Yet, we won’t address the sin that is destroying their lives more than any crisis they will ever face because we are afraid as being seen as offensive and unloving. Do we really think we’re going to give Jesus a bad name in proclaiming His position on sin? The time has come for us to quit being cowards for Christ and boldly make a stand against sin---both in the church and the world---and throw away the notion that offending someone cannot be loving them at the same time. As Paul said, “Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:16).  This gospel was more than “God loves you,” but it most certainly addressed the sinfulness of man and his need for a Savior.

In the end, we need to realize that as believers, we are to hate sin! Regardless of whose sin it is, we are to hate what God hates. We must refuse the postmodern, emergent theological garbage that suggests Christianity is permissive, understanding, and all-inclusive religion. God does so love the world; but He showed that love by being crucified because of our sin that expresses itself in things like sexual immorality, homosexuality, lying, cheating, stealing, rebellion, hatred, and  jealously to name a few. Sin is the problem and will always be man’s one dilemma in life. The answer is simple in showing the world the love of Christ: first show them the sin that separates them from a loving God who gave all He could possibly give, and by doing so, they will recognize the depths of God’s love that has called them “out of darkness into the wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).       

A Sabbatical Worth Taking

First of all, I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to faithfully read True Life Worship blog and the things that God has placed upon my heart. As it stands right now, I am currently taking a few weeks off in order to make the final edits on my book In Spirit and In Truth: The Heart's Cry for Genuine Worship. This project has been about a year long endeavor and God has finally provided the means to get this work published. Some of what you have been challenged with in this blog will be addressed in depth in the book. My goal is to have the book ready for publishing by July 15th. I would appreciate your prayers as this is a very tedious process. This book reflects my heart's cry to see true worship restored to the church. As much as the modern day worship has served to help us gain a greater sense of experiencing a more intimate and personal perspective our relationship with Christ, it has not been without some damaging consequences. My book explores the areas where we have strayed from biblical precedent and calls the church to the glory of worshiping Christ "in spirit and in truth." Thanks for your patience and support. When this project is over, I will joyfully continue sharing thoughts from my heart in order that we as the Body of Christ can be encouraged!

Romancing the Cross?

Have you ever caught yourself listening to a familiar song and then realizing that the lyrics suddenly do not set well with you? This past weekend, as my wife and I were enjoying a morning drive to Starbucks, we were listening to a song that described a person’s response to the experience of the cross. As the music beautifully set the tone for the song, my wife spoke up when the lyrics proclaimed (not an exact phrasing, but close enough) “at the cross where you stole my heart.” Immediately, my wife spoke up and said, “Did Jesus really go to the cross to steal our hearts?” I thought about that for a moment and responded, “No, He went to the cross to die for our sin.” This in turn, launched a thought provoking discussion about what we have done with the subject of the cross---in particular, in our understanding of it in worship.

The unfortunate theology that we have emphasized in the world of worship music is in leaving us with a “good feeling” when we think about Jesus on the cross. This sentiment has created a culture in the church that has downplayed the issue of sin and rather than seeing the awfulness of our transgressions, we perceive that the cross is a wonderful place where we can enjoy the warm and cozy feeling of God’s embrace and love. The cross does speak of God’s love for us. John 3:16 announces that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…” The giving of His Son, however, was not in the vein of “this is a wonderful way I can show how much I love them and want to win their hearts.” Rather, God’s intention is more of “the putrid-ness of your sin is so dreadful that in order for you to understand its magnitude, I have provided the one and only way for you to truly know the extent of my love for you.” As John 3:17 states, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” In essence, God did not send Jesus to leave us to die in our sin, but He sent Jesus to rescue us from the damnation of sin. The modern consensus in our culture appears to view the experience of the cross with such “romanticism:” we being the damsel in distress and our loving knight in shining armor came to the rescue. The reality is that we are more like the “wicked witch of the forest” as before Christ, there was nothing innocent about us---nor was there anything that deserved such as rescue.

Because we have presented the cross as being such as “wonderful place,” we have clouded our vision of the ugliness of sin. We too often forget in our salvation that God still hates sin and the forgiveness of sin is based upon the bloody, painful, and tortuous sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We can too easily sing “O happy day when you washed my sin away,” with a “pep in our step” and miss the actual impact of what remembering the cross should have us reflect upon. I believe the words of the old hymn, O Sacred Head Now Wounded captures a true perspective of what dwelling upon the cross should have us experience:

O sacred Head, now wounded,

with grief and shame weighed down,

now scornfully surrounded

with thorns, thine only crown:

how pale thou art with anguish,

with sore abuse and scorn!

How does that visage languish

which once was bright as morn!

What thou, my Lord, has suffered

was all for sinners' gain;

mine, mine was the transgression,

but thine the deadly pain.

Lo, here I fall, my Savior!

'Tis I deserve thy place;

look on me with thy favor,

vouchsafe to me thy grace.

What language shall I borrow

to thank thee, dearest friend,

for this thy dying sorrow

thy pity without end?

O make me thine forever;

and should I fainting be,

Lord, let me never, never

outlive my love for thee.[1]

I believe that because of our failure to celebrate the cross with the spirit of humility over the spirit of “romance,” we have lost the impact of sin and grace in the body of Christ. The cross should never make us “feel happy.” It is a place where Jesus died and where provision has been made for our sin to die. We are admonished in scripture to “take up our cross” daily and to be “crucified with Christ” as expressions for sacrificing our lives for the sake of Christ. Although there is freedom through the cross, it will forever remain a place associated with pain, sacrifice, sin, and death. It brought us life but only because death occurred there. My prayer is that the church would recapture a genuine picture of the cross and refrain from cheapening its true impact. As a friend recently told me, “It was the only way” that Jesus could go in order to accomplish what God sent Him to do for us. We would be wise to remember that the cross isn’t a place where God “stole our hearts” but where He cleansed them from the wickedness of sin that once eternally separated us from ever knowing of His great love.

---

[1] Text: Anonymous; trans. by Paul Gerhardt and James W. Alexander
  Music: Hans L. Hassler, 1564-1612; harm. by J.S. Bach, 1685-1750

Not a Fan? Thoughts on Defining the Relationship

In Sunday school class this week, we began a new series based on Kyle Idleman’s Not a Fan. After watching the first video segment, I am---for a lack of better words----a “fan” of Kyle’s perspective in revealing what I believe is the single most destructive problem in the church today: the lack to true commitment to Jesus Christ. I won’t indulge in the details of the class or reference the book; however, I will reference one aspect of Kyle’s thoughts which have sparked some thoughts of my own. Kyle asked in the first video segment to “Define the relationship” concerning us and Christ. Relationships go through this process. A couple that dates will someday have to come to the place where they “define the relationship” as it relates to their experience together. How committed do they see themselves being to each other? Are they ready to take the next step? Are there areas that are “off limits” one to another? These are questions that have to be “defined” in order to see where the relationship stands and where it will go in the future. The same holds true with our relationship with Christ. How do we define it? Who is Jesus to us and how much of our lives are we willing to give Him? Answering these questions, however, is part of the problem. The truth is, we have only two options in “defining the relationship” between Jesus and us---will we or won’t we follow?

The unfortunate problem with the church of today as we have “defined” God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the entirety of the Christian faith, by our own “definitions” of what we want them to be. We fail to realize that when it comes to the whole idea of being a “Christian,” it is God who defines what that means. We have false prophets in the emergent church who want to “redefine” things like heaven and hell because it does not fit into their definition of what they think God’s love and grace means. By suggesting that “love wins” and God couldn’t possibly send anyone to hell because of His love, they have diminished God’s sense of justice. For most of us, “love is blind,” but for God, love does not mar His ability to do what is righteous and just (Sorry Rob, but some things just can’t be stretched like springs on a trampoline).

The truth is everything is defined by God----even our very existence. We may think we are the masters of our own fate, but it is God who ordains our steps, declares our purpose, and defines our reason for being alive. Love cannot be defined by us. Sin cannot be defined by us. Even God Himself, cannot be defined by us. We tend to differentiate between the “good things” and “bad things” of life; however, in God’s economy, He defines things like hardship, struggle, pain, and suffering as things that serve as catalysts for “goodness” to result in our lives. If we had our way, we would avoid these things because we see them as being “bad.” Jesus once gave his disciples the worst possible image to imagine and told them that doing this was a good thing. In John 6:53, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Although he was not suggesting cannibalism, he was suggesting to his disciples that which needed to define the relationship----and in their eyes, it was not “good.” Up to this point, people had defined Jesus as the One who would meet their needs, make them feel better, and inspire them with His teaching. This was the Jesus they wanted! This was the Messiah that they defined He needed to be! Jesus submitted to these would be disciples that there is much more to the definition of being a “follower of Christ” than simply receiving the benefits of the relationship with Him.

This problem unfortunately goes back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were deceived in believing that they would be able to be the “definers” of the relationship. Genesis 3:5 states, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan offered them the bait of being able to be the ones who could “call the shots” alongside of God and roughly 6,000 years later, we still find ourselves wanting to eat the same fruit. We open the Bible and we attempt to “define” the things of Scripture based upon our reasoning rather than upon God’s intended meaning. We redefine things like “take up your cross, die to yourself, and go and sin no more” to mean something other than what Jesus actually meant for those thoughts to convey----“you are to no longer live for yourself!” To further, Jesus also added the idea that “unless” we do these things “we CANNOT be His disciples.” Surely, He doesn’t mean that I can’t be a “Christian” if I don’t choose to do these things; after all, that’s “legalism.” I don’t have to do anything to earn my salvation. True, but you have to do something to live in it! And if we’re not going to take Jesus at His word by candy-coating the simple truth that in order to be a follower of Jesus you MUST do what He says, then I guess the only other alternative is that you will remain a “fan” who experiences the game from afar yet pretends to be a contender.