by Tim | Apr 28, 2010 | God, My World |
I was reminded yesterday of how rich I am. Not because I live in the wealthiest country in the world, but because what I read in Ephesians. Paul wrote this book while in prison to encourage God’s people of their true state, not whatever struggle they find themselves in (even if in prison). Among other things, Paul reminds us: You were once alienated from God, under His wrath, living in complete darkness. Now you are children of light, adopted into His family. How amazing is this to consider! Do we fully realize that without Christ dying on the cross, there would have been no hope for us (whether you are a Jew or Gentile)? It was through Christ that the door was open for already-screwed Gentiles and faithless Jews to be joined together to one another and to God as His family. If we are now adopted in, not only are we part of God’s family, but we are the very body of Christ, himself being the head. Jesus takes care of his body, just as humans make sure to take care of ours. The riches and fullness of Christ are ours, because we are his body. Everything that is his, we partake of, because He offers it all to us. Incidentally, Paul encourages husbands to love their wives similarly–as their own body. After all, he states, the two become one flesh. Therefore, I am to understand that my wife is my body. We, along with Paul, should be blown away that this same truth applies to Jesus and his Church. We are His body, we are “one flesh”...
by Tim | Apr 24, 2010 | God, The Church World, The Gospel |
Ok, so I’m not sure these are the most important reasons, but right now to me they are. In no particular order: 1. Where else can one hear the Gospel? You could argue that we should be spreading the Gospel in our work, school, neighborhoods…but reality demonstrates that this happens very infrequently, if at all. I’ve been on staff in a pastoral role–yet how often do I or someone else with my experience do so? In addition, very few people read their Bibles regularly, so they’re not receiving the Gospel from this source either. If we feel preaching the Gospel with distinct clarity doesn’t need to be central in our church, we are living in a dream world, and we will continue to see spiritual illiteracy exploding in our pews. We already know there is biblical illiteracy; I’m afraid it’s worse than that. 2. People tend to stop believing the Gospel. We came into this faith by believing that we had no righteousness to offer, but could only dare to hope in Christ’s. But after a little time in the faith, we start thinking otherwise of ourselves. We start relying on our ability to obey Christ instead of relying on Christ himself. We are constantly moving away from this (Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it!). The Gospel isn’t just needed when we first convert–we are needing to be constantly converted from our old way of thinking. 3. We don’t really understand the Gospel that well. No matter how well I think I understand it, every time it is preached I recognize how little I really grasp of it....
by Tim | Apr 23, 2010 | God, The Church World |
Here are five churches I’ve attended during this time of transition, along with some reflections of each one: Church of the Highlands This church thrives on building excitement among its members for their church and their faith. Out of all the churches I’ve attended, I think this church is the one that I most often hear given a bad rap by other people from other churches. I think this is mostly out of envy for the worldly success this church has experienced. I think people serving in much smaller, struggling churches feel like they can’t compete with a church like CoTH who has so many resources, fame, and momentum. My question is…why are we trying to compete again? A danger I see with CoTH is that it is easy to feel pride at what you’ve accomplished, and pride often comes before a fall. Yet those from smaller, struggling churches who would “Amen” me are full of envy or spite towards CoTH. In other words, they have the same pride issues within themselves. While we often measure churches by numerical standards, this is not necessarily a reflection of true discipleship. As I stated at the beginning, it’s true that this is a “feel good” church. It seems the number one aim is for people to leave CoTH feeling uplifted and excited about faith. This can give a plastic view of faith–when you only see smiling, attractive people on the worship team who always seem happy, or the pastor is perceived as a superstar, etc. Is that true to life? Yet I believe there is more to this church than simply...
by Tim | Apr 17, 2010 | God, Our Culture, The Church World, The Gospel |
In the first post on this subject a week or so ago, I made the case that the Gospel doesn’t have any real power unless there is faith. Today, the point I want to make is that the Gospel doesn’t have any real power unless there is weakness. Does this mean that Christianity or the Gospel is a crutch for the weak? In a sense, yes. I think you could say that. Most people use that phrase as if it is a derogatory statement. They are implying that us weak people need something like the Gospel, but they are not weak like us. To someone who sees themselves strong, or a self-made person, the Gospel is not needed or desired. Is it possible to build a successful life without the Gospel? Is it possible to have meaning and purpose in life without the Gospel? Is it possible to build a successful church without the Gospel? Yes, yes, and yes. Jesus even says that we can build our house on the rock or sand. Both can be built, but which one will last? Both will stand for quite some time. It’s not until the time of testing comes that one will fall. Some people’s house (not built on the sand) will endure their entire life on earth, and will only fall when the test of eternity comes. Jesus says everyone will be salted with fire (Mark 9:49). In that moment, will what you’ve built last in eternity? Many of those who have built on something other than the Gospel feel quite secure with what they have. The Gospel then is...
by Tim | Apr 16, 2010 | God, My World |
It’s the day after taxes were due, and we’re ok for now. That shouldn’t be the case, but it is. When I resigned my part-time job in January, I had nothing lined up to fill the loss of income. Before my resignation, we were already living month to month, with very little wiggle room to adjust our budget. A few times, in fact, we had to borrow from the money we had set aside for taxes to pay for gas in the car or buy groceries for the week. This was the few months before I resigned. Regardless, we had felt a peace two months earlier (November) to resign, which was a little daunting to us on a financial level for many reasons.. First, Christmas was coming up, which was going to be a hard hit for us. Second, income taxes were going to be due in April, and we didn’t have nearly enough resources set aside for what we estimated our taxes to be (I am self-employed, so instead of a nice refund check this time of years, it’s a honkin’ check to the IRS instead). Third, our yearly homeowner’s association dues were due in March. Fourthly, we later found out in December/January that we were expecting another child, which although is a great joy, also introduces further financial strain for the next nine months and beyond. And then there’s all the unexpected stuff that you can’t budget for, but seems to pop up at the most inopportune times. It was our hope that the two months between November and January would give us time to locate supplemental...
