Pestering Christians

I got my hair cut today. I have an interview on Monday, so I thought I would make myself presentable (insert joke here). There is something you should know about me, I hate getting my hair cut. It just seems like a waist of time. I don't like sitting still, and I don't like trying to have a conversation with someone I barely know. Most of the time I don't know them at all.

It alway come up. When you don't know someone very well they always ask what you do. I am an honest and straightforward kind of person, so I always just say, "I'm a pastor" somewhat begrudgingly. The reason I say it that way is because I know what is coming next. The next thing the hair cutter is going to do is tell me what a great Christian they are. They want me to know how Holy they are as if I had something to do with whether they go to heaven. During my in depth study of all the hair people I have ever come in contact with I have not found one who is not a Christian.

What is the point? Christians can be so annoying. Some Christians lose all their people skills when they begin to talk about Christianity. When we begin to talk about Jesus or Christianity, it is essential that we take time to listen, hear where the other person is coming from, what they really believe. We need to ask more questions and make fewer statements.

Maybe this has more to do with me and hating hair cuts than it has to do with anything else, but the lesson seems to fit.

Role Confusion

I was recently asked a question regarding Jesus and politics. The question went something like this, "Would Jesus be a Socialist?" This is not a question that can simply be dismissed, nor can it be assumed the answer is a resounding yes. Without too much depth I think we can come to some important conclusions about this subject.

Many believe that since Jesus was so concerned about helping the poor or less fortunate that government programs which do these things are Biblical. It is true that Jesus was concerned about the poor as He was all people. It is also true that He sometimes chastised people for their lack of concern. There is one ingredient that must not be overlooked. Jesus did not attempt to change the government, instead he was concerned about people's heart. When Jesus commanded the Rich Young Ruler to give what he had to the poor it was not because Jesus believed the man had too much money and it wasn't fair. Instead Jesus told him to give what he had to the poor because the rich man valued his possessions too much. Jesus was not suggesting that the man be forced to give what he had to the poor rather that he willingly and joyfully give what he had. This is consistent with Paul's exhortation to be joyful givers.

In the past few years I have seen many people make what I believe is a significant mistake regarding the role of government in helping the poor or those who have had misfortune. Jesus teaching about compassion and love towards those who are less fortunate in some way is for the church, not the government. The government does not promote joyful and compassionate giving, it promotes forced and resentful redistribution of wealth. I don't want to dive too far into the political side of things, but it seems to me that forced compassion is no compassion at all.

When we allow the government to begin taking on these roles, we diminish the opportunity the church has to fill this very role. We take away ministry opportunities, and perhaps even opportunities to share the gospel. We make it easy for the church to become complacent. Some times a "good thing" or a "good program" in the wrong place or for the wrong motivation becomes less than good. Role confusion is not a small matter, it is actually very significant.

My New, Old Youth Group Picture

Last night was one of the coolest nights I have had in a long time. My pastor from when I was in High School was having a retirement party. He has served that church for 27 years. Not only was it fun to see him, it was also fun to see my youth pastor. I haven't seen him for almost 13 years. I was also able to see some great friends from back in the day. The day when things were simple, no internet, DVD's, very few people had cell phones (certainly not teenagers), and our idea of Instant Messaging was talking on the phone for 3 hours. No I have to check my email, keep up on texting, check facebook,

In many ways this blog entry is a tribute to those friends. They had a larger influence than they know. Youth group was my place of refuge!! Life offered me many challenges and the influence youth group had on me was significant. I would love to list names, but I am afraid I would forget someone. In the end some of them were influential in my decision to go into the ministry.

Thanks to everyone, keep serving God.

Winning is Everything

In the interest of full discloser, I am, by nature, a very competitive person. Over the years my competitive nature has gotten the best of me more times than I can count. My tendency is towards competition. To be honest, I hate it that I am not the best at everything I do, I have had to come to terms with this since there are probably people who are better than me at almost everything (I have come to terms by living in denial). Still the saying, "winning isn't everything" should be forbidden. Sure, we can and should learn from losing but we should never play to lose. It seems ridiculous to do anything without the intention of winning. Why start a business if you plan on going bankrupt? Why play a game if you plan on losing or simply don't care? There are times when winning isn't everything, like in a back yard volleyball game, but there are other times when winning is everything! And I really do mean everything. There are times when losing means death, or worse yet someone else's death. There are times when losing is the worst possible outcome. This is true for our soldiers who face death in a very real way, this is true for our police, our fire fighters, and it is definitely true when it comes to Jesus.

I coached little league baseball a couple years ago. I have to admit, I wasn't out to win the league championship. For a guy who has embarrassed himself by yelling at a few umps (only to apologize for my sinful actions later) at softball games this is quite and admission. Still, there was something more important for me to accomplish. I wanted to help these kids become better ball players even if they lost. I wanted them to enjoy the game, and I wanted them to learn what it meant to work hard for something. Winning wasn't everything. For the record we did win our share of games, but more importantly we learned to enjoy baseball. I might point out that this is the exception rather than the rule. There is a spiritual application to this train of thought.

Too often we look at Jesus like we look at 7 year olds playing baseball. Sure, we want them to win, but if we are honest we realize there are more important things in life than winning a little league baseball game at the age of 7. We treat church like its little league, we don't play to win, we play to feel good. Church and Christianity in this sense has been feminized (please don't send me angry emails ladies, I know some of you are very competative it is simply a generalization). The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 9 that we are to run the race like we want to win!! The church isn't little league, and it isn't a back yard volleyball game. The church, Jesus, God, the Kingdom of God is the major leagues!! Anything less than winning the world series isn't enough. Jesus didn't send us into the world to make disciples when we have time or when we feel like it. He sent us with a goal to be accomplished, a battle to fight, and a victory to win. He gave us the task of making disciples of all nations starting in our own back yards. This isn't a joke and I promise both God and Satan are keeping score.

It is time we stopped trying to make everyone feel good. It is time we drew the proverbial line in the sand to find out who is really fighting to win and who is just taking batting practice. Spring training is over. It's time to stop playing for fun and start playing to win!!

Misconceptions about Calvinism

Predestination...that word evokes such emotion and it is almost entirely viewed as a word owned by those who call themselves Calvinists even though it is a biblical word. The funny thing about this word is the assumptions immediately made upon its utterance. The other funny thing is that many Calvinists would not consider this the primary doctrine on which everything else rests.

I am somewhat of an odd duck, I have attended one college where one of the proponents of open theism taught the theology classes (I had John Sanders for a few classes), later I attended Northwestern Bible in St. Paul and then I ended up in a denomination where reformed theology is pretty rare. Ironically I still ended up in the Reformed, Calvinist camp. Before you try to figure all of that out, let me say that Calvinism and Reformed theology has been given a bad rap!!

With the exception of the hyper, over the edge, lunatic fringe Calvinism does not diminish thing like evangelism and missions. Actually if you look at the history of Calvinist pastors you will find people who are passionate about evangelism and mission. Calvin and his ministry in Geneva was responsible for planting over 2,000 churches in a seven year period. Spurgeon was passionate about winning souls for Christ and wrote a book about that passion, Edwards preached the gospel and propitiation with fire, George Whitefield (his name should be enough), and currently John Piper. What is the thrust of this evangelistic passion? If God predestined why don't we sit back and share an O'douls (non-alcoholic beer)? The answer is rather simply; the glory of God.

Evangelism should never be motivated by our need to fill the pews, put down great statistics in the annual report, to show God how good we are doing, or (dare I say it) even save someones soul. Instead we should be motivate by the opportunity we have to bring Glory to God by being about God's mission. We must love God, love others, and make disciples out of reverence for the God who created us, loved use, died for us, rose from the dead for us, and now wants to work through us. Those who say Calvinists are not passionate about evangelism simply do not understand what motivates Calvinists, not do they understand what drives the theology of Calvinism. It may be simplistic to say it is God's Glory that drives Calvinism, but if you had to chose one thing, that would be it.

Calvinism is not about election, although that plays a role, it is about seeing the sovereignty of God and worshiping Him. It is about seeing the love of God and being amazed by it. It is about essentially God. It is about seeing the depravity of man against the Mercy given us by God. It is in essence about passionate love for the God that saw fit to go to the cross and satisfy the penalty of sin on behalf of those who believe.

Calvinism is more than TULIP, it is about passionate love of the God who saves!