Priority Shift

From Matthew 10:42
If anyone gives even a cup of
cold water to one of these
little ones who belong to Christ,
he will certainly not lose his reward.

What is your priority? How do you characterize your Christianity? What gets most of your time and attention? There are so many "Christian" issues that steal our resources and deplete our ability to serve, but have you ever noticed how in both testaments of the Bible, God constantly tries to draw attention to people in need? Many of the laws of Moses were in place to provide equity among God's people.

Consider this from the law in Deuteronomy 15:11, "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land."

From the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah 32:6 "For fools speak folly, their hearts are bent on evil: They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the LORD; the hungry they leave empty and from the thirsty they withhold water."
...

From Jesus' words in Luke 12, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

And from the apostles, James 1:26-27 "Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Maybe it's time to turn your gaze away from your petty issue and ask God to direct your focus.

 

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

Just A Lot Of Hot Air?

This one will be short. I've heard lots of talk during this American election process that concerns me. Christians and pastors with the "right" way to vote just turn me off. I'm irked by public stances that show little concern for opposing views regardless of how others are affected. Is this really the way to grow the Kingdom of God or to draw people to our Savior? All I hear is a lot of creaky gates, clanging cymbals, and rattling pots and pans.

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. 1 Corinthians 13 (The Message)

 

A Pastor's Job

Most Bible folk know that in Ephesians 4:11 Paul wrote that, among other gifts, God gave pastors to the church. This was a fulfillment of a prophecy given in Jeremiah 3:15 when God said, "I will give you pastors according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." Oh, that churches would be led by welcoming, loving, generous, wise pastors - pastors full of the Holy Spirit and motivated by the undeserved grace they have themselves received.

However, God's gift was not without warning. "Woe be to the pastors who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" (Jeremiah 23:1)

It seems that God has a simple word for those he has called to this ministry: Feed, don't destroy or scatter, my sheep.

It has been my observation that it is possible to feed and destroy at the same time. It happens in many ways in churches.

• Trying to force-feed knowledge into a person
• Portions of spiritual food that are too small to maintain life
• Insistence that church members eat the same diet as the pastor
• A monotonous diet that has no variety

As good, observant parents know, you don't treat all children the same, nor do they all learn the same way. It's the same with feeding God's sheep. Each church member is unique and gains knowledge and understanding in different ways. Some learn from the hymns, others through graphics used in the church bulletin or on the screen. Some grow through a sermon with organized points, others through a casual conversation.

 

I don't know of a church that uses this method, but I wonder what it would be like to organize small groups so that members with similar learning styles were grouped together? I suspect that it works better to have different styles in each group - each learning from the other.

 

Either way, pastors, remember that your way isn't the only way. The gift you have been given is the privilege of feeding - nourishing and growing - people who become wholehearted disciples. By the way, they're becoming Jesus' disciples, not yours.

Unleash!: Breaking Free from Normalcy

A review of Perry Noble's new book.

 

In PHILIPPIANS 3:7-9, “Paul is saying that when he was unleashed to the idea of God’s amazing grace, he ceased celebrating the crap in his life and began celebrating God’s goodness.” This comes early in the first chapter of Unleash! and is an indicator of what you can expect in the rest of the book.

 

It’s no surprise that the book is written in the same straightforward manner that Perry Noble uses when he preaches. In fact, if you are familiar with his preaching style, as you read the book you will probably hear his voice reading to you - complete with his humor and infectious Southern brogue.

 

What was surprising to me what the subject of the book. It quickly becomes apparent that this is a book about grace. Since I was not expecting that, I went back to the Contents page and reread the chapter titles. They took on a new meaning in light of this subject, but I was still curious to know how a new book on grace would be different from others I have read.

 

At first, it all sounded familiar. Then, some statements challenged the idea that grace is solely a New Testament gift. “What was the one thing that distinguished the Israelites from the Philistines? The answer is simple: it was nothing more than the undeserved grace of God!” and “But in His mercy, God unleashed Abraham!” These were followed a few pages later with “That same unleashing grace is available for each of us, too."

 

As I continued to read, I was drawn into Perry’s personal stories and the challenges he presents through them. What I found by the end of the book was that this was no ordinary book about grace but a book about how believers live out the grace they’ve received. It’s about letting go of lies and taking hold of truth; letting go of self and taking hold of God.

 

I won’t spoil the book for you, but when you read it watch for what Perry calls The Great American Lie. Is it something you’ve been taught, something you’ve believed? Is it time to let go of the lie and embrace the truth of God? If you do, I suspect you will be unleashed in ways you’ve never imagined.

 

I am recommending this book to my church and friends.

 

Unleash!: Breaking Free from Normalcy
Copyright © 2012 by NewSpring Church. All rights reserved.

ImPerfect



Yesterday, we concluded what may be my favorite series so far! The series, ImPerfect, took a common word (imperfect) added an apostrophe and a space and made it I'm Perfect. Thanks to our design team, the puzzle pieces fit together perfectly. (Pardon the pun.) It's no big feat grammatically, but it is a big deal when God does it in your life. 



Photos by Amber Anderson

What part of your life do you see as an imperfection? Perhaps something that happened in your childhood? A bad decision? Is it a blemish, physical feature, personality trait, or an inherited character flaw? Perhaps the label has been attached to you by other people so that you believe you are unqualified, or disqualified, because of some life issue.

Here's the simple truth. What you see as an imperfection can be the very thing God uses to make you a better person or to impact people around you. He can take the mess of your life and create a message that others will find compelling. Your message could change someone else's life.

This is how Paul explained it in the Bible.

Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 The Message

Don't let your past or your current circumstance keep you from the future God has for you. You are uniquely qualified. There's only one you!

I Hate Museums

Don't get me wrong; I love the arts and have a special affinity for artists who can take a large, blank canvas and create something beautiful - or at least interesting.  I enjoy visiting our local art museum and seeing paintings that have been around for hundreds of years and more recent sculptures. I could spend all day going from floor to floor and exhibit to exhibit.  But, I stand by my statement: I hate museums.

I have a favorite painting at the Greenville County Art Museum, and on my last visit I enjoyed it a little too much.  Well, the security guard thought I got too close to it anyway.  The painting is Girl With Lantern which was painted by Helen Turner in 1904.  The color choices and painting techniques are facinating to me.  The way she creates the lights and shadows just pulls me into the picture.  I was standing with my nose a few inches from the painting when the guard decided I should have an escort for the rest of my visit.

I wondered why Helen Turner painted that girl in that pose with those colors and what she was thinking as she painted.  I wondered if she thought that someday her painting would be secured away from being touched and handled only to be viewed from a safe distance.

Those thoughts quickly turned to the rest of my world.  The Bible tells us that we are God's creation, His handiwork, His masterpiece.  I don't think He created us to be hidden behind a mask of perfection, or to be set on a pedestal and admired for our goodness.  He made us real: humanly real.

Jesus came and demonstrated for us, as His followers, how to express the nature and character of God.  John wrote of Jesus, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life."  (1 John 1:1)  When Thomas the Apostle had a moment of weakness and unbelief, Jesus urged him, "Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."  (Luke 24:39)

The good news is that Jesus knows when He has been touched!  Remember the woman who touched the hem of his robe because she needed to be healed?  When she finally pushed everyone else aside and made it to Jesus, He said, "Who touched me?"

I hear you saying, "But Pastor Tony, we can't touch Jesus. What are you talking about?"

Oh yes, we can.

Hebrews 4:15 (KJV) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  In other words, Jesus really feels our pain.

Maybe this is common knowledge to you, but let me ask you this:  Are you touchable?  Do you let someone in need get close enough to touch you?  When someone touches you, do you recognize it?  Are they aware that you know they exist?

People who truly follow Jesus can't answer NO to those questions.  I can't think that I'm so special that I belong in a museum to be viewed from a distance and guarded from the needy touch of others.

Did I mention I hate museums?
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