The Choice is Yours
Wednesday, January 18, 2012

“Chose this day whom you will serve.  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14-15)

                For the past several weeks, our pastor has been sharing his heart in a beautiful and wonderful way.  The messages have been centered upon the battle that every Christian undergoes – living for Jesus in a way that brings glory to God.  And our pastor is making the case in this series, that biblically it is not a matter of doing what pleases Christ, but becoming a vessel in which Christ works.  His message is biblically solid and refreshing for all who have been caught up in works righteousness.  If we try to please God by following the law, we will ultimately fail.  But if we become a vessel for God’s use, then we will reflect His glory in all we do.  And we all need to hear this message.

                But there is a problem.  How do we do it?  How do we live a Christ centered life?  Even if all we have to do is surrender and let Christ live in us and through us, we still have to do something.  Even surrender takes a conscious act.  I believe that every person who has seen the beauty of Christ; has heard the power and wisdom of His teaching; who has seen the loving acts of Mother Teresa or Tim Tebow; or who has seen the tender care of Christians being their best, at some level would like to reflect that in their own lives.  But how?  That is the great unanswered question.  If we can’t please God by tithing, faithfully attending church, working in a soup kitchen, obeying the law, and making an attempt to love one another as Christ loved us, how can we please Him?  How do we make the shift from obedience to being a vessel for Christ?  We know instinctively our pastor is right – we need to let Christ live through us, but how?

                The answer is really simple.  It is a matter of choice or focus of our lives.  Every life has a choice to make.  We can focus on ourselves and live to please ourselves; we can focus on the law (and various church regulations, restrictions, and legalisms) and live for the letter of the law; or we can focus on Christ and live for Him.  You can read the Scriptures and learn how God can help you; you can read the Scriptures to learn the law and how to follow the law; or you can read the Scriptures to learn more about God.  You can pray that God fix your toenail, or bring you business; you can pray for strength to be obedient; or you can pray to know God better.  You can worship to be seen; you can worship to follow the Sabbath command; or you can worship because you love God.  You can meditate to calm your nerves; you can meditate to be pleasing to God; or you can meditate upon God Himself.  Every act is a conscious choice of living for yourself; living to please God through obedience; or living for God.

                And my pastor is correct.  The only way to live life to the full is to focus on Christ and to live for Him.  Now, here is the action part.  Here is how we accomplish that.  This is what is missing from my pastor’s sermons.  (And I dare say this is what is missing from 90% of the churches in America.)  The word to describe our action is discipleship.  Being a disciple is the way we become vessels for Christ.  You see, in the New Testament, the word Christian is only used 3 times.  However, the word disciple or its derivatives is used over 300 times.  Jesus did not say, “Go to all nations and make converts, to get pledge cards signed, and get people to say the sinners prayers.”  He did not say, “Go and get people to say they are Christian.”  He did not say, “Go and grow churches, build buildings, and collect offerings.”  What He did say was “Go and make disciples.”  And He says to do that is three distinct ways: baptize, teach, and assure. 

                So what does that mean practically? What is the real way in which we can become disciples?  How do we follow the admonition of our pastor to surrender?  And I believe in this answer is the real issue by which our lives, our families, our churches, and our nation can be radically transformed.  It begins by a pure devotion to Christ – not the law, not obedience to the rules of the church, not by standing and singing all the right songs, but by pure unadulterated devotion to the Son of the Living God.  And this kind of devotion is found is reading the Scriptures.  But don’t read them to determine how God can heal you or get you out of your current mess.  Read them to learn about the love, the grace, the omnipresence, and devotion of Christ to His Father and to His people.  Read the stories, not to learn about people, but to learn about God.  Read the songs, not to learn how to sing, but to learn about worshiping God.  Read the prayers, not to learn how to pray, but to see the focus of biblical prayer.  Read the teachings, not to learn what laws are correct to follow, but to learn about the heart of God.  It’s all about God.

                I had a committee come to me once with what they thought was a brilliant idea for a building campaign slogan.  Their suggestion, “It’s all about people.”  I steadfastly refused.  As long as people are our focus, we can never unleash the power of God in our congregations.  It’s all about God.

                We become disciples by praying.  Read carefully the epistles of the New Testament, and I challenge you to find one prayer for healing.  No, discipleship prayer is all about God.  Prayer is not to be about healing and fixing problems (that can happen but not as the purpose of prayer).  Prayer is about listening to God and responding (and that may include healing of our friends and neighbors, but that can never be the focus of our prayers).  We become disciples by worship.  And contrary to most in the modern church, worship is not standing until your feet are screaming, listening to lyrics of the performers on stage, and signing when they stumble on a song you know.  Worship is focusing your eyes upon Jesus, blocking out all the monkey chatter, and let the reading of Scripture, the partaking of the Sacraments, the proclamation of the word, and the singing of songs be an act of pure devotion to Christ.  We become disciples by meditation.  Spend time taking what you learn about Christ in Bible study, prayer, and worship and think about those things.  Remember Paul, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, think about those things. Think about those things which are excellent and worthy of praise.”  (Phil. 4:8)  And since only in Christ are those things fulfilled, our meditations should be upon Him.

Naomi or Mara
Tuesday, January 17, 2012

“Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded.  “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me.”  (Ruth 1:20)

                This morning, I was having a wonderful pity party.  My reflections centered on having a pastor’s heart, with no church to pastor.  In my musings I thought, “It is a shame that we learn so much as we grow older and yet the culture takes that experience and sets it aside for ‘new ideas.’”  I remember the  Chinese proverb that goes something like, “When someone dies, an entire library is taken away from us.”  “ in America we take the vast libraries, retire them, put them away in musty closets we call ‘senior care facilities,’ and tell them not to get in the way of progress.”  That was my pity party this morning.  I feel like for the first time in my life, I could be a wonderful pastor, and I have arrived at that at the same time I am too old to pastor a church (according to the selection committees who make such decisions).  And at the height of my pity party, God showed me Naomi.

                Naomi had lost her husband and her two sons.  She too was on her own kind of pity party.  As she was leaving Moab to return to Israel, her bitterness rose to the surface.  “Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord Himself has raised His fist against me.” (Ruth 1:13)  But to show her that He indeed had not raised His fist against her, God showed her that He had blessed her abundantly.  He gave her Ruth.  Ruth was a faithful daughter-in-law who sacrificed her own life to be with her mother-in-law.  Ruth left her home, her family, her friends, and her heritage, all to be with a self-pitying mother-in-law.  She uttered to Naomi the words of commitment unmatched by people today.  “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back.  Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live.  Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.  Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.  May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us.”  (Ruth 1:16-17)  Can you imagine having a spouse, a child, an in-law or even a friend that is so committed to you?  And can you imagine being blessed by God with such a relationship and still remaining bitter.

                Well, the reality of God’s blessing did not phase Naomi’s bitterness.  Instead of praising God for Ruth’s loyalty, she renamed herself and wallowed even deeper into self-pity.  When her old friends back in Bethlehem saw her returning they cried out, “Naomi! Is it truly Naomi?”  You can almost hear the excitement in their voices upon seeing an old friend return.  Again, God richly blessed this self-pitying woman.  Now you say, she must get it.  But not Naomi.  She was enjoying her self-pity so much she renamed herself.  “Don’t call me Naomi.  Instead call me Mara (bitterness), for the Almighty has made life bitter for me.”  Listen to the words of a very blessed woman.  God gave her Ruth, and she was bitter.  God gave her good and loving friends, and she was bitter.  She was so enjoying feeling sorry for herself, that she could not see the blessings that God was heaping upon her.

                Now you all know the rest of the story.  This bitter, self-centered woman was not done with God’s blessings.  She was to become the step-great grandmother of David – the man after God’s own heart.  No, she did not live to see that.  But you see, what God told me this morning, loudly and clearly, is that we must trust Him with our lives.  We may not experience His designed outcomes while we are here on this earth, but He blesses us along the way and will use our faithfulness for His good purposes.  I may never live to see how God intends to use my life, but I must never get into a pity party.  If I live my life daily for Him, He will direct the outcome according to His good purposes.

The Twilight Zone
Friday, January 13, 2012

“O LORD, I give my life to You, I trust in You O God.” (Ps. 25:1)

Sometimes I think I have fallen asleep and awakened in the Twilight Zone.  This morning is one of those mornings.  I spend time in the word and listening to men who have given their lives to the Lord, and my heart is filled with praise.  Then I open my news reports on my new “Kindle Fire” and I see two killed in a Texas church, media bashing a delightful young quarterback who lives for the Lord, and the New York City Board of Education’s remarks of why churches will no longer be allowed in public schools.  Listen carefully to this august body’s  rationale.  They said their move “would protect the minds of impressionable youth.”  Let me write that again, “Banning churches from using public (tax payer) buildings when they are not in use for other purposes will protect the minds of impressionable youth.”  The Twilight Zone.

I read the 25^th Psalm, truly a psalm of worship and praise.  The writer tells how putting his faith in God orders all things in life for the good.  Worshipping, trusting, and relishing the truth.  Let me use the New Living Translation to express those words.  “O LORD, I give my life to You.  I trust in You O God.”  Pure worship, lived out in a God centered life.  And the morning news, featuring a comment from ex-basketball player Charles Barkley commenting on Tim Tebow: “When will this nightmare be over?”  Here is a young man who truly lives Psalm 25:1 – giving his life to the Lord and trusting in God.  In an NFL culture filled with rapes, drugs, sex, corruption, and greed, here is a young man who gives his life to his Lord and gives God praise for everything.  He lives out his commitment by establishing a foundation dedicated to helping disadvantaged youth, weekly entertains children afflicted and neglected, and keeps his own life as he believes God wants him to keep it.  And New York City and Charles Barkley want to protect our impressionable youth from this kind of nightmare.  The Twilight Zone.

I read the beautiful, rhythmetic, words of Eugene Peterson, telling of his adventures in building the first church building of his ministry.  He writes of the total wholesale commitment of the congregation wanting the kind of church that God would build: a place where God could move among the people, and people respond to His word in worship and praise.  I am sure there were problems as they built this church that he omitted to teach a larger lesson, but in reality his experience demonstrated how peoples’ lives were enhanced by surrendering to God and letting God live through them all week.  Lives that were restored, renewed, and made free of the entanglements of the world were the result of their focus on God.  And the New York City Board of Education and Charles Barkley want to free our impressionable youth from this kind of nightmare.  The Twilight Zone.

We live in the Twilight Zone in American today.  It is a zone where the good is called evil and the evil is called good.  It is a zone where those who pray in the presence of the NYC Board of Education are arrested and those who defecate in the parks of NYC are praised by our national leaders.  It is a zone where the world is looking at a young man like Tebow, believing in his God and are criticized by a national media who desires graft, corruption, murder, violence, and immorality to triumphed over righteousness.  It is a zone that feels it imperative to teach a young person to practice safe sex, but does not want to corrupt their impressionable minds by letting the buildings be blessed.  It is a zone when God, who is righteous and pure and cries out that there is a way of peace is banned from the public place, while politicians who are corrupt, vile, and ungodly become the protectors of our “impressionable minds.”  We truly live in the Twilight Zone.

One Up
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

“And you should imitate me, just as I have imitated Christ. (1 Cor. 11:1)

                I will never forget the first time I saw him.  He was late to the interview – a characteristic that I come to fondly love about him.  He was always late.  Yet it didn’t seem to matter.  His smile was so infectious that such trivial issues as time management went away.  I can only remember one other time in my life when I was so taken back by a first encounter, and that was when I saw my wife for the first time.  I cannot describe the encounters, just to say that once I saw them, there was a deep stirring inside which I cannot describe.  One encounter was for my lifelong mate, the other for my best friend.

                Rick was always late.  In our healthier times, I jokingly referred to him as the late Rick Rigg.  Today, I am deeply saddened to say this letter is about the late Rick Rigg.  He passed away yesterday morning at 6:30 a.m. after a decade of struggles that would make Job stop and pay attention.  But, as I grieve with Rick’s family today, we would all agree that we are not grieving for Rick, but we are grieving for our lives without him.  I know that for sure, because Christ was more displayed in him than in most every other human being I have ever known.  He ranks right up there with my father.  And I am reminded as I think about him that we would have a far better world if we all imitated Rick, for he did indeed imitate Christ.

                Rick Rigg was a man of suffering, but not a man of sorrows.  He brought joy to so many lives by his own internal light that was truly a reflection of the glory of Christ.  From a legal standpoint, he was faithful in serving his church, a good husband, a good father, and a great supporter of his community and school.  But I know a lot of people about whom we could say that.  With Rick it was something different.  He went above and beyond the legal.  He was an imitator of Christ.  There was a profound working of our Lord in his spirit, and everyone who had an encounter with Rick knew it (whether they were Christian or not).  The glow, the caring, the warmth, the compassion, the genuine interest in his fellow human beings are not characteristics that can be copied by following a legal code.  They can only occur by reflecting the character of Christ.

                For two summers, when Rick’s health was better, we played a lot of golf together.  At the end of the first summer, after adding up our cumulative scores, he was one up.  Vowing to never let that happen again, I spent all winter trying to do a psyche job on him.  The following summer, we went at it again.  Going into the final game, after meticulously counting and recounting the season’s scores, it just so happened he was one up again.  We played the final round, head to head and going down the stretch, we were tied – tied for an entire season’s fun and ribbing.  Rick hit his shot into the rough and I drove right down the middle.  My cat calls grew loud.  All I got in return was a silly grin.  I was on the green in two and Rick in three.  I was counting the score and enjoying every minute of my prospective victory.  Then it happened, Rick’s long 30+ foot putt broke into the hole for a par.  Now I had to sink to beat him, two-putt to tie.  I missed my approach putt and left it 2 feet out.  Rick stood above the hole and gyrated like a Greek dancer and you guessed it, my putt lipped out.  Rick was one up for another year.  Sadly, that was his last year for golf.  Although we laughed and dreamed about a classic rematch it never happened.

                I tell you that story for one reason.  Rick is still one up on me.  He is first to see the Lord.  He was first in transforming character, and he was first in being the kind of friend every man longs for.  Rick, I will miss you terribly, and I long to pick up our fly rods and clubs again.  But next time, my fish will be bigger, my score will be lower, so you had bettered practice.  We only have an eternity to even the odds.  But for now, you are still one up.

Pains of Childbirth
Monday, September 28, 2009

“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Gal 4:19 Note:  Many of these thoughts are borrowed from a letter I wrote to a dear friend this morning.               

 If you have never been a pastor or church leader, I doubt you can relate to the passion Paul felt as he addressed a legalistic church in Galatia.  His heart was ripping apart with almost every word of the very passionate letter to the leadership there.  For purposes of understanding Paul’s letter we must understand the definition of legalism.  Legalism is where the laws, traditions, and rules of men are more important than the Word of God and these same rules are substituted for Christ Himself.     

           I, like Paul, have a passion for the Body of Christ – the Church. And it is indeed like pains of childbirth yearning to see Christ transforming His Body.  And because of that passion, I have found myself in battle with organized religion (legalism) since the day I entered ministry.  Organized religion is destroying God’s church in America.  Sixty churches close their doors every month.  Attendance at worship has declined by over 40 percent in the last 50 years.  Mega churches, where people can go and get entertained but not discipled, fed coffee during worship but not spiritual meat and potatoes, hear rock music but not the uncompromising word of God, and where interpersonal relationships are lost in a sea of uncommitted faces, these spring up and die with the same frequency as do other churches, leaving the landscape of America littered with edifices of the failure of the Body of Christ.  The influence of the Church in America has been stripped and people are only allowed to do their “God-thing” as long as it does not interfere with the rights of the culture to destroy itself.  Seminaries have become academic icons of secularism and in them the God of the universe is relegated to a smallness of position so minute that He could not transform anything, including the poor unsuspecting pastors who attend there.

                The question has to come:  how did this happen?  Well, I believe it happened in the same way that 6 million Jews were killed in WWII without much protest from them, the Church, or the world in general.  The Jews refused to believe it was happening and were in denial all the way into the gas chamber, the Church acquiesced to Hitler rather than lose their positions and prestige and their right to exist, and the world hid its head in the sand.  So the church in compromise, led the people in denial into their own destruction – while the world paid no attention.  Therein lies the problem in the modern church, we are being led like sheep in denial by compromised leadership to our unsuspecting slaughter, and crucifying the shepherds who try to turn us away.                The modern church is led by politicians not men and women dedicated to prayer, fasting, and spiritual discipline, waiting on the Lord for instruction and direction.  We are led by politics and money instead of the word of God.  (I have said many times that in most churches in America today, if the constitution or a tradition clashes with the Word of God, you can bet the word will lose.) And we hire (instead of call) CEO’s who are more skilled in programs that in being in tune to God’s Holy Spirit.  And so the churches are run more like businesses than the Body of Christ.  A person’s right to vote becomes more important than their commitment to serve, so even the most uncommitted Christian can influence the direction of the church and have equal say with the saints who spend tearful hours in prayer and fasting.   

             These are the hard realities of the modern church.  I have spent so much time in battling this organized religion that I have wasted my ministry, destroyed the gentleness of my wife, and left my own tolerance for politics as usual on the wayside.  I have fought all the church battles I want to fight.  I dreams of a church where Christ is Lord, where disciplines are part of the joyous order of the saints, where lives are being transformed, where the word of God is the only constitution, and where elders meet the biblical requirements set out for them.  I want to be able to worship without hearing old people complain about the music or expressions of worship and young people complain about the traditional hymns that have sustained the church for ages.  I want a multigenerational church where the generations have learned to love each other as Christ loved the Church – loving, understanding, mentoring, learning, growing, transforming all for the Glory of God.  I would be content to be in a messy church which is committed to that but has not attained it; but one which does not put stumbling blocks in the pathway of making it happen.  My life and my ministry are drawing to a close and I want to spend what years I have left for God’s glory and purposes, not fighting religion.  My daily prayer is from Psalm 71, “My life is an example to many, because You have been my strength and protection.  That is why I can never stop praising You; I declare Your glory all day long.  And now, in my old age, don’t set me aside.  Don’t abandon me when my strength is failing.  O God, You have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things You do.  Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God.  Let me proclaim Your power to this new generation, Your mighty miracles to all who come after me.” (Ps. 71:5-9;14-18)