I asked some questions about denominations on Tuesday.  Since I have only been in one, the Church of God-Tennessee, these were real questions I wanted a little discussion about.  Not many seemed to have anything to say.  I was mainly wondering why some people seem to have an overwhelming love for the institutions of man.  Some of the comments and conversations I have read and heard put some peoples love and views of their denominations on a level close to idolatry, in my opinion.

I didn’t join my church because it was in the Church of God.  I didn’t join it because I felt all of the beliefs and commitments were so much better or different than others.  I did make sure they were not claiming anything blatantly unbiblical.  But after that the doctrine of this denomination did not make me jump up and down and declare, this is it, I’ve found the right one.  As a matter of fact, the more I have learned and grown I am pretty certain we have a couple of things wrong.  It is okay though because everyone does.

So why did I join and stay, you might be asking.

I did it primarily because I sensed the love of God in the people of my local assembly.  After being here for seven years, I now not only sense it, I know it.  There are a lot of people in my church that love people.  But we still have a problem.

I have become more and more concerned with the people outside the walls of my church building, the people in the community that surrounds us every Sunday.  Those citizens in Alabaster that sleep in, or go hunting, or wash their clothes and cars, or finish those little home improvement chores, or visit family, or just lay around their homes enjoying the day off; these are the ones I am concerned about because while all of these things may seem harmless, they are really things that serve our adversary and his kingdom and are actually going to cause these people to end up with an eternal sentence that my King does not want.  And if my King does not want it, then I don’t either.

So what is our problem at Alabaster?

It is the same problem a lot of churches have.  We are okay at dispensing the love God commands of us to most of those that darken our doorways.  Visitors are generally welcome and not even ignored by most.  And when someone decides to come for a while most do show them some love.  We even brainstorm and pray about how to get more people to come.  Special programs, holiday fellowships, kid’s crusades, and other ideas are tossed about and some even performed and we have a bigger crowd that day.  But that is it; we have a bigger crowd that day.

I am not against these things.  I am not against asking everyone we see to come to church.  Programs are tools for us to use.  They are just not the essence of the mission.  I am against our attitudes that reflect that we think we have achieved great things for the Kingdom by doing these things.  That we have somehow succeeded at our mission.

The mission our Lord left us with was simple.  Jesus told us to go.  He told us to make disciples, feed the hungry, care for the widowed, the orphaned, and the imprisoned.  We can and should be doing some of this in our churches when they do come.  But if you haven’t noticed, most are not coming, even when we ask.

That is why we must start doing the first part.  We must go, go where they are, and do the work He would have us do and stop waiting till they show up where we are.  So what does this really have to do with denominations?

I just wish some of those that display such passionate devotion to their denominations would display at least the same amount of passion for the true Church, Jesus’ Church, the ekklesia, and for the mission He left us.  I just wish more of us were passionate about going.

Love you all

Tags: adversary, alabaster, attitudes, Belief, Church, Church of God, denomination, Fellowship, God, Kingdom, mission, Work

You probably read the title and might be wondering what in the world I am talking about.  Atheism was not as hard as what?  The answer is atheism was not as hard as Christianity.  At this point some of you are probably thinking I am crazy, but hold on.  Am I?  Do you find Christianity easy?  If you do then I simply have to ask which Jesus you are following.

I know, before some of you even say it, loving a wonderful, merciful, savior is easy.  Loving God as Father is easy also.  He is so very easy to love when you get a taste of His incomprehensible mercy, amazing grace, and unsurpassable peace.  The very real fact that He rescued me from the jaws of death, literally, and an eternal destination far from Him, and even from enslavement by sin and service to the enemy makes it easy for me to love Him.

But is that all Christianity is?

No, it is not.  Christianity, no matter how a postmodern society and church defines it, is really about or should be about, following, serving, and doing as that easy to love Savior-King, Jesus, commanded us.  And He commanded us not only to love Him but to love everybody else too.  We must love our spouses as He loves the church-His body and bride.  We must love our families by obeying our parents and caring and instructing our children.  We must love our brothers in the family of God because anyone that hates his brother is a murderer.  We must love our neighbors even as we love ourselves and we know that we love ourselves very dearly.  We must even love our enemies and show it by turning the other cheek and giving them our coat when they steal our shirt.

This is a love that goes against our very natures.  When someone does not love us like we love them we tend to draw away, to hold back.  But this is in direct opposition to our instructions.  When I am faced by someone that does not reciprocate the love I try to develop I must try even harder.  When I am faced with bitter words coming from a loved one I am to keep quiet instead of retaliating.  When I am faced by ridicule, slander, or hurtful invective I am supposed to pray blessing upon that person.  None of this is easy.  But it is necessary.

It is necessary if we are going to be effective in our mission.  It is necessary if we are going to help win some to the cause of the Kingdom.  It is necessary if we are going to achieve unity in the Body.  It is necessary if we are going to be like our King.

Yes, atheism was easy in comparison.  All I had to do was be self-centered and admit it instead of deny it like we seem to do when we are born again.  Joining Christ’s cause did not automatically take away my self-centeredness.  I also recognized that I pretty much hated everyone and cared little about anyone except sometimes in a self-centered way.  Hate is easy but the eventual destination is not anything I would wish on my worst enemy.  And that is what love is all about.  It is about being truly concerned for the eventual eternal destination of everyone we know or meet.  But loving everyone in a magnanimous, sacrificial way is so very hard at times.

Atheism was not this hard.  But where was the challenge in it.

Love you all

Tags: amazing grace, Atheism, Christian, Christianity, Church, Death, Enemy, Father, God, Grace, jesus, Kingdom, Lie, Mercy, mission, Murder, neighbor, Self, Service

I missed all but the last seconds of a news report about the legalization of gambling in my state, Alabama, a couple of hours ago.  What I did see was the statistics proclaiming that 67% of the residents here approved of it.  Gambling, to my knowledge is not addressed specifically in the bible.

I know there are arguments about the addictions and abuses of gambling.  I also know some people are addicted to and abuse other things like cheeseburgers and donuts.  So leaving the ideas about addictions aside I propose the following questions for discussion.

Is all gambling wrong in Gods eyes and why?

How do you justify your views?

If you were in charge would you receive offerings from the winnings of a gambler or lottery player?

What say you?

Love you all

Tags: addictions, cheeseburgers, Discussion, donuts, gambler, God, Knowledge, legalization of gambling, lottery player, offerings, state alabama, town hall, Tuesday

One of the most amazing things about God is that he loves us the way he does.  Some people hold a belief that he made us for worship; that he actually made us to adore him.  He has the power to have made us that way or any way that he wanted, but he chose to go a different route.  He made us with free will; to really have the ability to make our own choices.

He took a risk.  Love entails risk.  There is always the chance that those that are loved will not love back.  God knew this and still took the route that he did.  He is not the self centered ego maniac that some theological worldviews paint him out to be.  This is good news for those of us that want to reach out to the skeptics of this world.  We actually have something to say against all of their arguments about a loving God doing evil nasty things.

The bible paints a picture of a God that gets hurt when we forsake him.  The idea that God is impassable is just not presented in the bible.  Our choices cause him pain, regret, jealousy, anger, and sometimes joy.  The reformed believers do not fully accept this.  Some reject it outright.  They seem to do this out of a belief that it lessens God somehow.  They believe that those of us that believe the way I do are trying to make God in my image.  This is not so.

He made us in his image.  So what does that mean?  How could we be made in his image if he does not experience emotion since we are riddled with them, driven by them, and even ruined by them sometimes?

God created us like we are because he wanted true relationships with us.  That whole idea about worship and adoration is a side effect actually.  When someone comes to really know him through a real relationship, they are going to naturally worship and adore him because of who he is.  But we can’t know this until we enter into a love relationship with him.  It is intentional on our part.

Some see love as an emotion and in some sense it is.  But really it is the lasting quality, attribute or aspect, which God has for us or wants from us.  Love is something that we determine and decide we will do.  What we call love in the beginning relationship is really attraction, or even lust.  It then turns into desire and maybe grows into care.  But if it never turns into love, agape as Paul calls it, then it probably won’t last.  And if it does not, if we are to believe the evidence, then relationships don’t last.

Ask any person that you know that has been married forty or fifty years if it was all a bed of roses.  I know a few and for most it was not.  Some of them faced and went through things that cause us to wonder why or how they ever stayed together.  The answer is simple, they made a commitment, and they intentionally kept that commitment.  In our society today we not only do not always commit, even when we do we do not necessarily intend to keep it.

When we make marriage vows today, are we saying that we are going to love, honor and cherish or are we really saying we will love until the attraction is not as strong, honor as long as we receive more, and cherish until someone or something comes along that we are more attracted to.  Even the vows we say in a marriage ceremony show the intentionality of love.  We promise “to love” not that we necessarily “do love”.

My wife and I watched Fireproof last week.  I have been letting the movies concepts run through my head all week.  There was not a lot of great acting in it but the message was powerful.  The message was that love, and marriage, is intentional.  The couple had every stereotypical thing that is wrong in marriage going on but even if we are not all going though all that they were, we still need to get the message, the concept, in our heads and our hearts so that we can turn this crisis called divorce around.  This means we must be intentional.  And we really need Jesus to be our Lord.

We must, especially as people of the Kingdom of God, do what we said we would do.  Marriage is a covenant, which is the way God intended, and covenants are not to be broken.  No matter what.  God could have broken his covenant with us long ago and we would deserve it.  But he didn’t.  He even went so far as to send Jesus to die so that we could stay in covenant with him.  The cross was intentional.

If you are married, or intending to be, watch the movie Fireproof and read the book, The Love Dare, together.  I have read most of it and it is a valuable tool to help you keep any vows you have made.  Being, or becoming more, Christlike demands that you keep your promises.

“But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.” (Jas 5:12)

Intentional.  What does intentional love really look like?  It looks like a cross.  So let your yes be yes.  Be intentional in loving.  Especially in marriage, but also in everything else you do. 

Love you all

Tags: Belief, Bible, Christlike, Fireproof, Free will, God, jesus, joy, Kingdom, Love, Love Dare, Marriage, Relationships, skeptics