Prayer of the People – Ike

Lord God, you created everything. You created the whole universe. You control and sustain everything. Nothing happens that you do not first allow. Father God, for all things happen for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purposes. All things.

Lord, help us to have the faith that we need to make it through this time of recovery from hurricane Ike. Help us to understand that all of this is happening for our good. Not that you are making good come from bad, but that this seemingly bad situation us ultimately good for us. You are teaching us and molding us and making us more like yourself. Please God, make us more like your Son, Jesus. Make us more aware of our neighbors and their needs. Give is hearts for their well-being. And ultimately, may we seek to glorify You in all situations, no matter how difficult or heart-breaking.

Father, we know that this home that we now have is not our permanent home. Please help us to see that and live accordingly. Let us not be too concerned with our temporary state and our earthly treasures. May we hold on to them loosely knowing that you give, and that you take away, and that you are good in doing so. For it would be far better for us to loose everything in order to be with you than to have everything that this world has to offer, yet loose our souls. Help us, Father, to seek only you as our treasure. Father, you and you alone are our only source of true joy. You and you alone are worthy of our worship and our praise. You and you alone can sustain us, give us hope and peace, and bring us true and everlasting satisfaction.

Father, may we also see terrible things like this and just be all the more aware of the destructive nature of the sin in our lives. May we see the pain that it causes and know that this is akin to the pain that we cause you when we sin against you. May we experience the pain and anguish that you feel when we go astray and may that draw us back to you with an understanding all the more of your wrath, and of your grace, mercy and love.

Lord, with all of this being said, I ask you now to please be with everyone who has suffered loss in this storm. I pray first for those who lost everything. Those who no longer have a home; who no longer have food, clothing, or a job. Lord God, all that they have now is you and some of them don’t even know that you are here for them. Please use this time to turn hearts and change lives. I pray also for those who have lost loved ones. I pray peace for them and that you comfort them. I ask that you fill the void that was left behind.

I ask for strength for those of us who only have damage to property that we can make it through this trying time with peace and good character. Give us strength to help our neighbors and to see your hand of blessing on our lives.

May we also see the devastation that came from this storm far beyond our own backyards. There was destruction and loss of lives for hundreds of miles across the country. I even heard of hurricane force winds as far away as Ohio. Of course there were also the people hit by Ike in Cuba, and all along the gulf coast before it even got to Texas. All of these areas have suffered tremendously. Be with us all. Give us all strength to cope with that which you have given us. May we not look upon ourselves with pity, but with hope in a better future, in a better country; a heavenly one.

May we make this time of recovery not only one of recovering from the losses of a storm, but also recovery from the losses of our own sin, selfishness and pride. May we be restored not to a normal life as things were but be restored unto you in a way that is far better than the way things were prior to this tragedy. Father, restore us unto you, sanctify us, cover us with your blood and pour out your grace and mercy upon us and save us from ourselves as well as from a hurricane.

We thank you for the provision that you have already given us. I thank your for all of the hard work from so many members of Basilica already. People have sacrificed so much of their own time, energy, heath, and time with family in order to serve you by serving those around them. I pray a specific blessing on these people. Draw us all near to you and may your will ultimately be done in all of our lives. In the Holy and precious name of your son, Jesus Christ, I pray… Amen.

Urgency For the Lost – in memory of LeRoi Moore

Isn’t it strange that we don’t really think much of the consequences of our sin until someone dies. Even still, if it’s someone that we do not know, then their death is nothing more to us than a part of their life. However if someone near and dear to us passes away, it is more than just a part of their life, they are now dead. We mourn as if something deeper has happened than our friend leaving. A part of ourselves has died as well. If a friend moves to Nantucket and we are to never see them again, we miss them and may even shed a few tears, however, if we find out that they were killed on the road on the way, we mourn all the more. Our heart aches and we turn inward. We wonder what is happening to them now, if they’re safe; if they’re in peace or in torment. We wonder what would happen to ourselves if the same were to happen to us.

A few weeks ago, a friend of a friend of mine was killed in a car wreck. This buddy of mine was distraught because this guy had been a friend of his since high school. They used to hang out and had a lot of good times together. Around Christmas time, the two of them talked at length about the gospel. This friend of his said that he just could not accept the gospel as truth; it just was not for him. The next news he got about his friend was that he was dead.

And today, although the story is not nearly as personal to me, news that LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band has passed away just came through. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a pretty big fan of DMB so I do feel a bit of a personal connection with this. (Not quite like when Kurt Cobain died, but nonetheless.) I know and feel very much that death is a part of living and that we all die, some to eternal life and some to eternal damnation. We can’t escape it no matter how hard we try. No matter how good our stock portfolio is, no matter how aggressively we invest in our 401K, no matter if we pay a little more for the PPO health insurance coverage instead of the HMO, we all die eventually. It doesn’t even really matter if we have an iPhone 3G or not. What matters is, has the blood of Jesus poured over you and washed away your transgressions leaving only Christ’s righteousness in their place. Perhaps equally so, is if this is the case for your friends, loved ones, neighbors, and even enemies.

In thinking of LeRoi Moore’s death, I can’t help but think of the story in Luke 16 when the rich man and Lazarus died. The rich man, in torment in Hades, saw Lazarus at Abraham’s side and wished that Lazarus could dip his finger into water to cool his tongue. Abraham said that was impossible because a great chasm existed between here and there. Then the rich man asked if Lazarus could go to his father’s house to warn his five brothers for if someone were to go to them from the dead they would repent. Abraham’s response was that they, too, have the law of Moses and the Prophets. Let them hear for themselves, but even so, if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, “neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead”.

The reason this comes up in light of LeRoi Moore’s death is that I know that Dave Matthews is not a believer. I can only assume that the fellow members in his band are not either or they would not be able to continue with a band that belittles Christ and openly denies the existence of God. I now see LeRoi pleading with Abraham to send someone to alert his friends and family of the true nature of the one true God only to be told, “No.” We all have the same chance to hear the word of God and repent. We also only have this one lifetime to further God’s kingdom. Once we die, we’re dead. Nothing more can happen as far as our ministry on earth and nothing more can happen as far as our eternal condition.

All of this rambling is only to say that we must have a sense of urgency for spreading the word of God and His kingdom. People are dying every day and going to hell. If we merely sit by and do nothing about it, then we are not loving the Lord with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength and we surely are not loving our neighbors as ourselves. When a lost friend dies, it hurts, not only because we miss him/her but because we know that they are enduring the torment of the flames of Hell forever. Nothing else can be done, it’s over and finished, they are justly damned. All that we can do it get out there and help make sure that as few people as possible have to end up that way and pray for the lost souls everywhere around you.

Money worship

In the parable of the rich young ruler, a young man asks Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life.  After referring to the Ten Commandments, Jesus states that if he wants to be perfect then he is to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor.  Why?  Is it because no one with money is able to get to heaven?  Jesus later added that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  It sounds a lot like he just said that rich people are damned for being rich and they cannot and will not enter heaven.  For man this is true, but with God, all things are possible.  With God at the helm, anybody can enter the kingdom of heaven and left to ourselves, no man can enter.

 

What, again, does this mean?  What kind of miracle does it take to get a rich man into heaven?  This is extremely important here in the U.S. where even our poorest people are among the worlds richest.  In the age of IPods, MacBook Airs, Hummers, and Sile Stone countertops, how can anyone in the United States expect to live eternally worshiping God in his glory rather than experiencing his wrath (especially when the preacher on TV is asking you to pray for a new helicopter for him because his old one just won’t do anymore)?

 

Also, Jesus said “if you want to be perfect…” Does this mean that Jesus requires perfection of us?  Do we need to be perfect to inherit eternal life?  I think that the answer is a resounding YES!  If we are not perfect we are unacceptable to God.  How can we exist with even a single blemish in God’s perfect and holy presence?  We cannot, our sin must be atoned for either by our eternal penance in hell or by Christ’s infinite sacrifice on the cross.  This is why Jesus’ imputed righteousness through his propitiation on the cross is so important.  This, too, is impossible for man, but with God, all things are possible.

 

So, back to the issue of riches, what are we to do?  Must we all expect to go to hell unless we take on a life of poverty?  Is a forced life of poverty a requirement to get into heaven?  The answer to this, I believe, is mostly yes and no.  I’ll explain.  We are, of course,  to never, ever force a new requirement upon ourselves to make ourselves more holy or more acceptable to God.  This not only doesn’t work, but it angers God.  Anything, no matter how good our intentions are, that we try to do to sanctify ourselves is idol worship.  If we are not relying solely upon the cross of Christ for our salvation, then we are seeking to justify ourselves through some other means.  This includes selling all of our possessions and giving everything to the poor, just like Jesus said to, if we are doing it ritualistically or out of religious duty.  Trying to save ourselves by meeting a “requirement” with our money is not worshiping God with our finances, it is worshiping either the law or our money for what our money can do for us.  It is certainly not worship of God if we get puffed up with pride so that everybody around can see how “holy” we are for doing such a thing. 

 

However, I do think that in order to worship God with our finances, we must do exactly what Jesus said, sell all of our possessions and give it to the poor.  Didn’t I just say that we didn’t have to do that?  The difference is the intent.  If our intent is to fulfill some imposed requirement to make ourselves more holy, then that intent is sin.  But if our intent is to worship and glorify God, then it is our stewardly duty to give our excess to those who need it.  How is paying $100 a month for cable and just as much for a fancy mobile phone service storing up treasures in heaven?  How is buying a car with a sunroof and spinning rims loving the Lord your God?  And how does spending $30-40 on a single meal love your neighbor?  Must we force poverty upon ourselves?  To some extent, I think so.  I don’t think that we need to make ourselves literally poor where we don’t have anything at all.  We’re no good to anyone at that point.  But we, as servants of the one true God, must live at a level that might appear underprivileged because everything that we continue to earn above what we need is going out the door to others who have nothing.  How dare we sit by on our couches worshiping the god of entertainment when people are starving to death on the streets and going to hell?  How dare we view ourselves a superior to others in need and rationalize our laziness?  If we thought that poor people were deserving of more, we would help, right?  But we don’t.  So, I suppose we must view them as inferior to us who deserve what we have.  We worked for it so we deserve it, right?  Or have we all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory?  Perhaps we all deserve hell and it’s only by God’s grace that any are saved.  Perhaps He has done more for us than we could ever imagine and we must give Him our money, our lives and our deaths because He is so great and merciful.  What do we have that wasn’t given to us anyway?

 

If we continue to not only store up for ourselves treasures on this earth but also squander what we’ve been given how could we even think that there would be an eternal reward waiting for us in heaven?  What part of “Well done, my good and faithful servant” includes HDTV’s and other overpriced perishable crap?  Therefore I propose that we, as Christians, MUST get rid of everything that we do not need to survive or to continue to function in society and give it away.  We MUST give our money (and don’t think I’m just talking about 10%, 90% of our income is still extreme excess) to the poor and needy; to the fatherless and the widow.  This cannot be just so that they can have some crap too, but so that they might see the heart of God in our lives and then come to glorify God for His grace and mercy as well.  There are so many missionaries out there whose hands are tied financially and cannot fulfill what God has called them to do because we refuse to give up our perishable comforts and false securities. 

Damn legalism

This is a segment from Chapter 21 of John Piper’s book, “Brothers We Are Not Professionals.”  He is discussing legalism and its effects.  He’s illustrates his point by discussion whether it is right or wrong to require abstinence from alcohol as a requirement for church membership (as many churches do.)

 

It seems beyond doubt that God hates legalism as much as He hates alcoholism.  And I believe it is a literal understatement that legalism has brought more people to eternal ruin that alcohol has, though the devastations of alcohol are huge.

 

Let us not be deceived by outward appearances.  Satan “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14).  He keeps his deadliest diseases most sanitary.  He clothes his captains in religious garments and houses his weapons in temples.  Legalism is a more dangerous disease than alcoholism because it doesn’t look like one.  Alcoholism makes men fail; legalism helps them succeed in the world.  Alcoholism makes men depend on the bottle; legalism makes them self-sufficient, depending on no one.  Alcoholism destroys moral resolve; legalism gives it strength.  Alcoholics don’t feel welcome in the church; legalists love to hear their morality extolled in church.

 

Therefore, what we need in the church is not front-end regulations to try to keep ourselves pure.  We need to preach and pray and believe that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither teetotalism nor social drinking, neither legalism nor alcoholism is of any avail with God, but only a new heart.

 

Although in our day and age, most young people seem to struggle with excess liberty, it is still good to look at the detrimental affects of legalism.  We need to compare the evil of legalism not against the good of liberty, but to the evil of liberty in excess.

Three in One?

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (I prefer to use the word Spirit and not Ghost because I do not believe in ghosts, per se, pardon my French, so I feel weird using that word). Three in One… or are they?If Jesus prayed to God the Father and then they both sent the Spirit, doesn’t that seem like three separate entities? How can God send himself and pray to himself? What is the big deal with them being one anyway? Christianity is monotheistic because we believe in only one God, but there seem to be three deities. Why can’t we say that the Father is God and the other two are lesser, therefore not God himself?

 

What is the big deal with the trinity?

 

I grew up believing in the trinity not because of some great revelation of God in my life or because I was born a great philosophic theologist but because my mom and my Sunday school teacher told me so. I never had a problem believing that the Father, Son, and Spirit were one because if you tell yourself it is true and don’t think about it, it’s not a problem. 3 in 1… Done. End of discussion. If you tell yourself that a cat is a dog and vise versa and then don’t think about it, you might believe it and even tell others it is true too. The problem with the trinity is that it makes absolutely no sense at all! It cannot make sense. And to say that you have no problem understanding the trinity makes you out to either be a liar, an idiot or a fool. Three cannot be one!

 

Therefore, by this logical deduction, Jesus is not God, he could not have been perfect, he was a raving lunatic for claiming he was God, he died and is still dead, our sins have not been atoned for, God’s wrath is still upon us as we are all still sinners separated from God because of our inevitable sin, therefore we are already condemned to die and suffer all of eternity apart from God’s glory burning in the fiery pit of Hell. CHEERS! Good night everybody, I’m here all week! Go home, make love to your wife, and shoot yourself in the head because what difference will it make in the long run.
 
It’s a good thing that this is not the end of my post. The above statement would be true… if it were true, but fortunately it is not. It is true that three cannot be one… for us. It is true that it cannot make sense… to us. It is also true that it is foolish to claim it to be true… for us. God is perfect, infinite, all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere. He made all, sustains all, was before all, is over all, and will be after all. He is. We are not. We are finite, imperfect, foolish, weak, and ignorant. We see things only dimly as where God sees things as they really are. How can three be one? When it is God.

 

Jesus has to be God because only God is perfect. Everyone else has sinned and fallen short of His Glory. Everything else is tainted and there is nothing that we can do to make ourselves right in His presence. Jesus has to be God because He claimed to be, therefore he was either telling the truth or deserved his death by crucifixion for blasphemy. Jesus has to be God because if he were just a man, his death would be meaningless and not relevant to the rest of creation. There is no way that creation could be restored unto it’s creator by any other means than the creator himself reconciling it to himself. Our sin separates us from an infinite God therefore and infinite price must be paid. That infinite price either comes from our finite being suffering infinitely, or from an infinite God sacrificing himself in our place, once and for all.

 

I suppose that my point here is that although the doctrine of the trinity is very challenging and hard to grasp (assuming that you even try to grasp it), that doesn’t make it false. When we assume something to be untrue only on the basis that it makes no sense, then we are putting ourselves on the level of God, judging others, and claiming to hold ultimate truth in ourselves. We must realize our meekness. We must realize God’s greatness. We must accept the fact that God is unsearchable and far beyond the simple minds that He created us with. We must accept the trinity as factual truth; the gospel and our salvation depends on it.

 

What is lacking in Christ’s afflictions

So I was inadvertently listening to an old Matt Chandler sermon (Village Church in Dallas, TX) today.  I say inadvertently because the sermon was dated 5/27 so I thought that it was one from just a couple of weeks ago.  I didn’t realize until later that it was from 5/27/07.  Nonetheless, I think that this sermon is messing me up (and, so it seems, at a very opportune time considering my previous post).  He took a long time in setting up this dilemma/question (I won’t go into the set up, if you want to hear it all, you’ll have to find it yourself).  If all of creation groans as in labor pains, anxiously awaiting the revelation of Christ in His glory, then why don’t we.  Why do we get caught up in this church game of showing up on Sunday, learning how and when to say the right things at appropriate times, when to raise your hands in a song (like right after the ever heart-wrenching key change), and what books to read, shows to watch (or not watch), and music to listen to and then think that God is going to be okay with us because of it.  If all of creation is standing by longing for and yearning to see the last person saved before Jesus’ glorious reappearance, why do we casually stand around, treating God like the president of a country club who is just happy to see us there, hanging out, paying our dues.

I cannot remember very many times that I have taken God seriously enough that I lost sleep because of an inner turmoil that I was facing in regards to God’s splendor and my wretchedness.  I just don’t.  If I’m honest with myself, I realize that I flippantly dismiss God’s grace and mercy either as something that He must have given me because I deserved it, or I don’t even think upon it at all and just take the most precious and only gift of any value for granted and essentially spit upon the cross without the honor, reverence, and gravity it is due.

All of this comes to a head with me in a separate point that is contingent on this first (as if that wasn’t enough).  This is the one that is really kicking me in the pants.  Is it even possible to serve Christ in truth if we are not being persecuted for it?  If we are not making a mockery of ourselves for the sake of Jesus, are we even fulfilling the great commission as Jesus commanded?
Consider what Paul said in the following verse, Colossians 1:24, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church…”  Now we all know that there was nothing lacking in Christ’s atonement.  Nothing can improve it or make it more complete, so what is Paul talking about?  Perhaps, Paul’s sufferings are an extension of Christ’s afflictions into his own body.  Perhaps without the same extension of Christ’s afflictions in our own body, we are not fulfilling what Jesus has called us to.  Can we serve Jesus and the church without filling up in our own flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions?  Is persecution and even to martyrdom necessary?

There are plenty of other verses that talk about our afflictions for the sake of Christ.  I realize that the church was being strongly persecuted at this time because the Christian church was brand new, however, the bible doesn’t say that we should rejoice IF we are persecuted, it says rejoice WHEN you are persecuted.

I have had many a conversation with people who don’t want to evangelize in certain ways so as to not look foolish and so as to make the gospel look more appealing.  Maybe, just maybe, if we are not being foolish, if the gospel looks too appealing to a lot of people, we are not evangelizing in truth (or perhaps not at all).  If we groaned inwardly because we had such strong affections for the Lord and His greatness, then we wouldn’t even think twice about serving Him unto death right in the face of persecution.  And not only if persecution were to come to us, but because the gospel itself preached in truth brings it about all its own.

ennui of otiosity – self titled

ennui of otiosity or in other words a being tired of being idle and useless.

I suppose that I picked this title for my blog because I found two cool words to express the way I have felt for a while now.  It seems every time I think that I get going on the right track, either my circumstances or myself push me back to a place of complacency and idleness.  Frankly, I’m sick of it.

What can I do, though?  What can a person do, in and of himself, to get out of a rut?  I have come to believe that the answer is nothing.  There is nothing that I can do, in and of myself, to serve my Lord and Savior that will make Him or myself happy.  Any efforts to please Him in my own stregth prove futile (therefore I stop trying) and prove my lack of reliance upon Him and are indicative of my own arrogance and pride.  The problem here is then what is a person to do if there is nothing he can do?  How do I serve God while relying on God at the same time?  How can you serve someone if you have to rely on the one you are serving in order to serve them?  Besides that, God has everything and is all powerful so how can we serve Him in the first place?

Mostly, I suppose it lies in the distinction between legalism and regeneration.  Depending on your background, this may be obvious or it may seem rediculous.  Legalism and regeneration are not opposites.  It’s like distinguishing between black and hot.  The opposite of black is white and hot is cold.  The opposites of legalism and regeneration are liberty and unregeneration (or being lost).  This, however, is the point.  There is no balance between legalism and liberty that will sanctify you or make you right with God.  No matter how good you are at doing what He says (or doing what He doesn’t say to not do), if you don’t know Him your heart cannot be in the right place to serve Him.  The issue is one only of regeneration (and perhaps also of progressive sanctification, but whatever).
The key to all of this is that we do not work hard to be loved by God, we work hard BECAUSE WE ARE loved by God.  We serve Him not to gain approval, but because He has already approved of us only by his grace.

I know that the people that are aware of this blog currently (as I sent them an email) know this already.  I’m not saying anything new, but these thoughts were on my mind today.  I still have to hash through some of this stuff daily or else it goes away.  Not the biblical truth of it all, but from my lifestyle.  If I keep going over and over these thoughts, then maybe some day I can actually begin to understand what Paul ment when he said “To live is Christ”.  I know that I truly don’t understand these things, or else I would be serving God fearlessly, laying my life down, even to death, taking up my cross daily for the benifit of the The Kingdom.  Instead, I drive in my air conditioned car to and from my job with a 401K and health benifts and come home to a house that I am remodeling because I am too stuck on myself to be happy with the color of my kitchen countertops.  My life is not Christ and I live like I am afraid to die.  Even if I died serving God and left my wife and kids, God, in His sovereignty has already said that it is good.  All things work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposes.

God teach me what it means to live as Christ and to believe that to die is gain!  Place within my soul a longing for You so that I can’t wait to be in your presence.  But until then, give me a yurning to do all that I can to make sure that as few people as possible have to suffer apart from your glory.  Lord God, show me your love and teach me how to serve you because of your love, not in order to attempt to earn it.

I’m falling…

Although I have said in the past that I would never blog, I have succumb to the world of blogging.  I don’t really know why.  I guess that I do have something to say, or maybe there are a lot of people that I look up to who blog and I want to be like them.  Whatever the reason, it will at least give me a chance to throw some thoughts around in the cyber-universe and maybe get better at organizing them in a way that some people might be able to interpret… what.  Exactly.  I need practice.  Who knows, maybe I’ll write a book someday that will be read by as many people as read this blog and it will be all due to the fact that on this rainy afternoon at work (when I should be doing something more important than blogging) I “purchased” this little bit of cyber realestate.