As I Did to You...

"If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you." [John 13:14-15]

We cannot ignore the "one another(s)" in Scripture and think that we are somehow close to the heart of God. Love for one another is the truest form of discipleship. Serving, submitting, admonishing, encouraging, and sharing sounds simple but in the Kingdom of God they are profound. Don't miss the opportunities to experience the Lord through the menial tasks of life. These things may not be accompanied by lights, applause, and/or accolades of men but I assure you that they carry a greater weight of glory than many things we deem important.

My attention this week has been quite simple. How do I treat the people around me? How do I respond to those that God has placed in and around my life? How much of this Gospel of reconciliation am I willing to live out? To be quite honest with you, I don't know if I've given enough attention to this detail in my life. Sure, I've tried to be helpful to those in need. I've tried to be gracious, honest, kind, etc. But what of my willingness to serve others in love when there isn't a cause?

Jesus' example to the disciples (I believe) isn't meant to set up a routine foot washing among the followers. I believe He was instilling within them a life lesson that we all should carry: Never be too great in your own eyes to serve the least of those around you.

When I consider these words, I cannot help but think that we have often applauded people at the wrong end of the spectrum. We get excited over the messages, the worship teams, and the evangelists. We often look for those recognizable achievements that come in the limelight. This mentality has created an environment of performers. Those who only do things when they can be noticed. And it has kept us from paying attention to the servers, the humble in heart, and the ones who don't look for fame & glory.

I can look over my history in the church now and see the people that I should have been applauding all along. Those "simple" believers who carried food to those in need, shared from their garden, wrote encouraging notes, cleaned homes, and did the things that nobody else would do. Their theology may not have been the sharpest. Maybe they didn't have a great understanding of doctrine. However, what they did have was a heart to serve, submit, love, encourage, and carry out the other "one another(s)" in Scripture.

My dear friends, we live in a doctrine heavy society. One of the first questions that gets asked of most church is "What Do You Believe?" What most people are questioning is how do you split doctrinal hairs and does it line up with what I believe? Rarely do people ask "How are you serving your community?" Or "How does this church represent the nature of Christ?" While we have many churches that are filled with the right kind of thinking, we are missing out on the right type of living. Where's the love? Where's the forgiveness? Where's the compassion?

It's time for a generation to recapture the reality of faith in the most basic relationships - One Another. Matthew 25:40, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." Do we believe this? If our answer is "Yes" then we will never neglect the needs of one another. We will learn how to recognize the nature of Christ in those around us. We will minister to Him in them. It is the most basic form of discipleship. And it carries a greater weight of glory.

Here's a Thought...

James 1:19-20, "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be QUICK to hear, SLOW to speak, SLOW to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."

All I have to do is cruise Facebook, or the internet, to discover all the "righteous indignation" against _______________ (you fill in the blank). What we have failed to realize is that all of our railing against the world will not change one single person. Love is much more powerful.

I have often used these verses from James to remind people that God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth. Therefore, we should listen twice as much as we speak. What I failed to add to that equation is that He also gave us a heart. The next time we are faced with the "sin" of someone else, or when we become offended, we should check our heart before we do anything.

This weeks big offense seems to be Miley Cyrus and her performance at the VMA. While I'm not a fan of what she did, I'm also not shocked by those in the entertainment industry. How could I feel justified in tearing her down when I see people who are not on a stage make decisions that are just as bad, just as embarrassing, and just as foolish? Didn't she have a song just a couple of years ago that said "Everybody makes mistakes"? The point that I'm trying to make here is if you want to be offended, there are plenty of things to get offended about. This week it may be Miley but next week it will be someone else. What we cannot do is justify our anger because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

In the few short hours that I have been awake, I have seen several articles that are meant to create offense. All are based on moral issues. Bad choices that have become public. In our anger we want to react and react loudly. But what if we took James' approach? What if we chose our words and our actions much more carefully? What if we responded rather than reacting?

Pay ATTENTION to these words of wisdom:

Proverbs 10:19, "Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues."

Proverbs 14:29, "Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly."

Proverbs 29:20, "Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them."

Ecclesiastes 7:9, "Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools."

Has God not given us a Spirit of self-control? Does the love of God not abide in us? I wonder what the affect would be in someones life if we responded through prayer rather than criticism? What would happen if we chose to love people where they are rather than bring down condemnation? I say all of this while living in a world that is filled with self-promoting theologians, world class parents, etc (YES...the SARCASM is THICK here). We treat everyone else as if we have no need for mercy in our own lives. Our self-righteousness seems to fuel our need to be better than the other person. This attitude seems to remind me of Jesus' story of the Pharisee & the Tax Collector: "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." [Luke 18:11-14]

When you and I choose to operate in love, we are not condoning the decisions of another person. However, what we are doing is keeping our eye on the prize - the other person. Too often we are content to win an argument without ever asking ourselves which is more important: the person or the argument? Think about it. Ask yourself if you are willing to walk in the same Spirit of Jesus which says "Neither do I condemn you."

Love is powerful and it needs to be a part of our journey. It will look past the pain, the junk, and the offenses of others and discover that which God has created. Then you can choose to be a part of the healing in their lives rather than being a part of the "Dog Pile" of judgment on their lives. It's your choice. Let me encourage you to choose life.

No Room for Condemnation

John 3:17, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him."

I'm often amazed by the lack of love that I see in the lives of "believers." Claiming to follow after God, they have lost the most basic expression of His nature. Blinded by the things that religion sets as the standard for life, they have often pursued holiness while losing sight of people made in the image of God all around them. I'm not sure when this change occurred in me but I remember being "that guy." You know...they guy who gets to decide who is right and wrong. The guy who gets to determine who is worth reaching. The guy who decides who/what is holy and acceptable. Somewhere along the way I became comfortable in bringing condemnation to people. But something changed in me when I heard the word of Jesus in John 3:17. There was something about His lack of condemnation that got my attention. It was then that I decided that there was no room for condemnation in me.

I wish I was perfect in this respect. The reality is that I'm still growing in my awareness of the love of God. I'm also learning how to see the Jesus that is presented in Scripture versus the Jesus that is often portrayed by the church. Remember Gandhi's quote? "“I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." This was his response to some Christian missionaries because of the deep hurt he experienced during the apartheid. Whether we want to own up to it or not, the reality is that we have often fallen short of giving the world Jesus.

What if we took Jesus' approach to life and ministry? I realize this may not be a revolutionary statement at face value but let's deal with it anyway. Seriously, what if we chose to operate in love rather than hate? What if we chose to impart life rather than bring condemnation? What if we chose to really call people out of the darkness of their existence rather than keep them in it? You may say, "Well...that's what we are doing!" Really? Do you really think calling out the sins of the people is bringing them into light? Do we really believe airing out the world's laundry list is the best way to introduce them to Jesus? It seems to me that Jesus was much more critical of the religious system in His day than He was the people that were in the world.

Think about this (for those of you who believe God just can't wait to punish the "wicked"): The Pharisees bring a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery to Jesus [you can read this in John 8]. They cast her at His feet and begin explaining what was written in the law about the necessity to stone her to death. What does Jesus do? He stoops down and begins writing in the sand. He then lifts His eyes to these men and tells them that the one of them that is without sin can cast the first stone. One by one, from the oldest to the youngest, they walked away. Jesus asks this woman "Where are those who accuse you?" Her reply, "There are none." He then speaks these powerful words, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." You and I both know through the Scriptures that Jesus was without sin. He had the right to throw a rock at her and yet He chose to show mercy. Why? Because He didn't come to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be made whole. Rather than condemning this woman, He released her into a life where she no longer had to sin. Sound familiar? He has done the same for us.

Jesus said what the Father was saying.
Jesus did what the Father was doing.
Jesus accurately exhibited the reality of the Father to us.
And what was in the heart of the Father? NO CONDEMNATION!!!

My question for the church is this: If Jesus didn't come to condemn the world then what gives us the right?
I'm a firm believer that forgiveness has way more power than judgement. I believe that compassion can do way more than condemnation. What you and I need to reconcile in our hearts is what spirit are we going to allow to dominate our lives? Will we be motivated by love, grace, & mercy or will we simply do what the religious crowd has been doing for centuries? I'm not saying that you have to accept every lifestyle that is out there but I do believe we have to learn how to love every person. I also believe that we need to show the same grace and mercy that was given to us.

When you choose to remove condemnation from you heart then you will be able to look past the junk in someone's life and recognize the reality of who they are. That is the person that needs to be called out...Not the junk in their lives. They were created to walk in relationship with God. And you will have the opportunity to bring them into this realization. The moment you choose to lay down your right to judge, criticize, & condemn, you will discover that love is ready to reach out to the people around you.

Say What?

1 John 4:1 provides a warning to the church. John exhorts them to "not believe every spirit" and to "test the spirits" since there are so many false prophets in the world. In particular, John is telling the church to be mindful of the spirit of the antichrist. The spirit that testifies that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh. This "warning" has been taken to the nth degree in our modern culture. Allow me to address some of these issues.

Before we go any further into this conversation, I need to let you in on something. I do believe that we should not freely accept every form of preaching, every sermon ever delivered, or every teacher that comes our way. This is what John is teaching the church in the 1st century and I do believe it merits consideration in our churches as well. However, just because someone preaches or teaches something different from what we believe does not mean they are an apostate or that they are in error.

When you read the Gospel accounts of the life & ministry of Jesus, you will discover that He offended the religious mindsets of His day. In fact, He did it quite often. I guess when you are the embodiment of the TRUTH then it's going to happen. The problem that this posed for the religious leaders in the NT is that they were unable to hear what Jesus was saying & they could not recognize the anointing the Father had placed upon Him. The Pharisees led the people in the rejection of their Messiah. We read about it today and wonder how this is possible. We immediately think that we would have accepted Him, embraced His teaching, and followed Jesus wherever He went. If you have ever thought this way then keep on reading.

How do you handle people teaching something that is different from your understanding?
How do you respond to a sermon that teaches love, grace, and/or the finished work of Christ that goes against your own theology?
The sad truth for many Christians is that they don't handle any of these things very well. The slightest variation of "truth" will send many evangelicals running for the door and looking for the first person that will handle their complaint. I actually had someone say that a good friend of mine was "of the devil" because He read the Bible from an app on his phone in the pulpit rather than carrying a bound book. REALLY?!? Is this how far we've come in our faith?

To understand where I'm going, you must understand the context of 1 John. John is dealing primarily with Gnostic beliefs that have infiltrated the church. These beliefs cause people to question the validity of their faith. Since most Gnostics don't believe that anything holy can dwell in the flesh, they questioned whether Jesus was really God or was He really a man. This type of questioning would also lead them to believe that there is no way Christ dealt with sin at the Cross because people were still sinning today. Sound familiar? How many people in today's church question whether or not God truly dealt with the nature of Adam? How many today question whether or not God truly dealt with sin through the death, burial & resurrection of Jesus? Could it be that some Gnostic beliefs have actually been accepted by the church? The point is that when we begin to accept things that go against the basic understanding of the Gospel (Jesus Christ come in the flesh to redeem all of humanity) then we are in danger of falling away from the TRUTH.

WAIT...I told you that I would address some of the issues that come from those who take John's warning to the nth degree. Here goes:
1) They can only accept teaching/preaching that comes from their particular denomination
2) Heretics/Apostates now come in the form of those who teach something contrary to their opinion
3) They refuse to accept any of these people on the basis of their faith in Christ and therefore are unable to recognize the Lord at work in them.
4) It creates an us against them mentality where the church rails against the church
5) It gives us a sense of superiority rather than allowing us to remain teachable

I could list more issues but I think you get the point. While John's warning to the early church is important for us even today, the way we handle it isn't through denominationalism. What he encouraged the church to do then still works for us now: Test the spirits. He tells them to not believe every one. That's some good advice. I think we have that down (for the most part). However, the testing part of this equation has kept us from accepting a lot of truth over the centuries. When the only voice we will hear sounds just like ours then we never have to test. And that my friends is how most churches handle this particular problem. We eliminate error through indoctrination. We never validate the beliefs of others. We never expose ourselves to thinking outside of our own. But what we do not realize is that because of this we do not grow.

I'm grateful for the upbringing that I had in my faith. I have sat under a lot of good pastors through the years. I have heard a lot of sermons and listened to a lot of quality teaching. However, just like flowers are never meant to spend their entire existence in a greenhouse, we are not meant to be nursed for the rest of our Christian lives. Ever wonder why the writer of Hebrews expressed the need for the believers to mature in their understanding? Ever wonder why the Bible clearly tells the church that they should already be teachers? What blows me away is that I read about these things as it relates to the 1st Century church. Is it any wonder that we have the same problems within the church today? If your faith is never tested then how will you know the validity of it? Exposing our lives to the teaching of others can challenge our faith in healthy ways. In fact, it should be the norm of our lives. The Holy Spirit within us will guide us in all TRUTH. We don't have to worry about being carried away if we allow Him to lead us. I have learned a lot of valuable Kingdom lessons by exposing myself to those who were outside of my denominational lines (not that my denominational lines are as fixed as others). What happens in this process is that we learn how to read the Bible for ourselves. We learn how to remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit. And we learn how to accept God's anointing upon the lives of others.

So how will I know if someone is teaching false doctrine?
My simple answer is this:
***Pay attention to how they handle the Deity of Christ. This was the litmus test that John used so I think it will work for us as well.
***Trust the Holy Spirit. He is way more capable than you are in sniffing out error. He is the Spirit of Truth.
***Learn how to eat the meat and throw out the bones.
All of these tips will help you to walk in love with any person that thinks differently than you do about spiritual matters. It will also keep you humble, teachable, and eager to learn.

It's Nice to be Reminded

Lamentations 3:22-23, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

Over the last few days there has been a line from a certain song that has continually run through my mind. It doesn't matter what I'm doing or what I'm going through - it has been the Lord's way of reminding me of His goodness in my life. I just keep hearing "The steadfast love of the Lord is spinning around all over us."

Jeremiah's writings adequately titled "Lamentations" puts us into the mind of the prophet as he is seeing Israel going into exile. The separation from their homeland, the absence of the temple, and the feeling of being so far removed from God come out so freely as Jeremiah laments the difficulties that they face. However, in the midst of these trials and tribulations, Jeremiah is reminded of something so wonderful that you could almost change the name of the book.

It's nice to be reminded of just how loved we really are. Regardless of what we have done or what we are going through, God is relentless in His love for us. I realize that statements like this make some people cringe but I don't understand how we read about the Good News of the Gospel and not jump to our feet in sheer excitement over all that God has done through His love.

John 3:16, "For God so LOVED..."
Romans 5:8, "God demonstrated His LOVE..."
Romans 8:37-39 tells us about the things that can never separate us from the "LOVE of God which is in Christ Jesus"
Galatians 2:20, "...the Son of God who LOVED me and gave Himself for me."
The Scriptures go on and on.

I want you to rejoice today. I want you to see yourself as someone who is unconditionally loved by our Heavenly Father. I mean...He even put His Spirit inside of you JUST SO YOU COULD BE REMINDED!!!

May you be blessed with this understanding.
May you grow in the knowledge & experience of Ephesians 3:16-19:
"I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."