The Good Guys

There are no perfect people.  There never have been.  The Bible tells us that no one is "good" except God alone.  Mark 10:18.  Nor is any man righteous -- we all fall short of the glory of God.  Romans 3:10-18.

Having said that, every now and then we are blessed to cross paths with someone who is extraordinary.  There are those rare people who display uncommon kindness, or who have an unusual knack for bringing joy to the people around them.  There are men who can be trusted with the deep and important things in life, and who will be there for you in your darkest hour regardless of personal cost.  There are men of whom it can be said "everyone liked him" or, more importantly, "there was no one he didn't like."

Yesterday one of the good guys was taken far too early in life.  It seems like that has happened a lot lately.  In this case, the loss was horrific, senseless, tragic, unnecessary ... incomprehensible.  There is simply no way to understand such a thing -- either the depravity of man or why God did not intervene.           

I wish I had words to bring comfort and peace at this time.  God alone is capable of bringing healing from a tragedy of this magnitude.  Perhaps all we can do is try our best to honor a legacy.  By that, I don't just mean keeping a memory in our hearts -- although that is important.  Rather, we can resolve to be a little bit better -- a little bit kinder.  We can strive to be more like the good guys ourselves.


Ron

Lost

As I was going about my usual business this morning a young man appeared at the door of the church administrative offices.  Unlike the the beautiful Spring-like weather we had yesterday, today it is quite cold outside.  Yet, this young man was dressed only in jeans and a thin t-shirt -- no jacket or sweatshirt.    He was obviously cold and anxious to get into the building.

Sadly, I was a bit apprehensive to let this young man in from the cold.   You see, the church is hardly immune from violence.  Helping people in need can be a risky business.  Discernment is required.  In fact, I could not help but think of two pastors who were killed in separate instances in the last year or so right here is North Texas -- both undoubtedly in the midst of what they thought was a good thing -- trying to help someone in need.

After a quick assessment, I opened the door.  The young man all but pushed his way in the building in his rush to escape the cold (which did not immediately give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about my decision).

As it turned out, this young man was lost.  He had taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way and couldn't quite figure out how to get home.  And, to compound matters, his cell phone battery was drained, making it impossible for him to let his parents know what had happened.  He wanted to warm himself, recharge his phone and call home for directions.  The story ended well enough.  We recharged the phone and I was able to find his home on Google maps and explain how to get there.

As we visited while waiting for the cell phone to recharge, the young man explained that his family has a standing protocol to follow when anyone is lost -- which is to find the nearest church and ask for help.   In fact, this young man confessed to me that he is somewhat directionally challenged, and has had to rely on this protocol several times in the past.

As we talked, a couple of things came to mind.  The first was just a reminder that Jesus is all about finding the lost.  And, if Jesus is all about finding the lost, shouldn't we be all about that too?

³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 15:3-7

The second thing that came to mind is that even believers get lost from time to time.  By that, I do not mean that all believers stray or lose their salvation.  I just mean that we get off track, unfocused or distracted every now and then.  Even when we are trying to do our best, even when we are well-intentioned, we can get lost for a variety of reasons.

We can get lost because of pride -- thinking that we have all the right answers.  We can get lost because of the worries of life -- consumed by the weight of whatever issues we might be facing.  We can get lost because of insecurity or guilt -- somehow thinking that we are not good enough or that the sacrifice on the Cross was not enough to cover our particular sins.  

But, there are some simple things that we do to find our way again.  First, we can pray for God's guidance.  Even when we think we are doing the right things -- maybe especially when we think we are doing the right things -- we need to seek God's will for our lives through prayer.  We can have great plans that spring from great motives.  But it really doesn't mean all that much if they are not God's plans for us.

Second, we can go to God's word.  The Holy Spirit just seems to have a way of leading me to the right scripture for whatever circumstance or question I might be facing.  You may think you are hearing the voice of God in your prayer time, but that feeling needs to be tested and confirmed in scripture.

And, finally, I kind of like the advice that the young man I met this morning got from his parents -- when your lost find a church.  The church is full of people who are, well, human.  And as a consequence they may not have all of the right answers.  But, they know someone who does.  And in the meantime they can support you, help build your faith and love you.

God bless.

    

Radical

Every Wednesday night at 7:30 I get together with a small group of friends at HC to study the Bible.  Our class is called "Radical."

We decided to begin 2013 studying the Sermon on the Mount, and over the last two weeks we have made it through two sentences of the great sermon.  

³ Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I am grateful to God for reminding me over the last couple of weeks about the premise of our Wednesday night group -- that the Bible is radical: that we serve a radical God, who desires us to have a radical faith, and ultimately, who wants us to live a radical life for Jesus.

We live in a time when the church is in decline and, more disturbingly, a time in which the church seems impotent -- powerless against the tide of eroding morals, values and virtues.  It is a cycle the church has seen before, and may well see again (depending on when Jesus returns).  The problem, in my view, is spiritual.  The problem, in my view, is complacency.  The problem is that we have settled for a watered down gospel.  The problem is that we resist REALLY putting Jesus at the center of our lives, REALLY surrendering ourselves to Him and REALLY humbling ourselves.  We have trouble understanding the idea, much less believing, that we are poor in spirit.   

Radical Disciples

One of my favorite sermons of all time focused on the idea that there are, and always have been, two types of Christians.  Paraphrasing a bit, this preacher described the first group of believers as people who generally try to do the right thing, who do good works from time to time, who "abstain from gross evils," who regularly attend church and so forth.  Though these Christians are certainly redeemed by the blood of Christ, their day-to-day lives are for the most part indistinguishable from non-believers.

The preacher described the second group of Christians as people who not only avoid any appearance of evil, but as people who are zealous to do good works of all kinds, who take up their cross daily, who constantly strive to achieve God's will at the expense of their own pleasure and who "agonize without intermission" to achieve a life of Christian holiness. 

I want to emphasize that the point of this sermon was not to condemn or criticize the first group of Christians. Instead, the point was to remind us that the Holy Spirit invites and prompts all believers to pursue a "more excellent way." Like faith itself, God issues the invitation but gives each of us the free will to accept or reject His offer.

I am not by any means suggesting that I myself have made any real progress in my own pursuit of the "more excellent way." There are many things in my life that bring no particular glory to God.

What I am saying is that I am grateful to be part of a Church that is not afraid to challenge us, no matter where we are on our walk with God, to do better. I want to live a Spirit-led life.  I want to pursue Him in greater and greater measure.

[By the way, in case you are wondering, the sermon I am talking about was written by John Wesley over 200 years ago. Wesley believed that through devotion to prayer, the reading of scripture and so forth God can transform believers so that His love reigns supreme as the guiding force in their lives and in their hearts.]

The Radical Leader

As I  have thought about "the Church" with it's various forms and denominations, it has occurred to me that just as there are two types of Christians, there are also (at least) two types of Christian leaders. There are leaders who are probably content to get a certain number of people in the door every Sunday and who earnestly desire to leave those people in a slightly better place than where they started. There are leaders who have no real expectation that their congregations will be markedly distinct from their neighbors. Their are leaders who probably are afraid that if they don't give their congregations what they want their ministries will fail. And then, there is a more excellent way of leadership.

There are, without a doubt, leaders in the Church today who are far more concerned about what their congregations need than what their congregations want. There are leaders in the Church today who have a desperate desire to get closer and closer to God themselves, and who desperately want the same thing for the people they serve. There are leaders in the Church today who want the saints in their congregations to shine like the lamp on the hill -- to truly be salt and light to the world. There are leaders in the Church today who are less concerned about the "personal happiness" of the people in their congregations than they are about challenging their flocks to roll up their sleeves and work together to spread the Gospel throughout the world and to disciple believers.

There are leaders in the church today who truly love the people they serve. Leaders who share in the joy of the people in their congregations and mourn when they mourn. There are leaders who, no matter how "successful" they may be, approach their responsibilities with great humility -- secure in the knowledge that God has called them despite their limitations, their imperfections and their own struggles. The fact that God has called you to leadership should, above all things, be incredibly humbling!

There are many in the Church today who believe that the end times are close at hand. Personally, I have no idea if that is right. And, on some level I don't have any desire to know. I guess I believe that if I just keep my eyes on Jesus I will be ready for anything.

Whether it's because the end times are near or for some other reason, I do believe that we are in a very special time. I believe that God is doing a lot of sifting. I think that churches and church leaders are being challenged. In a culture that is increasingly self-centered, and that increasingly rejects the idea that there is ultimately something called "truth", I believe that God is giving churches and church leaders the opportunity either to cave in to the culture or to stand firm on the veracity of the Gospel.

The Radical Sermon

One of the things that really strikes me about the Sermon on the Mount is where Jesus starts.  If it was me, I probably would have told people about the incredible hope, power and blessing that we have in Jesus.  I would have told folks about salvation and about the incredible transformation that awaited them.

But Jesus started with words that would likely not resonate with 2013 Americans.  He did not start with a message about getting what you want out of life and getting it now.  He did not talk about the virtues of being a self-starter or about having the courage to pursue individual ambitions or dreams.  He began by focusing on the condition of our hearts.  He began with our reality -- fallen people in a fallen world.  And to the broken He offered the great hope.

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called sons of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:3-11

2013 -- The Best Year Yet?

I knew that 2013 was going to be an interesting year for me, and that is certainly proving to be true (if the first couple of weeks are any indication).  It is time to say "goodbye" to some things, and to embrace some new challenges and some new dreams.  It will, by definition, be a year of real change.

As I have been thinking about 2013, I have also found myself reassessing what a "good year" looks like.  We all have years in our lives where life changing events take place -- both good and bad -- and we usually think of those years as our "best" or, as the case may be, or "worst."

As an example, the most amazing single moment of my life took place on December 16, 1983.  I will never forget standing in a church in Corona Del Mar California that night, turning toward the back and seeing for the first time in her wedding dress the woman who just a few minutes later would become my wife.  Because of that, 1983 will always be an important year for me.

The ten to fifteen years following 1983 were pretty big too.  During those years I started my legal career, we bought our first house, all three of our kids were born, and we moved to Texas.  [Talk about life-changing events!]  A lot of great things happened in those years, but they were also incredibly difficult.  Our marriage was tested, and there were times when I think both of us wondered whether our marriage would make it.  In fact, there were days when I think we both questioned whether we wanted our marriage to survive.

Of course, our marriage not only survived, but Pam and I have an incredible life together today.  Perfect? No.  But I really cannot imagine being married to anyone else.  I really believe that God intended us to be together.

Pam would say that one of the big reasons that our marriage is so good today is that she finally has me trained!  And, there is some truth to that.  But the bigger truth is that our marriage is strong today mostly because of the tough years.  God used those years to mold us (ok, mostly me) -- to literally change my character.  And, while it is tempting to call some of those years the worst in my life, in retrospect that is simply not the case.  You see, in God's way of doing things the most difficult, challenging and even painful moments in our lives are also often the most important.  They are the times that God does His greatest work on us.

So, as I continue to look forward to the rest of 2013 I am trying not to look at it through the lens of good or bad.  I don't want to have any ambition this year other than to continue to pursue Him and His will for my life.  I want to believe that whatever life brings in 2013, His grace will be sufficient for me.  I want to try to believe that whatever any particular moment may seem like -- good, bad or indifferent -- God has a plan for me, and He will use each of those moments as part of that plan for my life.

Could 2013 be the best year yet?  If I keep my focus on Jesus, you bet!