Charting a course with our calendars...

As a church, we have been wrestling with the question "What does a person who has a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus look like"? In today’s culture, most of us do not use calendars; we use a blackberry, a palm, or some other portable time management system. Whatever system that you use to keep track of your time, however, the reality is that we can see what we love and are devoted to by looking at our calendars, because we spend our time doing or with what we love. And we see that to chart a course to spiritual maturity, we need to invest our talents serving God by serving others. A man named Paul wrote the following to a church in Rome:

"For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Romans 12:3-8


In these verses, Paul reveals for us that investing our talents serving God by serving others requires three things. First, Paul explains that investing our talents serving God by serving others requires the right attitude. It is not what we have done for God; it is what God has done for us through Christ that brings us into relationship with Him. And this reality should cause us to be self controlled in our opinion of ourselves and lead us to a life of humility. Second, Paul explains that investing our talents serving God by serving others requires partnership. As followers of Jesus we are not independent. While we live in a culture that values and celebrates independence, independence is not a Biblical value. And in a similar way, followers of Jesus are not to be in a place in our lived where we are constantly depending on others. Instead of the two extremes of dependence and independence, as followers of Jesus we are to be interdependent. Because the third thing that Paul reveals for us is that investing our talents serving God by serving others requires exercise. Just as our physical bodies need to exercise to grow and mature, we need to exercise in partnership with one another, with the right attitude, in order to grow and mature in our relationship with God.

So what does your calendar say about what you love and are devoted to? What needs to change on your calendar? What are you going to do in order to chart a course to spiritual maturity by investing your talents serving God by serving others?

Pondering the Arizona Immigration Debate...

As a follower of Jesus, how should we engage in the discussion about illegal immigration, especially in light of the recent law passed in Arizona? On the one hand, we are called as followers of Jesus to reflect His love and concern to the poor and the marginalized, the least of these (Matthew 25:34-40). On the other hand, we are also called by Jesus to respect and submit to the government, as long as its laws do not compel us to violate the teachings of Jesus (Romans 13:1-7).

So do these two passages of Scripture contradict one another? Can we, as followers of Jesus, be faithful and reflect Christ by following the teachings of both passages when it comes to illegal immigration?

I believe we can. However, I do not believe that we reflect Christ and His teachings when we lash out with uninformed, emotional, soundbites that attack and demean others. Illegal immigration, at its core is an emotional issue that requires thoughtful, informed, and gracious engagement. A focus on the facts and the substance of the Arizona bill and the issue of illegal immigration would advance the discussion further and reflect Christ. While we have the freedom to disagree on this issue, we do not have the freedom to misrepresent Jesus or His teachings by how we engage others on this issue.

What do you think?

Charting a course with our checkbooks

As a church, we have been wrestling with the question "What does a person who has a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus look like"? When you read the four accounts of Jesus life in the Bible, you discover that Jesus talked about money a great deal. Money and material possessions were a constant theme of Jesus teachings. In the four accounts of Jesus life, there are approximately 500 verses on the subject of prayer. Similarly, there are approximately 500 verses where Jesus talked about the subject of faith. Now faith and prayer are essential aspects of our relationship with God, so you would expect Jesus to spend a lot of time talking about them. If you were to guess, how many verses do you think there would be in the Bible where Jesus talked about money? 50? 100? 500? What if I told you that there are approximately 2, 350 verses where Jesus is dealing with the issue of money. Now you may be here and are wondering “why would Jesus spend so much time talking about money?” There are two reasons why money and material possessions were a constant theme of Jesus teachings. First, Jesus knew what we know, which is that much of our life involves the use of money. Jesus talked a lot about money because He knew that much of our lives revolve around its use. Is there anything in your day to day life that does not involve money? And because of this reality, possessions and stuff often compete with the Lord for our devotion. Jesus, understanding this, spent so much time talking about money because He also knew that how we handle and spend money reveals our love and the depth of our relationship with the Lord, because we spend our money on the things we love don’t we? At church we have been talking about how we can measure the level of love we have; we can measure what we are devoted to; by looking at our checkbooks, because we spend our money on the things that we love and are devoted to.
In a story in the Bible, Jesus shares that how we handle money can have a profound impact on our relationship with God:


"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

Luke 16:10-13

So, what do you find yourself spending your money on? What do you think that what you spend your money on says about what you are devoted to?

Are all religious systems the same?

Discovered this article from a Boston University professor that challenges the thought that all religious systems are essentially the same.

Separate truths - The Boston Globe

Posted using ShareThis

What do you think?

Power Outage

Why does it seem like so many Christians struggle with following Jesus teachings? Most people who are skeptical about the claims of Christ often use the hypocrisy of Christians to bolster their claims. They point to the fact that many Christians day to day lives look no different than those who do not believe the claims of Christ or follow Him. But why do followers of Jesus struggle to actually follow Him? Could it be that followers of Jesus are trying to follow Him without relying on His power to follow Him? What I find amazingly interesting is that the Bible teaches us that God's power not only rescues us from our sins; God's power also equips and empowers us to live the Christian life. A man named Ezekiel, who was God's spokesperson, revealed this reality to us in Ezekiel 36:26-27:

"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances".

Could it be that followers of Jesus struggle to follow His teachings because they are trying to live the Christian life in their own power, instead of the power of the Holy Spirit? Someone once said that "the Christian life is not easy; the Christian life is not difficult; the Christian life is impossible apart from the Holy Spirit's power". Now I am not talking about rolling on the floor, chewing on the carpet stuff; I am talking about living a life that is surrendered, controlled and led by the Holy Spirit.

So what power is fueling your life?

Charting a course to spiritual maturity with the right destination

As a church, we have been wrestling with the question "What does a person who has a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus look like"? What do you think the answer to that question is? Because, at times, it sure seems that we have it all wrong when it comes to being involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus. It seems like we can end up moving the wrong way. As with any relationship, we want our relationship with Christ to grow and mature. We know that God desires us to grow in our relationship with Him. So we begin to attend church and read our Bibles and develop relationships with other Christians. And we begin to seek and search for what a "spiritually mature" Christian looks like. Where we run into trouble, however, is that we will find ourselves receiving many different addresses to the destination “spiritual maturity” from other Christians. For some Christians, the address to the destination spiritual maturity is “try harder, do better avenue”. For others, the address to the destination spiritual maturity is “know more, win doctrinal debates drive”. For others, the address to the destination spiritual maturity is “do more, because busyness equals godliness street”. And at the end of the day, as followers of Jesus, we can find ourselves lost, frustrated, confused and further away from the destination of a growing and maturing relationship than we planned. So what is the correct address to the destination of spiritual maturity? Jesus provided that answer for us in an answer to a question He was asked:

“And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' “Matthew 22:37-40 NASB

But the dilemma to this answer always seems to be "how do we measure the love we have for God?" Because we are created for relationships on both a horizontal and vertical level, we can evaluate and measure the level of love that we have for God in much the same way we measure our love for others. We can measure the level of our love for God and our spiritual maturity by looking at five aspects of our lives: our checkbook, our calendar, our contemplations, our conversations, and our circumstances. For example, by looking at my checkbook, you would be able to see what I love and value the most, because we spend money on what we are devoted to, don’t we? If you were able to look at my calendar, you would be able to see what I love and value the most, because we spend time with the things and people we are devoted to. If you were able to read my mind, you would be able to see what I love and value the most, because we think, or contemplate, about the things we are devoted to. If you were able to listen to my conversations, you would fairly quickly be able to see what I love and value the most, because our conversations are dominated by the things that we are devoted to. And if you were able to see how I responded to the difficult circumstances in my life, you would be able to see what I loved and valued the most, because we turn to and lean into the things we are devoted to in difficult circumstances, don’t we?

So we are spending our time asking the tough questions: "What do our calendars, checkbooks, contemplations, conversations, and circumstances say about what we love and are devoted to. And the great thing is that God can leverage each of the aspects of our lives to cultivate and develop and growing and maturing relationship with Him. I will be sharing with you what God is teaching us and hope that what God is teaching us will help influence and impact you.