The Next Reformation
How much do you know about Martin Luther (not Martin Luther King Jr, Martin Luther). He was a monk that started the Protestant Reformation. In Luther's day salvation was for sale. You would buy things called indulgences, and the more you paid out, the less time you had to spend in purgatory. Martin Luther, although the unlikely hero, started a revolution (or reformation) when he penned his 95 thesis. The rallying cry was 'By faith alone.' He wanted to break this mold of buying salvation. You can't buy salvation, it is a free gift from God!
Maybe it is time for a new reformation. Maybe it is time that we stop playing games with our faith and started living authentic lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. Hear this, "reformations are not born out of new discoveries. Those are often called cults. Reformations are born out of rediscovering something ancient, something primal. They are born out of primal truths rediscovered, re-imagined, and radically reapplied to our lives." So what is this truth that we need to rediscover? "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." We have to be great at this. "We must not be great at things that do not matter." To be clear, nothing else really matters at the end of the day except loving God and following His commands. To be great at something other than loving God is a waste of your time. The call of the next reformation should be, "Love God!"
Everything we do, everything that we are should be an expression of our love for God. The way we do our taxes, the way we study for exams, the way we treat each other, the way we love our spouses should be because of our love for God! This doesn't mean that we will all look the same though. It doesn't mean we will all express our love for God the same way. "Every relationship with God begins the same way: at the foot of the cross. But then our lives become unique expressions of compassion, wonder, curiosity, and energy. And no one else can take your place." No one loves God exactly the same way you do, that is why He wants your love!
Each of us has a spiritual love language. The way we express our love for God looks different based on what comes most naturally to us. Some of us show our love for God because compassion pours out of us every second of the day, it is just natural. Others show their love for God by their curiosity, they can't wait to find out more about His creation and praise Him for it. We should do the things that come natural to us! But "sometimes the greatest act of love isn't the one that comes most easily. It's the one that is most difficult or requires the greatest sacrifice." We are called to love God with our heart, soul, mind, AND strength. It isn't an either/or scenario. God wants it all. When we come to a place where we love God with everything we have, a radical transformation will take place within us, our church, our city, and this world. We will start a reformation, and the rallying cry will simply be, "Love God."
Enjoy the Journey
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Hammer of a Higher God
God is powerful. Now that's the understatement of the century isn't it? His power is incomparable. "His power isn't just incomparable. His power isn't just great. It is incomparably great. In other words, there is no comparison point. None of us can imagine what God is capable of. Which means none of us can imagine what we're capable of if we give God control of our lives." Doing it on our own was never the plan. Yes we should do things for God, but the weird thing is that we need to do those things we do for God THROUGH His strength. Many of us never make that connection. We all received the power of God when we became Christians, but we settle for living without it! "And without His power, we become nothing more than theological Christians. Our testimony is reduced to words. Our impact is reduced to our abilities. And not only is that less than exciting, it's wrong. Without His power at work within us, we cannot accomplish His purposes."
Again, the problem is that we have a small view of who God is. God is bigger than your biggest problem, and He is bigger than the best idea you ever had...infinitely bigger. "It's not about what you can do for God. It's about what God can do in you and through you. The moment you put your faith in Christ, the best thing you can do is no longer the best YOU can do. The best thing you can do is the best GOD can do."
Would you agree that loving God with everything is hard? I certainly think so. "In and of ourselves, we're not capable of loving God. We cannot manufacture love for Him. We can only respond to His love for us. And I hope that sets you free. Religion is all about doing things for God. Christianity is all about receiving what Christ has done for us on the cross. And what we do for God is a reflection of and response to what God has done for us." Sometimes even that is hard. I find myself from time to time in a slump. It is in those times we need to remember the words of Revelation 2:5, "Do the things you did at first." Fall in love with God all over again by going back to the things you did when you fell in love with Him the first time.
Again, we cannot manufacture love. Our love for God is simply a reflection of His love for us. Check this out: "Albedo is the measurement of how much light a celestial body reflects. Our night-light, the moon, has an albedo of 0.07. In other words, 7% of the light that strikes the moon's surface is reflected. Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has the highest albedo of any celestial body in our solar system. It reflects 99% of the light that hits its surface. In a similar sense, we are called to reflect God-His compassion, His wonder, His creativity, and His energy. You cannot manufacture those things. You can only reflect them."
In the beginning, God spoke the world into existence. Seems a little far fetched, but think about it for a second. Do you know what ultrasonic sound is? It is anything over 20,000 hertz, which is inaudible to us, but "has the power to kill insects, track submarines, break glass, perform noninvasive surgery, topple buildings, clean jewelry, catalyze chemical reactions, heal damaged tissue, pasteurize milk, break up kidney stones, drill through hard materials, and of course give you the first glimpse of your unborn son or daughter via sonogram." Sound is powerful huh? The sound of God's voice isn't limited to our ability to hear. His vocal range is unlimited, and His words are powerful. So maybe you've never heard the audible voice of God, but I'm betting you've SEEN His voice (that's a weird thought huh?)! "Everything you see was once a sound wave in the vocal cords of God. When you look at creation, you are hearing with your eyes an echo of the Creator's voice." So I pose this question to you now: "If God can create billions of galaxies with four words (Let there be light), what can't He do?"
We need to remember that "most of what God accomplishes through our lives isn't because of us. It's in spit of us. God never calls us to do something we're capable of. God calls us to do things that are beyond our ability so He gets all the credit. That's how we learn to rely on Him. And that's how we learn to love Him." God puts things in our hearts that He wants us to do, and that we don't have the ability to do on our own. But when we accomplish those things with His help we have to answer a very serious question. When God gives us our dream we have to decide, "Which do you love more: your dream or God?" "In its purest, most primal form, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is loving God for God. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else."
The ultimate goal of life isn't accomplishing your dreams and goals. It's loving God. It isn't getting your dream job, it isn't getting your song published, it isn't retiring at 40. It's loving God. "You can put yourself on the throne of your life. You can try to get everyone to bow down and worship you. But you will run out of stuff to worship real quick and your universe will become smaller and smaller until the only thing that fits inside your tiny universe is you. But if you put God on the throne, you universe will get larger and larger. It will expand chronologically into eternity. It will expand experientially into heaven." It's your choice. Who do you love most?
Enjoy the Journey
God is powerful. Now that's the understatement of the century isn't it? His power is incomparable. "His power isn't just incomparable. His power isn't just great. It is incomparably great. In other words, there is no comparison point. None of us can imagine what God is capable of. Which means none of us can imagine what we're capable of if we give God control of our lives." Doing it on our own was never the plan. Yes we should do things for God, but the weird thing is that we need to do those things we do for God THROUGH His strength. Many of us never make that connection. We all received the power of God when we became Christians, but we settle for living without it! "And without His power, we become nothing more than theological Christians. Our testimony is reduced to words. Our impact is reduced to our abilities. And not only is that less than exciting, it's wrong. Without His power at work within us, we cannot accomplish His purposes."
Again, the problem is that we have a small view of who God is. God is bigger than your biggest problem, and He is bigger than the best idea you ever had...infinitely bigger. "It's not about what you can do for God. It's about what God can do in you and through you. The moment you put your faith in Christ, the best thing you can do is no longer the best YOU can do. The best thing you can do is the best GOD can do."
Would you agree that loving God with everything is hard? I certainly think so. "In and of ourselves, we're not capable of loving God. We cannot manufacture love for Him. We can only respond to His love for us. And I hope that sets you free. Religion is all about doing things for God. Christianity is all about receiving what Christ has done for us on the cross. And what we do for God is a reflection of and response to what God has done for us." Sometimes even that is hard. I find myself from time to time in a slump. It is in those times we need to remember the words of Revelation 2:5, "Do the things you did at first." Fall in love with God all over again by going back to the things you did when you fell in love with Him the first time.
Again, we cannot manufacture love. Our love for God is simply a reflection of His love for us. Check this out: "Albedo is the measurement of how much light a celestial body reflects. Our night-light, the moon, has an albedo of 0.07. In other words, 7% of the light that strikes the moon's surface is reflected. Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has the highest albedo of any celestial body in our solar system. It reflects 99% of the light that hits its surface. In a similar sense, we are called to reflect God-His compassion, His wonder, His creativity, and His energy. You cannot manufacture those things. You can only reflect them."
In the beginning, God spoke the world into existence. Seems a little far fetched, but think about it for a second. Do you know what ultrasonic sound is? It is anything over 20,000 hertz, which is inaudible to us, but "has the power to kill insects, track submarines, break glass, perform noninvasive surgery, topple buildings, clean jewelry, catalyze chemical reactions, heal damaged tissue, pasteurize milk, break up kidney stones, drill through hard materials, and of course give you the first glimpse of your unborn son or daughter via sonogram." Sound is powerful huh? The sound of God's voice isn't limited to our ability to hear. His vocal range is unlimited, and His words are powerful. So maybe you've never heard the audible voice of God, but I'm betting you've SEEN His voice (that's a weird thought huh?)! "Everything you see was once a sound wave in the vocal cords of God. When you look at creation, you are hearing with your eyes an echo of the Creator's voice." So I pose this question to you now: "If God can create billions of galaxies with four words (Let there be light), what can't He do?"
We need to remember that "most of what God accomplishes through our lives isn't because of us. It's in spit of us. God never calls us to do something we're capable of. God calls us to do things that are beyond our ability so He gets all the credit. That's how we learn to rely on Him. And that's how we learn to love Him." God puts things in our hearts that He wants us to do, and that we don't have the ability to do on our own. But when we accomplish those things with His help we have to answer a very serious question. When God gives us our dream we have to decide, "Which do you love more: your dream or God?" "In its purest, most primal form, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is loving God for God. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else."
The ultimate goal of life isn't accomplishing your dreams and goals. It's loving God. It isn't getting your dream job, it isn't getting your song published, it isn't retiring at 40. It's loving God. "You can put yourself on the throne of your life. You can try to get everyone to bow down and worship you. But you will run out of stuff to worship real quick and your universe will become smaller and smaller until the only thing that fits inside your tiny universe is you. But if you put God on the throne, you universe will get larger and larger. It will expand chronologically into eternity. It will expand experientially into heaven." It's your choice. Who do you love most?
Enjoy the Journey
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Sweat Equity
God loves it when we tell Him we love Him. It is something that we should do all the time. But you know what I think He loves even more? When we show Him that we love Him. And He loves it when we get sweaty doing it. We are supposed to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and STRENGTH. "So what does it mean to love God with all your strength? It means expending tremendous amounts of energy for kingdom causes. It means servanthood and sacrifice. It means good old-fashioned work." Let's be honest, you can tell what we love by what we do. Gentlemen, that is why taking out the garbage is romantic, because love isn't measured by words. Love is measured by action.
"Talk is cheap, and we have cheapened the gospel long enough. At the end of they day, God isn't going to say, 'Well said, good and faithful servant.' There is only one commendation when everything is said and done: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' God doesn't reward what we know. He doesn't reward what we say. He rewards the expenditure of energy."
One of the saddest things we can do is make plans and not follow through on them. So many of us spend so much time "preparing" that we never actually get whatever it is we are "preparing" for off the ground. That never happens because we never feel like we are quite ready to launch. "Listen, you'll never have enough education or enough experience. And you'll never have enough time or enough money." You will never be ready for what God has planned for you, get over it. That is why God promised to be with us! I'm not saying we shouldn't prepare, but most of us go way overboard on this and use it as an excuse not to act. Don't give up on your God ideas just because you don't feel ready.
Last week we talked about creativity. Creativity is hard work. Thomas Edison said that it is "10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration." Can you relate? Nolan Bushnell said, "Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference." What God idea of yours never made it out of the shower?
We have work to do. But here is something amazing that I know you will find to be true. "If you love someone or something enough, the expenditure of energy isn't seen as a chore. It's a privilege. It's not something you have to do, it's something you get to do. Love turns work into worship." At Mark Batterson's church, they have a saying that I think we should adopt: "Pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you." We need to bathe everything in prayer, but at some point we have to put some work in ourselves!
The truth is "faith is not faith until it is acted upon. That is the litmus test. Faith without works is dead. So is love without energy." When it comes to our God ideas, too often we are guilty of sins of omission. That is when you don't do what you know you should do. Too many of us "falsely view righteousness as doing nothing wrong." The problem is that "you can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Goodness is not the absence of badness." "Love doesn't play it safe; it takes risks. Love doesn't make excuses; it takes responsibility. Love doesn't see problems; it seizes opportunities to step up and step in. The Greek word for 'strength' means 'the antithesis of apathy.' And Jesus is the ultimate example."
Jesus was anything but apathetic, He was the most passionate man who ever lived. We are called to be just like Him, so that means we should be the most passionate people on the planet! "I love the way Dorothy Sayers described the wild side of His personality. 'To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because He was a bore. Quite the contrary; He was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the Lion of Judah and made Him a house cat for pale priests and pious old ladies." Wow!
"So don't just point out the problems; be the solution. Don't just criticize what's wrong; do something right. Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention." Break a sweat."
Enjoy the Journey
God loves it when we tell Him we love Him. It is something that we should do all the time. But you know what I think He loves even more? When we show Him that we love Him. And He loves it when we get sweaty doing it. We are supposed to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and STRENGTH. "So what does it mean to love God with all your strength? It means expending tremendous amounts of energy for kingdom causes. It means servanthood and sacrifice. It means good old-fashioned work." Let's be honest, you can tell what we love by what we do. Gentlemen, that is why taking out the garbage is romantic, because love isn't measured by words. Love is measured by action.
"Talk is cheap, and we have cheapened the gospel long enough. At the end of they day, God isn't going to say, 'Well said, good and faithful servant.' There is only one commendation when everything is said and done: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' God doesn't reward what we know. He doesn't reward what we say. He rewards the expenditure of energy."
One of the saddest things we can do is make plans and not follow through on them. So many of us spend so much time "preparing" that we never actually get whatever it is we are "preparing" for off the ground. That never happens because we never feel like we are quite ready to launch. "Listen, you'll never have enough education or enough experience. And you'll never have enough time or enough money." You will never be ready for what God has planned for you, get over it. That is why God promised to be with us! I'm not saying we shouldn't prepare, but most of us go way overboard on this and use it as an excuse not to act. Don't give up on your God ideas just because you don't feel ready.
Last week we talked about creativity. Creativity is hard work. Thomas Edison said that it is "10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration." Can you relate? Nolan Bushnell said, "Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference." What God idea of yours never made it out of the shower?
We have work to do. But here is something amazing that I know you will find to be true. "If you love someone or something enough, the expenditure of energy isn't seen as a chore. It's a privilege. It's not something you have to do, it's something you get to do. Love turns work into worship." At Mark Batterson's church, they have a saying that I think we should adopt: "Pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you." We need to bathe everything in prayer, but at some point we have to put some work in ourselves!
The truth is "faith is not faith until it is acted upon. That is the litmus test. Faith without works is dead. So is love without energy." When it comes to our God ideas, too often we are guilty of sins of omission. That is when you don't do what you know you should do. Too many of us "falsely view righteousness as doing nothing wrong." The problem is that "you can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Goodness is not the absence of badness." "Love doesn't play it safe; it takes risks. Love doesn't make excuses; it takes responsibility. Love doesn't see problems; it seizes opportunities to step up and step in. The Greek word for 'strength' means 'the antithesis of apathy.' And Jesus is the ultimate example."
Jesus was anything but apathetic, He was the most passionate man who ever lived. We are called to be just like Him, so that means we should be the most passionate people on the planet! "I love the way Dorothy Sayers described the wild side of His personality. 'To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because He was a bore. Quite the contrary; He was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the Lion of Judah and made Him a house cat for pale priests and pious old ladies." Wow!
"So don't just point out the problems; be the solution. Don't just criticize what's wrong; do something right. Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention." Break a sweat."
Enjoy the Journey
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
One God Idea
Everything that exists today started off as somebody's idea. The computer that I am typing on right now was just an idea someone had that was acted upon. "You were once an idea in the imagination of God. And for the record, God doesn't have bad ideas." Creativity stems from our imaginations. Our God is infinitely creative, and we are called to be just like Him, so that means He wants us to be creative too! "To become more like God is to become more creative." Don't believe me? Than why do the Psalms tell us more than half a dozen times to sing a new song to God? He wants us to write songs for Him! He wants us to be creative! Batterson writes, "Evidently God gets tired of old songs. He doesn't just want you to worship Him with your memory; He wants you to worship Him with your imagination. If you tell your wife that you love her the same way over and over again, she may stop believing you. Why? Because your words are an expression of memory instead of an expression of imagination. It's half-hearted because it's half-minded." God wants us to use our creativity for His glory.
"The quest for the lost soul of Christianity is about rediscovering our creative birthright. It's about reimagining everything from the Great Commandment to the Great Commission. It's about challenging old assumptions by asking the why questions. It's about challenging the perceived limits of our God-given potential by asking the why not questions. And it's driven by a holy curiosity that won't take yes for an answer. If we are going to have an eternal impact on our culture, we can't just criticize it or copy it. We've got to create it."
"The church ought to be the most creative place on the planet. And there are certainly pockets of ingenuity and imagination, but we're nowhere near our creative potential. I wonder if our lack of creativity stems from a false definition of faithfulness. Faithfulness is not doing it the way it's always been done. Faithfulness is not holding the fort. Faithfulness is not defending the status quo. Faithfulness is the courage to incarnate the gospel in creative ways. Faithfulness is experimenting with new ways of doing discipleship. Faithfulness is playing offense for the kingdom even if some Pharisees find it offensive."
Part of being creative is just being who you are. "Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Don't settle for the status quo. Challenge it. Nonconformity invites criticism, but that is the only option if you're following in the footsteps of the quintessential nonconformist, Jesus. God doesn't just give us permission to give expression to our uniqueness; He demands it. And the future of the kingdom may depend upon it."
One God idea is worth infinitely more than a thousand good ideas. How do you know which ideas are God ideas and which ideas are just good ideas? Prayer and experimentation. As creatives, we have to be willing to experiment, which means we have to be willing to fail. But if we are unwilling to fail then we will never follow through on the new ideas that God is planting within us all the time. Why are we afraid to fail anyway? Are we afraid that people won't like us? It isn't about us anyway is it? It is about God. And if it is about God, then it isn't about us, so it doesn't matter if people don't like us! God has called us to be creative, so create.
Enjoy the Journey
Everything that exists today started off as somebody's idea. The computer that I am typing on right now was just an idea someone had that was acted upon. "You were once an idea in the imagination of God. And for the record, God doesn't have bad ideas." Creativity stems from our imaginations. Our God is infinitely creative, and we are called to be just like Him, so that means He wants us to be creative too! "To become more like God is to become more creative." Don't believe me? Than why do the Psalms tell us more than half a dozen times to sing a new song to God? He wants us to write songs for Him! He wants us to be creative! Batterson writes, "Evidently God gets tired of old songs. He doesn't just want you to worship Him with your memory; He wants you to worship Him with your imagination. If you tell your wife that you love her the same way over and over again, she may stop believing you. Why? Because your words are an expression of memory instead of an expression of imagination. It's half-hearted because it's half-minded." God wants us to use our creativity for His glory.
"The quest for the lost soul of Christianity is about rediscovering our creative birthright. It's about reimagining everything from the Great Commandment to the Great Commission. It's about challenging old assumptions by asking the why questions. It's about challenging the perceived limits of our God-given potential by asking the why not questions. And it's driven by a holy curiosity that won't take yes for an answer. If we are going to have an eternal impact on our culture, we can't just criticize it or copy it. We've got to create it."
"The church ought to be the most creative place on the planet. And there are certainly pockets of ingenuity and imagination, but we're nowhere near our creative potential. I wonder if our lack of creativity stems from a false definition of faithfulness. Faithfulness is not doing it the way it's always been done. Faithfulness is not holding the fort. Faithfulness is not defending the status quo. Faithfulness is the courage to incarnate the gospel in creative ways. Faithfulness is experimenting with new ways of doing discipleship. Faithfulness is playing offense for the kingdom even if some Pharisees find it offensive."
Part of being creative is just being who you are. "Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Don't settle for the status quo. Challenge it. Nonconformity invites criticism, but that is the only option if you're following in the footsteps of the quintessential nonconformist, Jesus. God doesn't just give us permission to give expression to our uniqueness; He demands it. And the future of the kingdom may depend upon it."
One God idea is worth infinitely more than a thousand good ideas. How do you know which ideas are God ideas and which ideas are just good ideas? Prayer and experimentation. As creatives, we have to be willing to experiment, which means we have to be willing to fail. But if we are unwilling to fail then we will never follow through on the new ideas that God is planting within us all the time. Why are we afraid to fail anyway? Are we afraid that people won't like us? It isn't about us anyway is it? It is about God. And if it is about God, then it isn't about us, so it doesn't matter if people don't like us! God has called us to be creative, so create.
Enjoy the Journey
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)