Religion's 3 Problems with Jesus....

Problem #3: The Partying

"And they said to Him, "The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink." -Luke 5:33

Religion has little place for feasting...it's more interested in fasting.

Often it's because someone with a religion based relationship with God thinks that "what they do or don't do" is what makes them acceptable to God. They live in a perpetual sense of displeasure and are motivated to earn God's approval instead of living from a place of peace and pleasure based on what Christ has already accomplished for them.

They have a hard time with this "new wine" and try to pour it into the old wineskins of performance based righteousness. They are imprisoned in a mindset of corruption, sin and forbiddeness. They see all of life through a curse not a cleansing. They are ruined not restored, sick not healed, slaves not sons and daughters. They are defiled not delivered...and that bleeds over into a posture towards life in God and the world that they live within. They see only One Forbidden Tree in the garden of pleasure...instead of the hundreds of hundreds of other trees to eat freely from. To these types of religionists it's not what you know that frees you to live but all of life is determined by what you do. To them the Kingdom of God is all about what we do or do not put into our bellies or do with our bodies. They see humanity, our bodies, our appetites, or sexuality as dirty, evil, fallen and leprous. They can preach against anything...but have little light on how to live. They proclaim purity but can't articulate it's purpose.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit -Rom 14:17

Religious minded people are rarely at parties....because most people know that they are the worst folks to invite to parties. They don't know how to laugh, how to enjoy life, how to celebrate and feast. Their God is a dark and pessimistic scrooge that would never provide alcohol to a wedding but instead would be checking if the bride was a virgin or if the man had been married before.

"Jesus did not begin a reform movement within Judaism, working with the rabbinical schools and such. Jesus says, "I haven’t come to patch up your old practices. I come with a whole new set of clothes."

The change Jesus brought about had been prophesied by the prophets (Jeremiah 31:31)...and it was good news, much like the wine symbolism used in this passage...but it's not often popular among the crusty and cranky...but to the thirsty...its good news.

I think the Kingdom of God is a good place to live within...not just visit or anticipate...and its doors have been thrown wide open and the warmth from inside is spilling out into the cold, dark night. The laughter and festivities are luring the lonely and heavy laden inside. The music makes you want to dance not be buried.

And the wine isn't watered down...He has saved the best for last.

Religion's 3 Problems with Jesus....

Problem #2: The People

"The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?" -Luke 5:30

Grumbling...that about sums it up. Religiously minded people have a problem with the type of people Jesus attracts, hangs around and chooses as His disciples. The church is the only group in the world where you have to be unqualified before you can join.

"After that Jesus went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi (Matthew) and Jesus said to him, "Follow Me". -Luke 5:27

Jesus chooses people that others do not "notice"...we overlook, pass by, step over, determine as unqualified; the very ones that God has determined to pick.

We look for the rich...not the poor.
We want the positive, cheerful and extroverts...not those who mourn.
We choose the strong, the quick, the powerful...not the gentle.
We gather those who appear to have it all together...not those who admit that they are empty, hungry and in need.
We love the line drawers, clarifiers, the excluders...not the ones who draw big inclusive circles and often let others in.
We love the Pugilists...not the reconcilers.
We love our stars, our succeeders, the triumphant ones...not the ones who get a lot of flack, criticism or got a bad reputation.
We look for the ones that will make us feel better about ourselves...not the ones that will lower our public image.

Jesus chooses Matthews.

People with a present and a past. These kind are the ones who get surprised by the choice...people are usually not surprised by our choices. We need more "scandal" in our wake as followers of Jesus. We have lost the amazement and perplexity of grace and love. We don't have enough stories that move our cold, religiously ridged hearts. We need to see more sinners coming to repentance...so that we can hear more heavenly songs of joy...our Angels haven't sung in quite a long time (Luke 15:7 & Rev 1:20)

I think we can recognize the signs of a Jesus community emerging; when the ones being chosen for the "inner circle" provoke "grumbling" from the Religionists.

Religion's 3 Problems with Jesus....

Problem #1: The Preaching
"One day Jesus was preaching...and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing..."-Luke 5:17 (Read all of Luke: 17-26)

Religion is only concerned about Text & Time...generally, a future time. The Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the Scribes were gathered to "catch" Jesus in some scripture based conundrum, some law breaking snare, a possible cataclysmic religious faux pas. Hopefully finding enough evidence to convict him in their own private traditional and theological courts. These fundamentalist "bibliodolaters" were not concerned about the suffering people around them...particularly the paralyzed man that had just been lowered through poor old Caleb's, recently renovated tile roof! They were concerned not about people...but words.
These kind of people are known as the Bible book worms...the "Scribes"...everything to them is about "translating, copying, interpreting, splicing and dicing greek verbs, Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew tenses and nuances. They also gather enormous libraries of "commentaries"...they love to talk about what the famous rabbi, teacher, preacher or professor has said about this or that verse. Soon they find themselves seeing all scripture through the lens or interpretation of the commentaries of the last person they learned from and that person learned his commentary from his "scribe" and on and on it goes...until soon, you're not sure if you are preaching or teaching "commentary about the Scripture or the scriptures themselves...but to these folks...they are ultimately, one and the same.

These Pharisees are as their name means, the "separated ones". They live with their noses both up and down. They live with a nose up at the unwashed, unreached,undereducated, pagan or unclean neighbors. They would rather go in their closets and talk to God about men...then go outside and talk to men about God. They live with their noses down in the spine of their books. They think of themselves as the cutting edge or the latest and the greatest, restorers, reformers, the faithful, pure, the undefiled, the truth bearers, the defenders of the faith, the fundies and conservatives. These folks get mad not at injustice or suffering of lives...but at mishandling words.

They are sure that "how you live" isn't and issue of eternity...but what you Know and it was these kind of people that had Jesus nailed to a chunk of bloody wood, on a garbage dump...far enough outside their beloved...'Holy City'.

Yes, the Lord of the Word...was rejected in favor of the Word of the Lord. They would rather have a God they could put in their rucksack...then a Word made flesh.

As in this story...they are especially enraged at anyone who lives a life of scandalous forgiveness and grace. Jesus was passing out forgiveness, like it was a key to the kingdom that he possessed. He was a sin forgiver...and they had an extreme problem with that. He had no papers, no degree from their seminary, He wasn't a priest, a scribe, a Pharisee or even one of those liberal "Sadduceess". He could draw crowds that they never were able to gather. He was outside their establish order. He was a rebel that wasn't conforming to the natural religious order of protocol and tradition. He wasn't qualified in their minds...and yet, He felt perfectly comfortable doing God's job!!! To them...it was Blasphemy.

Grace ticks people off...and too much grace will get you crucified. Religious people want judgment...not forgiveness. Justice...not mercy. They revel in suffering...especially if it is among "those" people. They can step over a broken person...in order to argue a theological point about the possible navel of Adam. Crippled people are of no consequence...the human condition doesn't matter...what matters is eternity. Your'e body doesn't matter to them..unless you are doing something sexual with it...then they get real religious about it. But in general...it's all going to burn in God's final judgment anyway...so let the people starve...they don't need a good physician...just a Soul doctor...and only one from their universities.

In the end...they don't really have room for the word "Friend" (Luke 5:20)

Because they are some of the most "unfriendly" people around...the world knows it and most people who have stumbled along this Jesus path have come to know it. Until we as followers of Jesus reject this unbalanced head congested faith and begin to "see" the very least of these people, in front of us as "Christ disguised"...we will continue the long religious tradition of being only known as a people of a book...instead of the Followers of Jesus.

What is the Gospel...?

Here is a simple answer.

Why I don't teach Tithing...

Yes, I do not teach tithing as represented by most churches at Jacob's Well.

As you know, if you attend here regularly or heard yesterday's message. But since I am sure that message shocked some, upset others and probably set a lot of guilt laden believers free...I thought I would take some time to expound here.

I teach principles of giving rooted in the Old Testament texts concerning Israel's system of economics represented in the Manna, Tithe, Gleaning, Debt forgiveness, Jubilee and the Sabbath texts (Ex 16:16- 26, Lev 25, Dt 15); taught and modeled by Jesus and the early church and expounded on by the Apostles in both word and deed.

Israel followed the Old Covenant law and that law contained commands that fell under three general categories:
-Moral
-Ceremonial
-Civil

As New Covenant followers of God, we must discern which of the commands pass through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. I believe the NT teaches that much of the moral law passes through, but the ceremonial and civil law do not in the letter of the law; but do in the spirit of the law. Most of the commands of the law were fulfilled by Jesus and now are embodied in spirit in the believer's life both personal and communally as the church.

I believe the "righteousness" of the Christian church exceeds and goes beyond that of the OT believer. Kingdom economic's surpass Israel's economics. The ending of the civil based kingdom focus of the OT necessitates a Kingdom ethic that embraces OT ethics in relationship to money, giving and the poor but allows for the expansion of the gospel into all the world via a spiritual kingdom.

Laws have become principles for the community of faith to wrestle with and walk out for the good of the community and in honor and worship of God; who has blessed us and made us stewards of His resources.

You can search high and low in the epistles and letters and you will find no clear cut teaching on anything that reflects a literal command to Tithe. But you do find a sacrificial giving community that embodies a corporate ethos that clearly resembles all the commands and practices of the OT community of faith.

The NT focuses on the inner life of the heart and soul; uprooting the love of money and all its abuses and idolatry. This focus goes beyond and below the ideas of blessings, the pursuit of wealth or percentages.

The main NT text's that speak directly to the issue of care for the poor and giving are below.

Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
-2 Corinthians 9:6-8

Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia. On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.
-1 Corinthians 16:1-2

Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal. As the Scriptures say,
“Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough."
-2 Corinthians 8:11-15

...I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving. I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches." -2 Cor 8:7-8

The New Testament's basic giving principles:

1. Give All You Can
Key phrase in 1 Cor 16:2: "as he may prosper" (nas version)

2. Give voluntarily
Key phrases: You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure (2 Cor 9:7

3. Give with Equality in mind
Key phrase: There should be some equality (2 Cor 8:13)

The New Testament's giving ethos examined:
-Acts 2:43-47
-Acts 4:32-35,
-Acts 6:1
-John 12:6

In the OT the land apportioning and giving texts provided basically two realities:
-An opportunity for everyone to work and provide for ones family.
-A safety net for those who couldn't care for themselves.

These two principles pass on to the NT community. NT economics maintain the ethos that if you can work, you should. If you can't we will take care of you. Giving isn't meant to enable sinful lifestyles, immaturity, greediness or laziness. Giving is a gracious example of generosity that cares for the poor and suffering and exhibits a community that is free from the love of money and is motivated by love and not fear or greed.

There is much more on the subject that expands on the beautiful way in which NT communities went above and beyond in the care of the poor, one another and for the mission of God to the world; but for brevity sake...these are the main guiding principles we at Jacob's Well use to express our value of Partnering together for Mission.

Led into the wilderness....

I read this paper from Ched Myers this morning. I don't think I have read a more concise article that captures the heart of my own personal journey with the gospel; as it relates to personhood and politics. If I could have everybody that interacts with me, read this...I think they would understand the underlining ministry and mission impulses that burn in my belly. This article helped me frame those Spirit & Word "perceptions" in a clearer way. It was like hearing someone speak my inner turmoil and give it greater light. I know that sounds over the top, but it really resonated and explained myself to myself in some profound ways.

I began this mornings study, compelled by a phrase in the book of Luke, chapter 4:1 about Jesus "Being led into the wilderness by the Spirit." when I watched the above video and reached around the 6 minute mark, the Spirit was doing quite a number on my heart. I just had a conversation yesterday with my friend Jeremy from Kentucky, about feeling this inner impulse towards a wilderness season. I was feeling a compulsion towards wilderness. The message in this paper and this video touched that in a profound way.

As we teach through the book of Luke, I can see that much change is ahead...I both long for and fear, the unfolding of this gospel in fresh and life altering ways.

What Gospel have you heard...or taught...?

"Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son." -2 John 1:9

It never ceases to amaze me, how many folks that claim to follow Jesus...consider the word's of Jesus to be void of authority. His word's really do not have to regulate thier lives. They say, He is Lord...but do not do what He says.

This is normative Christianity today.

Does that trouble anyone?

Could it be that the 'gospel' that has been preached, taught and modeled...is possibly a weak or watered down version of easy believeism? A modern equivalent of Bonhoeffer's "cheap grace"? Is it surprising to you to think about the fact that Jesus and the Apostles preached the gospel...before Jesus was ever crucified, buried and rose from the dead?

» And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

» And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. (Matthew 9:35)

» Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15)

» [Jesus] said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent." (Luke 4:43)

» Now it came to pass, afterward, that [Jesus] went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings [gospel] of the kingdom of God. (Luke 8:1)

» The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the Kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. (Luke 16:16-17)

» And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

Have you ever had anyone, seriously explain the "Good News" to you...the Pre-Calvary version? Doesn't that even sound heretical to say...? I know it does, just writing it.

My perplexing contemplations about the often..."complete and utter disregard" for Jesus's teaching is leading me to question wether or not...what folks have heard, has even been an accurate transmission of the Gospel Jesus taught.

The announcement of "good news"—the very best news that could be heard today—which the Father gave through Jesus Christ, was about His Kingdom being established on earth.

But what is a kingdom? It is essentially a nation, with all of its citizens, land, and laws, ruled by a government. In biblical usage, a kingdom can also mean a family from a single parent grown into a nation.

A kingdom has four basic elements:
1) a king, supreme ruler, or governing agent
2) territory, with its specific location and definite boundary lines
3) subjects or citizens within that territorial jurisdiction
4) and laws and a form of government through which the will of the ruler is exercised.

I propose...that If we ignore any one of these essential elements—if we ignore the whole message that Jesus Christ brought from the Father—we will have a distorted faith, one that will not bring salvation in the sense that Jesus meant.

Maybe, the fact that there is a rampant disconnect between saying one "Believes" and what one "Lives"...is far more of an issue than simply struggling humanity to do "gooder"? Maybe instead of making excuses for our failure to truly embrace and obey Jesus...we should examine the message we are consuming? Could it be...that the fruit of action...is a result, of the root of belief?

Have we placed the message of death, burial and resurrection in it's proper context with the broader context of the Kingdom of God? What happens if you separate them?

I think...you get some serious problems.

Your church is Jacked up....

The Walk from Recycle Your Faith on Vimeo.

As church we are gearing up for Advent season that starts on November 29th...a journey of four Sundays that will step into the Jesus story. His Arrivals...and what they invite us to remember, experience and hope for.

This Sunday I will lay some ground work for the days ahead and look at the Jubilee that Jesus inaugurated in His ministry (Lk 4:14-30) and how that became outlived in the emerging church in the book of Acts (Acts 2:41-47 & 4:32-35). Helping us connect the truth of the gospel with how to live the gospel. All within the context of a day to day journey with a group of broken and screwed up people; who are praying "Your Kingdom come...Your will be done...on Earth as it's done in Heaven."

Join us as we seek to learn how to become Covenantal Communities....people who have chosen to walk together in the spirit of family; accepting and caring for one another in such a way that those outside His family, will be drawn to the Father's house. Love is the message and it does reconcile people to God and.....to one another.

Grace allows for all us jacked up people to find hope, process, redemption, absolution, restitution and a chance to start over each day....progressive transformation. As a continual testimony to that change...we come around the Communion Table, to acknowledge and confess through eating the bread and drinking the cup; that we are ever dependent on the mercy and grace of Jesus and His indwelling empowerment to walk out the new kingdom dawning.

All are welcome...sinners and saints...and those who know they are one and the same.

Brutes, Beasts and Bodacious Brothelites...

""Every story of conversion is the story of a blessed defeat." -C.S. Lewis

I preached a message this Sunday called: "The Savior, Serpent and the Sea"; it was a word for the weary. I contrasted the differences between the world views that were present during the emergence of the gospel:

Greek/Roman World View:
Man alone against the world
Man against the Gods
Man, destroys or saves himself
Fate and Destiny

Christian World View:
*Christ and His Father seeking to save the world
*Man is loved by God
*Man is rescued
*Purpose and Will

I think the heart of the message is best summoned up in Paul's statement in Romans 8:28-39:
"If God is for us, who can be against us?".

It's easy to conclude that the universe is against you in these days and times...life often sends that message...and one can wither under the heat of fate and destiny. It can feel as if someone has predetermined a load for your life that crushes, drains, deflates, numbs, disillusions, frightens, dispirits and cauterizes your already hardening heart.

Most religions and/or spiritual philosophies teach some form of spiritualized escapism to deal with the realities around us. They promise some form of help after the grave or they teach techniques to mentally transform our pains through thinking differently or formulating fanciful meditations to endure. Most of that stuff deadens us...it's a religious act of producing callouses over our souls.

Other groups rally the troops, strike up the band, beat the shields and trumpet Braveheart-like charge into battle speeches. Pastors bark like King Leonidas of Sparta; stirring the blood to evoke some sort of barbarian frenzy that will carry people through their mounting difficulties. But after a while how many of those "captain on the horse" speeches can you endure before they all sound like brainwashing to get you to do something that is going to kill you!

Then there are those slick haired, fancy suited, velveteen voices that aim for the manifest destiny, industrialist within people. They manufacture Tower of Babel like promises and put a brick in one hand and sword in your other and enlist you into various religious part-time jobs; that at first make you feel needed and important; but eventually just turn you into mules for man-made kingdoms.

Or there's the slipper wearing couch counselors that soothe and sing to all your inner booboos and oowies. They cater and coddle to the ever whimpering crowd. They are the soft spoken Santa's that hug like Oprah and meander pointlessly...turning meetings into one big Chiropractor visit...they are always expensive and never actually get you healed.

The gospel of Jesus accomplishes more than just producing religious opiates...it really is good news for those who have even started to think that God is against them. Instead of reinforcing the idea that the universe is being run by some hot headed, capricious Brutes, Beasts and bodacious Brothelites...it tells of a loving, self revealing Father.The gospel of Jesus, reveals a Father who is rescuing His Children. It proclaims a Savior that comes to do what we could not do. It reveals a true Hero, so that you can let go of the empty mythologizing of your own strengths and accept the blessed defeat of faith...and then enter into the victory of His work for you. Jesus is the God who is with us. He comes to us...alone in our sinking vessel of broken hopes and dreams, shattered power and under-realized ambitions...and He beckons us out onto the waves to experience life lived through His life.

This is truly...Good News.

Religion: adventures in missing the point

[Author's Commentary: This piece is a tough look at the underbelly of ugly Christianity. "The church is a whore and she is my mother." was a statement made by St. Augustine. I love the church, but people within her often make it a nauseous place. We all have contributed to the ills described below and we all can change it. I pray an honest affirmation and exposure of such issues can redirect us towards a more holistic and authentic gospel witness and experience.]

The simple Jesus way: The love of God for man and the love of God
through man, has often sadly become:

...Domineering headship, sanitized and paranoid moral purity, singing songs, attending services,
tithing, duty, unflexable tradition, telling people you don't know,
stuff they don't know and warning them about a lake of torture if they
don't believe you.

It's about being better every day and making sure others know it and
then thrashing yourself for how far you still have to go to be good
enough.

It's guilt based activity, it's forced programs that you wouldn't
attend elsewhere but suffer through out of religious pressure, it's
isolation and cultural uppityness.

It's a lot of fantasy, pretending, game playing and false hope. It's
often angry dysfunction masked as preaching; it's unskilled people
practicing on vulnerable and trusting people.

It's cheaply earned knowledge passed on lazy minds, it's parental
abuse in the form of indoctrination; it's poorly educated
misapplication, intolerance masked as convictions.

It's greedy lazy sloths sucking off the good will of sincere but
stupid followers. It's sexism, ageism and ethnocentric bigotry played
as biblical requirments.

It's unhealed, untrained, untested lunacy that would be fined, fired
and arrested in most professional fields.

It's dangerous, difficult, deadly mental and spiritual sewage passed
as healthy drink...forced on people who are holding thier noses while
gagging to swallow, all while faking plastic smiles.

It's sad.

I pray the Lord will have a more beautiful expression of the gospel and His church in the days ahead...this generation needs it.

Bucking Religion...

[Author's Commentary: This piece is a tough look at the underbelly of ugly Christianity. "The church is a whore and she is my mother." was a statement made by St. Augustine. I love the church, but people within her often make it a nauseous place. We all have contributed to the ills described below and we all can change it. I pray an honest affirmation and exposure of such issues can redirect us towards a more holistic and authentic gospel witness and experience.]

"He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' " -Jesus (Luke 5:36-39)

Religion is often the ugliest stick on the block and its most likely going to be wielded by the elders. This picture from the recent political uprisings and protests in Iran, perfectly captures the tension of the old and the new. Unless you have been a victim of the chaffing yoke of religious legalism, the suffocating fear based paranoia of tradition or the necropolis of pious formalities...you haven't truly tasted the liberating freedom of the gospel.

The English word "religion" is etymologically derived from the Latin word religo, meaning to "bind up." Religion binds people up in rules and regulations or in ritualistic patterns of devotion.

The barnacles of man-made religion or as Paul calls it in Colossians 2:23 "Self-Made Religion", can encrust a once sleek, adventurous, sea challenging vessel and turn it into an encrusted, dock-locked museum to a once dangerous, now retired, faith.

Many people end up fleeing these ghost ships that are mere haunts to the specters of bygone eras. These religious meetings become seances where bewitched dark gospel necromancers conjure the dead...but never empower the living. These modern idolaters build shrines to days gone by, but can't unleash a virile apostolic hoard upon the nations in need of templeless Christianity. Their ancestral power is woven with fear, they shackle the mind with childish apprehensions, godless anxieties and nepotistic emotional castrations that leave young dreamers impotent, paralyzed and chronically timid....skittish of their own God given passions and callings.


"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. -Jesus (Matthew 23:13

Such false spirituality is really evil and it nailed Jesus to a bloody Roman cross. History has seen countless young emerging believers, potential saints, have their destinies aborted on the cold, morbid religionists table. The horror will only be revealed in the eternals to come. The dwarfed and disfigured faith that is perpetrated on unsuspecting minds and hearts is wicked. The spiritual retardation that has been the result of such cultic constraints and thin, cliff-noted gospels is a betrayal of the wild, world shaking evangelion that we are meant to cast like free seed to the wind.

Such gangrene should be hacked off, gouged out with cancer like seriousness. It will take bold men and women to stand against the viral spread of such strands of churchianity.

And like Luther of old, we must live offensively not just defensively:

"If you wish to use your freedom, do so in secret as Paul says, (Rom 14:22) "The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God" but take care not to use your freedom in the sight of the weak, On the other hand, use your freedom constantly and consistently in the sight of and despite the tyrants and the stubborn so that they also may learn that they are impious, that their laws are of no avail for righteousness and that they had no right to set them up...These...resist, do the very opposite and offend them boldly lest by their impious views they drag many with them into error. In the presence of such men it is good to eat meat, break the fasts, and for the sake of the liberty of faith do other things which they regard as the greatest of sins. Of them we must say..."Let them alone, they are blind guides".
-Martin Luther in "Freedom of a Christian"

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."
-Paul (Galatians 5:1)

I leave you with a prophetic injunction to heed or ignore:

Lunge and Kick...Oh, loosed Stallion,
Shake your mane with gusts of liberty,
Rise up high into the open heavens,
Snort with the terror of joy,
Stomping hooves, rippling muscle,
Neigh fiercely in your wide-eyed confrontation,
Buck the saddle, the rein, the spur,
Leap like a thousand earth trembling waves,
Blaze an earth cloven trail behind your emancipation,
Charging mercilessly,
Becoming myth,
Vanguarding destiny,
Echoing truth,
For the corralled masses,
Gallop free....

In a faster world, maybe we need a slower church...?

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who live outside-in and those who live inside-out. The outside-in folks allow the world to saturate their thinking. They are sponges, absorbing the agendas of this world without a filter. Like the Roman Empire, they are destroyed from within. in contrast, those who live inside-out change the world with what’s inside them… It’s the difference between a black hole and a burning star. It’s more beautiful to explode in light than implode in darkness. And we all know that there are enough black holes in this world already.” -Godology: Because Knowing God Changes Everything” by Christian George

I am working hard at slowing down lately. Cultivating a hearing heart, listening more than talking, looking more than seeing. I have found a rich well of nourishment for my tired soul in this season. Resting in the spiritual truth that is found in sleeping. In the scriptures the day starts in the evening...when I go to sleep.

He will not let you stumble and fall; the one who watches over you will not sleep. -Psalm 121:3

Our time clocks call the day starting when I awake...when I arise and tell the world I am ready to work. But in God's kingdom the real work begins when i go to sleep. In light of all that needs to be done, all the suffering, all the ministry to do, all the family stuff to attend to...you realize in the biblical clock...God is the center not me.

It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. -Psalm 127:2

So much of Christianity practice and understanding of mission isn't rooted in rest but anxiousness...not centered in His work but my labor. It's a man-centered gospel and in the end...it burns people out.

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." -Matthew 11:29-30 (The Message)

“Jesus was often busy but he was never hurried. Being busy is an outer condition; being hurried is a sickness of the soul.” -John Ortberg

With so many conversations and activity going on these days to build it bigger, better and faster...I am finding a delight in exploring ways to do the opposite....and that is a radical gospel path indeed.

In a faster world, maybe we need a slower church -Leighton Ford

Covered....

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool." -Isaiah 1:18

This is a picture of a lot in my neighborhood. It used to be covered in junk, some run down houses and was basically an eye sore. I passed it a couple days ago; just as the sunlight was breaking through some trees onto the fresh fallen snow. It almost caught my breath away, because it looked so beautiful, especially compared to the way it used to be.

I was thinking about how snow reminds me of the way grace covers our sins. This lot was cleared by the demolition crew but it was scarred by the process. Sinful man has a uncanny way of leaving a wasteland behind his selfish living. Garbage, broken down vehicles, boarded up houses that look hunched over and about to crumble under the weight of disrepair.

But the land isn't what morns the loudest around here...You can see the same curse of sin weakening the very countenances and bodies of my neighbors. Meth addiction looks like an internal black hole that is sucking faces within themselves...the teeth have already been swallowed and the smile is next...leaving only a marred face that's far older than it ever was supposed to be.

I saw the slow despair as I was standing in line at the local convenience store on Christmas eve. I was buying butter for LeeElla because she was making carmel corn for our neighbors; but the other people surrounding the counter were all purchasing lottery tickets....lots of them. I stood there fully conscious of the desire to revel in the holiday moment versus the gnawing hopless hope of trying to gamble your way out of the present. I was sad as I watched them spend money on a pipe dream, when the real treasures were probably at home, getting less because the money was foolishly spent.

I left longing for a snowstorm of God's love and grace to descend and cover all the land and people of my little Nazareth. Because grace beautifies the sin worn face and soul and it's a source for an unfolding restoration that eventually even renews the earth (Ez 47). Peter summed up the work of the Holy Spirit and repentance as a "wiping away" and that results in "times of refreshing" in Acts 3:19. Oh how we need that work of grace in this hour.

"...O the happiness of him whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered" -Psalms 32"1

Beware the dogs....

Like Paul, I often find myself in the position that he expressed in 1 Corinthians 9:3:

"My defense to those who examine me is this..."

It's the nature of my path and the ongoing outworking of living out the radical grace scandalizing gospel; that I will step on peoples toes. As a result I’m usually involved on some level with ongoing discussions, debates and defenses of my attempts to live in the freedom of the gospel and reach those who do not yet have faith in Jesus or call Him Savior and Lord.

The best equipping I have found for living on the edge of mission is a deeper and more full understanding of the liberating truth of the Gospel, the life of Jesus and the methods of embracing people in a redemptive way that He fleshed out. But like Jesus and those he chose as disciples; that path always leads to persecution, controversy, insults, character attacks, gossip, confrontation etc. Now there’s also the beautiful hard work of reasoning from the scriptures, honest debate, rigorous study and heartfelt renewing of the mind that I get to engage with people as well. That’s the rewarding work of enlightenment, revelation and teaching that the gospel usher in.

But the crux in these parts of the world usually involve peoples personal paradigm's of religious practices and traditions both culturally and religious. These are the places where sparks often fly:

“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” -2 Timothy 3:12

You see that little word in that sentence is the battleground: “godly”.

The difficulty I find, is in reorienting people to a gospel understanding of what God considers godly versus what traditionalists, legalists, religionists, fundamentalists and hyper conservative culturalists consider: “godly”.

You see the same conflict following Jesus wherever he preached, taught and ministered life. The same goes for that band of trouble makers that spread the gospel all over the NT world. The beatings, scourging, imprisonments, assassination attempts, traveling jewish re-educators that followed Paul's church planting endeavors, the false brethren that tore at the fabric of new faith communities...all were part of the wake of the gospel. Jesus and Paul both were accused of messing with the status quo or shaking thing up.

We've found this man (Paul) a real pest...stirs up dissension...and a ringleader of a sect...-Acts 24:5

Paul expected it, wrestled with it, prayed often for it to ease up or be removed...but it was simply part of what he called the “great revelations” that he received. In fact he often prayed other people would also receive the sprit of revelation and understanding. Well a revelation of what? Simply...Jesus. His work, His life, His death, His resurrection and all that it means to be in Him and for Him to be in You.

But trust me that revelation will jack up your world....good and bad!

Yes, the sublime beauty of all that a revelation of the gospel unfolds within you, liberates you from pursuing, sets you free from fighting will also unleash a hoard of nit pickers that will hound you like locusts on fresh dewed gardens. Paul retold it all this way:

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong”. (2 Cor. 12: 7-10)

Notice what Paul describes as the thorns in his life. I know most people have been told God gave him a sickness or disease because of his glorious revelations of Jesus but I think his own testimony in the verse says differently. I also think the pages of the many letters he wrote retell the “torment” he endured the most often was from...people.

"Alexander the metalworker did me [the Apostle Paul] a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message." -1 Timothy 4:14-15

Defending the gospel as it relates to mission is a common reality for those who choose to step outside the church walls. Soon as you seek to leave the comfy bible studies, the countless consumeristic religious programs designed to massages, entertain, coddle, pacify and feed the over fed into obesity...you get a target on your back.

There are too many believers that are convinced that we Christians are still living in a Old Testament reality where sin and contamination is the preeminent power...and becoming “unclean” is the threat that all sincerely religious people must be constantly concerned about.

Few are those who have experienced and live out the power of the Gospel that sanctifies the sinner. Where are those who touch spiritual leprosy and see the power of grace triumph over the power of sin? Jesus walked in an authority that the navel gazing, germ phobic, ceremonially minded, gnat strainers are not yet aware of. They have a gospel that is trapped in continual self focused gospel of self improvement. It breeds judgmentalism and it's a measuring religion that produces self righteous people who spend hours of time gnawing on dead things instead of spreading truth, life and the love of God. In the name of being right...they bloody the butts of every passerby them deem to be a threat.

Paul called them dogs:

Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. -Phil. 3:2-3

Why dogs?

Well, my guess is...they bark a lot. They are loud, annoying and distracting. They incessantly whine, whimper and beg.

They bite, nip, growl, chase and hound you....tirelessly.

They pee over everything...as they mark out their supposed personal territories that they protect at all costs.

They poop all over the place and never bury their messes...in fact, you can guarantee that if they have been around...the place is going to stink and you are going to have to constantly watch where you step.

In the end, I pray that I will have the grace to endure....and as I ponder that beauty of the cross, I am reminded that “My grace, is sufficient for you”.

Amen, to that....

Chuck on Grace....

Chuck Swindoll defined the legalism problem as:

"...when we get into areas that are not set forth in Scripture, either in precept or even in principle. These may be such things as length of hair, tattoos and other body piercings, skirts or pants for women, makeup or no makeup. Those are not scriptural issues. Sometimes these issues are cultural, and you do have to address them when you are in that particular culture. But I think legalism begins when you do or refrain from doing what I want you to do or not do because it’s on my list and it’s something that I am uncomfortable with...The problem with legalists is that not enough people have confronted them and told them to get lost. Those are strong words, but I don’t mess with legalism anymore. I’m 72 years old; what have I got to lose? Seriously, I used to kowtow to legalists, but they’re dangerous. They are grace-killers. They’ll drive off every new Christian you bring to church. They are enemies of the faith. Other than that, I don’t have any opinion! So, if I am trying to force my personal list of no-no’s on you and make you feel guilty if you don’t join me, then I’m out of line and I need to be told that."...The problem with the "easy believism, cheap grace" crowd is that they don't understand the severity of their sin. In other words, it's hard to appreciate someone paying your bill for you if the bill wasn't all that much to begin with.

On the other hand...

The problem with the Ned Flanders-type "legalists" is that they don't understand the extent and efficacy of Christ's redemptive work to forgive all our sins - past, present and future. In other words, they keep trying to pay a debt that has already been paid. And unfortunately, they look at every other believer as a person who needs to keep working in order to pay their own bill as well.

Methods and Message...matter.

When is the the Charismatic church going to stop being enamored, mesmerized and duped by flamboyant, over the top, circus-like methods of ministry pictured above. Not only that but what happens when the "methods" begin to undermine the "Message" or even corrupt it. It amazes me how when it comes to Jesus, many Christians seem to forget that He is as much "WAY" as He is "Truth and Life" (Jn 14:6).

How we act, how we minister, how we present God, how we treat people, how we preach, how we represent the ways of God are all part of discerning the true gospel.

We do not just judge the fact of rather or not there is "life" or just "truth" but is this a healthy "way" to live out the gospel? What some people accept on a stage would never find any place in day to day life and in the case of this video...might even be prosecutable. The craziness that we put up with behind closed doors is becoming frightening. But now with video, internet and youtube...the world is able to see and hear us...and that is causing much that is being done in "darkness" to be come exposed. The internet is "light" and that can be good light or bad light...depending on what kind of actions are taking place or being revealed.

But methods can be argued with, but what really worries me is the way "message" can be warped, anemic, light, crooked like a half shadow, muddled, bizarre, dwarfed, hollow and theologically underdeveloped and we buy it. These gospels are packaged like organic truth but upon biblical and just plain human sense examination they are revealed to be as nutritious as a greasy burger....well, actually the packaging is more scary than the message most of the time but people still gobble it up. No one could grow in grace on the 'gospels" that are being peddled over the airwaves and "god-tubes" these days. Our webcams have unveiled the underbelly of lunacy in both the world and the church and its being trumpeted as evidence of God moving?

I position my self theologically as an evangelical, reformed leaning, Charismatic. I have seen God do miracles but I have also seen God allow a lot of stuff to be done in His name, that in the end just exposes those who will cling to Him and His word and those who didn't. Even when "stuff" happens and "evidence" appears to validate the "words and ways" of various "prophets" in the end...it was more about who clung to the Lord and His words. Miracle and sign chasing is shaky ground to build your spiritual life upon.

I would heed the warnings of Jesus, the Apostles and the history of Israel. These passages are present to help us navigate the stormy waters that so often swirl all around the church and the truth.

If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. -Deut. 13:1-4

"But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who brought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves."
-2Peters 2:1

Scriptures also tell us that as the end times approach, more and more false prophets will come and deceive the people.
-Matt. 24:12

Jesus himself warn Christians to watch out and be on the alert for false prophets, who come "in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." -Matt. 7:15

You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?" 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him. -Deut 18:20-21

The longer I live and walk in Jesus, the more I see that the same old stuff just gets repackaged with a few twists. Sure there might not be any rattlers and vipers in these services but its the same game...just a different field.

The Gospel for the Barbarians

"I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." (Rom. 1:14-17).

The Barbarians need the gospel...

I really believe that the gospel is poised to reap a huge harvest in this generation. If you have keen eyes and sharp ears you can see the coming together cultural elements that are positioning the church to speak to an age that is fully ripe to the resurrecting power of the gospel. Might I add, the gospel as it is expounded through the reformed tradition seems to be particularly calibrated to penetrate this emotive, dark, and awakening generation. Our Lord stands among the graveyards of this culture and brings to life the sleeping souls. His voice opens graves. His light can give a path to those in darkness. His hands are scarred and open to lift the downcast out of the pit. He is the sunrise from on high...that is dawning on those who sit in the shadow of death.

He can make you fully alive.

I am starting a new series through the book of Romans called: "The gospel for the Barbarians" starting this Sunday. I pray that it will unlock prison doors and set captives free from...religion, law, the past, the self, sin and every binding noose of false piety that keeps people from living in the liberty of the gospel of Jesus Christ.