Confidence, Rest, and Joy

I had decided this year that I was going to study the gospels in depth and really learn about who Jesus is and after 4 months of that, I got a little tired of those 4 books, so I moved on to Acts and now I'm addicted.  I love this book so much!  I was reading one of Peter's sermons in Acts 2 today and during this famous sermon he inserts a quote from King David in Psalm 16:8-11.  Here's what it says.

²⁵King David said this about him:

‘I see that the Lord is always with me.

I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

²⁶No wonder my heart is glad,

and my tongue shouts his praises!

My body rests in hope.

²⁷For you will not leave my soul among the dead

or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.

²⁸You have shown me the way of life,

and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.’

As I read that passage from Psalms, 3 things stood out for me.  David points out 3 things that every human being wants and where they come from.  As I was reading this, God just brought to life this passage of scripture and I want to share with you what he laid on my hear this morning.  

1. Confidence comes from proximity. (vs. 25)  That sounds weird, but it is so true.  Yesterday I was playing in the backyard with my one year old daughter.  She has only been walking for about 6 weeks and she's still a little shaky on her feet.  The uneven ground and the growing grass made it a challenge for her to walk properly and she stumbled a lot.  She definitely preferred the stability of the sidewalk and driveway.  Her steps were cautious and slow until she would reach out her hand and hold mine.  With me holding her hand she could walk confidently because she knew that if she were to stumble, dad would stabilize her.  When the terrain got to difficult, she would look at me with her big blue eyes and say "up".  She knew the safest way to get where she wanted to go was with me carrying her.  David said I will not be shaken for HE is right beside me.  Satan will try to shake us but when we are walking hand in hand with God we can have the attitude that nothing will discourage or break us because our Father is right next to us.
2. Rest comes from hope. (vs. 26)  In the same way that stress wears us out, hope energizes us.  It's like a day off from work or a lazy morning with no alarm clock.  That break from all the pressures of the world around us gives us life and energy.  Everyone places their hope in something.  If you continually place your hope in things of this world, eventually the disappointment that comes when we place our hope in the temporal will wear you down and steal your hope.  When you don't have hope, you can never take a breath because you are constantly trying to find something new to put hope in.  When your hope is in the things of God, circumstances don't wear on you in the same way because you always have the hope of eternity.  Knowing that this world is temporary becomes a relief to you and you can breathe again.
3. Joy comes from presence.  That's presence not presents.  I love both giving and receiving gifts at Christmastime, but if I  had the choice of being with my family or getting a gift from them, I would choose being with them every time.  Joy comes from not only being in the presence of God but the realization that you are in the presence of God.  When we take time to acknowledge his presence, that feeling of joy overrides that sorrows of life.  When we finally see Christ face to face in heaven, all the hurt and pain from the world we live in will forever be forgotten.

As I was praying today, the presence of God became so real to me and all the things that have tried to drag me down just melted away.  It was a snot on your Bible kind of day.  When God's presence becomes that real to you, that tends to happen.  (on a separate note, no one who reads this will ever ask to borrow my Bible).  I hope this was an encouragement to you today and I challenge you to take time to acknowledge his presence today!

ESTJ

If you've ever taken a myers-briggs personality type test, you will understand exactly what I'm talking about.  If you have never taken this test, you should.  Here's a free online one:  http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp. You can learn a lot about yourself and it will help you understand what I'm talking about.  I'm an ESTJ.  In case you are unfamiliar with the terminology, that is E for Extroverted as opposed to Introverted, S for Sensing instead of Intuitive, T for Thinking instead instead of Feeling, and J for Judging instead of Perceiving.  I say all of that to demonstrate that Judging is in my very nature.  It comes natural to me.  That judging nature comes in handy when it is time to make a decision because I can quickly assess a situation and make the right call.  I like that about me.  Where it gets me in trouble is when I try to assess people like I do a situation, because God's word is very clear in the fact that that only He sees the heart.  


I read an article in men's health a few weeks ago and it caught my attention because the author was roughly the same dimensions as me.  The gist of the article from his perspective was, "I hated fat people until I found out I was one of them".  He went on to describe the health risks of his current state and talked a little bit about BMI (body mass index) and why the numbers are set where they are.  When he crunched the numbers he landed solidly in the overweight category and was only a few digits away from obesity.  He came to the conclusion that our culture has become so overweight that he had gotten comfortable with his current situation to the point where he was being judgmental of people that struggled with the same issue he was dealing with.  We as Christians can fall into the exact same trap.  We get so comfortable with the sin in our hearts that we become delusional in thinking we have it all figured out.  We even go as far as looking with disdain on those who struggle with the same things we struggle with.   


Romans 2:5-11
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.


Paul makes it clear that the time to deal with sin is now.  Repentance means not only asking for forgiveness, but turning from our sin.  It takes a steady diet of self-examination and allowing the Holy Spirit to point out areas in our lives that need to change.  Sin will be dealt with.  We can deal with it now or God can deal with it one day.  We as Christians have been called to a higher standard than the world around us.  It's time to be a little uncomfortable and give ourselves a true self examination.  Our surroundings, personality type, and personal comfort level should not move us, but rather God's love and plan for our life should set the course for what we do and say.  


Matthew 6:33 
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Gym Rats and Chunkers

I decided to take some time off from blogging.  I tend to over-think things and I was spending so much time writing blogs that it was stressing me out.  I know that I only made it through chapter 1 of Romans, but honestly I have a very hard time hitting publish until I feel very good about what I've written.  We have an hour of staff prayer on Tuesdays and Fridays and I found that blogging for a couple hours and then going to staff prayer was spiritually taxing.  I was exhausted before I even started my day at work and Tuesday is typically my sermon prep day.  Let's just say I'm not there yet.  I love Jesus and I love spending time in his Word, but I'm a little A.D.D. and I decided I needed a different approach. 

 

This past month Laura and I joined a gym (LA Fitness) in Edina.  On Wednesdays and Thursdays, I get up at 5am so I can go to spin class or on mornings like today when the class gets canceled, I put some time in on the treadmill.  I usually get home around 7:15 and I don't leave for work until 8:45.  That gives me some time to sit down with a cup of coffee write a blog in totally distraction-free silence.  So, with that in mind I'm going to attempt to write 1-3 blogs a week and we'll see how that works out.

 

From the very first moment I entered LA Fitness, I was in full evaluation mode.  That is the way analytical people like me work.  I'm not proud of it, I'm just self-aware.  I had pretty much made my decision that we were going to join this gym.  I had gone online and done the research, checked the pricing, and checked the features.  It was exactly what we were looking for.  There was just one element that I needed to see before I signed on the dotted line...the people.  It may seem shallow, but I wanted to be working out in an environment where people are fit and healthy.  We toured the building during the busiest time of the week.  The staff were all young and in great shape.  As we walked past the spin bike room there was a class going on with mostly thin people dripping wet with sweat.  We walked through the weights area where guys with biceps the size of my legs were doing curls.  There was a cardio class going on in the studio and some guys playing racquetball on the courts.  As we walked past the huge row of bikes, treadmills, and elliptical machines, I saw some heavier set individuals, but primarily thin people and some pretty serious runners.  There were some guys playing basketball in the gym.  I have no doubt that if I were to jump in, I would be one of the worst players on the court with these guys.  They were extremely athletic and pretty good ball players.  

 

You may be thinking that I'm being hypocritical.  After all, I'm not exactly Mr. Fitness.  The fact remains that if I am going to spend my money to go to a gym on a regular basis, I want to be in an environment that is going to foster good fitness.  When I get on the treadmill and I'm feeling less than motivated, I don't want to look at the 400 lb guy who gets sweaty from lifting his hot dog to his face, thinking at least I'm not that guy.  I want to see the guy with 4% body fat running 6 minute miles and have hope that his level of fitness is out there for me.

 

Not only is it easy to judge the gym as a whole, but I find my self judging individuals as well.  You can pretty much size up a person in the gym in about 30 seconds.   There are the model/athlete types that drink green protein shakes for dessert and wash their clothes on their abs.  There are the thin, non athletic types who come to walk on a treadmill twice a week, eat a max of 600 calories in a day, only wear skinny jeans and t-shirts, and weigh less than 46lbs.  There are the guys like me that used to be athletic at one time and are trying to get back in shape.  There are the average individuals or post-pregnancy moms that are trying to maintain their weight or drop a few pounds.  There are the serious body builders that have a huge chest, big arms, tiny little legs, and usually a little bit of a gut because they like their beer and pizza.   And of course there are the massively overweight chunkers that got inspired by "The Biggest Loser" and need to drop over 100 lbs.  

As judgmental as that sounds, how much worse are we in our churches today.  At least when you judge someones fitness, you judge something that is primarily external.  When you judge someone's spiritual condition, you are attempting to judge the heart and that is impossible to do.

 

Romans 2:1-4

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? 


Paul makes it simple: If you want to see people come to know Christ, show them love.  You don't know the condition of their heart.  In fact, God knew the condition of  your heart before you surrendered your life to Christ and in spite of that, he sent his son to die for your sins and continues to forgive you when you mess up over and over again.  

We do have a responsibility to hold our brothers and sisters in Christ accountable to the decision that they've made to follow Christ.  That being said, our job is to address sin and let the Holy Spirit do the convicting.  When we judge someone else's heart, we end up making assumptions based on our own experience.  Judging leads to gossip and slander, and as Paul says, it even bring God's judgment on ourselves.  When you find yourself judging other people, think about what God has forgiven in your life.  That almost always works for me.  I've been forgiven of so much.  In fact, self-evaluation is great way to keep anyone from judging, because when you realize what God has forgiven in your life, it's much easier to demonstrate Christ's love and kindness.

The Results

When I was in elementary school, our school would participate in a track meet with several other Christian schools. My favorite event was the softball throw…I know that's not a real track event. We were too young to do the shot-put so we did this instead. I was never good at the sprints because I was incredibly slow, so the softball throw was my redemption for all the races that I was terrible at. I was always pretty good, but I usually finished somewhere between 2^nd place and 4^th place. When I got to 6^th grade I knew that this would be my last year of competing in the softball throw, so in the weeks leading up to the track meet I threw hundreds of softballs. I worked on getting a good run before the throw, picking the correct trajectory, and using my whole body to generate as much power as humanly possible to throw that ball. My first throw of three at the track meet was perfect. I was one of the first ones to throw, so I had to sit there and watch all of the other competitors make their attempt before I found out that I had finally taken first place. It was the crowning achievement of my life at that point. I was the softball throw king.

As stupid as that story was, it illustrates perfectly what these verses are saying. Results are not coincidental. If I hadn't put in the extra work, I would have probably finished in the same position that I always did. Somebody once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. In the same way when we fail to grow spiritually, we fall into the same temptations and sins that we always fall into. When you are spiritually fit, temptation can only do so much. When you choose to ignore the reality of God and his love for us, the results are disastrous. Check out these verses.

Romans 1:24-32

 ²⁴Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

 ²⁶Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

 ²⁸Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

In verse 24 when Paul says therefore, he's referring to previous verses which I covered in my blog yesterday. Let me summarize. As a result of man's selfishness, idolatry, and failure to recognize who God really is, you are now being controlled by sexual sin. Sexual sin usually comes from two different places. For men, self-gratification or the need to feel good is the motivation for sexual sin, while for women, sexual sin is usually the result of an attempt to fill a void of love in their life. Ultimately, however, both of these areas originate from the same place. Selfishness and this "love void" come from a failure to acknowledge who God is and what he is capable of. Selfishness as I mentioned in the previous blog is one of those things that really blinds us to God's existence. We want what we want so badly that we are willing to turn a blind eye to the truth. If God does not exist, what is the point of serving others? If God isn't real, why would we do anything other than what makes us feel good. In the same way, ignoring God's existence leads to a love void. That void is where God's rightful place is in our lives. Trying to fill that void with romantic relationships will never work.

Sexual sin is no stranger to the church. It is one of the most challenging things to overcome as a new believer and one of the easiest ways to stumble for a mature Christian. It is one of the most challenging sins to conquer because it originates from the very essence of who we are as sinners: selfish and needy. The only way to fight sexual sin is to cultivate a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Doing this blog has been a challenge for me because it takes about 1.5 – 2 hours per entry. I hate to disappoint anybody that expected differently, but that is more time than I'm used to spending on personal study every day. I've noticed however that since I've chosen to spend more time in His Word, I've been more receptive to His voice. When we take time to develop that relationship with Jesus, temptation doesn't have the power in our lives that it does when our relationship ends in a just a simple knowledge of God. And as Paul says in verse 29, this sexual sin is just a gateway to a list of other sins. He says, "although they KNOW God's righteous decree" along with the results of their sin, they not only continue to do them but encourage others to participate in their sin. Don't be ignorant to think that you can successfully be a half-hearted Christian. Either you are in all the way, or eventually you will fall into the trap of sin. Take time to pray, to study the Word, and to worship. Then you can safeguard yourself against temptation and ultimately sin.

God Is Obvious

It’s been a while since I last blogged.  Over the weekend we’ve been looking at houses and it has been a whirlwind and a rollercoaster all at the same time. (and I don’t like rollercoasters)  I can’t think of anything in my life that can be so exciting for one moment and completely discouraging the next.  I can’t imagine going through this process without a confidence that God is not only real, but also has our best interest at heart.  Without that confidence, I would be a wreck right now.  God’s hand on our lives has been so evident over the years that anybody with a brain could see and know that God is real.  


Paul in these verses takes it a step further.  He states that anyone who is a witness to creation can know that God is real and is without excuse.  Here’s what he says.

Romans 1:18-23

¹⁸The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

 ²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

The message of Jesus Christ is hope, but in order to really appreciate the hope and joy that the message of the gospel offers, we need to understand the alternative to surrendering our hearts to Christ.  God’s hostility towards sin doesn’t come from an emotional response to our disobedience.  His nature doesn’t allow for a tolerance of sin.  Paul is pointing out the problem with idolatry.  When we attribute things of God to men or things, we are being ignorant. 


Christians fall into this trap too.  When we receive a blessing of any kind, we give credit to ourselves, other people, and even luck or coincidence.  When I was first starting college, I had a bill from my school that was $1,800.  I had $1,400 saved and had no way of coming up with the extra cash.  I received a letter in the mail two weeks before school started that the scholarship I was receiving was increased by $500.  I’m ashamed to admit that my first response was to consider that development good fortune rather than recognizing God’s provision.  Now I look back and so clearly see that God met my need. 


It’s easy to say God is sovereign but to really believe that fact to the point where it changes your life can be difficult.  It’s really our selfishness that blinds us to the reality of who God is.  When we choose to put ourselves first and choose a life of sin over what God has for us, we blind ourselves to the work of God in our lives.  Frankly, to give credit that is due God to anyone else is idolatry. 


If we take the focus off ourselves, we will be able to see the evidence of God in our lives and the world around us.  Let’s give God the credit he deserves.  Look for ways that God has touched your life and acknowledge them publicly.  

Ashamed

Sometimes I dread going to get a haircut.  It has nothing to do with how my hair turns out.  In fact my hair is pretty simple to cut. When you work as hard as I do to make my hair look messy, sometimes a bad haircut helps.  No, the dread comes from the conversation that will more than likely take place with the hair stylist.  Let me summarize what this conversation usually looks like:




            
            Stylist: So, what do you do for a living?


            Me: I’m a youth pastor, how about you?


            Stylist: I’m a hair stylist, that’s why I’m cutting your hair.


            Me: Oh, yeah, that makes sense?


            Stylist: So how do you like being a youth pastor?

Me: I love it! I love working in the church, and working with teens, and serving God.

Stylist: Oh, that’s nice.  Let me tell you all of my hang-ups and my bitterness toward God and the church.  Then you can try to defend what you believe at the risk of making me angry and taking a chunk out of hair out of the top of your head with my scissors. 

Obviously that is a bit of an exaggeration, but as Christians, sharing our faith can be really tough.  As I read these verses in Romans, it caused me to ask myself the question: “If God’s grace is so great, why are we so embarrassed to tell people about it?”
Here’s what Paul says

Romans 1:14-17

¹⁴I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ¹⁵That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.

 ¹⁶I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. ¹⁷For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

Why is Paul so brazen and unashamed in his sharing of the gospel?  I came to the conclusion that he is unashamed because he really understands what the gospel is…the power of God for the Salvation of everyone who believes.


Let me explain what I mean.  Because we are all people with issues and baggage in our lives, we naturally tend to consider our baggage as part of our faith.  In reality, however, the two are unrelated entities that happen to coexist in our lives.  For example, you could have experienced God’s saving grace, but because you still struggle with sin, you feel unqualified to talk about your faith.  God’s grace is no less sufficient, but because of what comes with the package of Salvation in your own life, you feel like God’s grace somehow is less credible.  Another reason for the shame we exhibit is that the unsaved world has major hang-ups with the church. Frankly, they have good cause to view the church in the way they do.  Even though the church was established by Christ himself, it is made up of humans, who constantly find a way to stain our image.


If we are going to be eager and unashamed as Paul was, we need to give up the idea of defending the history of the Christian church and the politics of today’s church and instead preach the gospel.  I think of all the missed opportunities to share my faith over the years, and all the people that I could have reached with the gospel, and I only wish that I could have gotten over my baggage and shared my faith.  I’ve resolved this weekend to write a message to two different people from my past and really share my heart and my faith with them.  Pray that they will receive Christ as a result.


There are plenty of things that I’m ashamed about.  I’m ashamed of many of the things I’ve said, done, or been associated with, but there is no place for shame in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Would you resolve with me to be bold in sharing the hope of Jesus Christ with a world who desperately needs some good news?

Long Distance Relationship

A “long distance relationship” has become a fairly common pop-culture reference these days.  In fact I even saw a preview for a movie about a long distance relationship the other day.  Usually the social commentary on long distance relationships is that they rarely work.  There are several reasons why they usually don’t pan out, but on TV and in movies those relationships usually fail because one of the individuals in the relationship is tempted by someone else who doesn’t live halfway across the country. 


I’ve never personally attempted a long distance relationship, but after a few weeks of dating my wife Laura, she went up to her summer job at Lake Geneva Camp for 4 weeks and I was left in Minneapolis. Those weeks were brutal for a couple who was just falling in love and just wanted to be together all the time.  We spent hours on the phone every night; Laura came home twice in those 4 weeks, and I went out there to see here twice.  I can’t imagine trying to make that work for a long period of time.  Paul realized that spiritual mentorship from a distance was a challenge as well…especially since they didn’t have phones or internet back then.

Romans 1:7-13

 ⁷To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
      Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

 ⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. ⁹God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you ¹⁰in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

 ¹¹I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— ¹²that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. ¹³I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

Before we get into my thoughts, it is important to note what was going on in the Roman Church.  Most scholars date the book of Romans around 55 A.D.  That means that the church of Jesus Christ was only about 20 years old, and the movement of Christianity didn’t start in Rome.  It started in Jerusalem.  Therefore, the vast majority of Christian leadership at that time resided in Jerusalem.  In addition to that, the Roman church had gone through some major changes.  The original Roman church was most likely started by Jews who came to know Christ during the day of Pentecost, thus the church was primarily Jewish.  Under the reign of Emperor Claudius, Jews were banished from the city of Rome for a short time in 49 A.D.  The church continued to grow and flourish and when the Jews came back several years later, the Roman church was now primarily composed of Gentiles.  That meant that in a movement that was less than 25 years old, this church had much younger than average leadership.  They were doing well, but Paul realized the need for a mature Christian with God’s heart to step in and guide the Roman church through this process. 


One of the hardest things for me to do as a youth pastor is to watch students who graduate my youth ministry go away to college.  I know the temptations that they will face when their system of accountability is no longer in place.  When one of them chooses to walk away from their faith, it really hurts.  I feel like I have failed to give them the tools that they need to stand strong against temptation and I spend a lot of time in prayer for those students.  On the flip side, it’s so exciting to see students that I’ve invested in choose to honor God with their lives.  I’m so proud to be a part of their spiritual development.


Paul said he wanted to be in Rome in person to impart spiritual gifts into them and help make their faith strong.  I thank God for the spiritual leaders in my life that invested in me and helped my faith become strong.  There are 4 individuals that come to mind that really helped me through Jr. High and High School.  Phil Burton taught me what it really meant to have a deep relationship with Jesus Christ.  Ryan Stelly taught me how to pray and what it meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Andy Britz mentored me and showed me how to minister.  Dan Keinanen showed me what it meant to love the Word and how a high schooler could make an impact for Christ.  These 4 men along with others were vitally important in my development as a teenager and they are a big part of the reason why I’m a pastor today. 


If you don’t have someone who is a spiritual mentor in your life, you need to find somebody.  Paul said in verse 13 that he wanted to visit, in order that the Roman church would experience a harvest.  That is what mature leadership brings to our lives.  If you want to see your relationship with Jesus Christ flourish, find a mature Christian to impart Spiritual gifts into your life.  Then you will grow strong in your faith. 


If you want to add a comment, share something about the mentors that you have had over the years and write them an email or a facebook message thanking them for the investment they made.