Approval

We all crave approval and frankly, as humans, we all need approval.  We need our parents to say I believe in you or I’m proud of you.  When we accomplish something, we look to those in authority over us for affirmation: well done, good show sport, smashing work.  Well at least that is what they would say if they are British. For children, the pride of a parent is maybe the most motivating factor for hard work and achievement.  When that approval is missing in their life, it leaves a tremendous void and causes psychological damage.

That desire for approval is natural and God placed that desire in us.  That desire will never leave us, but Paul says in Romans 2:29…

No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people

Notice something.  The desire for approval doesn’t change, rather the person to whom the affirmation is requested changes.  We still want approval from our father.  The difference is, once Jesus Christ comes inside your heart, the transformation that takes place, changes who you see as your father.  

As a test of your true heart condition, evaluate your motivation for ministry.  What brings you more joy: the recognition from friends, supervisors, or family or the honor of serving God.  Grace will give you a hunger for God’s approval, self-righteousness will cause you to desire man’s praise.

Grown Up Freedom

Galatians 4:1-7

1 Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. 2 They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. 3 And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.

4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

Paul gives us this picture of a son who has inherited everything from his wealthy father, but because of his lack of maturity, he doesn’t have the ability to indulge in his inheritance. The church is full of people who have by faith inherited all that God has to offer, but their failure to shake off the chains that have been unlocked by the power of Christ has left them unable to experience the fullness of who he is.

Imagine a person shackled to a wall.  Initially he feverishly tries to break or pick the lock on his restraints in hopes that he will be set free.  After some time, he has resigned h

imself to the fact that he will never escape his restraints.  He is permanently stuck. A man walks by and he begs him to free him from his restraints.  The man agrees and turn

s the key in the lock.  He says to him.  You are now free to leave.  Not only that, I want to invite you to come into my house, eat from my cupboards.  I’ve adopted you as my son and I want

 you to enjoy every benifit of being my son.  You are no longer a prisoner.

The next logical step is to stand up, get out of that cell, and run to the house as fast as you can go, right? It would be insanity for him to stay in that room and continue to try to

pick the lock.

ouDo you get it?  We as Christians are set free by God’s grace.  You can’t break your chains, you can’t unlock them, and you don’t have to.  Jesus has already unlocked y

demnation on your life that God never intended for you.  Start walking in freedom by identifying yourself as an adopted son of God.  It’s time to grow up and walk in the maturity that freedom provides.  It’s time to start r restraints and he said come hang out at my Dad’s house and be my brother.  You will never  experience your inheritance if you allow yourself to remain in the prison cell of your sin.  Stop trying to quit sinning.  You can’t.  Stop putting shame and condemnation on yourself.  It doesn’t come from God.  He want’s you to use and enjoy your inheritance and you can’t do that until you experience his freedom.

A Pastor's Heart

We will not rest until...

• every soul has been given life
• every disease has been healed
• every burden relieved 
• every broken heart mended
• every spiritual enemy is defeated
• every life has purpose
• peace reigns over strife
• hope reigns over defeat
• joy reigns over depression
• freedom reigns over fear
• the spirit of life has eliminated death
• not 'til he comes again!

This is the calling of a pastor...

• to encourage the saints
• to lift up the broken
• to train the new believer
• to reach the lost
• to stir up hope and faith

Our calling is to point everyone and everything to the cross of Jesus Christ.

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.