The Heart of the Matter

One of the things that has always struck me when reading the Bible is Jesus’ incredible ability to get right to the heart of the matter in His teachings.  He would always grab hold of the main issue and approach it with laser-like precision. And often that main issue was something that was unexpected; He would make comments that challenged the pre-established norms.

A powerful example of this is found in Matthew 7, when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus taught about prayer, divorce, forgiveness, fasting, giving to the needy, money, possessions, judging others, the golden rule and many other issues of life.

In Matthew 7:22-23, Jesus is about to, again, get to the heart of the matter of all these things that we do in this life:

 “On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will plainly say, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws’”.

This must’ve given those listening to Jesus pause – just as it should give us pause.  In the middle of all of these issues of life that Jesus is discussing, about how to live according to God’s way, Jesus is saying that when it comes down to it, it is not what you do in His Name, but why you do it that truly matters the most.  Doing good works and living right is not enough.  (We can’t earn our salvation, remember?)  Jesus is challenging our motives. 

He goes a step further.  The things Jesus mentions people doing were some incredible things in His Name.  In fact they were doing some pretty amazing supernatural things, weren’t they? Jesus is saying it’s possible to be prophesying, casting out demons and performing miracles and yet not ever truly have a relationship with God.  What? How is that possible?

What I find interesting is that Jesus does not challenge the doers on their list of accomplishments and what they have actually done for God ‘in the name of Jesus’. Instead He challenges them with regards to the lack of their personal relationship with Him.  ‘I never knew you’ is what they will hear from Him one day. 

What is our motive in what we do?  Are we “behaving rightly”?  Have we crossed our moral t’s and dotted our spiritual i’s so that we feel good about ourselves and what we have done?  Or is the motive of our hearts a devoted relationship with our Creator and living our lives to serve and please Him, surrendering our will for His?

My pastor says this frequently:  we are not human doings but instead human beings. The purpose of this statement is to help remind us that our aim should always be to grow in our relationship with God, to truly BE with Him as we learn to BE who He has created us to be.  What we do for God must flow out of our desire to love and please Him.  Our passion for God should come first before we ever begin to do anything ‘in His name’.

I have heard dozens of sermons and read many books that shout to the audience about ‘doing’ for the Kingdom and being ready, able and willing to do whatever is needed for God. They are constantly challenging us to get off of our spiritual back sides and do something. These are the spiritual doers.

However, in the same breath, I have heard an equal number of sermons and books that espouse personal growth and discipleship through learning, studying and quiet time with the Lord. They are constantly challenging us to dive deeper into our personal understanding of God and to break down the walls of separation that keep us from truly knowing Him.

Okay so which is it – am I supposed to be a doer or a relationship pursuer?

The answer to this question has to be ‘yes’.

Instead of an either/or perspective we need to make a shift to a both/and understanding.  God has called us to be His representatives on the earth – caring for the poor, living lives of love that reflect God’s heart, bringing the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.  Those things are right!  But why am I doing them?  What is my motive?  Am I trying to “earn” my salvation?  Am I trying to be seen by others for my good works?

Those motives are exposed when we are in an intimate, personal, thriving relationship with Jesus ourselves.  One on one.  Him and me.  If it doesn’t start there, then I’m just doing stuff.  God has so much He has created us to do – but He first wants me - to be with us and allow us to truly know Him.

We can see it in the story that Jesus presented. Here is a group of people that are certain of their salvation because of what they have done and accomplished for Christ. But their works are not the priority to God.  Jesus’ response makes it clear that it is their relationship with God that is the priority. Everything must stem first from our relationship with Jesus and being with Him.

I know that this is a tremendous challenge for me as I am a doer and find personal satisfaction in completing tasks. The way that I am wired makes it very easy for me to find out what needs to be done and then do it because it is the right thing. But this passage is calling me to make it my priority to be intentionally growing in my relationship with Jesus and to understand my motivations before doing anything.  I want to be a man like David – a man after God’s own heart.  And then go and change the world for the God that I love and serve.  

Whose Side Am I On?

Conflict stinks.  A lot.

It doesn’t matter where you encounter it – with family, friends, at work, at church – it can be one of the most difficult and painful things to walk through.

As Christians, we know that the Bible has a lot to say about conflict.  Almost every Bible character dealt with relational conflict at some level. 

Yet when we, as Christians, get into conflict, the Bible is rarely the first place we turn.  We get angry.  We are hurt.  We gossip to our friends who have nothing to do with the situation, to find “prayer” and “support”.  We have to defend our “rights”!  And we assume that God is on our side because we feel wronged.

During the time of the Civil War, our country was in great conflict.  The differing opinions on many aspects of how to run this country caused incredible turmoil.  Friends against friends.  Brother against brother.  A country divided.  And each side fully believed that God would give them the victory.

“Both North and South looked to God for meaning, and each side believed—with equal fervor and certitude—that God was on its side. Many ministers, generals, leaders, and editors went so far as to proclaim that God had ordained the war and would determine its length, its damages, and its outcome. The victor would show, in other words, whose side God really supported.” (http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/cwsouth.htm)

Isn’t that how we feel at times too – but in our relational conflict?  “God is on my side in this conflict, so I am justified to go to war!”

When Abraham Lincoln was asked which side of the Civil War he thought God was on, this was his response:

“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be  on God's side, for God is always right."

Wow.  No matter what conflict we find ourselves in, God is not on our side or their side – God is on His own side.  God is on the side of forgiveness and reconciliation.  And God’s side is always right.

To join God’s side may mean I have to abandon my own side.  I will have to surrender my own “rights” for what God says is truly right.

“You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.

This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.”  Matthew 5:21-24

You know what’s interesting about these verses?  Jesus is talking to us about our own, personal responsibility.  He’s not talking about who’s right and who’s wrong.  He’s calling us to a higher standard of relationship – one He modeled for us.  It’s not about tit for tat, he said/she said – it’s about aligning our lives to the Word of God.  

 In conflict, we are usually focused solely on what the other side has done wrong.  But that's not what Jesus focuses on - He asks us to look at ourselves.  We don’t get to act any way we want to just because we're hurt.  Someone else’s choices don’t have to define how we respond.

See, we can only control ourselves – that’s what makes it hard, isn’t it?  Just because we align to what the Bible says doesn’t mean that those we are in conflict with will do the same.  But the broken action of someone else does not give us an excuse to sin or do whatever we want.  It is not permission to go to war.

I often think about how God’s ways are so counter-intuitive to what we would naturally do.  Faith in what we cannot see is hard enough – we humans put a lot of trust in what we can see or think that we are seeing!

But having to walk in forgiveness and love, too?  That is usually the opposite of our human responses to any situation, let alone conflict!

Then I’m reminded that when God is asking us to walk by faith, He is showing us life on His side.  Forgiveness and love, most beautifully modeled by Jesus, is the what life looks like when lived God’s way, from His side. 

And in order to live life on God’s side – the right side - I will have to walk away from life on my own side.  I may have been wronged – but rarely is there any situation where there is 100% right and 100% wrong (although there are times where that may be the case).  I have to own my part in conflict.  I have to apologize where I have been wrong – even if my wrong was in response to their wrong.

“Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.  Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back, says the Lord”.  Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them.  If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”  Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.”  Romans 12:17-21

This verse is incredibly humbling, isn’t it?  How often is this the way I respond to conflict?

Let me be clear about something:  conflict causes damage.  There is very real pain that can feel debilitating when it is happening.  Jesus does not expect us to shove down the emotion and pain that we have in order to follow “rules of conduct”.  He invites us to bring our pain to Him instead of lashing out at others.  Only the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives can help us to forgive those we are in conflict with, to live at peace with them and to allow God to have the final say.  Only Jesus’ life in us allows us to serve our enemies as He served His.

If you are struggling with hurt and unforgiveness due to conflict, one of the most powerful books that Craig and I have ever read is called The Bait of Satan by John Bevere.  It goes in depth in dealing with conflict, offense and what the Bible says to guide believers through those circumstances.  Please read it, particularly if you are wrestling with unforgiveness.  It is powerful and you will find freedom!
http://messengerinternational.org/store/catalogsearch/result/?q=the+bait+of+satan

If you find yourself in the midst of conflict today, we are praying for you.  And we are also praying that God will strengthen all of us to walk away from our own sides and choose to walk on His side. 

Hearing Truth In The Storm

There is a great story in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew where the disciples are taught a valuable lesson about listening to and hearing the voice of the Master- especially in the midst of distraction, emotional chaos and crazy life circumstances.

The story is set along the Sea of Galilee and takes place in the early morning hours of an extremely long and physically draining boat ride. Jesus had sent the disciples ahead of Him to cross the Sea of Galilee while He spent some time alone with His Father in prayer.

This simple boat ride had taken a turn for the worse in the wee hours of the morning when a strong storm had settled in on the waters bringing with it powerful winds and heavy waves. In the midst of these difficult and arduous circumstances the lesson begins.

The Scripture tells us that the ‘disciples were in trouble’ and nowhere near the shore. It is three o’clock in the morning and the struggle had been going on for a while. The only power available to the disciples is that which they can generate themselves and they are weary and losing strength. Through the howling of the wind and the blinding drops of the falling rain the disciples see Jesus walking toward them on the water.

They can see well enough to recognize that the ‘person’ walking toward them is Jesus but their logical mind cannot allow this information to be processed and believed for what it is. As a result, they decide to call the ‘man on the water’ a ghost or a figment of their imagination. They are terrified and literally scared to death.

It is in this moment that Jesus sees their fear and the late-night lesson begins as He speaks the critical words that are so difficult to actually act on, “Don’t be afraid, take courage, I am here!”

Why is it Jesus chooses this time, while surrounded by incredible life-threatening circumstances, to speak words that under normal circumstances are full of comfort?  His words seem confusing and misplaced, don’t they?  Why does He call on the disciples to “take courage” and “not be afraid” while the storm clearly rages around them, and asks them to do this before calming the wind and the waves? 

The challenge of the Master presented to His disciples then is the same one that is presented to us today – will we listen to the voice of truth even when circumstances and situations scream that we should not?

Our eyes are distracted by the very real waves and storms that pound our boats. Our bodies are completely drained by the hours of work put in to just keep our boat afloat.  Our hearts are full of fear and confusion as the reality of our situation sets in.

The Bible is clear about a several things during this story:

-The disciples recognize the figure walking toward them as Jesus

-They hear His words to take courage and not be afraid

-They fully know what Jesus is capable of with regards to the supernatural

This late night rendezvous is not an accident. It is a purposeful set-up to help teach the disciples an incredible lesson – trust the words of the Master no matter what.

Most of us remember how this story ends as Peter, in a moment of boldness, cries out to the Lord and says, “Lord if it is really you, command me to come out to you on the water”. And as he climbs out of the boat something amazing happens: he is able to take steps on the water without sinking!  His faith in Jesus has worked and he is doing the impossible! But the scripture tells us his faith was immediately tested, “when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink, ‘Save me Lord’! He shouted.”

Jesus reached out immediately and pulled him out of the water and asked the heart-wrenching question, “Why did you doubt Me”? Then they climbed back into the boat and the storm stopped instantly. And the disciples responded with worship and a powerful declaration, “You really are the Son of God”.

I see myself all through this story. I am fully aware of who Jesus is and what He is capable of.  But I have a tendency to lose sight of that in the midst of my own personal dilemma and struggle. Like Peter I often have the boldness to speak up and ask the Lord to call me out of the boat, but then I take my eyes off of Him and become overwhelmed at all the circumstances that surround me and cause my faith to fade away.

I personally have been in the midst of an incredible personal storm that has been ongoing for just over a year. I have been challenged like never before to listen to the voice of truth despite my circumstances. I have been unemployed for a sustained season, and for a man that is an incredible challenge to our innate programming to provide for our family and be the bread winner. In the midst of this struggle I have been confronted with all kinds of distractions and challenges to the truth of what God has said about me. I am learning to have faith in what He has said about me regardless of what my circumstances might be..

The challenge is to hear the voice of the Master and focus on Him and His words rather then on the chaos and struggles that abound. Our goal is to be trained by the truth of what Jesus is saying, even if it seems illogical and makes no sense. In the midst of a storm that is preparing to take the life of His disciples, Jesus calls on them to “Take courage, I am here”. As Peter is beginning to sink into the sea and cries out for help Jesus questions him and says, “Why did you doubt Me”?

Like the disciples, we are fully aware of what Jesus is capable of and the amazing things that He can accomplish. But like the disciples, we too lose sight of the Master and begin to focus on our circumstances and problems. The lesson we must learn is to hear and trust the truth of Jesus in midst of life and chaos.

We must listen to the truth even if our circumstances seem to tell us that the truth of God’s Word is a lie. Jesus’ message to His disciples in His day remains the same to us, His disciples today:  “do not be afraid, I am here”. Are we willing to believe that Jesus is here in the midst of our storm? And are we willing to trust that He will work while chaos and struggle surround us?

I pray that my response will be the same as the disciples, “You really are the Son of God” and worship Him for both who He is and what He has done. Let us not lose sight of Jesus and listen to His voice when the troubles and cares of this world rage as a storm around us. 

My Darkness

One Sunday, during the worship portion of our service, I heard the Lord say to me, “Your eyes have adjusted to your darkness.”

I knew immediately what He was saying to me.

You know when you’re in a brightly lit room and the lights are turned off, you are literally plunged into darkness.  Everything goes black.  You can’t see anything.  You have to grope around to reach for the wall or a piece of furniture to hold on to.  It takes time for eyes to adjust.

But our eyes will eventually adjust to darkness.  We begin to see the shapes of things in the shadows.  We see the cracks of light where it all looked like darkness before.  We orient ourselves to where we are and are even able to move more easily.  Though we are in the dark, we can still operate as though the lights were on.

This is what the Lord was drawing my attention to.  The darkness – or sin – I had allowed in my own life had turned out the light of truth.  And I was used to it.  My eyes had adjusted to my own darkness and I could move through my life “as usual” – but I was not walking in the light.

You know, I think when we go through seasons of suffering it’s easier to let areas of sin go undetected or undealt with.  All of our emotional energy is spent dealing with our hurt or loss – and sometimes in the weariness of it all, we allow ourselves a pass to sin. 

“Lord, You know I’m dealing with so much pain over here – can’t we just not think about that area of unholiness right now?  I just can’t take another thing!”

But suffering is not a pass to forget sin.  It is not an excuse to get to act any way that we want to.  It’s not a reason to allow ourselves to walk in darkness.  And that’s hard, because when we are suffering, we tend to freak out!  We may give in to a vice to medicate our pain.  We may gossip about someone who’s hurting us.  We may act out in anger against God or others.  Suffering – especially initially – can bring out all the uglies within us.

But God will take what the Enemy uses as weapons against us and form them into tools that He uses to grow us.  It may expose our bad habits, our self-medicating or our anger – but that is for our good!  That makes us more like Jesus!

So how do we turn the light back on?  It’s a simple answer:  reading the Bible. 

“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.  I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again: I will obey your righteous regulations.  I have suffered much, O Lord; restore my life again as you promised.  Lord, accept my offering of praise, and teach me your regulations.  My life constantly hangs in the balance, but I will not stop obeying your instructions.  The wicked have set their traps for me, but I will not turn from your commandments.  Your laws are my treasure; they are my heart’s delight.  I am determined to keep your decrees to the very end.”  Psalm 119:105-112

In the darkest and most painful moments of David’s life, he was always crying out to God.  He was choosing to love God’s ways and God’s words more than his own comfort and he refused to handle life on his own terms.  I want to love God and His Word like that, too!  But that doesn’t always make the first step of turning the light back on an easy one.

When we have been in a dark room and the lights suddenly come back on, it can be uncomfortable!  We blink and cover our eyes because it is so bright – it can even hurt!

And we may feel like doing that when the light of the Bible exposes our sin.

But let’s not turn our eyes away from what God is exposing.  Let’s come to Him, in repentance, and ask forgiveness for our sins and help for our brokenness.  Let’s ask Him to help us love Him first and love His ways for our lives.  God can use our suffering to bring wholeness to our lives – as long as we come to Him and begin to align our lives to the truth of what the Bible says.

Let’s turn on the lights.  Let’s repent of where our eyes have become adjusted to our darkness.  Let’s become like the Light of the world so we can be the light of the world!

We Must Remember

One of my very favorite movies is Remember the Titans. Have you seen it?  If not, allow me to set the stage.

The movie takes place in Alexandria, VA in 1971. It’s a time of incredible racial tension and America is in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. T.C. Williams High School was federally forced to desegregate its school. Two coaches, one black and one white, were forced to bring their football teams together.  Despite all the obstacles that were placed in their path, the two men learned to work together and taught their team to fully integrate and become ‘brothers’ on the field. As a result the experiment was gaining momentum and the T.C. Williams Titans were rolling through their own league and the best teams that the state could muster. They were sitting on an undefeated record and just one win away from making it to the state championships. Several ‘old guard’ gentlemen could not allow this newly integrated team to accomplish such a feat and put a referee crew in place that would ensure ‘the right decisions’ would be made during the game that would stop the Titans from advancing.

It is in the midst of this clear referee interference and blatant favoritism that coach Bill Yoast calls a defensive team huddle and makes a dramatic and powerful speech. I can still hear the music in the back ground as the ominous plot has been discovered by the coaches. I can see the faces and body language of the Titan supporters as they dwindled and shrunk into their hands recognizing that things are not going their way. Even the boys themselves are showing visible signs of confusion and defeat as they gather around coach Yoast to hear what he has to say…”I don’t want them to gain another yard. You blitz all night. If they cross the line of scrimmage I’m gonna take every last one of you out. You make sure that they remember, forever, the night they played the Titans.” The music crescendos and the tone immediately changes as the boys do exactly what their coach has called on them to do. They make it their mission to physically dominate the other team and to wrestle control away from the corrupt officials and to achieve a fair victory for the Titans. And they win the game!

Every time I see this, I just want to stand up and shout YEAH! I want everyone to remember the moment when good triumphed over evil, when the good guys won!

You see there is something very important about remembering.  In the movie, whenever the black men would face racism in their future, or the white men would be tempted to discriminate against their black neighbors – they would remember this night.  That black and white could come together in unity.  When the hatred and poison of racism reared its ugly head again, as it inevitably would, everyone could remember this game and all that was possible through unity.

There is something very important about remembering for us as humans.  Darkness can be overwhelming in the situations that we are facing.  Remembering God, the truth of His Word and His unfailing promise is hugely important.  But it also seems that humans have “spiritual amnesia”.  We are so quick to forget what God has done.  We remember our fears, remember our doubts. . .and forget to remember the goodness of God in our lives.

I am reminded of a great story found in the book of Joshua where God calls His people to purposefully remember what He has done for them. In the fourth chapter of Joshua we are given a glimpse into the life of Israel as they are crossing the Jordan River and entering into the Promised Land that God had spoken of long ago.

God actually used this method of crossing, by parting the waters for them to walk on dry land, in the same way that He had used it once before to deliver the people of Israel from the on-charging army of Egypt. The purpose of utilizing this familiar technique is for one reason:  to bring back to their remembrance a very specific time where God had showed Himself as all-powerful on Israel’s behalf.

Moses was leading forgetful Israelites through the wilderness, who quickly forgot what God had done for them.  They allowed each new circumstance (hunger, thirst, weariness) to rule their emotions which in turn caused their actions to become disrespectful, doubting and full of complaints against God.  They chose to remember their own needs and wants instead of remembering all God had done for them.

It was now 40 years since then and Israel is standing at a new cross roads. They have a new leader, Joshua, and have been given another chance to trust their God and cross over to the Promised Land. A chance to walk in obedience where their forefathers had failed.

It is here that the children of Israel find themselves walking across a dry river bottom and seeing the hand of the Lord hold back the on-coming Jordan River water to allow for a successful crossing. It is the Lord himself that instructs Joshua to erect a stone monument to remember this river crossing. He instructs 12 men, one from each tribe of Israel to go into the middle of the river Jordan and grab a large stone from the river bottom. Then they will take the stone to the other side of the river and stack them on top of each other to make a monument. And when the people see the monument or their future children  ask why it is there, they will remember how God delivered them from Egypt and led them to the Promised Land.

As I re-read this passage I felt the Lord asking me the very same question:  what do I need to remember that God has done for me but I have so quickly forgotten or allowed my circumstances to cloud? What monument do I need to erect in my life to remember what the Lord has done?    

It is so easy for us to forget and get caught up in the details of everyday life that we minimize what the Lord has done as being ‘small’ or we forget about it altogether and focus on the new obstacle that is currently causing all kinds of problems.

I quickly forget about the $50 gift that arrived in the mail right when I needed it most and begin to focus on the service engine soon light that just lit up my dashboard.

I almost instantaneously move passed the encouraging word that a friend just shared with me on Sunday and become distracted by the frustrating email I got on Monday.   

We must do what God asked Israel to do - get in the habit of building monuments to remember what amazing things that God has done for each of us in our own lives. If we don’t, the lessons can be lost and the relationship with the Father can be warped and distorted, because instead of viewing our lives through thankful praise to God we only view our lives through the broken lens of pain and loss. I’m erecting a monument today – how about you?