mondayschoolblog

June 10, 2013

Love Him or Leave Him

Scripture John 13:12-17

12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. 17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

In a Feb. 2003 The Harris Poll uncovered interesting patterns of belief. This is what your friends and neighbors believe in:

God: 90%
Miracles: 89%
Survival of the soul after death: 84%
Resurrection of Christ: 80%
Virgin Birth: 77%
Devil: 68%
Hell: 69%
Ghosts: 51%
Astrology: 31%
Reincarnation: 27%

A lot of people believe in God, miracles, His resurrection, and the after life. Not a whole lot of people allow these beliefs to change the way they think and live.

Mahatma Ghandi studied the Sermon On The Mount when he was considering becoming a part of the Christian faith. After studying the Sermon On The Mount he wrote the following:

When I began as a prayerful student to study Christian literature in South Africa in 1893, I asked myself again and again, “Is this Christianity?” and I could only say, “No, no. Certainly this that I see is not Christianity.” And the deepest in me tells me what I was right, for it was unworthy of Jesus and untrue of the Sermon on the Mount.

What I believe Ghandi saw was an infatuation with Jesus and his teachings. People are attracted to Jesus to Jesus and His teaching. Not many people actually follow Him.

What separates the pretenders from the real followers?

The pretenders are infatuated with Jesus.

When I was in third grade I was in infatuated with my 3^rd grade teacher. She was pretty. She was smart. She could do nothing wrong. I was in love. So I thought. When I found out she was married. I dumped her. There was nothing real about the relationship. There was no emotional or intimate connection. It was pretty much a one-sided relationship. I LOVED her. She just saw me as a student.

Those who are infatuated with Jesus only see the relationship as a one-sided relationship. They only see what they can get from Him. But when he asked for commitment, many walk away sad because they didn’t realize it was going to cost them so much.

The scriptures teach us that it is hard to follow Jesus! It cost you everything.

Matthew 19:23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mark 10:23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!”

Mark 10:24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God.

Luke 13:24 “Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail.

John 6 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.” 66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”

Many disciples turned away and deserted him! Why did they leave him? They saw the miracles, they heard his teachings, and they saw His compassion. Jesus gives them a hard teaching and they leave.

When it gets hard the pretenders leave.

They stop following.
Their heart grows hard.
They make excuses for their unbelief.

When it gets hard, those who are willing to unmask themselves,

Humble themselves
Come back to Him
Have a teachable spirit
Cry out to God to help them in their unbelief.
Their commitment to Him deepens.

Their commitment to Him is so deep – they respond like the disciples did in John 6 when Jesus looked at them and said, “Are YOU going to leave?”

Their response was – “Lord, to whom would we go?” In other words, “we have nowhere else to go. We are committed to you. Everything else, my job, my family, my stuff is garbage compared to knowing and being with you!”

He goes on to tell them, I have given you an example to follow. What is the example he shows them? He takes a basin of water, takes off his outer garment, and washes their feet.

In this act he is demonstrating what it means to follow Him –

Your love must turn into action
Serving other must become your way of life.

Because of his love for His disciples – he needed to wash their feet. He wasn’t obligated to. He wasn’t forced to. But because of His deep love for them – he needed to. He needed to demonstrate this act of servanthood to them. He tells them that slaves are no greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. These aren’t just words of inspiration to inspire them to go and do the same thing. NO… he lived out those words right in front of their eyes.

In the end, Jesus is going to separate the pretenders from the followers. He calls them sheep and goats.

The pretenders (goats) believe that

God is keeping track of right and wrong.
God is keeping track of how much we disappoint Him
God is keeping track of how many times we fail Him.
God is keeping track of our insecurities and our imperfections.
God is keeping track of how many rules you break.

God is only keeping track of

How well you love others. He says that if you can’t love your brother or your enemy there is no way you can love Him
How well you forgive others. He says if you don’t forgive your brother/sister then he cannot forgive you.
How well you serve others. He says if you don’t serve your brother/sister then you are not serving Him.
How well you show compassion and mercy to others. He says if you don’t show compassion and mercy to others it will not be shown to you.

When you have unmasked the real you

You don’t have to love others – you need to love others
You don’t have to forgive others – you need to forgive others
You don’t have to serve others – you need to serve others
You don’t have to show compassion and mercy to others – you need to show compassion and mercy.

Jesus said in vs. 15, “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”

As you continue follow – the masks you wear become more evident. At the moment a mask is being removed – The question comes, ” am I going to leave Him or continue to follow His example.” Jesus is asking us to wash one another’s feet. He is asking us to kneel down, humble our self, and do the most uncomfortable thing in the world to do.

When it gets hard …..

Are you going to LOVE Him or LEAVE Him?

June 3, 2013

Deliberate

Scripture – Philippians 3

8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.[a] For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

There is a story about the writer G.K. Chesterton, whose conversion to Christian faith caused quite a stir in Great Britain at a time when smart people (and Chesterton was brilliant) weren’t supposed to believe. So he’s standing on the street corner in London when he’s approached by a newspaper reporter, “Sir, I understand that you recently became a Christian, “ the reporter says. “May I ask you one question?”

“Certainly,” says Chesterton

If the risen Christ suddenly appeared at this very moment and stood behind you,” the reporter inquires, “what would you do?”

And Chesterton looks the reporter square in the eye and replies, “He is.”

What he is saying is that Jesus is alive right now! He is here.

There are some days that we forget this. We forget that he is here. We don’t have to ask Him to be with us. We don’t have to ask Him to show up. We don’t have to ask for His presence. All we need to do is acknowledge that He is alive. We need to acknowledge His presence.

We celebrate His resurrection every year (it is called Easter) to remind us He is still alive. Being reminded doesn’t add anything to the power of Christ’s resurrection and it doesn’t take anything away from it. Being reminded every year doesn’t work on God, it works on me. It reminds us to rely on the power that raised Jesus from the dead no matter what the Pretender in us says or no matter how much that Pharisee (that pretender is in all of us) in us nags us.

The Pretender in us tells us we need to try harder.

The Pretender in us tells us we need to care more.

The Pretender in us tells us need measure up to everyone else’s expectations.

The Pretender in us tells us we need to do this or that.

Don’t forget (if you are a follower of Christ), when those thoughts or feelings come, and you are tempted to give into the Pretender- that God’s resurrection power resides in you. When the Pretender tries to convince that you are not ok – remember that God’s resurrection power resides in you. When the Pretender tries to convince you that you are not God’s beloved – remember that God’s resurrection power resides in you.

In unmasking the real you, It takes a deliberate awareness of God’s presence in our lives for His resurrection power to have any effect on our lives.

John 3:30 says, “He must become greater and I must become less.”

When He becomes greater,

You serve because you need to serve.
You care because you need to care.
You love because you need to love.
You give because you need to give.
You pray because you need to pray.
You forgive because you need to forgive.
You read scripture because you need to understand who He is.

When you serve – His resurrection power becomes alive in you.

When you care – His resurrection power becomes a live in you.

When you love – His resurrection power becomes a live in you

When you give – His resurrection power becomes alive in you

When you pray – His resurrection power becomes alive in you.

When you forgive – His resurrection power becomes alive in you.

When you read scripture – His resurrection power becomes alive in you.

We don’t do these things naturally, but when we do these things – Christ becomes alive in you. When He becomes greater – serving, caring, loving, giving, praying, and understanding Him is the only thing that can satisfy the longing in your heart.

No longer do you have to pretend to do anything of those things. When He becomes greater in you begin to understand that those things you NEED to be doing is the only thing that matters. All the other stuff we do, all the stuff we own is garbage (KJV says “worthless”) in comparison to knowing Christ.

In this passage today, Paul says, in order to gain Christ, we must discard everything else and count it as garbage.

Your new car – garbage
Your bank account – garbage
Your pc/your apple – garbage
Your new clothes – garbage
Your new cell phone – garbage
Your house – garbage
Your spouse – garbage
Your job – garbage.
Your kids – garbage.
Your grandkids – garbage.

Please understand that I am not calling your spouse, your kids, or your grandkids garbage. I am also not calling the stuff you own garbage.

But in comparison to knowing and gaining Christ – they must look worthless.

Jesus said in Luke 14:26

“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.

Paul is saying

Gaining Christ is more important than gaining a new car.
Gaining Christ is more important than increasing your bank account.
Gaining Christ is more important than getting new clothes.
Gaining Christ is more important than getting a new cell phone.
Gaining Christ is more important than getting a new house.
Gaining Christ is more important than putting more hours into your job.
Gaining Christ is more important than having the perfect child, grandkids, or spouse.

Matthew 6:33 tells that if we seek Him first – all this other stuff will take care of itself.

In unmasking the real you one needs a living faith.

It (living faith) wants to know Christ.
It wants to trust God
It wants to gain Christ.
It wants Jesus to become greater.
It wants to suffer with Christ
It wants to experience the mighty power that raised Christ from the dead.
It wants to seek Him first.

God wants to unleash His power in each one of us but we must be willing to die to our childish ways. At the same time we need a child-like faith. Have faith in God, like children have faith in their parents.

In unmasking the real you it takes deliberate action on your part.

Deliberate action to know Christ
Deliberate prioritizing of one’s life around Christ
Deliberate awareness of God’s presence in your life on a daily basis.

Deliberate means – intentional; carefully thought out and done intentionally. It also means slow, methodical, and careful.

In other words, it is not going to happen unless you do something about it.

And when you do something about it – God’s resurrection power becomes alive in you.

And when YOU have risen – the Pretender no longer has power over you.

May 28, 2013

Spiritualizing – Unmasking the Real You part 5

Scripture Matthew 23

25 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.

Before we get into this message we need to come to an understanding that we all have a little bit of pretender in us. I don’t believe we ever get totally rid of the pretender. He/she is always lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on our insecurities and/or imperfections.

There is constant tension between “the pretender” and Abba’s child (who God intends you to be).

There are days when we pretend to be holy.
There are days when we pretend to be loving.
There are days when we pretend to care.
There are days full of good intentions.

Pretenders try hard to be holy. They have to really work at perfecting themselves.

Abba’s child (which is your true self) only hope for holiness comes from God’s mercy.

Pretenders try to be loving.

Abba’s child (which is your true self) loves others because they know they are loved by God.

Pretenders try to care.

Abba’s child looks to the interest of others whether they feel like it or not.

As we learned last week (those who say they follow Christ) don’t HAVE to care for others. We don’t HAVE to love others. We don’t have to serve others. We NEED to do those things.

I have always been taught “if you don’t feel like doing it – then don’t.”

Over the years I have I confessed to you that I don’t feel like knocking on doors But I need to do it.

I have confessed to you that I don’t have much self-control at my kids sporting events. But I need self-control.

I have confessed to you that I never feel like telling other people about Christ. but I need to do it. I just did this past week. Something came over when these young men were sitting at my table. I told them the most important thing they can with their life is to know Christ. That is the greatest thing anyone can do with their life.

A key to unmasking ourselves is learning to recognize when we are pretending. We need to ask our selves some tough questions:

Why can’t I care? Why don’t I want to serve that person.
Why can’t I serve that person? Why don’t I serve that person?
What’s keeping me from following Christ at a deeper level?

For me, the answer to that last question is obvious, “I spend a lot of time pretending.”

When you ask these tough questions (or let someone else ask you those tough questions) – the only way those masks begin to peel off is when you answer them honestly. Then you ask God to do a miracle in you.

Because if we don’t ask those kind of questions we become like the Pharisees in Matthew 23.

All they cared about is what they looked like to other people.
All they cared about was their religious image.
They didn’t care about loving their neighbor.
They didn’t need a relationship with God because they were pretending to be Him.

When you pretend you are Him you have no need for Him. If you have no need for Him in your life then you are pretending to be Him.

Take a moment and read through all of Matthew 23. As you read you will discover that Jesus went ballistic on them.

He calls them hypocrites 4 times.
He calls them white-washed tombs.
He calls them snakes.
He calls them vipers.
He calls them blind guides
He tells them they are heading straight to hell.

Why was Jesus so upset?

The Pharisees used religion to control and humiliate others. They set up rules so that others could fail. They heaped overwhelming guilt on them. They created a lot of religious red tape in order for the people to get to God. They never once pointed them to the God who gives manna to the hungry and rest to the weary.

In the story of the Pharisee and the tax man (publican), the Pharisee stands in the temple and prays: “Oh God, I thank-you that I am not like other people – robbers, crooks, adulterers, or heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.”

If you take a closer look at this prayer, it reveals a lot about himself.

He is very conscious of his personal holiness.
He prays in order to compare himself favorably to others, not to admit any failure or need.
His fault is he believes he is faultless. There is on one he admires more than himself.
He despises others.
He judges and condemns others because he’s convinced he’s better than they are.
He is a self-righteous man who unrighteously condemns others.

The tax man is the exact opposite. Can you tell me who the pretender is?

Pretenders are conscious of their personal holiness.

They want to look holy but they don’t want to be holy.

Pretenders compare themselves with others and they always find themselves to be better than others.

They never admit any failure or need.

I had a family in the church in my previous pastorate that when I asked why they didn’t let their kids come to youth group their response was, “I don’t want my kids hanging around those other heathen kids.” My response was, “YOU SNAKE!”. No I actually didn’t say anything. I did walk away broken-hearted.

Pretenders believe they are faultless

There is no one they admire more than themselves.

Pretenders judge and condemn others because they are convinced that they are better than everyone else.

They don’t love others. They condemn others.

Another key to unmasking ourselves in bringing the pretender inside of us under control.

Stop spiritualizing like the Pharisees. Job’s friends did this to Job. Job was hurting because he had lost his family. Lost his business. Lost his health. His friends and his wife didn’t nothing but condemn him and told him that what he was going through was because he had sinned against God.

Most of us in here are guilty of spiritualizing.

What is spiritualizing? It is looking at scenes in Oklahoma (Moores, Ok was destroyed by a tornado) and saying, “God has a purpose for this.” or “God will carry them through this.” And then don’t do a thing to help them. The really religious people would probably say this tornado is God’s judgment on Oklahoma.

I loved the interview that Kevin Durant had on Espn this past week. Kevin Durant is a follower of Christ. He is pretty open about his faith. They asked Him what was going on inside of him when he saw the devastation. He didn’t pull out his Bible and try to spiritualized what was going on. He said, “I don’t know what to say.”

But he did know what to do!

He showed up, gave words of encouragement, and gave the city of Moore, Ok $1 million to start the rebuilding process. He didn’t have to do this. He needed to. Compassion took over. Loving your neighbor took over.

Spiritualizing is a way we cover up for God. There are moments when we think God looks weak and we have to make Him look strong. When these kind of things happen we find out God is made of.

We want God to look good by talking about Him in a positive way. We seem to think only positive things happen to followers of Christ.

We also spiritualize when things are happening to us.

Very few people admit their sin. They just blame God or others for what is going on in their life.

There are some things that happen in our life that we just can’t explain. We spiritualize it by saying, “that must be God’s will for my life.” Instead of being like David in the Psalms and going to God and saying to God, “what on earth you are doing?” Or like Paul pleading with God to take this thorn out of his side.

I believe in those moments when things are going on around us – those things we have no explanation for – we can either spiritualize it and not deal with the pretender inside of us and pretend to cover up for God or find out what God is made of.

In the crucial moments of your life you don’t have to be spiritual. In those moments you NEED to find out what God is made of.

Those who have been in a war and have been in a fox hole with real bullets flying over their head does not need a guy/girl in their fox hole who all he/she does is sit and pray for you to keep you alive. You want someone who will not only pray but keep the enemy from killing you.

If you think about it, if all Jesus did was pray for us – that would have done us much good. He not only prayed for us (and is still praying for us) but He gave his life for us.

Jesus wasn’t pretending when he said He loved us. The actions of His life tell us the true story.

God is asking us in this passage to stop cleaning up our outward appearance.

He is wanting to change the way you think
He is wanting to change who you put your confidence in.

The bottom line is do you want to know Him or just pretend to know Him?

May 20, 2013

Have to or Need to

Today’s Scripture – Luke

³⁰Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

³¹“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. ³²A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

³³“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. ³⁴Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. ³⁵The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,^[c] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

³⁶“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

³⁷The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

To help us understand this parable we need to take a couple looks at what happened before Jesus told this parable. An expert of the law asked the question, what must I do to inherit eternal life. The man answered “you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said his answer was right. Of course a good lawyer would as a good question. “Who is my neighbor?”

A lot of us can quote Luke 10:27. In fact you can buy this verse on a plaque to remind you to do what it says. It is amazing that 100 people can read this verse and come to 100 100 different conclusions on what it means.

As we look at the parable of the Good Samaritan we are going to put in the context of what we have been talking about these past few weeks. In the parable Jesus really brings out who the pretenders and who aren’t.

Two of these men are pretenders and one is not.

Two of these men are wearing religious masks and one is not

Two of them weren’t willing to pay the cost – one was willing to pay the cost and go the extra mile.

Two of them were Jews and one was not.

Only one of them did the right thing.

Two of them were pretending to do the right thing.

It doesn’t take a rocket science to figure out who are the pretenders and who is the real deal in this story.

Through this parable we get more evidence of that a pretender looks like.

Pretenders pretend to care

The say the words, “I care” but their actions don’t match their lips. .

When we say we care about our kids but don’t give them food, drink and the basic necessities of life, we can say we care all you want but your actions prove otherwise
When can say we care about a situation but not invest ourselves in the situation. You can say you care all you want but if you are not willing to invest any time and energy into the situation – your actions prove otherwise..

To care for someone or something it is going to cost you something.

Pretenders pretend to care. They are not willing to pay the price. The words come out of their mouth but they are not willing to risk anything to show that they care.

Followers don’t have to care about other people. Followers don’t have to have the desire to care for others. We need to care for others. We don’t care for others out of obligation or Christian duty. We don’t care for people only when we have the desire to do so. We care for others because we NEED TO!

When we care for others we thing we are doing them a favor but in reality it is more for you than it is for them. They do get a blessing but we get a TRANSFORMED HEART! This is why we NEED to care – we get a transformed heart. We begin to discover what God has put inside of us.

The pretenders pretend to serve.

They always have good intentions but that is all they are – good intentions. Good intentions do not meet needs. Good intentions solve no issues in some one’s life. Good intentions serves no one. They like the idea of serving someone but that is all it is – and idea. They think about serving others but never find a way to serve others.

Let’s think about this for a minute. In your imagination think of Jesus as being a pretender. He says he loves the world but he does nothing to demonstrate He loved the world. He doesn’t heal anybody. He doesn’t die for the sins of the world. He stays alive and says, “I had good intentions to do those things but will al the pressure of the world on my shoulder ……. I couldn’t follow through ….. I couldn’t do it.”

Good intentions accomplish nothing.

Jesus wasn’t a pretender. Jesus didn’t have to die on the cross. The scriptures are pretty clear that it was not His desire to die on the cross. BUT BECAUSE OF HIS DEEP LOVE FOR US HE NEEDED TO DIE ON THE CROSS!

He needed to. He could not do anything else.

The priest had good intentions but he didn’t solve anything. He saw NO NEED to help

The temple assistant had good intentions but he didn’t solve anything. He saw NO NEED to help.

Followers with good intentions to serve are just pretenders. They see NO NEED to serve. Like the priest and the assistant, they put on their religious mask thinking they are followers because their intentions were good. In other words, they see NO NEED to help.

Look at who helps the Jewish man who was beat up – A Samaritan. It is profound that Jesus uses a Samaritan. A Samaritan is a 1/2 Jew , 1/2 gentile. Jews hated Samaritans and Samaritans hated Jews. A Samaritan was a lower class citizen who Jews had nothing to do with.

Look what he did – HE STOPPED! He not only took care of Him but He took care of the bill too.

Today, it would be like a gay person pulling alongside a Christian whose car was broke down to help. Paying for the tow and then for the car repair. Gay people are totally disliked and mostly shunned by Christians. Jews would have shunned the Samaritans.

For you it would be like paying your worse enemies meal.

The first listeners would have been shocked that a Samaritan was helping a Jew.

The Samaritan dropped His religion. He dropped his ethnic background. He dropped his biases (by the way these are all mask we wear) and simply cared.

The Samaritan didn’t have to do it. He saw the need and it needed to be done. Jesus didn’t say he had to do it. He didn’t say God put that desire in him to do it. The Samaritan saw the need to stop, help, and pay for his expenses.

I honestly believe that is how God works. Look at this people through the scripture:

Moses didn’t want to lead 2.2 million people out of Egypt to the Promise Land. He gave all kinds of excuses not to do it – but after the burning bush experience – he NEEDED to do it.
Mary didn’t want to do it. She said, “how can this be so!” But after her encounter with God she NEEDED to do it.
Paul didn’t want to be persecuted. But after his encounter with God on the Damascus road he NEEDED to tell the Good News because he had experienced the Good News.

We don’t have to serve others. We don’t have to have the desire to serve others. We NEED to serve others.

The Pretender sees not need to serve others. They see no need to care for others. They serve when they feel like. They care when it is convenient.

To begin unmasking the real you, one must be honest about who the real you is. And then go serve and care anyway.

The scriptures teach that God loves a broken and contrite heart. Look at Isaiah 57:15 The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

Be willing to confess that I am like that priest or I am like that assistant. You might need to pray Lord, teach me how to care for this person. Be willing to confess your sin, Lord I feel no need to care. I feel no need to serve…. Make me do it anyway.

When we confess and are honest about who we are. When confess that we really don’t care. When we confess I really don’t want to serve – the false identity that you have created loses it power. You must do it (care and serve). Whether you have the desire or not – you must care for somebody. You must serve somebody.

To begin unmasking the real you, one must begin to serve others at your own expense.

You don’t have to feel like serving somebody. You don’t even have to have the desire to serve somebody. YOU NEED TO SERVE SOMEBODY. Jesus, and none of the scripture, talk about how you must feel when you care or serve. THEY TALK ABOUT YOU NEED TO DO IT. It I for your own good.

Look at these verses

Philippians 2 – ³Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. ⁴Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
John 13 – ¹⁴And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.
As 1 John 3:17 says,“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?”

In serving others you discover who you truly are.

You might learn you don’t love others as much as you say you do.
You might learn you don’t care for others as much as you say you do.
You might learn you don’t know your neighbor has much as you think you do.
You might learn you have been pretending to follow Jesus for a long time.

And the opposite might be true.

In caring for others you discover who you truly are.

You might learn that you don’t care about your neighbor as much you think.

I read an article a couple of years ago from a psychologist that said 75% of the people he meets with problems would be solved if they would go and serve and care other people

In other words, we need to serve others – it will also help you! I believe this is why Jesus makes it such a big deal.

Because when you do things you don’t like to do – that when God shows up and does a miracle in you life.

It might have cost you some money, energy, and time. But you are beginning to see how God really created you.

May 13, 2013

Reality Distortion (Unmasking The Real You part 3)

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 1:4 (NLT)

⁴We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people.

Galatians 4:6

And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8:15

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

The Ballad Of Jed Clampett (sing along in your head – yes … we really did sing this on Sunday)

Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin’ at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude.

Oil that is
Black gold
Texas tea.

Well the first thing you know ol Jed’s a millionaire,
Kinfolk said “Jed move away from there”
Said “Californy is the place you ought to be”
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.

Hills, that is.
Swimmin’ pools.
Movie stars.

Lyrics from <a href=”http://www.elyrics.net”>eLyrics.net</a>

We can learn a lot from the Clampetts. They had the money, they had they big house, they had the swimming pool, they had everything and more – but it did not change who they were.They stayed true to who they were despite how the culture of Beverly Hills tried to change them. They weren’t performing …..They weren’t pretending ….. They weren’t trying to play a role just to fit in.

Our culture is always trying to shape who we are. Our culture is always trying to change the way we think and shape our identity. Our culture wants us to perform in a certain way.

In our culture, image is everything.
In our culture, performance is everything.
In our culture, money is everything
In our culture sex is everything.

I think we all have an understanding that our culture likes good-looking people who perform well and make a lot of money, plus look sexy. And many of us want to be just like them. And it is all a hoax. It is all a lie – and many believers are buying into it. We are allowing our culture to tell us who we are and who we should be.

Listen to Cameron Russell, who is a supermodel, as she describes what they (the culture) does to make you, and in this case women, feel insecure about yourself because you don’t look, act, or dress a certain way. In these sound clips she exposes the hoax. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO INTERVIEW.

Most of us get this but many of us don’t. We buy into the lie. We lose our identity and start believing in the lie. I don’t know the young lady who took her life in Marion this past week but I am pretty confident that she bought into the lie. She couldn’t fit in anywhere. She didn’t dress like everyone else. She bought into a culture that repeatedly lied to her. She couldn’t measure up to everyone else’s standards. That .. compounded by hurt ….. lead to a tragedy.

In many ways we do this spiritually. When you buy into these cultural lies you commit spiritual suicide. We destroy the very
way God has created us. We destroy everything he has designed us to be when we buy into the hoax that we are not okay. We
destroy our true identity because we don’t like who we are or what we have become and how God created us.

Because we don’t like ourselves or we don’t like the way God created us. … we create a false identity to keep with what our cultural says is the norm.

The Norm (our culture)

Culture looks at the outside appearance
Culture says do what feels good
Culture says you need to measure up

The Reality (our God)

God looks at the heart
God says do the right thing
God says that you are ok

It is a constant spiritual battle – God is trying to convince us that he loves you the way he created you and the culture is trying to convince you that you are still not good enough so you must try harder.

One must answer the question who are you going to believe?

Walter Kelly made Pogo, his comic strip character, say – “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” We judge ourselves unworthy to know and serve God, and that judgment becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We believe the lies of the enemy that we are not good enough. We are not smart enough. We are too weak. We are too inexperienced. We can’t forgive ourselves when we mess up or we go the to the other extreme to where we convince ourselves we are so good we never mess up.

Neither extreme is healthy and both extremes are based on lies.

So who does God say you are? (The Reality)

1 Thessalonians 1:4 (NLT) – 4 We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people.

God has chosen you to be His people!
God loves you.
You are His beloved.

Once we are convinced of this reality, our true self doesn’t need a trumpet to announce our arrival or fireworks to hold people’s attention. Brennan Manning says, “People who know they are totally loved seem to honor God just by showing up every day as nothing more than, or less than, or other than themselves.”

Define yourself radically as one totally loved by God.

Your boss can’t love you the way God does
Your spouse can’t love you the way God does
Your girl/boyfriend can’t love you the way God does
Your parents can’t love you the way God does.
Your mom can’t love you the way God’s does.
Your best friend can’t love you the way God does.

His love for you does not depend on you! Or anyone else.

Galatians 4:6

And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

You are His child
He has set up camp in your heart
We can call him the same name Jesus called him in Mark 14 when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. He cried out “ABBA, FATHER, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will but your will be done. WE GET TO CALL HIM THE SAME NAME: ABBA!

No Jesus is not referring to the Swedish pop group that came out in the 70’s called ᗅᗺᗷᗅ. Some of you are breaking out into Dancing Queen or Take Chance on Me in you head right now. ABBA is the most intimate name you can call God. The name “Abba Father” is one of the most significant names of God in understanding how He relates to people. The word Abba is an Aramaic word that would most closely be translated as “Daddy.” It was a common term that young children would use to address their fathers. It signifies the close, intimate relationship of a father to his child, as well as the childlike trust that a young child puts in his “daddy.” Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/Abba-Father.html#ixzz2T2xLOa7v

It is in an intimate relationship with Him that defines your true identity. A relationship built on trust. He already trusts you with His life – He is just waiting for you to trust Him with yours.

If you spend time with Him He will reveal to you your imperfections and insecurities. If you trust Him – He will transform those imperfections into maturity. If you trust Him – He will transform those insecurities into strengths.

Take a moment and sing this song to yourself right now (Sing to the tune of Jesus Loves Me)

Abba loves me this I know

For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to Him belong

They are weak but He is strong

Yes, ABBA loves me

The Bible tells me so.

Romans 8:15 – So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

He has adopted you as His own children. He has given you His spirit! His Spirit is a not spirit of fear, a spirit of timidity, spirit of insecurity or a spirit that is weak.
Because you are His own. Because He has adopted you:
- He has given you the same Spirit he gave Paul to share boldly
- He has given you the same Spirit he gave Mary to trust willingly
- He has given you the same Spirit he gave Peter to live courageously
- He has given you the same Spirit he gave Jesus to love unconditionally.

You find your true identity by surrendering to The One who already put everything you need inside of you.

April 29, 2013

The Pretender

or click on camera – The Plastic Jesus

Scripture

Isaiah 58:1-3 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people Israel of their sins!
² Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.
³‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’

The people of Israel were a bunch of pretenders. Look at what Isaiah (and God) says about them. He is calling out the pretenders.

In vs 2 he says they seem delighted to learn about me.

Those are code words for “they like what they hear but have no plans to take it seriously.”
My nephew is a professor at the University of Illinois. He is a professor of Atmospheric Science. He shared with me that his department make it really hard on incoming freshman that choose Atmospheric Science as a major. I asked him why? And he said it is to weed out the pretenders. They want to weed out those who are not serious about this course of study.

The pretenders are those followers of Christ that seem delighted to learn about Him but they have no plans to take Him seriously.

They read the scriptures with no intention of listening.
They pray with no intention of God answering.
They worship with no intention of encountering God.

In vs. 2 Isaiah continues on by saying they act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God.

These are code words for “they play the righteous role but they have no plans for a real relationship with God.”

Over the past few years I have had two wives and a girlfriend. But only one of them is the real deal. A couple of years ago – Pastor Brandi and I were asked to play the role of girlfriend and boyfriend in the dinner theatre. This year I was asked to play the role of Ashley’s McKnight’s husband. I love these two ladies as sister’s in Christ but there is nothing real about these relationships.

There is no emotional connection
There is no commitment to each other
These relationships cost me nothing
There is nothing real about it. It is just a role I am playing.

In my relationship with my real girlfriend and my real wife (they are the same person)

There is an emotional connection
There is a commitment to each other
There is a cost involved in the relationship that each one of us is willing to pay.

In other words we are not ACTING like we are in relationship – we are IN a relationship. And it is for real. No acting. No role-playing.

The pretenders are those followers of Christ who ACT like they are in a relationship with God but are not IN a relationship with God.

There is no emotional connection to God
There is no commitment to serve God
There is no desire to want to please God

It is true that God wants us “Just as I am” but do I love Him to the point of wanting to please Him with my life?

God continues to say in vs. 2, “They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.”

These are code words for, “They pretend to want to be near me but what they really want is for Me to do stuff for them.”
Children are masters at this. They know how to get what they want and fool their parents in to thinking that they want to be near them. They don’t know they are masters at this – it come with just being a child. We have all done this to our parents. We conned our parents into thinking that we wanted to be near them but in reality we wanted them for what they could do for us.

We do the same with God. We want Him to take action so we can get what we want. All he wants is to be with you. All we want is Him to act on our behalf.

The pretenders are those followers of Christ who want from God but don’t want God.

They want him to do this and that.
They want him to satisfy their immediate desire.
They want him to answer their prayer in the way that best meets their needs.

In vs. 3 the pretender says, We have fasted before you!’ ‘Why aren’t you impressed?

These are code words for, “we do these religious things to earn your favor.”

The scriptures teach us that there is nothing we can do to impress God.

Isaiah 64:6 – We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
Mark 10:18/Luke 18:19 – “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good.
We do try to impress each other with our accomplishments and good deeds.
Matthew 6:1 warns us – Be careful not to parade your good deeds before others to attract their notice or you will lose all your reward from your Father in heaven.

I used to think that God was impressed with the hundreds of teens who came to know Christ through my ministry in Ohio. I used to think that God was impressed when I put a good message together. I used to think that God was impressed with the number of people who came to the altar after I preached a sermon.

Do you see what I was focused on? These aren’t bad things – in fact they are very good things.

I was focused on myself and what I have accomplished.

These things make you feel good about yourself. We keep track of these things and think, “I must be the greatest.”

Since nothing we can do can impress Him, what does God want from you?

YOU!

You no longer have to perform for God nor do you have to perform for others.

I hate when people find out I am a pastor. They almost instantaneously begin to perform. Their language changes. They apologize for words they have already said. They automatically begin to talk about the Bible and scripture, theology and things. They talk about areas in their life they need to change. Then I go into pastor performance mode and talk too much. Then we both are performing trying to impress each other and the conversation goes nowhere.

So what does God want from you?

Stop trying to impress Him and love Him.
Stop trying to impress Him and serve Him.
Stop trying to impress Him and love your neighbor.
Stop trying to impress him and serve your neighbor.

Pretenders are those followers of Christ who do a lot of things to try and earn His favor but forget to follow Him. They end up becoming human doings versus human beings.

In this part of verse 3 the pretender says, We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’

This is code for, “I have given up so much to follow you why don’t you bless me?”

Following Christ has never been about being hard on yourself.

There are a lot of pretenders that are really hard themselves. Their mentality is we have given so much to follow Him – He owes us. Pretenders believe they are entitled to be blessed by God.

All pretenders want from God is his blessings. They don’t Him – they want what he can give them.

Think about how we pray – “Lord please bless ….” (nothing wrong with this prayer by the way).

We always want God to bless us

With a new house
A new car
A new baby
Some new money

God owes us nothing. Just because you sacrifice for him does not mean you get a blessing from Him.

I am sure he wants to bless us – pretenders want material blessings

Pretenders want a new patio but he would rather give peace
Pretenders want a new Jeep but he would rather give joy
Pretenders want a new Honda but he would rather give us hope.

In vs. 2 Isaiah continues on by saying they act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God.

Are you the real deal? or Are you a pretender?

April 22, 2013

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever you are!

Masks have been used in the world of Theater and T.V. for many years. In fact the ancient Greeks used masks in their theatrical performances on a regular basis. Today we have Zoro, The Lone Ranger, Batman and Robin, Phantom of the Opera. They use these masks to conceal their true identity.

In our text today, Adam and Eve didn’t hide behind a mask – they hid behind some fig leaves.

If you are not familiar with the story – here is very shortened version of what happened prior to Genesis 3. Adam and Eve was told not to eat the fruit of one tree. The serpent came and talked to Eve and convinced her to eat that forbidden fruit. Eve took a bite. Then offered Adam a bite. Adam took a bite. The following happened.

Genesis 3

8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”

12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”

“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”

Adam and Eve had blown it.

So what is the first thing they did? They tried to hide from God. Because they were ashamed of they did. They were afraid of God because they thought God hated them and they went and hid. They discovered they were naked. The put some fig leaves together and they went and hid from God in among the trees.

Then God asked (he already knew where they were) Where are you?

Imperfection entered the world. Insecurity entered the world. And we have been hiding from God and each other ever since.

There are some stark realities that will help us get rid of some of the masks we wear.

Reality #1 – We are not perfect.

There is no such thing as a perfect spouse, a perfect marriage, a perfect child, a perfect family or a perfect friend. Every one of us in here has fallen short.

I don’t think anybody would be disagree with the statement above. But we spend a lot of time expecting perfection. From ourselves and from others. This is why we become so judgmental. This is why we mentally drive ourselves crazy. Even while walking the earth Jesus never expected his followers to be perfect. Because with perfection comes pride.

Look at story of the publican and Pharisee. Luke 18

The Pharisee prays in public saying, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! ¹²I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

¹³“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’

Can you hear the attitude behind the prayer of the Pharisee? He was claiming perfection!

Can you hear the attitude behind the prayer of the tax collector (publican). He was claiming imperfection!

I John reminds of our imperfections

1st John 1:8-10

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

God totally gets we are not perfect. We just don’t get we are not perfect.

We spend a lot of time trying to raise a perfect spouse, a perfect child and a perfect me. We don’t have the ability to perfect anyone. We are all flawed.

Your child is going to have some imperfections accept that.

Your spouse is going to have some imperfections – accept that.

Your friend is going to have some imperfections – accept that.

You are going to have some imperfections – accept that.

Hebrews tells that He is the author and perfector of our faith. Pursue the one who is the author and perfector instead of trying to be the author and perfector.

But we spend a lot of time trying to perfect ourselves. Why do we do that?

Because we hate being seen for what we truly are. We want people to see us at our best. We don’t want people to figure out that we are imperfect, so we spend a lot of time and energy and lies to create our perfect identity.

Mike Yaconelli in his book Messy Spirituality tells this story

“For a period of time we were lucky to have a house keeper. She would come in once a week to dust, vacuum, and clean every little out-of-the-way corner of our house. I dreaded the day she came, because my wife and I would spend all morning cleaning the house for the housekeeper! We didn’t want the house to be dirty or what would the housekeeper think?? He continues to write: We act the same way with God. We talk our way out of the spiritual life by refusing to come to God as we are. Instead, we decide to wait until we are ready to come to God as we aren’t. We decide that the way we lived yesterday, last week, or last year makes us ‘damaged goods’ and that until we start ‘living right’ we’re not really the kind of material that God is looking for. Some of us actually believe that until we choose the correct way to live, we aren’t chooseable, that until we clean up the mess, Jesus won’t have anything to do with us. The opposite is true.

The opposite is true: He wants us just as we are.

God happens to like and love imperfect people.

God is not shocked when we fail. No more than a mother is stunned by her toddler’s stumbling and falling and getting into things he can’t get out of. We still love our kids even when they stumble and fall. How much more does God love us?

No child is perfect – but you still love him/her

No spouse is perfect – but you still love him/her

No friend is perfect – but you still love him/her

But …

Like Adam and Eve we try to hide our imperfections. Like Adam and Eve we try to hide our insecurities.

Adam and Eve didn’t like themselves or what they did so they went and hid.

They were way too hard on themselves.

One particular really dark time in my life I sought out counsel from a pastor friend of mine. He sat and listen to me for about 4 or 5 hours. I did all the talking. At the end of my confession he said six words: “Your are to hard on yourself!” That’s all he said.

We are own worse critic. We have an intense dislike for ourselves.

We don’t like the way we look. We don’t like the way we dress. We don’t like our weight. We don’ t like our height, we don’t like our hair do, we don’t like our weaknesses. We are more disgusted and far less tolerant about our own weaknesses that we would dream of being with someone else. In fact, some of us in here would like to be someone else other than themselves because we think that person over there has it all together.

Despite Adam and Eve’s imperfections and insecurities, God went looking for them!!

They tried to hide behind their imperfections and insecurities – God went looking for them. Isn’t that amazing? He didn’t give up on them. He didn’t make them come to Him. He went looking for them! It is significant to understand that God went looking for them. He didn’t abandon them. He didn’t quit on them. He went looking for them.

You need to accept the fact that you are not perfect and that’s okay.

We sing a song every once in while called Just As I Am published in 1849. I call this the “I’m Okay” song:

1. Just as I am, without one plea,

but that thy blood was shed for me,

and that thou bidst me come to thee,