Monthly Archives: January 2011

What did you expect when you said by faith, “I believe,” became a Christian, and started walking with Jesus?  Sadly, for many in the church today, they expected what God never promised.  In a word, they expected LESS!

Perhaps you’re wondering if I have lost my mind; please read on and see if any of the following resonates with you. 

• God promised adoption . . . they live like orphans
• God promised forgiveness . . . they live like condemned criminals
• God promised His presence . . . they live like Jesus has left the building
• God promised His strength . . . they live in their own strength
• God promised transcendent glories . . . they live for their own glory
• God promised a place in His kingdom . . . they live for first place in their kingdom
• God promised a relationship with His Son . . . they live for religion
• God promised eternity . . . they live only for the moment 

These, and a thousand other expectations, are clearly less than God has promised for His people.  The church is full of Christians who are expecting the wrong things—and are therefore building their own kingdom—and in the process they settle for less than God has promised.  But this is not for you!

“‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”  The hope and future God promised in Jeremiah 29:11 may not look at all like what you have been hoping for.  Do you know why?  Because Omniscience knows what is best for you!  Think back to some of those things you longed for with all your heart, only to be filled with such great disappointment when you didn’t get them.  Today, looking back on it, can you see how God was protecting you and providing for you by withholding it from you?  That is certainly true of my own life, in more ways than I can count! 

When we push God to the perimeter of our lives and pursue our own dreams and desires, we are actually settling for so much less than the Gospel promises.  I’ve heard my friend and pastor, Tullian Tchividjian, quote C.S. Lewis with powerful effect:

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.

The really good news of the Gospel is the truth that we are not responsible for earning God’s favor and blessings.  These have already been acquired on our behalf by Jesus Christ and come to us only as a result of our union with Him.  Remember, God promised to get you home safely—but not without stress, struggle, and suffering.  And God never promised an explanation for your unmet expectations. 

Jerry Bridges writes, “If we are to succeed in living by grace, we must come to terms with the fact that God is sovereign in dispensing His gracious favors, and He owes us no explanation when His actions do not correspond with our system of merits.”

So what did you expect?  Expect God’s best for you because of what Jesus has already done on your behalf, regardless of the package it is delivered in. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN! 

There is a strange strength that Christian believers have over unbelievers.  Do you know what it is?  It’s the strength to admit our weakness!

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”  (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

So . . . how strong is this strange strength in you?  The wisdom of the world says we are to show no weakness and admit no deficiency, because the world belongs to the strong and only the strong survive!  The wisdom of the Word says we are weak—so call upon the strength of the Lord! “He gives power to the faint,” Isaiah proclaimed, “and to him who has no might he increases strength: (Isaiah 40:29).

Yet far too many Christians spend their time trying to showcase their own strength and impress in the eyes of the watching world.  Scripture has warnings for those who do this. 

Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength.

(Jeremiah 17:5)

They will be held guilty, they whose strength is their god.  (Habakkuk 1:11)

We are always confronted with two choices in life.  We can seek to find our strength in our flesh . . . or in our faith.  We can trust in ourselves or we can trust in our Lord.

Peter was trusting in his own strength as he responded to Jesus at the Last Supper.  Jesus spoke to His disciples of His impending suffering and their full-scale retreat, but Peter objected, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”  How long did Peter’s fleshly strength last?  Until a servant girl chased him into a dark corner of the courtyard while calling down curses on himself and denying his Lord, not once, but three times: “I do not know the man!”

It is only when we understand Peter’s story to be our story can that we can begin to admit our weaknesses and walk in them confidently—because of the One who walks with us.  Peter learned the hard way just how weak he really was and just how much he needed the strength of his Savior.  And we need to learn this lesson too!  We deny our Lord daily in a variety of ways: impatience, fear, doubt, critical spirit, gossip, grumbling, complaining, anger, unforgiveness . . . and it is in our weakness where His power is perfected.  Denying our weakness is not a sign of strength; it is a façade for cowardice.

We must receive the truth Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 12:9—“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Now that is a strange strength we can count on, regardless of the circumstances we face. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

What are you living for?  For many in the church today the answer to that question is found in the word legacy.  They are living to leave behind a legacy for family, friends, and/or peers.   The word legacy is defined as something handed down from the past by an ancestor or a predecessor.  A legacy isn’t confined to inanimate objects, such as money and possessions.  It also extends into the area of talents and gifting. 

Now, it is a fact that we are all going to leave behind a legacy of some sort, but make no mistake: living for your own legacy is too little to live for!  Christians are called to leave behind a life lived for the expansion of God’s kingdom and the furtherance of His purposes in this world.  And that will only be accomplished when we are living for the glory of God’s story and not the embellishment of our own.  It all boils down to what we are living for.

So . . . what about you?  What are you living for?

It’s easy to get faked out.  We can think we are living for God’s story, when in fact we are living for our own.  The Gospel becomes a means to an end rather than the end itself.  We begin living for our own dreams . . . our goals . . . our desires . . . the expansion of our kingdom . . . and not God’s.

We want the Gospel to give us health.  We want the Gospel to give us wealth.  We want the Gospel to give us a happy marriage.  We want the Gospel to give us obedient children.  We want the Gospel to give us a good job.  We want the good gifts that are often the fruit of the Gospel, rather than the gracious Giver of those gifts.  This is shrinking the size of our life down to the size of our life, and that is too little to live for!  When we are living for anything smaller than God, we are living for a tiny legacy that is dull and sinful and miserable.     

Living for the legacy of the Lord is living a life that is poured out for others.  It is living to fulfill the purposes of His kingdom rather than your own kingdom.  Take a moment to prayerfully consider whose legacy you have been living for; and as you do, meditate on these God-breathed words:

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints—the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the Gospel that has come to you.  (Colossians 1:3-6)

Now that is a legacy worth living for—a life lived that is marked by faith in Christ and love for others.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I am privileged to serve in a missional church under the leadership of my friend and pastor, Tullian Tchividjian.  Many Christian leaders, including Tim Keller of Redeemer Church in New York, helped the term missional gain a foothold in American churches at the end of the 20^th Century.  The term, attached to the church as a whole, is meant to explode the concept that missionary “professionals” are the only ones called to live out the Great Commission.

Our missional church is built upon three pillars:

Pillar #1 – Upreach (worship) – our response to God

Pillar #2 – Inreach (community) – our response to each other

Pillar #3 – Outreach (world) – our response to the world

When Jesus told His disciples (and that includes every believer in all churches today) to “go into all the world” (Mark 16:15), He meant what He said!  I’ll be blunt: there needs to be a paradigm shift for many of us in the church today; we must change our thinking from the prevalent “come-and-see” mentality to a “go-and-be” mentality.  Far too many Christians today—particularly American Christians—believe the church exists for the benefit of its members, who rely on the “professional” staff to evangelize the lost world.

Such thinking is unbiblical!  The church—I am not speaking here of the building but all followers of Christ everywhere—was established by God to carry on the mission of Jesus by engaging the culture with the Good News of the Gospel.  In a truly missional church every member, both the ordinary and the ordained, is a minister.  

As the Pastor of Adult Discipleship at Coral Ridge, it is easy for me to get caught up in the trap of pursuing great programs.  To be sure, programs are needed and valuable and part of a solid inreach focus on growing up into Christ.  But personal growth is never the end for the missional church.  The ultimate goal is for members to grow to go into all the world to proclaim the power of the Gospel.  This begins in our own communities—right where we are currently planted. We go forth, armed with the transforming power of the Gospel, which challenges and transforms the vision and values of the secular society around us. 

Missional thinking moves us from focusing on how many are in our service to how many we are serving.  The primary task of the discipleship leadership team in a missional church is to prepare the body—all of the body—to grow and go in order to engage the culture with the good news of the Gospel.  The truly missional church is an alternative Gospel-powered community, and therefore does not fear engaging with the surrounding culture or being absorbed by it.  As Tullian says, “We make a difference by being different” . . . and the difference is Jesus Christ.

So what does this mean to you today?  It means intentionally living all of life in the posture of a servant sent by God.  We are saved for service, having been sent by Jesus with the power of the Gospel to expand the cause of the kingdom right where we are.  And we are to do this with our lips and our lives . . . our profession and our practice.  We are not only to proclaim to the surrounding culture our hope in Jesus, but we must reach out with the hands of Jesus.

Remember, God the Father sent God the Son, and God the Son sent the 12 apostles.  This “sending” model is what it means to be missional and on the move every day for the glory of the King.  

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Black-and-white thinking sees all of life in terms of great extremes.  The two foundational words that characterize the vocabulary of black-and-white thinkers are “never” and “always.”  See if any of the following statements resonate with you.

• I “always” get the short end of the stick!
• I “never” have time to enjoy life!
• People “always” let me down!
• My spouse “never” surprises me anymore!
• You “never” pay attention to my anymore!
• This relationship will “never” work out!
• My boss is “never” satisfied with my performance!
• My children “never” appreciate what I do for them!
• You will “never” amount to anything in life!

 The list is endless for these two popular polar opposite black-and-white words.  They bring with them conflict and confusion . . . depression and disappointment . . . anxiety and anger.  Yet in the reality of daily living, we see very little that is actually black or white.  Now, when it comes to the truths of Scripture as it relates to good and evil, yes, it is black or white.  Biblical absolutes are absolutely accurate and unfading.  But beyond the Scriptures, life is filled with widely varying shades of gray. 

The black-and-white thinker, however, never wants to acknowledge this truth.  Do you know why?  Let me suggest three reasons (what I call the “black” of black-and-white thinking).

Control – black-and-white thinkers are driven by the need to control as much of life as possible.  Black-and-white thinking allows a measure of perceived control.

Comfort – black-and-white thinkers are driven by the need for comfort, and black-and-white thinking allows them to stay within their pre-determined zones of comfort.

Convenience – black-and-white thinkers are driven by the desire for convenience, and black-and-white thinking is convenient and far less complicated.

It is easier to maintain control of your life, comfort in your life, and convenience for your life when you view things simplistically as only black or white.  Do you remember taking tests in school and the teacher telling you, “If the answer has the words ‘always’ or ‘never’ in it it’s the wrong answer”?  Well, it’s the wrong answer in living the Christian life too!

The only cure for black-and-white thinking is the Gospel.  The Gospel frees us from the need for control, because we have surrendered control of our lives to Jesus.  The Gospel frees us from the need for comfort, because our comfort is Jesus, regardless of uncomfortable circumstances.  The Gospel frees us from the desire for convenience, because the lay-your-life-down-for-others mandate is what fuels the fire of our faith.  Learning to live in the gray areas of life is not easy, but it is necessary if we are going to live the life of love and service to which God has called us. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Henry Drummond once remarked, “How many prodigals are kept out of the kingdom of God by the unlovely characters of those who profess to be inside!”

To be sure, the statement is not theologically precise, but the point rings out loud and clear.  The way we live our lives—

• our behaviors
• our language
• our kindness
• our patience
• our forgiveness
• our acceptance
• our critical spirit

—and so much more, paints a portrait of the God whom we profess to have faith in, to love, and to serve.

So . . . based on the confession of your life today, what kind of God do those around you think you love and serve? 

For the first decade of my salvation (1995-2005), those around me saw a picture of a God who was slow to listen, quick to speak, and extra quick to get angry—and my anger was man-centered, not God-centered.  Because I had been a coach and trainer for so many years, a performance based mind-set was simply part of my DNA.

In sports, coaches play their best athletes based on a number of factors, including performance.  When athletes perform well, they get to play and the coach is happy.  When they do not perform well, they sit on the bench and the coach is not so happy.  I carried this mindset over into my personal life.  If you performed up to my expectations, I was happy; if you did not, I was sad . . . or disappointed . . . or angry! 

In essence, I was a legalist who believed grace had saved me, but my good works were required in order to remain in God’s favor.  I was trusting in my own goodness, just like the Pharisee who went up to the temple to pray in Luke 18:11-12.  “I thank you that I am not like other men,” the proud Pharisee preened before the Lord.  “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” All the Pharisee could speak of was what he was doing; he said nothing about what God had already done . . . or was continuing to do!

I was very much the same; I thought the Gospel was only designed to get me saved; I had no idea it was designed to get me sanctified too!  You might say I viewed my salvation as similar to an installment contract; Jesus had made the down payment on the note, but I had to make the payments by keeping up my good works!  I did not understand that the same grace that saved me was also sanctifying me. 

When you get that, it changes everything!

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  (Philippians 1:6)

Therein lies the marvelous freedom of our faith: knowing that what God began in us He will one day bring to completion.  It is His work that accomplishes the transformation in us, not ours.  This is the fuel to keep the fire of faith steadily stoked, in spite of all our sins and shortcomings. 

Today you might call me a gratefully recovering legalist; I no longer look to anything I do to broker God’s favor.  But it was not until I caught a glimpse of the Gospel and the overwhelming grace that God has poured out on me—and continues pouring out on me daily—that I began to paint a different picture of God for those around me to see.

The last thing that a hurting, unbelieving world needs to see is a distorted portrait of God in you and me—a caricature that depicts Him as a legalist.  We must live out a true portrait of the God who loves the world so much that He sent His Son to die on a cross, nailing all the sins of all who will trust in Him to that dirty tree. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

In business, sports, and life we are often measured by our merit.  If we do not perform up to the expected standard, someone else is standing at the ready to take our place.

The problem with this worldly standard is that we unconsciously transfer it into our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Check out how Peter demonstrated a merit mentality.  Immediately after witnessing Jesus’ interaction with the rich young ruler, which Peter obviously misunderstood, and hearing Jesus say “With man this [being saved] is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” merit mentality reared its ugly head.  Peter mentally added up everything he had done for the Lord and asked what he would get in return.

Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”  (Matthew 19:27) 

Imagine what Peter was actually saying.  He assumed Jesus was indebted to him because of all that he had done.  Peter was not alone in his merit mentality.  This is what the Jews of his day believed.  They more they did for God, they thought, the more God owed them in the form of blessing.

We are not so different today.  Sadly, many in the modern church have succumbed to the misery of merit mentality.  We know we are saved by grace, but we believe we stay in God’s grace by our own good works.  So we keep a daily score card and add up our merits and demerits throughout the day.  If we have more merits at the end of the day we anticipate God’s blessings; if we have more demerits at the end of the day we expect God’s cursing.

Nothing could be further from the truth! 

Paul delivers a stinging rebuke to all of us who fall prey to merit mentality in Galatians 3:2-3.

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

The Gospel frees us from merit mentality, because the only merit that matters is the merit of the Master.  We are not blessed because of what we do for Jesus; we are blessed because of what He has already done for us!  Our mystical union with Christ and our position in Christ is the source of blessing, not our good works.

And regarding the cursing of God, our sin-debt to God has already been paid in full by His beloved Son Jesus.  God cannot and will not collect on a debt that is not owed.  Jesus paid it all; therefore you owe nothing. 

What you experience after your sin is not God’s curse; the curse was nailed to that dirty tree (see Galatians 3:13 and Colossians 2:13-14).  What we all experience after we sin is the consequences of our sin.  Those consequences are real and often far-reaching.  But those consequences are never God smiting us punitively and in anger, collecting on a debt that has been paid in full by Jesus.  Always remember: when we do not feel the presence of God while we are in sin or after we have sinned, it is not God who moved . . . we are the ones who moved away from God!  God has promised never to leave us or forsake us, regardless of what we do.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Comparison shopping is a good thing.  It’s good to compare the prices at different grocery stores before you go shopping.  It’s good to compare the value of different automobiles before you buy one.  It’s good to compare neighborhoods and local school options before you buy a house.  So when is comparison a curse?  It’s a curse when we find ourselves doing one of the following . . . which, by the way, are both things we all do far too often.

1. Comparing ourselves to others

2. Comparing one person to another

Let’s briefly unpack these two curses of comparison and see to what extent we are affected by either one or both.

1. Comparing ourselves to others

When was the last time you did this?  There is a double-edged sword in this curse.  We can compare ourselves to others, in order to shine a spotlight on our imagined superiority and another person’s inferiority.  This was the great sin of the Pharisee in the temple.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.”  (Luke 18:10-12)

We can also compare ourselves to others in order to hide ourselves in the shadows of self-doubt and self-deprecation.  This is the proverbial pity party, as we compare ourselves to others (looks, success, status, education, gifts, talents, etc.) and in essence, complain to God that we are not as good, important, or blessed as others. 

2. Comparing one person to another

When was the last time you did this?  Paul talked about the comparison curse to those in the Corinthian church.

Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

(2 Corinthians 10:12)

Parents are often guilty of this, sometimes never realizing the negative and lasting effects.  Parents compare one of their children to another (talents, abilities, gifting, accomplishments, etc.) and in doing so, damage the child’s self-image and destroy the determination and discipline they were ham-fistedly seeking to inspire. 

We must remember that God made everyone different . . . and nobody is perfect.  With that in mind, along with the understanding of the massive amounts of grace God pours into our lives each day, we can stop comparing ourselves to others and comparing one person to another and begin accepting everyone—including ourselves—for who we are . . . right where we are.  

Reader, there is a comparison that is not a curse as it relates to us.  Do you know what it is?  It’s found in the posture of the other person who went up to the temple and was praying alongside the prideful Pharisee. 

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

(Luke 18:13-14)

This tax collector was not exhibiting a sense of false humility.  He was simply acknowledging himself for what he really was in the eyes of a Holy and Righteous God: a great sinner in need of an even greater Savior.  The tax collector compared himself against God’s perfect standard and realized how far short he fell, and he cried out for the only One Who could save him: Jesus.  This is the place that will keep our eyes focused on God and not on others.  When we, by God’s grace, find ourselves in this place, the curse of comparison will no longer cripple us.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

We all come into this world overexpecting.  We overexpect from ourselves; we overexpect from others; we overexpect from God!

Enough is never enough for the “overexpectors,” who are quick to deliver a word of criticism when what they get doesn’t match up with what they were expecting.  A critical spirit seems to be their greatest gift.  Here are the three words that dominate the vocabulary of the overexpector:  

SHOULD

OUGHT

MUST

“You should have done this!  You ought to have done that!  You must do this other thing!”  Have you been on the receiving end of an overexpector?  Have you been guilty of overexpecting from another?  Regardless of where this message finds you, the key to unlocking the prison door of overexpectations is the Gospel.  Only the power of the Gospel frees you from overexpecting from others or trying to live up to the unrealistic expectations of someone else. 

If you have been reading these articles for any length of time, you know that I am in no way suggesting that we should drift through life without expectations—dreams, desires, and the necessary disciplines to fulfill them.  This would lead to a life of mediocrity, and mediocrity is unacceptable for the child of the Most High God.

Jesus did not save you to live an average life!  The Apostle Paul made this clear when he asked the Corinthians, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize?”

“Yes, Paul,” the Corinthians would have dutifully assented, “we know that.”

And then Paul concluded, “So run that you may obtain it” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).

Elsewhere Paul described how he was “straining forward to what lies ahead” and pressing on “toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-15).  Christian, you most certainly have not been called to a life of comfortable complacency!

Throughout years of coaching and training athletes, I frequently remind them that we have a tendency to surround ourselves with people who demand too little from us.  Experience has taught me that the Christians who are growing the most are those who put themselves in the company of people who encourage them to reach, stretch, grow, and maximize their God-given potential. 

The key, however, is whom—or, more accurately, Whom—we are doing it for and why.  When the Gospel has seized us, we do what we do for the glory of our King.  What motivates us to be our best is the love of Christ, which compels us to do all we can with all God has given us to do it with.  We are no longer motivated by the expectations of others because the Gospel has freed us from living up to someone else’s standards.

If Perfection (Jesus) could not please everybody, imperfection (you and I) never will!  Knowing that we already have everything we need because of our union with Christ—unconditionally loved; totally forgiven; fully accepted—we are freed from the oppression of overexpecting.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!      

We all have a story.  Your life is a story, from birth right to the point where this message finds you today.  And you are living according to your story—as it governs your life, guides your steps, and grows you either up or down . . . big or small.

Let me ask you a question: what story is shaping your story?  Make no mistake, if you are not being shaped by God’s story then your story is totally out of shape! 

God’s story is found throughout the pages of Scripture.  As we grow in our understanding of God’s story—oh, and be sure you don’t miss that part about “Be pefect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48)—we see the glaring weaknesses in the portions of our own story that have been shaped by the wisdom of the world. 

·         When you want to get even with someone who has wronged you, the world is shaping your story. 

·         When you want to get rich at the expense of others (including your family), the world is shaping your story. 

·         When you want to trade in your spouse for a newer model, the world is shaping your story. 

·         When you want to compromise your character in your dating relationship, the world is shaping your story. 

·         When you want more to be right than you want to be loving, the world is shaping your story.

·         When you want the things of this world more you want than the things of God, the world is shaping your story. 

So . . . what has been shaping your story, the wisdom of God or the wisdom of the world?  When your story is shaped by anything smaller than God’s story you have stunted the shape of your story! 

You see, the story the world gives us simply cannot answer the most important questions in life: Who am I? Why am I here? What am I here to do? What’s wrong with me?  Only God’s story will provide insight into these and other critical questions in life, because only God’s story tells the truth about all other stories—including yours!  God’s story is true, good, and right, and it’s all about one singular Person: Jesus Christ. 

In reading through the Old Testament we drink in the promises that have been made about Christ; in reading through the New Testament we stand amazed at the promises fulfilled through Christ.  All of history . . . all of human existence is about Jesus Christ. Your story should be also! 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!