Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

Disturbances can be quite annoying, from your neighbor’s noisy celebration that carries on long after midnight to that phone call right as you are sitting down for dinner—from an insistent telemarketer trying to sell you something.  I’m sure you can think of dozens of disturbances that disrupt your life.  So how is it possible to find grace in the disturbances of life?  When they are divine disturbances! 

Divine disturbances direct us to the power of the Gospel.  Divine disturbances are never delivered to the people of God as punishment; God is not exacting His proverbial “pound of flesh” because we have been disobedient.  Divine disturbances are always designed to drive the roots deeper into the soil of the sanctified life for two reasons:

1. Deliverance – God is in the business of delivering divine disturbances to His people to deliver them from themselves.  The goal here is to be able to echo John the Baptist: “I must decrease and He must increase.”    

2. Dependence – Divine disturbances are designed to deepen our dependence on God.  Disturbances demonstrate just how little control we actually have in life.  The goal here is to be able to say, as Jesus did in speaking of the Father, “I can do nothing on my own.”

Moses paints a wonderful picture of a divine disturbance in Deuteronomy 32:11-12.

Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the Lord alone guided [Jacob], no foreign god was with him.

The adult eagle knows what’s best for its young.  If left to themselves, the eaglets would forever cling to the nest, waiting for their next meal and never venturing out to fully realize their God-given potential.  You see, eagles were meant to soar the skies . . . not squat in nests.  So the parent eagle delivers a disturbance by driving the eaglets from the nest to begin living the life they were created for.

And so it is with our loving God.  His divine disturbances are designed to drive us out of whatever comfortable nest we are squatting in—whatever is keeping us from maximizing our potential and living in His perfect plan and purpose for our lives.  God uprooted Abraham when He commanded him to leave his home and go to a foreign land in order to be the father of a great nation.  God turned Joseph’s life upside-down when He delivered him into a pit and a prison on the way to the palace in order to save God’s people during the famine.  God plunged Jonah into the depths when He appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah . . . and three days later spit him out on the shore so that Jonah would fulfill his destiny as a preacher to the Ninevites.  God shattered Mary’s comfortable existence when He chose her to be the mother His only begotten Son before she was married.  God knocked Saul to the ground when He blinded him on the road to Damascus before restoring his sight, renaming him Paul, and transforming him from persecutor of the church to pastor of the church.  

Left to ourselves, we all naturally seek the path of least resistance.  We will go to great lengths to live our lives within our self-imposed confines of comfort and convenience, regardless of the cost.  And to be sure, the cost is great!  We forfeit the grace that is ours, as Jonah proclaimed: 

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.  (Jonah 2:8)

The idols of comfort and convenience are two implacable enemies of the Christian faith.  When we hold on to them more tightly than we do Christ, we forfeit the fullness and richness of the life grace calls us to live.

Take a moment right now to inventory your life.  Perhaps God has ordained a divine disturbance to drive you out of your fluffy nest and into His best for your life. 

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

We talked a little about serving God leftovers on Monday’s blog.  Today we’ll dig deeper into this troubling theme.  Here is a true story that sums up the condition of the heart of every child of God from time to time, reported by radio commentator Paul Harvey years ago.

The Butterball Turkey Company setup a telephone hotline to answer consumer questions about preparing holiday turkeys.  One woman called to inquire about cooking a turkey that had been in her freezer for 23 years.  The representative told her the turkey would be safe to eat, but did not recommend eating it because the flavor would have deteriorated.  The woman caller replied, “That’s what I thought.  Okay then, we’ll just give it to our church.”

Serving leftovers to family and friends can be one of the best things we can do.  When I make lasagna, it always seems to taste a little better served as a leftover.  This is true for a number of foods.  There really is nothing like home-made soup served again on the second day.  But there is nothing good about serving leftovers to God, which has become the norm for far too many Christians.  It is nothing less than idolatry.

On Monday we talked about the “Three T’s”—Time, Talent, and Treasure.  Here are a few other common leftovers. 

• We serve leftovers to God in our worship when we consistently show up late and pray for the preacher to “land the plane” so we can get on with our day. 
• We serve leftovers to God in our careers when we give less than our best effort, thinking, “Well, if this is all they pay, this is all they should expect!” 
• We serve leftovers to God in our relationships when we find more satisfaction in our relationships with others than we do in our relationship to God.

The menu of leftovers is all but endless.  Make no mistake, when we consistently remove God from first place in our lives, it is not long before He has virtually no place in our lives.

So . . . where in your life have you been serving leftovers to God?

The Scriptures provide several examples of the people of God offering Him leftovers.  None is more damning than the rebuke Malachi delivered to Israel’s priests.  They knew what the Law of Moses required for the animal sacrifices they offered to God.  All animal sacrifices were to be without spot or blemish, for two very good reasons.  First, God Himself is without spot or blemish.  And second, these unblemished animals were a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice that was to come in Jesus Christ.

So what did the priests do?  The right thing?  Or the convenient thing? Hear the Word of the Lord:

A son honors his father, and a servant his master.  If then I am a father, where is my honor?  And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name.  But you say, “How have we despised your name?”  By offering polluted food upon my altar.  But you say, “How have we polluted you?”  By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised.  (Malachi 1:6-7)

The priests chose the way of convenience and decided to give God less than their best animals.  They gave Him their leftovers and kept the best for themselves.  Their goal was to make worship what they wanted worship to be: convenient, comfortable, and cost effective.  They were thinking, “Why not get rid of the animals we really don’t want anyway?  They’re just going to go up in smoke!”

And we do exactly the same thing today when we give God less than our best.  Designed by God for God, we are to make Him our first priority.  His purposes are to be our purposes.  His plans are to be our plans.  His passions are to be our passions.  This is how we make sure we are giving God our best . . . and not just our leftovers.  When God said He is a “jealous God,” He was making it clear that He would tolerate no rival.  He demands exclusivity, and that is exactly what He deserves—not so much for what He does for us, but simply for who He is.  He is God, our Abba Father, and He is worthy of our absolute best. 

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

Today is Valentine’s Day.  Our two youngest children, Zack and Katie, exchange Valentines cards with their classmates.  Last year, as I helped them sort through the candy and cards, I came across the ever-popular little candy heart bearing the words “Be Mine.”  It got me thinking about the most unlikely Valentine in the world.  Do you know who it is?  It’s you . . . and me . . . along with everyone who has been set apart by faith to be a member of the bride of Christ.  Jesus said “Be Mine” on the day saved you, and He is still saying that to you today.

So . . . how are you responding to the heart’s cry of Christ?  Far too many of us mail it in, responding with what I call “leftover Christianity.”  That is, we do not give the One who gave us His best our best.  We give Jesus what is left over after we have taken good care of ourselves first.  We meet our needs and satisfy our desires first, and then we give Jesus our leftovers: what is left over from our time . . . what is left over from our talent . . . and what is left over from our treasure.

Let me hit you with a harsher word for “leftover” Christianity: idolatry.

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.  But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you.  What I have vowed I will make good.  Salvation comes from the Lord.  (Jonah 2:8-9 NIV)

My friend and pastor, Tullian Tchividjian, took us on a marvelous study of Jonah in a sermon series last year, which he later condensed into a fabulous book, Surprised By Grace.  When you read the book, you’ll see that Jonah didn’t even want to give God his leftovers!  He wanted nothing to do with God’s plan for his life . . . until God introduced Jonah to a fish named Grace.  It was grace that swallowed up Jonah for three days, so that he could come to his senses and follow God’s plan for his life.

I want to emphasize that the grace that we forfeit when we cling to worthless idols is not saving grace.  Once we are His we are always His, no matter what we do; that is the good news of the Gospel.  What we forfeit when we turn our hearts away from God is the abundant and overwhelmingly rich experience of His daily grace in our lives.  When we love anything smaller than God, our experience of His grace shrinks down to the size of whatever it is we are loving.  At this level of living, we don’t sense the richness of His pleasure, the satisfaction of His purpose, and the power of His passion.

Yet in spite of all the times we turn away from God, He still calls out to us “Be Mine!”  This is a love that is hard to comprehend.  This is a love that sent Jesus to the cross to pay for our sins.  This is a love that can never be taken away . . . that will never be taken away!  This is a love that is unconditional, unwavering, unmatched, and unimaginable.

So how will you respond to the greatest Valentine the world has ever seen?  Where in your life is God calling you to leave your worthless idols and return to Him?  I exhort you to let His “Be Mine” be the number one priority in your life. 

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

This phrase, which many believe appears in sacred Scripture but most certainly does not, is received as great good news for all of us who want to maintain control of our own lives.  If we do enough, we reason, if we work diligently and keep trying harder, God is obliged to help us, bless us, and make things go well for us.

This theory offers a great deal of control for those who believe it’s all up to them.  They don’t have to trust in God; they need only trust in themselves.  In his book Transforming Grace, which I highly recommend, Jerry Bridges sheds some light on just how common this problem is in today’s church:

My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our personal relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace.  If we’ve performed well—whatever “well” is in our opinion—then we expect God to bless us.  If we haven’t done so well, our expectations are reduced accordingly.  In this sense, we live by works rather than by grace.  We are saved by grace, but we are living by the “sweat” of our own performance. 

Moreover, we are always challenging ourselves and one another to “try harder.”  We seem to believe success in the Christian life (however we define success) is basically up to us: our commitment, our discipline, and our zeal, with some help from God along the way.  We give lip service to the attitude of the apostle Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10), but our unspoken motto is, “God helps those who help themselves.” 

The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own performance is a very freeing and joyous experience. 

The good news of the Gospel is the truth that God’s blessings flow because of what Christ has done on our behalf, not what we do for ourselves.  God helps us because of who we are in Christ, not because of what we do for Christ.  We simply cannot broker God’s favor, and it is so marvelously liberating to know that there is nothing we can do or need to do in order to gain the blessings of our God.  We already have been blessed and will be blessed because of Jesus!

For recovering Pharisees like me, this can be a hard truth to swallow.  But it is the only truth that empowers us to live the kind of life Christ purchased for us by shedding His precious blood on the cross.  When He said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), He meant what He said!  Not only has the price for our salvation been paid in full, so too has the full price been paid for our sanctification.  The same grace that saved us is the same grace that sanctifies us—moment by moment—until He brings us home.

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

At first glance, the title of today’s message might lead you to believe we are going to focus on the current state of the American economy.  Not true; we’re going to look at a far more important economy—God’s—and how it has turned the world upside-down. 

Consider Jesus’ remarkable statements concerning the upside-down, counterintuitive economy of God:

Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.  (Mark 8:35)

The last will be first, and the first last.  (Matthew 20:16)

Lose your life to save it?  The first will be last?  What’s going on here?  The best way to interpret Scripture is to let Scripture interpret itself, and there is no better place to interpret the counterintuitive economy of God than with the story of David being anointed as king of Israel.  When God sent the prophet Samuel to anoint Israel’s new king, Samuel was initially basing his pick on outward appearances.  But as Samuel looked upon the sons of Jesse, God said something that helps us understand His upside-down economy. 

The Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.  For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

(1 Samuel 16:7)

When Jesus said “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it,” He was telling His disciples that the Christian life was a life of service marked by sacrifice, suffering, and sorrow.  When Jesus said “The last will be first, and the first last,” He was telling His disciples that power, prestige, and position in this life do not necessarily correspond to the same things in the next life.  In fact, the reverse is often true! 

In God’s economy, what is unseen is more important than what is seen; what goes on inside of us is more important than what is going on outside of us.  Problems occur when we spend too much time focusing on what is seen rather than what is unseen—what’s going on outside of us rather than inside of us.

Some years back, Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song titled, “The Change.” The chorus lyrics are:

What about the change?

What about the difference?

What about grace?

What about forgiveness?

I want to live a life that’s showing

I’m undergoing

the change.

That’s it! Instead of praying for bigger barns, we should be praying for bigger hearts.  And it is only the power of the Gospel that causes us to pray in such a way. 

You see, the Gospel isn’t just the truth that unbelievers must believe in order to receive eternal life.  It is a moment-by-moment reality that believers must embrace so that they can “abundantly” experience their salvation (John 10:10).  Many in the church mistakenly believe that only the unbeliever is in need of the Gospel.  But the reality set forth in the Scriptures is that both the unbeliever and the believer need the Gospel, because the Gospel is for sinners—all sinners—who are in need of a Savior. 

The Gospel frees us from our bondage to the economy of the world—frees us from forever running on the performance treadmill—and allows us to embrace the upside-down economy of our God with great joy!  The Gospel is how we set about undergoing the change.

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

What are you living for?  What gives you meaning?  Where do you find your identity?  How do you define success?  If your answer to any of these questions is not “Jesus,” then you are living the hopelessness of the horizontal.  The emptiness of a horizontal existence is rooted in the fact that nothing in this world was ever meant to satisfy you at the deepest level.  This place in your heart is reserved for Christ alone.   

Someone once said, “Keep your tent pegs shallow!”  In other words, don’t get too attached to this world, because you are a pilgrim who is just passing through.  We are always on the move, longing for home, and never arriving until we get to the other side.  As the writer of Hebrews said, “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14).

So . . . how attached are you to this world?  Prayerfully consider the answer to this question:

1. If I had __________ I would finally be satisfied. 

Honestly now . . . how did you answer?  What rules your heart shapes you life.  If you believe you need anything or anyone in addition to Jesus in order to be truly satisfied, you are living the hopelessness of the horizontal.  I say that horizontal living is “hopeless” because everything this world has to offer will ultimately disappoint you.  We all intuitively know this to be true, because the world and everything in it no longer satisfies our deepest desires.  Can you think of anything in this life that has not disappointed you? 

• Jobs disappoint
• Relationships disappoint
• Accomplishments disappoint
• Prosperity disappoints
• Pleasure disappoints
• Even the church disappoints

Broken things inevitably frustrate and disappoint us, and everything on this side of heaven is broken . . . including you!  And your disappointment will lead to discouragement, delusion, depression, and ultimate defeat. 

So what is our hope?  We exchange horizontal living for vertical living by living for the Savior rather than living for ourselves.  You see, your redemption is not just about you; it is primarily about God and His cosmic work of redemption and renewal of the entire cosmos.  And you have been called to participate in this eternal work!  When we work to expand the cause of our own kingdom we are always disappointed.  But when we are working to expand the cause of His kingdom, we are working for something so much bigger and so much more vital than our own existence!  And that is the crossroads where purpose meets passion.  At this level of living, the hopelessness of the horizontal is removed for the vision of the Vertical.  You see, “The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17).

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

JESUS AND ME . . . AND WE!

It’s not uncommon for a pastor to hear someone say, “I love my relationship with Jesus, but I don’t want to have anything to do with the church.”  People who say such things often have been let down by the church; worse still, some have been hurt by the church.  It is a bitter truth that American churches are notorious for embodying the sardonic phrase, “We shoot our wounded!” 

And yet Scripture is clear: you simply cannot have the Head of the church (Jesus) without being a member of His body (the church).  When you understand what the church is—a collection of great sinners who are in desperate need of an even greater Savior—it becomes easy to comprehend how and why the church can hurt you and let you down.  When broken people engage with other broken people, relationships frequently fracture and fall apart.  However, staying away from the church because of those broken people who disappoint us is simply another way that our self-righteous hearts are exposed for what they truly are.

Please note that this does not apply to those who are physically unable to engage in the community of the church for a variety of reasons, such as age or illness.  I am speaking to those who intentionally forsake the body of Christ.

When Jesus saved you, He made you part of His body (the church).  He intends for you to grow up in the context of community, not in isolation.  He knows there are broken people in His body who will cause you discouragement and even pain, but He is using all those experiences to draw you nearer to the cross and encourage you to depend more and more on Him. 

The secular culture places the interests, desires, dreams, and goals of the individual over and above the community.  It’s all about independence, and even many of those who have trusted in Christ’s atoning work want to keep their independence and minimize their commitment to—and contact with—the church.  They live the “Jesus and Me” Christianity model and as a result, grow into only a fraction of the person God is calling them to be.

It is only when we see our relationship with Jesus in the context of community that we will surrender our independence to both the Head of the church and His body.  Because we are going to be a part of the body of Christ for all eternity, it is an excellent idea to grow comfortable with it now by getting deeply involved in the church.  Jesus and we is the only way for us to be.

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

Have you ever felt ashamed?  I have; there have been times when feeling ashamed was right and appropriate because of things I have said and done.  However, there is nothing more toxic to our walk with Christ than to allow our shame to separate us from our Savior.  If this resonates with you at all, please prayerfully consider these words.

Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.  So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.  He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.” . . . And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”  (Hebrews 2:11-13)

Regardless of what you have done, Jesus is not only not ashamed of you, He is not ashamed to call you His brother! 

Shame and guilt are both associated with our sin, but they are not the same thing.  Guilt is acknowledging our sinful wrongdoing.  Shame is an intense feeling of disgrace that makes you want to disappear off the face of this earth.  Feeling shame is participating in the proverbial “pity-party.”

When shame drives you deeper into yourself it is a bad thing, an ungodly thing.  On the other hand, when guilt drives you to your Savior, it is a good thing.  It is participating in the process of being convicted by the Holy Spirit, who will carry you to the cross for cleansing.

The gospel is the solution for our shame—all of our shame—on those occasions when we feel shame because of something we have done and when we are shamed by another.  Only the Gospel can release us from shame’s paralyzing power and compel us to cry out to Jesus.  We know we fall short of Scripture’s mark time and time again.  But in spite of our every shameful, self-absorbed, and sinful thought, deed, and desire—and Jesus knows them all (see Psalm 139:4; John 2:25)—He is not ashamed of us. 

Remember, Jesus took our shame and nailed it to that dirty tree—along with every sin past, present, and still to come.  May this truth both fill us and free us to bring our shame to our Savior to receive His shameless love . . . moment by moment. 

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

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!