Sailors, Saints, & Sinners

Repentance

What is repentance?
The word ‘repentance’ should be no stranger to a Christ-follower.  Repentance is part of our initial step into Christianity. We often say that when a person becomes a Christian, they “put their faith” in Jesus.  Repentance and faith are different sides of the same coin and are inseparable experiences of God’s saving grace. Repentance is the turning from sins and an overall God-less path, and turning to Jesus.  As we turn to Jesus, we place our faith in Him as our Savior, Lord, and highest treasure.  The result is a life that has a new affection for Christ and a new ambition to live for Him.  This also means that we have a new battle.  Before Christ (and repentance) we were at war with God and His ways.  After Christ (and the new life He gives us), we now are at war with sin.

Because Christians are always at war with sin, repentance is an ongoing part of our walk with Christ.  God will continually reveal sins in our lives to produce repentance. This ongoing repentance continually demonstrates that Jesus is our Lord and that our highest desire is to live in fellowship with Him.

Finally, we must understand that repentance is not an endless cycle of sin, remorse, and confession … only to keep on sinning. Repentance is not sorrow for getting caught or sorrow for consequences.  Nor is repentance an attempt to “do better”.
Repentance includes sorrow for sin, its consequences, and its offensiveness to God.
Repentance is more than doing better; it is also a conviction that believes Christ is better than sin.

What causes repentance?
Repentance is the right response to God’s revelation.  God through the Holy Spirit reveals the truth to us about our sins and about Himself. We see sin for what it really is — offensive and dishonoring to God and harmful to us. We also see God for who He is — glorious, almighty, loving, holy, and perfect.  This clarity about sin and God prompts us to turn from sin and turn to God.

How do I stay “repentant” before God?
First, would be to pray something along the lines of Psalm 139:23-24, asking God to search us and reveal anything that is offensive to Him.
Second, would be to ask yourself (and perhaps your spouse, mentor, accountability partner, small group) some questions about yourself:

• Are there any idols in my life? Is there anything in my life that is carrying more “weight” than God?
• Have I turned to substitutes for God? Is anything causing me to “forget God”?
• Are my words and speech tearing others down? Critical? Gossip? Condemning? Discouraging?
• Is my heart full of love for others?
• Am I disobeying any known command of God?
• Do I currently have the “joy of the Lord”? {lack of joy generally = lack of repentance}
• What would those closest to me say about my walk with the Lord?
• How unified am I with other Christians? Am I regularly meeting together as commanded by Scripture?

What You Don’t See

Watching ducks can be a fairly peaceful and entertaining experience. They are beautiful, naturals in the water, and can twist their necks almost 360 degrees (which is a skill I’d like to have).  However, what we normally don’t see is below the surface of the water where ducks’ feet are pretty busy “paddling”.  In other words, “there is more than meets the eye” to a duck; it takes more than what we see to make a duck … well, a duck.

This is especially true in a local church.  We see preachers and singers. We see buildings and bulletins.  But just like our friend the duck, it takes (way) more to make a church … well, a church.

What most people don’t see are the people who prepare the bulletins, pick-up the trash, mix the sound, manage the lighting controls, run the computers, pray during the services, make the volunteer schedules, put out the signs, check the batteries in the microphones, call the first-time guests, send out letters, count the offering, make meals for the sick and bereaved, visit the sick, teach the children, change the diapers (I know my son’s can be particularly nasty, sorry), hang out with the teenagers, check the toilets (and toilet paper), lead the small groups, organize the prayer requests, send out the prayer list, answer the phones … you get the idea.

So I want to acknowledge and thank those members of the church that we don’t normally see, encourage, or appreciate. Thank you for making the church function.  Thank you for doing what needs to be done with grace, humility, and excellence. Thank you for giving without expecting. Thank you for serving without selfishness.  What would we be without you??  One thing is for sure, we would not be a church. So …
thank you for BEING the church!

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Romans 12:4-5 {NLT}

Today

The Today Show Studio at Rockefeller Plaza in NYC

I have always enjoyed watching NBC’s Today Show.  I would watch it before going to school after I watched Inspector Gadget or, as I matured, The Three Stooges.
But I always anticipated the 7:00 am introduction to the Today Show as the host would summarize the major news story they were covering and seque into a dramatic ending of “… Today, [the date].” The impression: major things happen every day; every day is full of news, promise, and pain.

In fact, today is the only day we have — to live for God, to love our families, to treat people right, to make things right, to seize opportunities, and in essence, to live.

Martin Luther used to say, “There are only two days on my calender — this day and that day.”
“This day” refers to today.  ”That day” is the day we stand before the Lord to give an account of how we used the “todays” He gave us.

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24 [NIV]

God & the Ferber Method

When we first adopted Abreham we had a hard time getting him to fall asleep on his own or without being held.  There were times it took us over an hour to get him asleep in his bed … and if he woke up during the night, we’d just have to repeat the process.

Then we read an interesting fact:  ”Most babies have the ability to fall asleep on their own around 4-6 months of age.”  And we suddenly became fans of the “Ferber Method” which basically means you let your kid cry for a predetermined but increasing amount of time until they fall asleep on their own (sounds cruel & unusual I know).  I picked a time when Beth was going to be out of town for a few days and decided to give it a try.  The first night Abreham cried for 45 minutes non-stop. By the 7th night, he was quiet as a mouse after about a minute or two.  Sleep problem solved … for Abreham AND Mommy & Daddy.

Essentially, the “Ferber” Method is teaching your child to overcome his/her perceptions and rest in what is true.

• PERCEPTION:  I can’t fall asleep without being cuddled up next to a warm body, preferably Mommy.
  • REALITY:  God designed your body so that you can enjoy sleep without depriving your parents of it.
• PERCEPTION:  When I wake up in the middle of the night, I am alone and need immediate attention.
  • REALITY:  You are never alone. Your parents can be in your room in 1.97 seconds if you really need them.
• PERCEPTION: Mommy & Daddy aren’t meeting my needs. I’m scared.
  • REALITY:  Do I trust Mommy & Daddy?

Then it hit me:  this is exactly what God wants to teach us.  We perceive He is absent, when He is not.  We perceive we need something, when God knows exactly what we need.  We perceive His grace is not enough, when He knows His grace is more than sufficient. And God never sleeps, never slumbers, and never dozes off so we can rest in Him.

God wants us to rest in the reality of Himself, rather than become anxious about deceptive perceptions.

The only way we can “grow up” as a Christian is to live by the truth … and sometimes God has to “Ferberize” us from our patterns and perceptions that are not based on truth.

When tempted to doubt God, question Him, or fear your circumstances, fall back on what is true and when it seems cloudy, go to the Cross.

Going For God

This weekend I attended the Apostles Church, only I did more than attend, I really connected to God. Although the church staff and volunteers did things to facilitate my connection, I can’t pin point anything specific that made this worship service so full of God for me.  They did not try to manufacture God’s presence or manipulate my emotions to make me think I encountered God.  They were authentic, reverent, and appropriately funny. They valued Scripture highly and leaned on it mightily.

However, I think I repented of some “God blockers” that do not keep me from attending church, but they do keep me from connecting to God.

1) I prayed about and prepared for the service before I got there. I think in our “event” heavy culture, we have learned to just show up and ‘hope’ for a good ______ (show, performance, movie, game, church service, etc.). We have the lost the practice of preparing ourselves to meet with God.  Granted by God’s grace and Jesus’ blood, we can enter His presence at any time and any place; however, maybe our weekly worship with our church family deserves more intentionality. Maybe even if we are not the singer, volunteer, or preacher, we too have a role to play in worship? Maybe our role is the most important one, and prayer is acknowledging we want to connect with Him but need help overcoming ourselves? After all, God promises to draw near to us when we draw near to Him (see James 4:8).

2)  I forced myself not to critique the church but to look for God. This was so hard for me, and I had to stop several thoughts before they distracted me.  We all want to drink good coffee, find a seat relatively easily, listen to good music, and hear a good sermon.  And in our consumeristic culture, we have been trained by our likes and dislikes to be critics … and if a “dislike” pops up, then we have a “right” to be critical, right?  Maybe. But should our “dislike” overshadow God? After all, God promises to always work through His Word (see Isaiah 55:11) and be there when two or three (or more) gather in Jesus’ Name (see Matthew 18:20). This means even if we encounter a “dislike”, God is still very likely to be present.

3)  I (eventually) got over myself and remembered that God is the true audience of worship. So being new, I was self-conscious when a family sat directly behind me.  I starting thinking about how bad I sing and how my southern accent screams “Not from around here!”, and I became more aware of myself than God.  Then a remarkable thing happened.  The worship team started singing a song, and I could not see the lead singer (gasp!). She was out of my sight line, hidden behind a speaker bank (those crazy tech guys, don’t they know I need to see the singer in order to worship!).  But the message of the song starting gripping my heart, and I starting singing to God, not through “the middle man” worship leader — just me to God.  I even shed a tear or two (that’s a big deal) and even danced a bit (that’s an even bigger deal, just ask my wife) and did a fist pump. This carried over into the message:  I wasn’t critiquing the preacher or waiting for him to amaze me with his oratory skills, I was simply connecting to God through the preaching of His Word.  I was convicted: how often do I think connecting to God hinges on the singer and preacher being “good” according to me?

Attending church “hoping” to hear a good sermon and some good music would be like going to Ruth Chris Steakhouse for an appetizer and coke; we could say we’ve been, but we’d miss the point.  We’d be settling for less than the best.  Ruth Chris is not known for appetizers, they are known for great steaks. Let’s go to church for more than an event … let’s go for God.

A Sure Way to Miss God (and not even know it)

A few weeks ago as part of our Faith Pirates series, we talked about King Asa’s wisdom & leadership.  However, there was part of the story we did not cover.  For years Asa relied on God and lead his people to seek Him.  Yet toward the end of his reign, he relied on his own wisdom, talents and strengths when faced with a threat from King Baasha (see 2 Chronicles 16).  Unlike the previous threat, Asa never sought God, instead he relied on his own political and diplomatic skills to forge an alliance with the king of Aram against Baasha.  Here’s the scary part:  his plan worked.  The threat from Baasha subsided and peace was preserved but he left God on the sidelines.

Depending on ourselves can bring success to our lives …

This means we can work hard, do our best, use our “brains” & talents, take matters into our own hands … and see positive results … and yet miss God.  We can even think we are “blessed” because we have avoided trouble, made extra money, drawn a big crowd, earned accolades, or reached a certain level of achievement.  However, God sees it differently because God defines success differently. God defines success as faithfulness to Him and whenever we create or cause “success” apart from Him, He says we are “foolish.”

In 2 Chronicles 16:7-9, Asa is rebuked for not relying on God and told that he would have had an even greater victory over Baasha if he had relied on God.

Depending on ourselves can bring success to our lives … but it keeps us from experiencing God’s best.

And God’s best only comes when we are fully reliant, fully committed, and fully surrendered to Him. As A.W. Tozer said, “We have measured ourselves by ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the Spirit is all but gone.”

• When I have a financial choice to make, this means I pray and study the Scripture BEFORE choosing to save, invest, or give … realizing that relying on God sometimes means very radically UN-relying on money (Matthew 6:24).
• When I prepare a sermon, this means spending MORE time with the Scriptures than with commentaries or other books … realizing that the with the Bible comes the promise that a harvest will be reaped (Isaiah 55:11).
• When I preach, this means trusting the power of God’s Word and Gospel, MORE than my presentation … realizing that Paul intentionally preached in a way that minimized himself while maximizing God (1 Cor. 2:3-5).
• When I have a potential opportunity before me, this means I pause and wait on God (never to delay obedience), allowing my preferences and instincts to be submitted entirely to His will … realizing that God’s wisdom and timing are not mine (Isaiah 55:8).
• When I deal with people, this means my attitude must be humility and my actions must seek to honor others ahead of myself … realizing that God’s relational rules come from the Cross (Philippians 2:3-5).

God, may I never think that what I do apart from You can bring Your blessings.  May I never mistake the results of hard work for the genuine work of Your Spirit.  Instead, lead me beyond myself for only there do You become fully alive and only there is life full & abundant.

What I’ve Learned (so far)

As the church planter who helped start RBCC and now serves as the lead pastor, I have a very big desire to see Rock Bridge be all that God wants us to be.  I have struggled a lot with what is my role in that pursuit and what is God’s role.  More often that not I have erred on the side of “if it is to be, it is up to me.” This mentality pushed me to work really hard and do my best.  Doing your best and working hard can produce positive results and make us feel good (about ourselves) but the danger is that we start relying on our “best” (which is no where close to God’s best) and our hard work instead of the work of the Holy Spirit. In other words, we become self-reliant, not Christ-dependent … and our self-reliance becomes like a god that feeds the ego and pushes away the God of the Bible who declares that “apart from Him we can do nothing”. These sinful patterns also produce the stress and weight of undue responsibility. Hard things for a pastor to admit … but perhaps I did not really know how to rely on God.  But when do we really have to rely just on God?

Then the bottom fell out.  My neat little world with all my natural tendencies were rocked by Beth’s unconventional and untimely illness and the treatment it required for her to have a chance to live.  For once, nothing was up to me … not the “success” of Rock Bridge or the outcome of Beth’s treatment.  For once, I had to essentially stop pastoring Rock Bridge during the critical month of Beth’s transplant.  For once, all I could really do was pray, turn to the Scriptures, and lean into the encouragement of my church family.  While I’m still seeking to process much of this, there are some common themes emerging–

• I am way more sinful than I imagined. The degree of self-reliance in me was/is strong and so natural that I did not even see it as sin.  Even my strategies for fighting sin where sinful in their humanistic, self-help tendencies. This fight is far from over, but at least I see the enemy more clearly now.
• All sin is a result of unbelief, and all spiritual growth & joy are the results of belief. This really simplifies Christianity.  The struggle is not to do more; rather it is to believe more and to trust more.  It is as simple (or hard) as getting onto an airplane — you either believe it will fly or you don’t.  There really is no middle ground. I’m finding that the middle ground is losing ground in my life as I learn to see my life in terms of where I believe God and where I don’t.  Where I believe Him there is much joy and the peace;  and where I don’t believe Him, I am praying like the father in Mark 9 — “I believe, help my unbelief!”
• Our work is to respond to God’s. God is responsible for building churches and saving sinners.  God is responsible for conforming His children into the likeness of His Son.  To cast all responsibility on God means resting in the power of the Gospel, trusting in the production power of His Word & Spirit, and praying based on His character and not your circumstances.
• Rock Bridge is healthy. I could make this point with our attendance, baptisms, small group launches, and special offering numbers BUT those things alone don’t make a healthy church.  I have seen this church in a different light and the view is amazing!! We are not a perfect church (far from it) but we are seeking to be a biblical church … and that pursuit did not slow down, suffer, or lose momentum because of my family’s situation or my absence … AND in many ways Rock Bridge has sped up!!
• It is possible to be satisfied with Jesus Christ … and nothing more. This is what the Scriptures claim and the lives of the apostles model, but very rarely are we forced into “just Jesus” dependence so we can really taste “just Jesus” satisfaction.  I can’t say that I live this truth every day, but I can say that for a few moments I got there (or rather God got me there) … and it was better than great.  To push past circumstances, empty yourself of yourself, and just press into Jesus was/is beautiful and wonderful!

Power in the Blood

When I was a teenager I remember reading a book by Billy Graham where he explained why the blood sacrifice of Jesus was necessary to give new and eternal life. He quoted Leviticus 17:11 –

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves … it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

Like so many things God uses a physical reality to demonstrate a spiritual truth.  As blood is necessary for us to live physically, blood would be necessary for us to live spiritually.  And not just any blood, only the pure and perfect blood of Jesus Christ. Without this blood there can be no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).  But the power of this blood goes beyond just forgiveness — it also brings His goodness and abundant life, instead of His wrath against our sinfulness (Romans 5:9; Romans 8:32).

Today we rejoice because Beth is receiving new blood. A gift of grace and a miracle of mercy flowing from the greatest grace gift and most miraculous mercy ever — the Cross. Here Jesus’ physical life-blood removed the Father’s wrath and replaced it with His goodness that now comes in many forms of His rich and sufficient grace.  We celebrate the goodness of God in the form of 19 million new and healthy stem cells entering Beth’s body to produce new, healthy, and leukemia-free blood cells.  Life is indeed in the blood!

While nothing is greater than the salvation Christ purchased for us with His blood, we still praise God for His “lesser” graces (like a bone marrow transplant) that give Him glory and give us a foretaste of His eternal goodness. These foretastes remind us that the best is yet to come and victory is assured as we live by His blood-bought grace in a sin-stained world full of pain and suffering.  While Beth’s battle with leukemia is not over with today’s transplant, we know and believe that there is “power, wonder-working power” in the blood!!

Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayers Mean So Much!!

The emails, texts, Facebook messages, etc. etc. MEAN SO MUCH!! YOUR PRAYERS MEAN SO MUCH. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!!!  We wanted to share one such email/prayer from a friend – 

Just saw your blog;  wow, the warfare is on………….a pastor’s wife at a church here in {xxxx} has cancer in her jaw and involves radical amputation.  Interestingly enough, my daughter found my wife unconscious in the bathroom early one morning, this week, and gave us a scare.  Pastor of a church plant that is 5 years old, out in the country in {xxxx} County has a brain tumor and progressively going down fast.

Here’s a word for you guys that is in my heart this morning:  My heart is bothered by this news about Beth, but not burdened.  This trial is to take you guys higher, holier, and more healthy that you already are.  It will cause so many who love you both, to drop down to their knees, weep, groan to God, and for the first time, experience a fellowship with our King.

Be encouraged…………..It will be fine!  You win! … God is getting ready to take Rock Bridge and your lives to the next level.  I know it’s health here, but it’s also warfare.  You can’t progress and attack hell without resistance………..you are getting it.  Praise can be the greatest weapon in this battle.  It works!

“Lord Jesus, we bind and attack fear and anxiety right now in Matt and Beth.  We give you our minds because it all begins right here.  According to the psalmist, ‘you have answered us.’  Do it again.  Give us the desires of our heart, but you are also sovereign and we give you our voiced liberty to do what you will.  Father, Matt and those boys need Beth……your local body needs Beth.  If you’ve ever worked mightily on our behalf, do it now.  Do it now……….we pray for wisdom, for favor, for mercy, save some grace for us, and we plead the blood of Jesus Christ over Beth for the miraculous.  I pray explosion that is unexplainable happen in worship tomorrow for Rock Bridge.  We give you glory! Father, for the answer, we ask all of this in Jesus’ name.”  -Amen

Bonus Feature to Follow Me (Part 3): Giving & Tithing

{Bonus Feature blog posts: Part 1 and Part 2}

I’m so excited to hear how so many of us are wrestling with what it really means to follow Jesus and aligning ourselves with God’s revealed truth.  An area of constant struggle is giving, tithing, and money in general.  For this bonus feature (stuff that did not make the sermon) we’ll discuss tithing, special offerings, giving to the church vs. giving through other channels.

Tithing is the biblical practice to give the first 10% of one’s income to the Lord through the church.  In the OT this money was used to support the Levites who were the priests and who worked in the Temple (and therefore could not farm).  Some people argue that is not a New Testament command or practice; however, the biblical evidence supports the notion of not just a tithe but grace-based, radically generous giving for Christians.

• Actually in the Old Testament a Jew would end up giving around 25% of there income to God’s work: the 10% for the Levites/Temple plus additional offerings to pay for the festivals and offerings to help the poor and aliens.
• The tithe started BEFORE the law was given in Exodus. The first tithe was given by Abraham to a priest in Genesis.
• Jesus actually mentioned that tithes should be given but not in a “legalistic” spirit. (Matthew 23:23)
• Special offerings were a part of the New Testament church (see 2 Cor. 8-9).  We also see people on their own giving generous gifts for the church leadership to distribute (see Acts 4:34-35).
• I Cor. 16:1-2 encourages giving on the first day of the week in relation to (in proportion to) one’s income. This indicates some type of “percentage” based giving.
• Jesus never lowered an OT standard but raised the standard and encouraged people to keep the spirit of the law.  For example, no longer was adultery defined as just sex with someone other than your spouse, but Jesus said lust in your heart was also adultery.  He went on to say hatred for someone was akin to murder.  Paul seemed to apply this principle to giving when he commended churches for giving “more than [they] were able.”

Based on these scriptural truths, here is where I think the safest place to land biblical on the issue of tithing:

• Tithing (10%) to your local church is the starting point for Christian giving.  It is clear scripturally that the local church is the primary (but not the only) “collection” point for funding God’s work.
• Christians must constantly look for ways to be generous and sacrificial with the monies God has given them. This could take “giving” well beyond 10%.  This could also mean some money is given to individuals, families, or organizations besides the local church.
• Church members should participate in special offerings (above and beyond their regular giving) when the church unites to give sacrificially (see 2 Cor. 8-9).
• The “spirit” of the tithe principle is to trust God financially and be generous.  We must constantly look at how much we make and how much we give, asking “Am I trusting God or money?” and “Am I being generous based on God’s grace to me?”

The following has proven helpful to me (this is from Andy Stanley) when thinking about giving:

• PRIORITY GIVING: give first right when you get paid to the church and other Christ-centered causes.  This indicates that God is first in your finances and invites Him (through obedience) into your financial matters.
• PERCENTAGE GIVING:  this helps make our giving consistent and intentional.  Again 10% is a good place to start and a reference point.
• PROGRESSIVE GIVING: we should seek to grow in giving like we grow in Bible knowledge or Christian understanding or as we grow as a spouse or parent.
• PROMPTED GIVING: God will prompt you to give as opportunities arise.  We should expect this, be prepared for it, and count it as a joy to be able to do so.  We can’t foresee when our friends might need something or our church has special burden to do something more for Christ or when a disaster strikes and Christians need to respond.  The Holy Spirit will lead us to give in spontaneous ways.