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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Yesterday

Yesterday, I had coffee with another man.

"David" has an adult son and daughter. His son works for an internationally known ministry in North Carolina. Dave himself has worked for a number of Christian ministries over his career, mostly in community development and CD consulting, dealing with places in Africa and Asia mostly.

Dave, age 54, doesn't go to church anymore.

You see, Dave was active in church for years, but as he grew to know what God made in him, what made Dave unique in his father's eyes, he stepped toward that. But the churches he was a part of wanted to plug and play him in what they wanted to do. Dave has grown and matured and knows his part in the kingdom, but apparently that's a threat to local churches he just need someone to feel their predefined roles. Dave was even told "we know you don't like doing this, but you are good at it so it must be what you are to do here". It was killing his heart.

So he left.

Online, in ministry (I've volunteered with Ransomed Heart and The Noble Heart ministries) I've come across dozens of men like Dave. Men called by God in a direction that brings them in conflict with their churches. Some stay for their families' sake. Some stay as their ministry creates the church as a kind of mission field for them. Others leave.

The "church" was meant to equip. Somewhere along the way it placed itself in the place of God. If the church returns to equipping men, then the work done by the church will be the work the members are called to do. Not what some committee decides.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

How to settle disputes

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Core beliefs

I posted last week's "why some theology matters" to a social network site I'm helping to seed before we open it up to like-minded others to join. A friend Reggie posted a good reply, including this list of core beliefs that matter:

The Good Heart (Core)
The Larger Story
God's heart (The Prodigal, The Shack, etc.)
Warfare (there is an enemy)
The need for healing (the wound)
Uniqueness of our Calling
The value of Relationship
Hearing God (This does happen)


And actually within a couple of days I was rereading from John Eldredge's Walking With God the section entitled Not Every Gospel is Equal (page 164ff). He makes a similar point. Now, he spends most of his time undoing the damage done by "judge not lest ye be judged" mentality (in context, that is a statement about making right judgments), but in the end he has his three core points: the heart is central, intimacy with God is the goal, and restoration of the person matters.

If restoring heart is a goal, if it is the mission, then understanding your beliefs on the matters of the heart, God, and relationships are key. Understand that, then understand who your allies are, and what your mission is. If your heart matters, then who you allow close matters as well.

Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Why some theology matters

I know I got on a theology kick this week, but let me bring it around.

Our belief in who God is, how he made us, and view of the relationship between God and us matters. It matters to how we view God, how we view ourselves, and how we interact with God. God created us as freewill creatures (I know, now I'm risking circular logic here). If we have freewill, our choices matter, and our views matter. They influence how we act and interact.

These things are worth debating, especially if a group is to be a long term community. How the community views these matters helps form what the community is, what it does, and how it relates. While a group that wants to be a redemptive community does not need to agree on all theology, I think it does need to agree on these fundamental points. Thus the need for discussion, even debate on these matters.

But of course, the individual needs to know their own viewpoints. This effects how one interacts with God and others. If I see all who don't know Christ as fundamentally depraved, that effects how I interact with them. However, if I see them as a worthy human in need of healing, wholeness and holiness, that causes me to act more gently and tenderly towards them.

And it is interesting that when two who profess Christ get together and differ on these matters, I think some of the most heated discussion can occur. It is because I think we put so much of our security into our view of our identity, and these matters get to the core of our identity. Let God or another shake it, and we become scared -- who are we if we aren't x? But letting go of false teaching on these matters and embracing the truth allows us to become more fully who we are.

I don't know how a person can become all that they are meant to be without the divine truth in these matters, nor do I believe a group can become community without a basic like-mindedness in these matters.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

In the Image of God

Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made man.
-- Genesis 9:6


We are in the image of God.

Some, surprisingly, would dispute that. They would say that with the fall, the image of God upon us, or in us, (or whatever the appropriate vocabulary), was removed.

Interestingly, Genesis 3 says, that with the fall, we were even more like God

And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil." -- v22


With the fall, we became more like God. One of the earliest forerunners of the law, the instructions on murder (Genesis 9:6), was put in place due to humanity's stance as being in the image of God.

That is a powerful piece of knowledge. That implies the capacity within us for great good, or in our corrupted state, with our free will, the power for great evil. That is a great responsibility we have. But many of us don't realize our power. Our authority. So evil runs almost out of control in our world, the defeated Satan has his way because we don't realize our authority in the name of Jesus. We sit on our butts often not knowing our power to do something about it, both physically and in the spiritual realm.

You have a place. You have a role. And you have the authority to create change. Paul writes in Ephesians that God had something for you to do prepared in advance of you. Will you seek it out and discover it?

Monday, November 10, 2008

The Noble and Good Heart

I was in a discussion a couple of days ago about the nature of man before Christ, and the philosophies even spilled into what one believes about our nature after we are within the body. Since the story we believe effects the story we live, I thought I'd shoot down some of these mythologies this week.

While these mythologies come from a proof-texting and out of contexting of scripture, all these false teachings can be shot down with just a single passage of scripture.

Jesus teaches the parable of the sower, and this is one of the few we have recorded his explanation of it in detail to his disciples. Look at the explanation in Luke 8:11-15.

This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.


Whether your theology holds here the "word of God" is Jesus, or the written or spoken word of the good news, it still holds. Those with a noble and good heart receive it.

Psalm 139 tells us that we are in the womb we are wonderfully made. By God. In other words, if there wasn't a basic goodness to us then that would have been the way God made us in the womb. So if there is nothing good about us, before we hear the word of God, then that would be the way God made us? That would mean that God made evil.

But no, God doesn't make evil, he makes free will. God wanted community, wanted love from others, so he created others. But love and community from others without the freewill to choose otherwise is hollow, so he created freewill. It was a freewill creation that betrayed him and led 1/3 of the angel armies in rebellion, and freewilled creations that betrayed him in the Garden. Evil was the consequence of the freewill.

So as freewilled creatures, even before we hear the word, we have the choice of picking between good and evil. Typically, we pick some of both, and most of us from the evil table pick things that "aren't that bad". This I don't deny. But there are a number of honorable men among atheists even. There are a lot of legalists, who try to follow a law rather than rely on the grace of God, who do a lot of good in this world.

I think if this were not true, this world would have become a living hell a long time ago.

And yes, there's a difference between us being righteous before God and us doing some good. I do not deny that, and I'm not saying we can win God's favor through our attempts at being good. But as God's creation, as God's beloved, as people knit in the womb by God, we have a freewill to choose. This is true even of those who've never heard the word. We are not evil, yet neither are we righteous without God.

But with God, we can be considered fully good and righteous:

But the Scriptures speak often of good works and do not hesitate to apply such terms as "good," "blameless," and even "worthy" to mortals:

He [Barnabas] was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 11:24).

Both of them [Zechariah and Elizabeth] were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly (Luke 1:6).

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man (Luke 23:50).

You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed (1Thess. 2:10).

But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage (Luke 20:35).

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy (Rev. 3:4).

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Leadership

My thoughts lately have turned to leadership.

I've been what some would say is the leader -- sometimes, that's just really the manager. I was in Boy Scouts and served as a patrol leader, senior patrol leader, and as a chapter chief in the Order of the Arrow. In the latter, I put together the first camporee for our district in a few years. Except for that latter one, in many ways I was in the role but not so much in the function perhaps. I was probably more of a leader at the National Boy Scout Jamboree in 1981, doing the function without a role.

Since high school, I've had a number of leadership roles, and many times functioned in those roles, and functioned as a leader outside of the role. When I try to function as a leader, I usually end up trying to manage more than lead.

I've tried to repress the leadership the last couple of years, however. Some of it is due to control issues, sometimes on my part, often with someone else feeling usurped. And maybe for a season that was right.

Clarifying my thoughts on leadership more this past week has been Seth Godin's book Tribes. The challenge is to be a leader in the way you are, not as a role. Modern leadership is in bringing together communities, and typically standing back and letting it happen. The community may have a mission, or simply a common interest. This kind of thought toward leadership is kind of fitting with some "apostolic" gifting some in the last few months have said they see in me. I try to see what that means ...

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Now is the time

Men of God, this is our finest hour! I remember the day Bill Clinton was elected. I was totally depressed as were all of my friends. But I also remember this nagging thought that maybe this was God's way of awakening His Church. And yes it was. Over the next 8 years a massive movement of prayer and fasting began. Well over one hundred thousand people did 40 day fasts. Over 1 million men met in Wash DC to publicly repent and to our hearts and eyes back to God.

I believe we are experiencing the fruit of those years today. Look at what is happening in the Church today. George Barna says millions are leaving churches because their passion for Jesus has reached a level that the churches can't support. Worldwide, people are coming to Christ at a faster rate than ever before in the history of man. Movements like Ransomed Heart are seeing men awakened, coming alive and learning to fight for freedom.

I believe this is another step in the progression God is taking with His Bride. He is getting our eyes off politics and inviting us to "Real Change", that which only comes from a heart that has been redeemed, restored and is now fully alive. When a man's heart comes alive, and He walks in the love of His Father, that changes him beyond recognition. We have all seen this personally in our own lives and in each other.

So I say it again, this is our finest hour. We who have experienced this heart level change are to be the leaders/warriors in this movement of God. We will see more and more people become dissatisfied with politics, churchianity, etc and they will be looking for the real thing. So let's go get 'em, Sons of Scotland!
-- John Hard, Birmingham, AL


I hear the bemoaning of the election results from my friends and allies, but a couple, including John (quoted above) have the right mindset. So many have spouted off by electing who we have, we will reap what we sow (allowing the election of Obama), but the truth is the results are reaping what we have sown.

By focusing on the battles the church has chosen, she is losing the war. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not about society transformation by effort, but it is about life transformation. Lives transformed becomes the salt and light that in great enough numbers transform society.

But don't misunderstand "numbers". It is about one man, or one woman, whose life is transformed, standing in the gap. Churches have focused for so long on numerical growth, but how many of their converts stand in the gaps? They've focused on turning out numbers to support a cause, but one man, or one woman, standing by another is what it takes to transform another.

Let me put this perspective on what I mean -- I know a group of six or eight men in Arizona who support a village in Nigeria. They find out about this village when it was "dropped" by a large church as it "realigned" its budget. These six give more money and visit this village more often than that large church.

In other words, we don't need a hundred million warehoused in churches. We don't need hundreds of thousands receiving a newsletter. We will create more change with hundreds with passion.

God created within you something special. What has he called you to do, not what your pastor or some Christian activist rallies you to? Be who God calls you to be.