Persuasive Compassion

My friend, Russ Butcher, taught one time that "compassion" in a biblical sense means that you are moved by empathy for some one so much that you have no choice but to act. In other words, a situation or a person impacts you so deeply that you can't remain distant from the situation... you have to do something. You can listen to his whole message on Church At The Grove's website. Choose "Listen Online" in the upper left corner, and listen to "009 Plunge - Love God. Love People."

My family and I have been moved by a situation so much that we no longer have the choice of staying out of it. We have to do something. Pray for us as we act. Pray that it will go smoothly. Pray that the "best" thing for everyone will happen without too much opposition.

Now, stop reading this and ask God if there's a situation in your own life that God wants to use you in... maybe he wants you to demonstrate compassion in such a way that it persuades people to seek God in a new way. I'll pray for you as you go.

P.S. Find me Sunday and tell me what happens... or email me and share your own story... I want to celebrate with you as follow Christ in practical ways.

Knowing the Bible... Walking Like Christ

Knowing the stories, concepts, teachings, and background of the Bible is great, but sometimes we totally miss the point. The Pharisees and Sadducees were well studied on scripture, but Jesus attacked them as "hypocrites" and "snakes" and "decorated tombs". Many of the great philosophers of ancient times were well studied on scripture, but they also missed the point and wrote the scriptures off as mere teachings or collections of human thought. And, millions of people in our nation know the stories, concepts, teachings and background of the Bible, but our nation is in a complete mess. So what is it that we've all missed... because apparently knowing scripture isn't enough.

When the Disciples (the "talmidin") decided to become "followers" of Christ... they already knew the "scripture". They were raised in a culture where the "Torah" (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) was well known. They already understood scripture, but as they learned to be like their Rabbi (Jesus), they learned what "biblical faith" was all about. It was the application of scripture in daily life. It was knowing the Bible... and using that knowledge to become like Christ... to walk like him on a daily basis.

"Do things like Jesus did"

I talked with the first person I've ever met that is a member of one of the many religious groups in our area. Basically, I don't know anything about her faith... except that Saturdays are the day they use for worship and spiritual gatherings and resting. We didn't get into a long conversation about the beliefs that we would agree on or disagree on. In fact, we didn't talk about our faith much at all. She did say one thing that stuck with me. I asked her about the tradition of not doing anything on Saturday except worship (no buying, no selling, no work, etc.)... was it strictly from a background of Jewish law or was it an adherence to man's rules? Her response was, "well, basically, we just want to do things like Jesus did... and Jesus observed the Sabbath by being in the synagogue and talking about the things of God... so that's what we do."

I still don't know much about her faith... but that statement will stick with me for a long time. I started a discussion about spiritual things and she finished it with the ultimate statement of what my faith should be based on... Doing Things Like Jesus Did. I was challenged through a discussion I started. If you were to start a discussion this week, I wonder what you might be challenged with.

A Tribute To My Friends

During the various stages of my life, I've had a few incredible friends that surrounded me. In Kansas, it was my neighbors, Matt and Chris, and my best friend, Jared. When we moved to Georgia I had Tommy, Eric, and Jeff. In high school, it was Kevin and Brian. Through college and in recent years, the list would also have a few key names on it. These were friends that, for the particular stage in my life, were incredible parts of my memories, my development, and my life in general.

I spent Tuesday evening with some friends in my community group and we talked about the importance of the friendships we have and the relationships we're building with people. We are learning that we can't live life alone. So, the seven of us agreed that we've got to figure out a way to help everyone else understand the importance of relationships. With that in mind, let me ask you a couple questions.

How many people at Church At The Grove (or whatever church you attend) do you know? How many of them would you consider to be "friends"? Is that number more, less, or the same than six weeks ago?

Russ and I want to encourage you to build relationships with others. Maybe go to lunch this Sunday with a family that you don't know very well. Or, invite a couple neighbors over to your house for dinner this week. Take a walk around the neighborhood and decide before you leave your driveway that you will speak to every person that you pass. Or, stop by for Russ and my Community Group that meets on Tuesday nights during the Summer (or any community group that's going on). However you do it, begin to build relationships with others. As you do, you may find a friend or two that will be incredible parts of your memories or your development in this stage in your life.

Exchanging one thing for another!

Amy and I just signed up for high-speed internet and cable tv. In exchange for these things, we dropped our home phone (so don't call us there any more), our dial-up internet connection, and the antenna we had in our attic that picked up channels 2, 5, 8, 11 and 81 from Atlanta. What we had before had worked fine for us for the last four years, but in the last six months we've realized the limitations of the old set up. You see, we've had friends that have dropped their old systems a while back... going from the limitations of a land line phone to the portability of cellular... going from the painfully slow speed of dial up to the fast pace of hig-speed... and going from the minimal selection and low quality picture of antenna to the quality of cable (okay, so most people dropped their television antennas a couple decades ago... we're a little slower in some areas). Of course, it is a little overwhelming to have all that we've got now and it will take us a while to adjust, but in the long run, I think we'll be glad we made the change.

The biggest problems we faced with our old setup was that we could no longer carry out the "basic" tasks we needed to perform on the internet connection we had. The web has become so complex and so media-driven in the past three years, that our dial-up connection could no longer handle things like email, checking the weather, looking up a phone number, or trying to find a better price on an item. It wasn't that there was anything "wrong" with our old system... it's just that our old system was no longer the most effective tool to use. Our old system was not designed in a way that allowed efficient (or effective) communication with the current web community. So, out of necessity, we had to try something new just to stay informed, up-to-date, and connected with the millions of internet users in the world.

Years ago, I began to notice an uncomfortable shift in the Gen-X subculture that I grew up with. When it came to spiritual things, we (as a group) became more and more willing to trade our spiritual backgrounds for another type of spiritual world-view or to completely give up spirituality as a pursuit of God altogether. In many cases, the worldviews (spiritual belief systems) of people in their 20s and 30s have become so complex that traditional "church-type programs" and "sunday school answers" could no longer keep up with the questions and spiritual crises that this generation faced. These types of things are no longer effective with spiritually reaching the most skeptical, cynical, and distant people in our community. So, out of necessity, we had to try something new just to stay connected with the thousands of spiritually disconnected people in our community.

That's why our Sunday mornings feel a little different... we've created an environment for people to explore faith at their own pace (specifically the people that are least likely to go to church). And, we didn't do it because the old system was "broken," it's just that we couldn't stand the thought of being disconnected from a generation of people that were silently slipping away. So, we had to exchange what we'd always done, for something new. Of course, it is a little overwhelming right now and it will take us a while to adjust, but in the long run, I think we'll be glad we made the change.

Sorry... It's my fault!

For years, God has been misrepresented by Christians as one-sided and simplistic. As a result, there are people in this community that don't know who God is, don't recognize him when he's working around them , or believe things about him that aren't true. And if I've ever lived my life in any way that displayed only one characteristic of God, then I'm sorry.

Our God is a complex being that lives in the balance of righteousness (complete perfection) and mercy (complete forgiveness). Jesus showed us what God was like every day of his life on earth... he lived in that balance... judging those that should be condemned (usually self-righteous hypocrites) and showing mercy to those that needed it most (usually social or religious throw-aways). He taught us to live out our love for him in the same way. But sometimes we've failed... or at least I've failed. And, like the times I've successfully lived the Way of Christ, my failures have taught those around me how to follow God. I've created followers (or "disciples") of Christ that live out their relationship with God like I live out mine. As a result, I've screwed some people up over the course of my own spiritual journey.

For years, people have watched me and other Christians as we've misrepresented God (by focusing on the perfection of God without describing his forgiveness, or by focusing on his mercy without mentioning his righteousness). As a result, some don't know God, or don't recognize him, or they believe something about him that isn't true (like believing that he is one-sided and simplistic). Even worse, there are some that hate God because of the lives of some of God's followers. And, if my life has misrepresented the vast character of this incredible Creator, then I'm sorry. If you hate God because of the lives of some of his followers, then it's partly my fault (Romans 2:24). But now that we've blamed those that are responsible, I'd like you to look past the "followers" and look at the "one" we follow... look at the God that lives in the balance of perfection and forgiveness... see his son, Jesus, and know the mercy and righteousness of God.

That's what I want for you... that's what Russ Butcher (the other pastor of Church at the Grove) and I want for the people of this community... that's what the people of Church at the Grove want for our friends and neighbors and coworkers and strangers... we want you to know who God is, to recognize him when he's working around us, and to have a fully accurate picture of the complex God we serve. We want our lives to represent God so well that people can watch us and know what it means to truly follow him.

Questions, Answers, More Questions

In the book of Luke, we see a story of Jesus as a twelve year old boy. He was accidentally left in Jerusalem by his parents and spent three days "sitting in the Temple with the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions" (Luke 2:46). What a fascinating look into the life of God as a human... going through the normal growth steps for Jewish boys... being trained in the style of Rabbis (Jewish teachers) where questions were the most important thing you could talk about. Can you imagine?... God, asking men questions about what they think about Him or His word? And, even more ridiculous... listening to them as they responded?

What kind of a God is this? What kind of an all-powerful, all-knowing, deity would subject himself to be questioned by His creation?

Fortunately, the kind of God that would do this is a loving, compassionate, understanding, patient, gracious, merciful God... the kind that is not scared of our lack of faith... the kind that is not scared of our questions and inconsistencies... the kind of God that is YHWH (Yahweh, Jehovah, Almighty, God the Father, etc.).

Over the last seven days, I have had a ton of conversations with people that have revolved around questions about God. The conversations have been incredible. In the conversations, all of us have had questions. None of us have had all the answers. Our lack of answers have brought up even more questions. And, God, has patiently listened to it all. Even more than that, I think he's been a part of those conversations and has watched us learn and grow... in the same way that a twelve-year-old-Jesus modeled for us 2,000 years ago.

An article I just read

I just read an article in a newspaper that the Georgia Baptist Convention prints up each month called "Families Choosing Time Together Over Church," and it got me thinking a little bit. The article was written pretty fairly... as an explanation of the culture and overall views of Gen X an Y toward church... instead of an outright attack on people that don't spend every waking moment at church.

There were several lines that caught my attention. Quoting Leadership magazine, the article states, "The increased emphasis on family time, even at the expense of meaningful involvement in church life, is a sign of the times...It's one way Generations X and Y are making up for the hands-off, latch-key childrearing styles that characterized their Boomer parents: heavy investment in the kids, and everything else takes a back seat - including church."

On the flip side, the article talks about the tendency to trade church attendance in for time spent on something the kids are doing and says (quoting Albert Mohler Jr.), "Every kid has a 'thing' going on virtually all the time. That is the condition of life today, it seems. But when that 'thing' keeps the child - or the whole family - away from church we need to name that thing what it is... at best a snare, at worst an idol."

And, here's what I take away from the article: NOT a specific stance on what "church involvement" means; NOT whether its right or wrong to skip a church activity to spend with your family; and, NOT how to develop church to recapture a generation that sees it as less relevant than a little-league baseball game (though, on a side note, that should shake up Christ-followers around the country... that we have somehow allowed the incredible Good News of the amazing love of the Creator for his flawed creation to become essentially irrelevant).

Instead, I look at the disagreement between the two sides of the issue and I see examples of the many futile attempts generations make to develop the 'next generation' to believe as they do. After all, the Builder generation took what they learned in the developmental years and tried to develop the 'next generation' to work hard for the good of the 'country'... falling into an 'us versus them' mentality and false views of "differences." The Boomer generation took the developmental years of their childhood and became unbalanced in their approach to life... falling into workaholicism and false views of "success." The Gen-Xers took the developmental years of their childhood and decided to completely go against what they learned... falling into child-centeredness and false views of "spirituality." So, how are we developing the next generation? How will they respond to our parenting and leadership? What will they fall into? What incorrect views will they have?

Developing people is the most challenging and important thing we do in life. And, whether it is our own kids or just the next generation in general, they are watching us. What they learn from us will affect the entire culture in 20-30 years. Let us never forget how important it is to develop them well... to give them a correct view of people and a balanced life and God.

Chocolate Molten Lava Cake...

I just got back from lunch... and I'm full. We ordered two salads and a philly cheesesteak sandwich... not much food for six people, but that's because we were saving room for dessert. Today is my middle daughter's 6th birthday... for her special meal, she wanted a Chocolate Molten Lava Cake from Chili's. So, we had a goal and because dessert was the goal of lunch, we made wise choices about lunch... we had to save room.

All of us are limited in life... by time.. by money... by abilities... by energy... and even by the amount of lunch we can eat. And once we decide what is most important, then we have to order everything else in our life to allow us time/resources/energy to apply to those things that are "most important."

We have to do the same thing... as a church and as followers of Christ. We have to take the limited time, energy and resources that God's given us and invest those into what will most effectively accomplish what's "most important"... developing people to follow Jesus and make disciples. It's called "faithful stewardship" and God says it's important. What about you? Do you think it's important? Are you living your life like it's important? Or, are you getting to the end of your day/finances/energy and finding that you don't have a bit of room left for even one small bite of lava cake?

How to spend $419.13 in less than 2 minutes

I don't know if you've entered the world of online banking yet or not, but I've been paying bills online for about 9 months and I absolutely love it. In fact, I just took 1 minute and 48 seconds to pay my auto insurance, power bill, and phone bill. That's $419.13 out of my checking account and I'm not even sad about it. Why? Basically, it's because I was going to have to pay the money anyway (we always owe money for something), but I didn't have to waste a lot of time doing it. Last year at this time, I would have had to pay bills by getting all my bills out of our drawer, pulling the payment slips off the bills, matching them up with the correct envelopes, writing the checks, stuffing the envelopes, sealing the envelopes, putting stamps on the envelopes, and putting my return address on the envelope (which, by the way, is completely useless about 99.9% of the time - when was the last time that a bill to a utility company ever got returned to your mailbox). But with online banking, my billpaying experience is simple.

Have you ever wondered why spiritual things seem like such a drain on people sometimes? I don't think it's the spiritual parts, themselves... after all, basic truths about God stay the same. Instead, I'm beginning to think that maybe it's because Christians have over-complicated the process of exploring faith. We often tell people all the steps (including the ones that we don't even understand) they have to go through to become a Christian, or to become a member of a church, or to become a "fully-devoted follower of Christ," and then we wonder why few people want to follow us in our spiritual journey. Maybe we overwhelm them with complexity and they don't feel like they would ever measure up, or be able to follow-through with all those steps.

So, the real question is: Is the Good News too complex? Or, have we combined it with "The Law" and "tradition" and "expectations" and "we've always done it that way"s or "we've never done it that way"s to the point that the Good News is difficult to understand, and even more difficult to accept? Romans 1:17 says, "The Good News shows how God makes people right with himself - that it begins and ends with faith." That sounds pretty simple. Romans 3:31 says, "So do we destroy the law by following the way of faith? No! Faith causes us to be what the law truly wants." That seems like it eliminates a lot of the steps (especially the ones that we don't even understand). But, what does the law truly want? Romans 4:25 says, "Jesus was given to die for our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God."

So, let's boil it down. God wants us to be right with him. That happens through forgiveness. Forgiveness happens through faith in Jesus. And the process of having faith in Jesus is simple. Should we, as a church, make it more complicated than that? No. In fact, we should fight against a complex approach to God or faith or being a part of the CATG Community.

Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from hearing the Good News, and people hear the Good News when someone tells them about Christ." There it is: people telling people about Jesus. That's simple. The message doesn't change... just the method. As you go along this week, maybe a conversation with one of your friends will turn to spiritual things... if that happens, maybe you will have a chance to share a little bit of the simple Good News... and maybe, just maybe, your friend will start their own journey of faith as a result.

Looking for "authentic"

Google the word "authentic" and the first three things that pop up are a software package, an ebay ad to find "authentic" items for less, and a website to find authentic designer merchandise at 40% off. If you type that word in YouTube, you get videos about a authentic baseball cards, a keyboard that sounds like an authentic electric guitar, and "authentic" footage of ghosts in Gettysburg battlefield. And, in Wikipedia, "authenticity refers to the truthfulness of origins, attributions, commitments, sincerity, devotion and intentions."

When you look for "authenticity," where do you find it? I had a conversation yesterday with a guy that is fed up with the church in North America because, as a whole, it is not authentic... truthfulness of origins, attributions, commitments, sincerity, devotion, and intentions is rarely found in the large majority of people that claim a connection to God, Church, and the Christian Faith. People will continue to look for authentic merchandise, authentic replicas, and authentic ghost footage... but even more than that, people are looking for "authentic" people. As you go through your life today, live authentically... live with a true understanding of where you come from (origins), what you live by (attributions), what you say you will do (commitments), how you feel (sincerity), what is most important to you (devotion), and what you really have in mind (intentions). As we live out our lives authentically, then maybe, just maybe, we will be able to help connect people in an authentic relationship with a very real God.

That's My Chair

Last night, my wife and I watched an episode of "Friends" off our Season 3 DVD. Episode #50... The One Where No One's Ready... is a true classic (in fact it's the #5 episode according to TV.com). In this episode, Chandler and Joey fight over who gets to sit in a chair in the girls' apartment. Of course, the fight escalates to the point of insanity... which is why it's so incredibly funny.



Unfortunately, it's not as funny when things like this happen in real life. In some churches, long-time members fight over "their" seats in the sanctuary, or "their" parking places, or "their" position on some committee, or "their" style of music, or "their" anything-else-that-has-no-real-eternal-significance. The natural tendency in life is take care of ourselves and put ourselves first, but all of this fighting over "my" things distracts us from what's really important. It's funny on TV, but when it happens within God's family, it's ridiculous.



Instead of worrying about "my" seat or "my" parking spot, I should be concerned about "my" mission field and the spiritual condition of "my" friends and the hopelessness of the people within "my" circle of influence. I am responsible for the people that God puts around me and it is more important that I live out Christ in front of them, then that I sit in the same spot each week. If you attend Church At The Grove, thanks for modeling this idea of missional responsibility and forgetting the arguments about "my chair." If you're not part of things here, what are you modeling in your own life? What's most important... your "chair" or your "mission field"?