Salt and Light

The last several weeks there has been a theme emerging from my blog posts. I know it is flowing out of things God is teaching me but I also believe they are for us as a church. Today I came to Mathew 5. It’s a great chapter, full of so much teaching and direction from Jesus. I feel I could hang out in it for a month and still not be done seeing the many things Jesus would show me. For this blog post we will skip past a few verses and look at Matthew 5:16.

 Even though verse 16 was the one that stood out to me, here is the group of verses it flows with. Mathew 5 starting in verse 13. Jesus is talking and says:

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

These are verses I have read many times and I expect you might have as well. Jesus is calling his followers, his Church, the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Great verses and they are so popular there are even a few kids’ songs that come from these as well. But it was the last verse that God emphasized to me today.

Here we are being called to be salt and light, but then the question is, how are we to be salt and light. Since there are many ways we can do that, Jesus gives clarity at the end of this section. We are salt and light when others “see your good deeds”.

So, if you’re like me, when Jesus says, “be my salt and light on this earth,” we raise our hands and say “yes” to the call. But I read that last verse and had to ask myself; have I had good deeds, and has the world seen them in a way that points to God? It’s a question we all must ask ourselves. The answer will look a little different depending on our season of life and where God has called us to be BUT the call is there all the same. He didn’t say they will hear your good words, no, he said they will see your good deeds.

So what deeds have you and I done this week or last week? Would Jesus say we are being salt and light by our deeds? It seems that is the challenge to us today….let’s go do it

It Would Change The World

They deserved it! They had it coming! They started it! That’s justice! I have a right to…

These are statements I think we have all have made at some point in our lives. Maybe we hear them more from our kids, but in reality we definitely have adult versions of these phrases that we live out in our lives. Usually they are said after someone has hurt us or wronged us. Maybe we respond to that hurt by putting that person in their place, seeking justice to see them suffer the consequences of their actions or maybe even taking action against them (“justifiably” of course) for what they did.

How we handle those who wrong us is one of the greatest indicators that either mark us as followers of Christ or hypocrites who act just like an unbelieving world. Jesus calls each of us to a standard of living that removes all “rights”we think we have when we are wronged and He says this in Luke.

Luke 6:27-31“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

You know, every time I read this, it's like BAM! I respond to these words and feel them smack me right in the face. What is Jesus saying? He is saying that we have no rights! That we are a slave to righteousness and righteous living (Romans 6:18) under the new standard that He calls his followers to.

When someone wrongs us, Jesus is not a situational based teacher. In fact he really makes this one pretty straight up. Love those that show you no love. Bless those who keep attacking you. Show kindness to those who show you none. If someone wrongs you, give to them even more.

This is one of the HARDEST callings of Jesus to live by. I honestly don’t see it lived out much at all. What do you think would happen if Christians took this command from Jesus and let it change how we act in response to every person we know and encounter? Do you think an unbelieving world might look and see something so different in us they would come to ask what it is? I do! It would be the most incredible life changing testimony we could have if we learn to just love like Jesus already loved us and see our friends and enemies come to a life-changing encounter with God. It would change our lives and the world’s around us!

Do They See What They Hear?

I was thinking about the words and teachings of Jesus today, nothing specific but more about the entire breadth and power of his words. These are words I read, memorize, try to live by and even quote as a regular part of my life. So a random thought popped in my head today, "So what makes the words of Jesus powerful". I know this might seem like a silly or even easy question but I had the thought and then a simple answer that kind of hit me right in the face.

  The words and teachings of Jesus had the power they did because his life matched them completely. Jesus never taught a message he was not already living out. His great teaching, even great "sermons", as some might call them, flowed out of a life that lived out each word he said. Ok, I know some of you might be thinking "well duh". And yes you might be right, but then that very idea caused me to say, so if I am not living them, will they have power when I say them?

  I taught on Zacchaeus a few Sundays back and the main point I saw in the text is that it was not a deep intense teaching or sermon of Jesus that led Zacchaeus to repent, rather it was the life that Jesus lived that accompanied his teachings and led Zacchaeus to a life changing encounter with God. Zacchaeus knew the teaching of Jesus, but in that moment, what led him to repent were the actions of Jesus. He could see that Jesus’ actions matched His teachings, and in that moment, Christ SHOWED him the very love of God that He taught. 

  So maybe you might have said "duh" when I first mentioned my thoughts but what about it. Do our lives give better sermons then our mouths? If they don't then no matter how much scripture we know or how many great teachings of the Bible we can quote, unless our lives match our words the teachings will hold little power to the world around us.

  My encouragement would be to take some time to focus our lives on living out the words before we say them. Because it’s easy to give someone a Bible verse that shows them a truth or the error of their ways but the power of that Truth becomes real when they see it in us more then they hear it from us. 

"Servant Leadership"

I read a quote recently that got me thinking. It said:
"True leadership is servanthood. Put the interests of others at the center of your decisions."

The quote got me thinking. What is "servant leadership" and has this term been misused to create bad leaders?

I have witnessed to many times leaders not leading and failing to do what is best for their people and organization in the name of "servant leadership". They are so consumed with serving those they lead that they loose the ability to lead them. Many times leadership must take people someplace they, initially, don't want to go. Leadership takes people into the unknown and plots a path, a leader brings vision. If someone is not doing these things they might be in charge, but they are merely a manager, not a leader.


Th quote is right, servant leadership does need to put the interest of others in their decision but to lead means that it's possible what is best can not be seen unless you are seeing a bigger picture. When leading people you have been given a responsibility to give direction and unify your community  around a call to strengthen and grow your community or organization. A leader sees the future and sees what will, in the longterm, hurt or hinder the organization as a whole and then must lead so as to not fall into those traps. But if the voice of the people wins out over the needed change then you are NOT leading, in fact the people are now leading you.



Sadly I see this many times in our churches today. Churches are dying off and it is not due to failing followers, it is due to failing leaders, allowing this "servant leadership" idea applied wrong to kill the churches until they implode and die from lack of growth or change. Basically they a dying because of lack of leadership.

I was thinking about this idea and looking at many of the great spiritual leaders in the Bible. Many of them where not popular with the masses that God had called them to lead. Not because they where bad leaders, but because they were leading in a direction people did not want to go BUT it was a direction God wanted to go. If those leaders of God would have lead like many pastors today they would have stopped the change they were calling for and lived to "serve" the people and make them happy. In fact they would have been serving men over God.

I think the best description of "Servant Leadership" means: To faithfully serve God first and foremost  more then those you are called to lead BUT love those you lead unconditionally as God loves them. In loving them you will be caring for them and serving them while also leading them as God calls us to; into the place God is leading us. It seems that this a healthier and wiser approach to Biblical and Spiritual "servant leadership."

I Lay Me Down

This past week we sang one of my favorite songs to close the worship service, “I Lay Me Down” by Christ Tomlin. (Check out the YouTube link here)

This song has been echoing through my heart and mind the last two weeks as I have been challenged by the lyrics.  They are simple but yet speak so much scriptural truth that is much easier to say then do.

The lyrics to the chorus are:

I lay me down I’m not my own

I belong to you alone Lay me down

Lay me down Hand on my heart

This much is true there’s no life apart from you

Lay me down Lay me down

The bridge says:

“It will be my joy to say Your will, Your way”

As I read these lyric I am reminded of the scripture from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 where Paul writes:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

As the scripture says and the song reminds us, we are not our own, we have been purchased by God and now belong to Him. As I think about these words, the song and scripture, I am reminded of the need to live my life knowing that I am no longer to live for me in any way, I must be surrendered over to the will, desires, and direction of God for my life. I must live my life saying “Your will, Your way”. I can’t have it 50/50 or 60/40 or even 99/1. It has to be 100% I belong to God and therefore must honor God will all that I do.

It’s a simple yet powerful challenge. As we look at our lives, what we do each day, how much of it is for our God and represent His will, and how much of it is for me and my desires? It’s a tough question but I am reminded to be more focused on looking at my life each day and asking myself these questions and being willing to change what I do and what is being prioritized in my life for the sake honoring God with all I do knowing “I belong to You (God) along”. Declaring with our lives to God and the world around us: “Your Will! Your Way!

His Ways or Ours

“...Aslan didn't tell Pole what would happen. He only told her what to do. That fellow will be the death of us once he's up, I shouldn't wonder. But that doesn't let us off following the signs.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

One of my favorite C.S. Lewis books is "The Silver Chair" (which is a part of the Narnia series), mainly because of this quote. The scene is set in this way:

Aslan tells Pole that she is to do whatever is asked of her by the first person she encounters who asks her to do something in the name of Aslan. Later in the story, Pole and her companion are in a room with a man who says he must not be released from the "silver chair" he is tied to, for if released, he would kill them both. So Pole and her companion wait for this madman as they watch him appear to go crazy while locked in his chair. Then, to the dismay of Pole, the man said, "In the name of Aslan release me from this chair."

It was in this moment Pole was presented with the greatest challenge she had yet seen. What does she do? Does she obey what Aslan had said and release this madman who, to the best of her knowledge, would kill her? Or does she justify disobedience by saying, "this could not be what Aslan would have intended by his instructions". 

We are all presented with this same scenario in the same way in our lives, usually on a daily basis, as we encounter situations where we have to decide if we will do what God has asked of us or, with our own logical re-interpretation of His Word, determine a new meaning not requiring our obedience. 

The above quote sums up the act of faith and obedience we must all have. God does not tell us what will happen every time we are confronted with a choice to follow his way verses the way of this world we live in. He only says obey. 

In these situations we are confronted with some deep personal questions. Do we truly believe God knows more then us? Do we believe His ways are better then ours? Are we truly submitted to His authority, leadership and Lordship in our lives? The answer to these questions is not in our verbal response but in our actions. Will we obey, even when the apparent consequences seem so out of touch with our "logical" ways of living life? Who’s ways will win, ours or His?

When Are We Worshiping

This is something a wrote for my church this week but thought that it was a good reminder for all of us...

Each Sunday we gather for a time to worship together and to hear teaching. I love these days. I look forward to being in the room with hundreds of people that sing and lift their voices to God together to worship Him. These moments have brought tears to my eyes as I stepped away from the microphone to hear voices raised in passionate worship of our Savior.

 I was thinking about those times of worship and was reminded that they shouldnot begin and end on Sunday morning. In fact our time together should be flowing out of times of worship that is happening in our lives throughout the week.

It makes me ask myself, am I taking time to worship God outside of Sunday morning? Am I setting time aside to give Him praise and adoration in my week? Times that are about worshiping God for who God is, giving Him glory despite my needs, hurts, or struggles.

I know for many of us, when we come together on Sunday morning, it can be difficult to enter into our times of worship. We have had a long week. The pressures, struggles, and worries of our days fill our minds. But I can't help but wonder how much easier it would be and how much more joy we would find in our joint times of worship together, if we were all worshiping outside of our Sunday services as well. Sunday would then be a time of worship that is continually flowing out of our times of worship and praise with God during our week.

Here’s something to think about. Maybe put on some favorite worship music and just sit, sing, pray, read the Psalms and worship your Creator and Savior! Seek to set aside time for God during your week to just worship him, apart from asking him for things. Just loving Him for being God!

Outside The Walls

Amos 5:21-24

I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

 

This verse has been nagging at me lately. Challenging me as a worship leader and pastor. The context of this verse is that the prophet Amos is talking to Israel. They had forsaken God’s call on their lives and were living for themselves. Yes, they were doing the religious duties outwardly that should be expected. They went to “church” (the temple) each week. They heard good theologically grounded teaching. They sang their worship songs. They did what they were supposed to as good Jews. BUT look at God’s response is to them in these 4 verses. 

Why does he respond this way? Because even though they might have been doing the right duties in “church”, they were not living the call BEING the church outside of their services

This is such an important call to us today. If you read this entire chapter (which I encourage you to do) you see God is calling them out for ignoring the poor and the oppressed; for not caring for those in need; for not protecting the innocent and fighting for justice; for caring about themselves over their neighbors; and for ignoring the call of God for how to live outside of their worship services.

And what is God’s response to this? He says that he has rejected their worship because they did not follow God’s calling outside of the walls of the “church”. If we as a church, and as a people of God, are not living out the calling God has on us outside of the walls of our church, outside of our Bible studies, outside of our Christian circles; then we are missing the reason for our faith to begin with!

Pastor Corey said this well a few weeks ago in his Mathew 28 message and this verse affirms that very calling he had for us as a church. Let us not become a people where God says our songs are just noise to him. When we come to worship, it must be flowing out of a life that is truly living the calling God has on us outside of our Christian circles. 

We can do this Church! We must do this!

Satisfaction In Your Calling

1 Samuel 18:7

This was their song: “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”

I was thinking about this verse the other day and, although I have read it several times over the years, I had not quite thought about what it meant. The context of this verse is that David is coming into the city with King Saul. David had been put in charge of the army by King Saul and was leading the military campaigns. As Saul and the army was returning from a victorious battle it says that the women of city began to sing:

“Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands”.

The next verse says that this made King Saul very angry. Why was Saul so angry? He was the king! The people where celebrating his return and victory. Giving him credit for being a war hero as their King that had defeated their enemies, while also celebrating David’s role in it. But yet it says Saul was angry at David for doing exactly what Saul had asked David to do as the leader of the army.  Saul became jealous of the call David had on his life, despite the incredible call King Saul had on his life. Yes David was a war hero but Saul was king. He was the ruler. God had anointed and made him, Saul, king. What a calling, what a privilege!

See, when David was praised for fulfilling God’s call in his life, Saul became jealous. He didn’t celebrate God’s calling on his life being fulfilled in that same victory. When we take our eyes off of the calling God has on us and we begin to compare ourselves to others and their calling, we will inevitably react as Saul did. Yet God was not calling Saul to be the warrior like he did David. Saul was called to be king. But because he took his eyes off of that calling in jealously, he began to fail at his calling that God had given him (as we begin to see in the following verses).

Let this be a challenge to us to stay focused on what God has gifted and called us to do for his kingdom.Comparing ourselves to others must not distract us. God wants our obedience to His calling on us, not his calling on others. He made you for your calling, and that’s what he wants to see you do so you can be called his “Good and faithful servant”.

The "Right" Worship Song

(As you read this, don’t over think it. I have some other blog posts that go into the depth of and talk about the deeper theology of worship. This is a starter to just reflect on, as I was today and just wrote down some thoughts)

I was thinking today about worship music. I was thinking about what worship music seems to tug at my heart the most toward God and seems to help me understand my role as a worshiper. The first song I was taken to was “Revelation Song”. Most of us know it. It is a song that comes right out of scripture. It is a song that comes right out of an experience being in the presence of God (before Gods throne in Heaven). It is a song calls us to sing songs that we will sing (or like them) for eternity.

All those pre cursers stand out to me for what is Worship:

1)   Right Out of Scripture (or very close paraphrasing)

2)   Comes out of an experience of being in the presence of God (as seen many time in scripture) or describes or takes us into an encounter with the Presence of God (John 4:23 – that word worship means to “encounter” or have a “moment of” worship.)

3)   It is calling us to sing the words we were created to sing (What we would sing before the fall of man and after Christ returns and we are again in the presence of God forever)

These are song that exalt God’s holiness, His worthiness, is beauty, is power, and Glory. Songs that echo the songs of heaven!

So much discussion is gone into what make something a “worship song” and what makes it not one. There is so much depth to this but today I am thinking simple. I am thinking worship is “recognizing God (the one we worship) is greater then myself (the worshiper)”. If the song does that, if the lyrics point us to that, if the melody drives us to that moment of truth, then the simple purpose of worship is complete. We have made God greater. We have worshiped the creator. We have done what we where created to do!

On a side note here is what I think worship is NOT based on this same simple approach and scripture. Worship songs are not:

1)   A sermon (it is not meant to preach to us the singer) –

2)   It is not prep for a sermon. (Worship is for God a sermon is for us, let us not confuse the two and rob God of what is for just him)

I am saddened many times how our churches and worship times our focused more on the words of a preacher making us feel good about God and ourselves more then they are actually about the worship of God. If you doubt me on this, do the math. How much time is devoted to just worshiping God with the language and values of worship we see declared in heaven and on earth verses how much is for us to hear stuff to make us “better” Christians? How much of what we call “worship” on Sunday is actually theologically backed as what the Bible calls “worship”?

Before you answer, I challenge each of us to really know what the Bible says about Worship and please do not misquote Romans 12 as you process this (The word is not translated correctly if you see “worship” in there). Start with John 4 and see were it leads. Go to Revelation and see what you see. Go to the Psalms and see what you find. What is the worship that “God seeks” (John 4:23) and how much do we actually do it as believers? How many of our songs and times are the “right worship” songs.

My Response To The Election

This is a letter I wrote to respond to a letter a friend had sent me. He was and is very discouraged by the election and the moral state of our nation and the failing of conservative politics. My response is  something that has been on my heart for a while and I have been struggling to express. Although I think there is much more to talk about and think through, it is something my heart is feeling and seeing right now and it is something that is changing me:

One thought that I have continually had up to the election and now even more after is that, although I agree the nation is turning its back on God I also see it is the church’s fault. The church that has turned its attempts to bring change in our country by creating legislating and forcing rules on a culture that is rejecting the premise for these rules, The Bible and God. I don't discount a Christians place in politics but I have been saddened by how it appears the church has chosen government, conservatism and legislation as a means of changing or saving culture in lieu of actually living out the Gospel through being the church of Jesus Christ to a lost world. Legislation does not change lives, laws don’t change lives. As we have seen, a culture can change laws when they no longer believe in them (i.e. abortion and same sex marriage). However what does change lives is the message of Jesus Christ being living out through the Church into the local communities we are called to and seeing that spread up and out from there into our city, our state, our nation, and our world.

Basically we are doing this backwards. We see a lost world. We think "our America" has turned it’s back on God and we work to fix that with legislation, protesting, and attacks. We want to force others to accept the gospel as their way of living by the laws we create, but the Apostle Paul spoke against that in 1 Corinth 5 when he challenged the church by saying they are not to judge those outside the faith, how can one expect someone outside to act like a Christian, instead focus inward and actually start living the call of the Church.

Our country was never a "Christian nation" due to its laws. It was the people that made it great by choosing values and a way of life guided by biblical principals because they embraced the Gospel. So when we try to make a nation “Christian” by creating laws and forcing political agendas we have already lost, it is not how it is done, it is not how Jesus or the early church did it. We have to start over. We have to start living the church, living the gospel. When people encounter God that is where change comes from, not from creating laws.

I think this is a primary reason conservative politics and Christianity is failing. Let the politics be about politics, but church, lets let our lives be about Christ and lets live in this world to see change through Jesus Christ, doing what Jesus did. Encountering the sinner with love and mercy, going to the sinner where they are at, getting rid of religious laws that create “white washed tombs” that look good on the outside but still have hearts far from God.

If we want to protect the sanctity of marriage lets not have the same divorce rate as the rest of the world. If we want to stop abortions, instead of holding signs calling them murders, lets start to love on the woman that feels so desperate they see that as the only way out. If we want to see envy and selfishness end as motivation for a “entitlement society” then lets help people encounter the gospel that turns us from takers to givers. (However we first have become a people that are known for being givers like James talks about)

Are we known for what Jesus was known for? Do they see Jesus in us and in how we live? If not then we have only ourselves to blame when the world does not see Jesus. 

Criticizing Their Motives?

I was reading this morning in the book of Philippians. Paul is writing from prison sharing about what he is seeing and experiencing while being in chains in this first chapter. As I was reading a verse jumped out at me and really got me thinking. Here Paul is in prison for sharing the message of Jesus. He is suffering for the message he gave about Christ. He then talks about others outside the prison walls also sharing. He says starting in verse 15: "It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives... those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me."

 So I read that and I was in total agreement with Paul. I have felt the same way so many times. I feel like I see churches or ministries sharing Jesus or preaching out of selfish reasons, pride or desire that is just to grow their church, instead of a unified church. So knowing Paul and I both see this problem is very encouraging...until I read the next verse.

 "But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. " -Philippians 1:18 (NLT)

Well my bubble was popped as I was officially kicked off of my high horse. Take all the bad things and even sin Paul is observing from those preaching the gospel and he says.."but that doesn't matter" because Christ is still being preaching, because people are still coming into the church. If Paul says it doesn't matter then how can I ever let that be a factor to me or make it an issue in my life as I look at others ministries.

Today it is easy to post blogs, Facebook comments, and articles ripping others churches and ministers because we disagree with how they are doing something or with their motives or intentions. Paul says, "it doesn't matter" but instead "REJOICE" that the gospel is going out, that churches are growing, that people are hearing! Maybe it's time for us (including myself) to get off of our spiritual high horse, end the endless attacks and criticism and look around and rejoice that the message Jesus brought is being taught and heard, even if we don't agree with certain leaders, or motives or methods...let's rejoice together in all of this and end our attacks!