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The House of God

June 2, 2013 in Blog, Christianity with 0 Comments

O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart… Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name—for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm—when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you.
-1 Kings 8:23, 41-43a (NRSV)

The passage above comes from what is possibly one of the most beautiful prayers we have recorded in Scripture. Solomon prays these words as he is dedicating the Temple to the work of God.

In these few verses, Solomon speaks in confidence about something: foreigners will “hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm,” and what they hear will be so utterly compelling that they will come from miles away just to experience the God they’ve heard about.

When was the last time you heard of someone walking through the doors of your church because they heard of the work He was doing? Not the work you were doing, but the work He was doing? When did the House of God stop being a place people—even the enemies of the people of God—flocked to because they heard of His great power at work there?

Make the Church that place again. Make the Church a place where the power of God is so outpoured that people can’t resist coming to see what’s happening. And most importantly, make the Church a place where even the people who are radically different (your enemies, even!) are welcomed, loved and told that God hears them.

That’s the House of God. Make the Church that House.

Reunion and Triumph are Near

March 29, 2013 in Blog, Christianity with 0 Comments

This past Sunday at The Rising, we discussed the seven final sayings of Jesus on the cross. They’re assembled from the four gospels taken together, and are often the focus of Holy Week meditation within the church. In case you don’t know them (as I didn’t), here are the seven sayings:

  1. Forgiveness: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
  2. Salvation: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
  3. Relationship: “Woman, here is your son. … Here is your mother.”
  4. Abandonment: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
  5. Distress: “I am thirsty.”
  6. Reunion: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
  7. Triumph: “It is finished.”

As I reflected on these sayings, I was especially struck by the sayings of abandonment and distress. It was likely about this time of day (noon-ish) that Christ was saying these things. Christ felt abandoned by his Father, and crushed by the weight of what he was enduring.

But I was struck by something more profound yet: reunion and triumph were not far off. In his moment of greatest distress, reunion and triumph were nearby.

As you reflect on the death of Christ this Good Friday, remember that reunion and triumph are not far off. The finishing of the work is near. The resurrection is near. In your moments of greatest distress, remember that reunion and triumph are not far off. God is near. Anticipate His triumph.

Mountaintop Expectations

November 1, 2012 in Blog, Christianity, Everything, Ministry with 0 Comments

Every Christian asks at some point how they can get that “mountaintop” feeling back that they get after camp, a conference, retreat, etc. That feeling of being so immensely close to God, and feeling so wonderfully intimate with him.

So why does it happen? What is the great answer? What’s the mystery to keeping the feeling? It’s surprisingly simple actually.

You have to expect God to work.

The reason we have such incredible experiences with God at camps and such is that we go expecting God to work. We expect a movement of the Holy Spirit. We expect life transformation.

We don’t hold those same expectations about every Sunday. As much as we may say that we hold those expectations, the truth is that we simply don’t. In the hustle and bustle of life, we don’t slow down enough to truly expect God to work when we show up at church. We expect to get in, get out so we can go on to the next thing.

Want to rediscover that intimacy with God every single week? Expect him to work. When we show up differently, God shows up differently too. Have the expectations of God’s movement every day. And you’ll see it every day.

Holistic Holiness

October 30, 2012 in Blog, Christianity, Everything, Ministry with 0 Comments

Throughout the mid-to-late-20th century, the church became obsessed with what we now call legalism. You know, the “don’t drink, smoke or chew or go with girls who do” ideology.

In response to this, a new generation of Generation X theologians emerged who proclaimed, “Jesus isn’t about what you don’t do—that was the Pharisees! He’s about what you do!” Which was legitimately a good thing—the church had too much focus on not doing, so it was about time for someone to bring in the opposing voice.

But there came a problem: we went from one extreme to another, and in so doing invented a different kind of legalism. It’s just as legalistic to be all about what you do as it is to be all about what you don’t do. 

“I volunteer 10 hours a week at the homeless shelter—God must love me a lot.”

“Oh, you don’t wake up at 4:30 to do your devotions?”

Maybe you’ve heard statements kind of like these. Or thought them. Or said them. We moved from a legalism of what we don’t do to a legalism of what we do do. We moved from judging people who did things like smoking, drinking, and getting a tattoo to judging people who don’t do things like giving, volunteering, or waking up early to have devotions. We didn’t fix the problem; we merely shifted our judgement.

We need to move to a viewpoint of holistic holiness. Instead of the Christian life just being about what we don’t do or just being about what we do do, we need to see it as a life where both matter immensely. Holiness is about allowing the Spirit to change every part of us—both the things we do and the things we don’t do. Holiness has to be holistic.

Bad 90′s Music and Trusting God

October 26, 2012 in Blog, Christianity, Everything, Life, Ministry with 1 Comment

As a general rule, I think we can all agree that the 90′s were overall just a bad time for music. Not to say that there weren’t some standouts, but in general, I don’t think we’re going to find our kids coming back and listening to our 90′s music in 50 years like people do with today’s “oldies.”

Yesterday, I found myself sitting outside enjoying our unseasonably warm music, seriously craving some cheesy Cedarmont Kids (you know you remember them) 90′s  music. So I pulled up Spotify and found out that, yes, you can still find Cedarmont Kids music. And that it’s gone platinum five times. Apparently making really terrible music was an important key to going platinum in the 90′s. (See also: Green Day, MC Hammer, ‘N Sync, Dixie Chicks, Creed, Kid Rock, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys… you get the point.)

I was listening to the song “My God is So Big,” having just finished a conversation with Jarod Osborne (author of Jaded Faith, a book you should definitely read) about trusting God. The lyrics struck me:

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do. The mountains are his, the rivers are his, the stars are his handiwork too. My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do for you!

And it left me asking: when did I stop believing that? As a kid, I’d stand there in kids’ church and flex my muscles when singing about God’s might and reach for the sky when singing about the stars He made. But now I stand back and look at my life and wonder: do I even really believe that God can handle the affairs of my day to day life without me? Do I believe that if I was suddenly incapacitated that God would be perfectly capable of managing the world without me? Sometimes, in all honesty, I can’t say that my answer to that question would be yes.

I’m learning every day that when I just trust God—not just in the things I’m comfortable with, but with everything—He comes through every time. He’s so big, so strong and so mighty. There’s nothing my God cannot do. How about yours?

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