Extravagant Grace
Repainting The Christian LandscapeGrace Shift
Posted on January 15, 2012News Flash
Just in … It has been reported that the greatest heist of all time has occurred — The message of Jesus has been hijacked from the church. Unfortunately most people are not even aware of it. Like a slow dripping faucet, there is a nagging in my soul that just won’t go away … no matter how much I try, it just does not seat right with what I know to be true. For years I have looked at a different message of Jesus in the New Testament that differed from the one that many churches, televangelists, and the media has presented.
We have all kinds of Jesus’ in the world. There’s been “the colonial Jesus, the Eurocentric Jesus, the Republican or Democrat Jesus, the capitalist or communist Jesus, the white supremacist Jesus, the slave owning Jesus, the nuclear bomb dropping America-first Jesus, the organ music stained-glass nostalgic sentimental Jesus, the anti-science know nothing simpleton Jesus, the prosperity gospel get rich-quick Jesus, the Native American slaying genocidal Jesus, the male-chauvinist Jesus, the homophobic Jesus, the South African pro-apartheid Jesus, The anti-Semitic Nazi Jesus, the anti-Muslim Crusader Jesus,” and So on. (A New Kind of Christianity – Brian McLaren)
So when you talk of Jesus and His message just what are you talking about? Which Jesus are we talking about? If you were only allowed to share one message that summarized the core of who Jesus was and what His mission was what would you say? I don’t want to sound like I have it all figured out, that is so far from the truth, but what I gather from Jesus’ message is somewhat different. Maybe that’s just me but I have a haunch that I am not the only one. What I see may seem shocking, disturbing, and provocative to you but I am willing to bear the ridicule and disdain of believing such because at this point in my life I have nothing to lose.
It is apparent to me and many just like me that the message that has been proclaimed by the church is really a low –calorie diluted version of the real gospel. Perhaps this is why “Church” has become an unfulfilling boring experience for many. Don’t be so quick to think it is because we have become too modern, too rational, too self-absorbed or that we lack commitment. Maybe we just need something that is real, something that will work in the trenches of life?
Now don’t get jacked-up, but I think the story that we have been telling is full of holes. A lot of people living beyond the outpost of the Christian bubble are disillusioned with what they have heard and experienced in church. Most of what people hear as the gospel leaves them with uncertainty because what they hear is so fragmented. The gospel to them is like a giant jigsaw puzzle that they are left to figure out and fit all the pieces together and unless they have a point of reference to guide them they will never figure it out.
Adventures in missing the point
Somehow the message of Jesus as taught by the church has evolved into a three-step formula. It may be subtly disguised from place to place but it is essentially the same wherever you go (Now I know there are a lot of great churches out there but from my experience there are just as many that you are better off to avoid). It goes something like this; if you believe like we do, if act like we do, you will belong. It is called “believe, behave, and belong.” I have another name for it but will refrain from mentioning it in this post.
Jesus never used this approach with people. He first accepted people for who they were. They then believed and by that were able to change their behavior. That is why when Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God had come they stumbled because it was radically different from what the religious leaders of His day understood it to be. One of most controversial aspects of Jesus message was that He moved all the fences that his own religion (he was Jewish) had erected to include those who were ostracized, marginalized, rejected and disdained by society and the religious institution.
A major grace shift occurred when Jesus announced that outsiders were welcome in the kingdom of God. Jesus loved people regardless of where they were in life. It is Christ-like to show people that they can belong in our world even if they don’t act, think, behave, or believe like we do. Just imagine if the church or community of faith was a place where people could belong. Do you think it might impact what they believe? Do you think it would have an impact on how they lived? If love and acceptance won over dogma I think a whole lot of people would truly find hope in the authentic message of Jesus. We cannot continue to misquote, misrepresent, and misguide people if our goal is for them to experience the grace that all of us have shared in our journey of the life of Christ.
We stand at an axis point in church history and it is important for us to understand how to respond to the world. Will we respond to change the same way Luther and Calvin responded to Galileo and Copernicus? Will we allow our faith to evolve? Are we flexible to even consider change? Can we ponder the notion that our world view needs a major over-haul? Movement and change are necessary for the sustenance of life. Folks don’t be afraid we are in the midst of a grace shift!
Live Loved – Bert
A Safe place to Fall – Part 1
Posted on December 12, 2011Psalm 103:10
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
Early one morning Jesus came to the temple from the Mount of Olives, sat down and began to teach those who had gathered to hear Him. Now as Jesus was teaching, a group of Scribes and Pharisees interrupted the meeting by dragging a woman behind them and they threw her at the feet of Jesus.
“Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses commands that she be stoned. What do you say regarding her?”
Not only was stoning a brutal practice of execution, but it was a shameful way to die because the first stones had to be thrown by the witnesses to the adultery, and then after that each member of the community where the two adulterers lived also had to throw some stones. This woman according to the Law of Moses should be put to death but this could not happen because Rome held the governing power over Jerusalem and the Jewish leaders. Only they had the power to execute a criminal.
You see these religious leaders were not so much concerned with the sin of this woman as they were with entrapping and discrediting the ministry of Jesus. If Jesus said she should be put to death, He places himself above Roman law and if He lets her go …well He places Himself above the Law of Moses.
What is Jesus to do? The accusers press Him to respond and He simply bends down and starts to write in the sand. What was written that day only Jesus and those men who were there will ever know, but whatever it was, it rocked their world? One by one, the accusers faded away and Jesus is left alone with the woman. He stands up again, and speaks to her. ‘Where are your accusers?’ he asks. ‘Where are those who condemn you?’ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.
This is one of the foremost revelations of God in the bible and we pass by it without realizing its significance. You see Jesus came to heal and restore our brokenness not condemn it. Our debt to sin and our debt to the law was paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ. And that’s not all folks! Not only has our debt been paid in full but there is never a possibility of us going into debt again because the record was destroyed.
Rom 4:6-8 (Message Bible)
David confirms this way of looking at it, saying that the one who trusts God to do the putting-everything-right without insisting on having a say in it is one fortunate man: Fortunate those whose crimes are carted off, whose sins are wiped clean from the slate. Fortunate the person against whom the Lord does not keep score.
The actual word “impute” (keep score) in Greek is logizeshthai, and it’s an accounting word. It means to write into a ledger so it will not be forgotten. This was unthinkable to the Greeks of Bible times, to not keep a record of wrongs. The Reason God is not keeping score is because He destroyed the record (and he does not start over after we are Christians) of it at the Cross.
Take note how Paul illustrates how God destroyed the record of our sin. It is not enough just to know God’s forgiveness. We must understand the how and the why.
Colossians 2:14 (NKJV) having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Blotting out the handwriting – The word rendered handwriting means something written by the hand, a manuscript; The two tablets of stone (law-ten commandments) are mentioned to be written by God
“Wiped out” is the Greek word exaleipho, which means: “to wipe off,” like erasing a blackboard. Ancient documents were commonly written either on papyrus, a paper-like material made from the bulrush plant, or vellum, which was made from an animal’s hide. The ink used then had no acid in it and did not soak into the writing material. Since the ink remained on the surface, it could be wiped off if the scribe wanted to reuse the material.
The word “handwriting” cheirographon, which literally means: “something written with the hand,” or “an autograph.” Paul describes that certificate as “requirements that was against us.”
The word “requirements” is the Greek word dogma, which means: “decree, ordinance, decision, command, a formalized rule (or set of rules) prescribing what people must do.” This refers to the Mosaic law as a certificate of requirements that puts us in debt to God. Under the glorious New Covenant we are liberated from keeping the Law. We are now married to a new husband (Romans 7:1-4). He is our keeper not the law.
Notice what Paul says next, “And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” The word “taken” is the Greek word airo, which means: “to lift up, to bear, to take away.” It is the same word that John the Baptist uses when he says “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away (airo) the sin of the world.” The perfect tense emphasizes the permanence of the removal of the bond, which has been paid and canceled and cannot be presented again.
Live Loved
Jesus is a Safe Place — Bert
True Wealth
Posted on November 29, 2011I don’t think God really has a problem with people being wealthy … it’s just that we have a skewed understanding of what wealth is and how it’s really measured. The dictionary defines wealth as “A large aggregate of real and personal property, an abundance of those material or worldly things that men desire to possess.” Unfortunately the world we live in defines wealth in terms of having an abundance of “stuff.” Usually a man’s wealth is determined by the car he drives and the house he lives in. In our society, the more “stuff” we possess determines our social status (sometimes the same is true in the church world … just saying).
The wealth we see on the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and MTV Cribs may seem impressive, but pales in comparison to the wealth we have in Christ. If we want to understand the truth about wealth and riches, we have to view it from the other side of the cross.
Paul said, [Eph 3:8] ‘Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ’.
God’s Riches are incomparable and Incomprehensible! Paul called them unsearchable! Unsearchable means they cannot be tracked out, you can’t follow His footprints. You see God has deep pockets, His supply endless!
Ephesians 1:7 KJV In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Paul kept praying for understanding in the churches. For example: [Eph 1:17,18] ‘That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints…’.
When Paul prayed in this instance he did not pray for somebody’s healing, a new job, or for someone to get through a difficult trial (nothing wrong with that) but he prayed for something much more important. You see we can be very wealthy as far as money goes but live in abject poverty because we are so ignorant of who we are in Christ, and the riches that we have in Him.
One of the responsibilities of the Holy Spirit is to show us those things freely given to us by God (1 Cor 2:12). Paul said we need to SEE THESE RICHES!
Ephesians 1:17-18 KJV That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: (18) The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Ephesians 1:10-12 KJV That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (11) In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (12) That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
We have an inheritance. Now I know you might be thinking that when your family members die the only thing they will leave you with is a bill, but it’s not so with Jesus. You see we simply inherit it because we are members of His family! We did not work for it, it’s a gift! The Holy Spirit is your only connection to show you this treasure of wealth that is freely given to you by God!
But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed]. [Isa. 64:4; 65:17.] (1 Corinthians 2:9 AMP)
Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [ Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny]. (1 Corinthians 2:10 AMP)
For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:11 AMP)
Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [ Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God. (1 Corinthians 2:12 AMP)
I know this may seem disappointing to you if you expected to hit the lottery ( In a sense you did) or if you were waiting to find out that God was an ATM, but here is the punch line … You have a treasure in Christ and You are the treasure of God, You are His inheritance!
“For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance” — Deuteronomy 32:9
This passage speaks of God having an “inheritance,” and it tells us that this inheritance is in His own people! Not only do we obtain an inheritance in God, but God has an inheritance in US! Why would God need us? Because He also longs for a counterpart to lavish with His grace, love and glory. You are His “special treasure.”
Live Loved — Bert
5 Smooth Stones
Posted on November 29, 2011And he (David) took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. [1 Samuel 17:40, emphasis added.]
I think the life of David probably prefigures Christ and His work more than any other character of the Old Testament. The Old Covenant is filled with pictures (types) of the person and work of Jesus and David is one of the best pictures we could study. The reason the bible uses these word pictures is so that everyone can grasp and understand the person and work of Christ. I am convinced that if we don’t see these pictures from this side of the cross our understanding will always be flawed. One of the Hebrew words for picture is “mashal” which basically means to define what is unknown by what is known. A “mashal” begins where the listener is and then pushes him into a new realm of discovery. Using David’s life as our reference point, we are going to launch out into a new realm of discovery in New Covenant truths.
Stone #1 – You are Beloved … And God will never change His mind about you … Never!
David is a true picture of Jesus. David’s name literally means “The Beloved.” Jesus was called the Beloved of His Father (Matt 3:17, Col 1:13). Like Jesus, we are also called the beloved of God. This is what the Cross did! By the Cross, God set His affections on you!
Rom 1:7 BBE
(7) To all those who are in Rome, loved by God, marked out as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Th 2:13 GW
(13) We always have to thank God for you, brothers and sisters. You are loved by the Lord and we thank God that in the beginning he chose you to be saved through a life of spiritual devotion and faith in the truth.
The New Covenant was a mystery until Paul unfolded the revelation that was given to him (Eph 3:4-9). Not only did Paul declare that the mystery was revealed, he also told us that we have become part of that mystery (Col 1:26). The Gospel is a love story of redemption. There is a purpose for redemption! The real reason Jesus died was for people, not for a building, not for a ministry, not for anyone to be on the cover of a Christian magazine or appear on Christian television. Jesus pursues us for the purpose of us; and part of that “us” is homeless and sleeping on the street tonight. Part of that “us” is eating out of a garbage dump for the next meal. Part of that “us” is dancing in a strip club, hooking on the street corner and smoking crack in the alley. Every person was purchased by His blood; every person is the pearl of His great price! Selah…
You see the Gospel is an act of recovery, restoring what was Lost! Ever since the beginning of time God sought to have a companion, a counterpart. The Gospel is a restoration of Intimacy. The Gospel is an incredible invitation to a sacred romance with the great romancer God Himself.
“ God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship (Communion – Intercourse) of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1:9
You see redemption is not about a bunch of doctrines. It is much more than that. Redemption had a higher objective. You are the capstone of what Jesus accomplished. We are the joy that was set before Him. He got you. We so often forget. He is the Divine Romancer who promised that He would never leave us.
Heb 13:5….for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] [Josh. 1:5.]
Live Loved — Bert
The Freedom of Forgiveness
Posted on November 21, 2011“But whoever has been forgiven little shows only a little love.” … “Your sins are forgiven.” — Jesus
“There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” — Bryant McGill
“Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.” — Marianne Williamson
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” — Mahatma Gandhi
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” — Lewis B. Smedes
“When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.” ~ Catherine Ponder
Most often the world portrays forgiveness as an act of kindness that is given to a select group of people who seem to deserve it and withheld from others who seem un-deserving and un-repentant. Withholding forgiveness may seem like our prerogative and to some it may even appear to give a person a significant sense of power; but in reality its effects are horrendous.
I know there are so many people who have valid reasons to be angry and withhold forgiveness, but in doing so it will never heal a hurting heart? Forgiveness is hard, but living with an unforgiving heart is even worse. When we are treated unfairly, whether we were abused or abandoned we all experience hurt. This is part of the human experience. This is a part of life that is unavoidable.
No one deserves to be hurt so deeply and abused but when we choose not to forgive and to harbor anger and resentment that anger makes us bitter. You see living with unforgiveness is choosing to live in the absence of peace. According to the Bible forgiveness is the only way to experience freedom from hurt. It has the power to heal a wounded heart. Not only that, but its inherent power will heal the nations!
Ephesians 4:32
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Colossians 3:13
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
This might come as a surprise but forgiveness actually has nothing whatsoever to do with other people. Forgiveness has everything to do with the person giving forgiveness. It is a gift we give ourselves.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Eph 1:7)
By forgiving others we are manifesting our new nature in Christ. It does not matter that the other person may never accept our forgiveness, what does matter is that we are expressing the life of Christ. The simple act of forgiveness is like shining a light on a dark path allowing those who have hurt us deeply to find their way back into the kingdom of love.
Forgiveness gives us the freedom to stop the anger, stop all the judging, all the condemnation. Forgiveness is the only way out. Forgiveness offers us the opportunity to free the world from condemnation and the effects of a cruel religious system. This is the real power of forgiveness.
Psalm 130:3-4
O LORD, who would be able to stand if you kept a record of sins?
But with you there is forgiveness so that you can be feared.
If the Lord does not keep a record of sin why should we?
Live Loved
Live Free
Bert
Pulled Up
Posted on November 15, 2011“There are two ways of exerting one’s strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” ― Booker T. Washington
I have been preoccupied with the study of grace for the better part of fifteen years now and some folks might chalk up my quest or obsession as the result of my failure to live up to the “expected” image of a pastor. I suppose some would say I am a little neurotic, but the driving force of my existence for these passing years rests in the finished work of Christ. I don’t spend countless hours in moral and spiritual introspection any longer, rather I have fixed my attention upon the solitary life of Christ … and even so … some days my faith seems as fragile as a spider’s web and others my faith seems unshakable. I am just grateful these days to live in the reckless abandon of a perfect love from a perfect Father whose faith in Himself and in me allows me to quit focusing on myself. The “examined life” is a fruitless endeavor no matter how you look at it because eventually you run out of a list of things to be saved from. The question that I find myself asking these days is ‘what is it that is saving me now’? Not just specifically “what” but who?
When left to our own devices, none of us would ever catch the idea of grace. Just think … grace as the unconditional divine acceptance of all of us runs across the grain of our own humanity but knowingly it is the one thing that can radically change human life. Grace affirms us and embraces us not only in the process of our being human but even when we are not (Rom 5:8).
It has been quite a while since I have read the Cost of Discipleship, but in his introduction, Bonhoeffer refers to grace as what many have coined “cheap grace.” He does this by presenting the idea that grace can be taken advantage of, or exploited. This thought is probably one of the greatest arguments that my detractors have with my views on grace. I do disagree that grace is cheap, but I agree grace is in fact exploitable just like any other thing of great value. This is the beauty of grace in that it is also abundantly offered to those who will exploit it, but in doing so one avoids growth, healing, redemption, and maturity.
I don’t think God is really as worried as we are about us getting one up on Him. Do You? You see grace is not a conditional prospect in the mind of God and if grace is as radical as what the Bible claims, then that means I have to take my hands off because if it were up to me I am sure I would be so gracious (LOL). Consider the words of the prophet Micah (7:18—20), which says,
“Who is a God like thee, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger for ever because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion upon us, he will tread our iniquities under foot. Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.”
Conditional grace is no grace at all. That thought makes religious folks furious. Sometimes I think we would rather have a god that gets even with us than be merciful and gracious to us. Well … its everybody that’s not like us … you know the undeserving ones! They are the ones who should come crawling to God on slivers of glass. However, the truth is Grace means that we are invited to run in reckless abandon to him with empty buckets and wide open hearts.
Live Loved – Bert
Signs
Posted on October 31, 2011“I understand Jesus’ love, but God is another story. I don’t find them to be alike at all.”
“Maybe your understanding of God is wrong.” – The Shack, William Young
The Beach
One hot August evening I made my way across 17th Street (Virginia Beach) with the intention of finding a place to grab a bite to eat. As I was making my way across the street, I noticed a nicely dressed man and his young son standing on the street corner. Now it seemed sort of odd to me that someone would want to hang out at the beach in a suit and tie (in the dead of summer I might add) but I guess to each their own? I just wouldn’t wish that on a dog (just saying). Prior to crossing the street I couldn’t make out the words on the sign they had tacked to a make shift cross, but when I got a little closer the handwritten poster was quite legible. It read:
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. (Eze 3:18)
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. (Eze 3:19)
Not only could I now read the sign, but as I drew closer I heard a young 6 or 7 year old boy spewing out scripted bible verses at the top of his lungs. I wish I could have told you he drew a huge crowd that night but it seemed people were rather repelled by what he was doing and saying that is unless you counted the few people (who I perceived were not believers) who challenged the man and his son to the meaning of the gospel. My heart was broke that night as I witnessed the good news gone bad once again. It brought back haunting memories of my life when I as a young man held the same signs, yelled the same bible verses and committed people to hell because they did not ”accept” my version of the gospel. All I can say is God has been merciful to me but how I wished I had never been taught to hate with such misguided intention!
The Book Store
Just the other day I was browsing the book shelves of Barnes and Noble when an older (well older than me anyway) gentlemen walked right up out of nowhere and started to engage me in a conversation about the end times. For those of you who are more theologically astute … the subject matter falls under the category of eschatology if that matters or impresses you. Now I respectively and patiently listened to this gentleman’s take on the end of the world, one world government conspiracy theories and a plethora of ramblings but I am thinking to myself ‘What am I … a magnet for the spiritually insane’? All the while as he talked I could not help but imagine how convoluted our image of God must appear to those who do not believe, I mean how can we really expect the world to respond to a monologue that makes God out to be a cosmic blood-thirsty being bent on revenge? For all the world knows is that religious people (extreme fundamentalists, howbeit Christian, Jewish or Islamic), devout believers are very capable of blowing up abortion clinics, flying planes into buildings and suicide bombing innocent men, women and children all in the name of their God.
I have found that how we as believers conceive God to be influences how we live our lives and it also influences those around us. If we perpetuate the Loving Father more importantly as the God of wrath, torture and eternal punishment it distorts who God really is in the eyes of humanity. Most of our evangelistic sermons present the message that God loves us enough to offer us eternal life, but if we refuse His gracious offer … well then … buckle up because the consequences are eternal torment. It’s the dangling carrot of fear that is kept before our eyes that inadvertently is used to motivate us to “accept” Jesus. The bottom line is that we believe fear is a far better motivator than love. There are a myriad of people in the world whose understanding of God has been damaged by a faulty understanding of the gospel. I know … I meet them every day. They are just like you and me … religious refugees searching for hope.
A real love for others will chase those worries away. The thought of being punished is what makes us afraid. It shows that we have not really learned to love. (1Jn 4:18)
Live Loved — Bert
Seasons of Grace
Posted on October 14, 2011“All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
I have been a religious refugee and recovering Pharisee for well over fifteen years now. I am a little sketchy on how all of the events led up to my exodus, but as best as I can recollect it was about that time that I made a conscious decision to leave the swamplands of legalism and head for higher grounds. I don’t think my journey is unique. I think that any person who has followed the script of “never-good-enough” will likely come to the same conclusion in life as I did … that it is time to move on. It’s just the where and how that is often lost in translation. Sometimes in our pursuit of Shangri-La (or whatever utopia that you have created for yourself), we get distracted from really living as Christ intended.
Most of us know this, but very few of us are willing admit that something is absent. I have discovered that this self-realization often comes to us right in the middle of living; that is working, paying bills, raising a family and pursuing all things spiritual. I would like to tell you that church is the place where you will find this “something- more” and although I deeply love the church, some organized institutions can be dangerous and actually hinder your spiritual journey and rather make things worse. To put this thought in perspective I quote from Idgie Threadgoode (The Bee Charmer), one of my favorite characters in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, she said; “I don’t know what’s worse, church or jail?”
I would have never of even thought of agreeing with Idgie fifteen years ago, but I can say in some cases you’re better off to drink gasoline than go to church. That may seem sacrilegious to some people, but to muddy the waters of grace and replace it with dogma and rigid fundamentalism is a travesty at best. It’s like reducing the Mona Lisa to paint by numbers.
Do you think it is possible that we have confused activity and motion with living rhythmically under the influence of grace? Have we been so inundated with success, growth, buildings, programs, spread sheets, Power Points, Black Berries, Face Book, Twitter, texting and the endless list of distractions that we have ceased from living in rhythm with the heart-beat of the great Rabbi? Instead of peace, our lives are filled with stress, anxiety and guilt. We can temporarily alleviate these feelings but until we find our own individual rhythm in grace we will continue to play truth out of tune!
“What holds music together? Rhythm. What holds our lives together? Rhythm. Is your world a world without music? Is your life a song without rhythm? … In this day and age – in a world obcessed with speed, noise, greed, lust, and activity – the rhythm of life is a radical, countercultural, revolutionary act.” – Matthew Kelly, The Rhythm Of Life
You see we all have a part to play in the great symphony of life, but in many cases we have drowned out the music. When our unique sound loses its rhythm we cease to be beautiful music and instead our lives become stagnant noise. I think the key that takes us from simply surviving (I have camped here more than I want to admit) to thriving is understanding our own unique times and seasons in life as we respond to grace.
Ecc 3:1-11 Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses. (2) He sets the time for birth and the time for death, the time for planting and the time for pulling up, (3) the time for killing and the time for healing, the time for tearing down and the time for building. (4) He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy, the time for mourning and the time for dancing, (5) the time for making love and the time for not making love, the time for kissing and the time for not kissing. (6) He sets the time for finding and the time for losing, the time for saving and the time for throwing away, (7) the time for tearing and the time for mending, the time for silence and the time for talk. (8) He sets the time for love and the time for hate, the time for war and the time for peace. (9) What do we gain from all our work? (10) I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us. (11) He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what
he does.
Live Loved — Bert
You Belong
Posted on August 02, 2011There is a huge sign that hangs in the gym where I work out; it reads “You Belong.” I wish that statement were just as true in the church as it is in the gym, but unfortunately that is not always the case. I have often sat on the sidelines of churchianity and watched how people were treated when they did not measure up to the organizations expectations. I have also watched the same people warmly welcomed into our communities of faith. This may startle you but not everybody who embraces grace puts it into practice.
You see at the end of the day we are all alike … we all want to belong, and sometimes feeling like you belong is difficult or in some cases made difficult. I mean is there a place of belonging for the rest of us who can never be a super-saint, those of us who don’t have it all together yet still want to belong? What about those of us who struggle to pay our bills? What about those of us who have to work 70 or 80 hours a week to make ends meet? What about those of us who are still single and our parents are still wondering will we ever get married? What about those of us who are going through yet another divorce and are really feeling screwed up? What about those of us whose kids were raised in a loving Christian home and are acting in ways we did not think was possible, like they were raised by someone else? What about those of us who are still battling with addiction? What about those of us who were abused and molested while singing in the church choir? Are we welcome in your church? What about those of us who have believed all the right things, said the right things, and lived the right way and our lives are still falling apart? Is there hope for us?
It is not my intention to plunge you into the dark side of humanity, but in all of my dealings with people I have watched so many people’s lives destroyed by guilt. This phenomenon is of epidemic proportions. It is more lethal than Cancer or Aids. Guilt has the inherent power to paralyze the best of us. One of the greatest motivators in the church today is guilt! If we do not believe in the power of grace we will often resort to “soulish” tactics like the following:
• The “Blame Game” – The object is to project as much guilt on a person as possible so as to make them believe everything that is happening to them is the direct result of sin or their disobedience.
This is a big problem because when you remove guilt as the motivator so many people don’t know how to follow Jesus. God does not motivate us through psychological guilt. God motivates us through grace. He convicts us with righteousness. When we buy into the “guilt trip” it releases a deadly toxin into our spiritual immune system. It triggers four strains of a lethal virus.
• The Fear of Punishment
• The Loss of Self-Worth
• Feelings of Depression
• Feelings of Rejection and Abandonment
God wants us totally free from guilt so that there is a free flow of grace in our lives. When we live in the grace of God, we will live in the joy and spontaneity of the Holy Spirit. When we live in the grace of God we will stop trying to live up to a self-imposed standards that we can never reach. When we live in the grace of God we will stop letting people control us through guilt and start living free from the feeling of guilt.
(Heb 13:9) Don’t let all kinds of strange teachings lead you into the wrong way. Depend only on God’s grace for spiritual strength, not on rules about foods. Obeying those rules doesn’t help anyone.
Live Loved – Bert
The Scream and Whisper of Pain
Posted on July 03, 2011“Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors.” — William P. Young (The Shack)
I was born with a gift that I have wanted to give back most of my life … The ability to deeply feel … and unless you know what that is, it is virtually impossible to explain. For those of us who can hear both the scream and the whisper, we are just as amazed at His silence as we are the thunder of His voice.
In all of our failed attempts to explain the sacred mystery of His fascinating personality, He remains unimpressed at our limited perception. The unedited knowledge of God staggers our imagination and brings us to our knees in reckless abandon to one greater than words.
In our times of uncertainty and struggle, when trust seems distant, God positions Himself in close proximity. He does so in order to break through our blindness. You see the one who formed the eye and gives it sight can also see through our skin and behold the mystery of what we should all know … the beauty that he has fashioned within all of us. When we forget our way and we forget that we are His shining stars it serves us well to remember this; “He makes everything beautiful in His time (Solomon – Ecc 3:11).”
These words are very difficult for me to pen because I am standing right in the middle His time. Life is much easier when things are predictable and neatly in order. The presence of chaos challenges the best of men. Many claim their faith has brought them to immunity from adversity, but I have never known such luxury. I am somewhat concerned about our view of the gospel and what it has become. We are so caught up in either going somewhere or making our life better that we very seldom address the present suffering in this world. What about the billions of people who live in poverty? How about those who are dying of malnutrition? How about those who don’t have clean water to drink? How about those who are illiterate? Would you want to be identified with a group of people who the world views as indifferent to those issues?
The existence of human suffering and faith are seldom mentioned within the same sentence. I think it is because we are uncomfortable with the unspoken questions that lurk beneath the surface of our heart. I and others like me will never speak of faith as a matter of believing without questioning anymore, this is because I now see God as the ever-present reality who constantly eludes my futile descriptions and my failed attempts to confine Him to my favorite doctrines.
You know I don’t think I have always handled suffering well. I don’t even think I have always been gracious to others as I have watched them suffer. Sometimes I find myself unconcerned and at other times deeply moved. The former is my human propensity to be indifferent but the latter is the nature of Christ. This nature after all is our paternal heritage. We now stand at a divine juxtaposition …we can either choose to ignore suffering or avoid it, but we cannot deny it.
There are two forms of suffering that I usually speak about. The most important is the suffering of Christ in His substitutionary work and the other is the suffering that occurs in our human existence because we live in a fallen world. The latter is what I think is so often overlooked. What if I told you that understanding human suffering is an open invitation to live more grace-filled lives? What if we understood that our suffering could lead us to the openness of our minds and hearts? What if through our personal suffering we develop great gentleness and compassion when dealing with others? What if our own suffering could truly lead us to an honest self-assessment of our lives? What if our suffering could lead us into great faith? This may seem archaic, yet I think I read it somewhere in the New Testament. You see there is a deeper meaning to suffering. It makes us confront our own weakness but oddly it manifests the power of Christ!
(2Co 12:9) But his answer was: “My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.” I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ’s power over me.
Live Loved — Bert