Happy, smarmy, just someone else trying to drag down the real church

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“In the short, 37-second clip that has gone viral and led to intense criticism in recent days, Osteen, who co-pastors Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, along with her husband, Joel, is seen telling congregants that, when people obey the Lord and go to church, they’re not necessarily “doing it for God.”

“I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God we’re not doing it for God — I mean that’s one way to look at it,” she said from the pulpit. “We’re doing it for yourself, because God takes pleasure when were happy. That’s the thing that gives him the greatest joy this morning … just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy.”

She added, “When you come to church when you worship him, you’re not doing it for God, really. You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy.” (1)

The controversial clip has been viewed and shared hundreds of thousands of times on social media since late August, with some Christians decrying Osteen‘s message — but with others supporting and explaining her commentary.

Consider Steve Camp, pastor of the Cross Church in Palm City, Florida, who said that Osteen ”honestly believes that God exists to make us happy rather than holy.”

“It’s the age old sin of idolatry — that it’s not about God, it’s about us,” Camp told Christian News Network last week. “True worship for the humanist is about how we feel at the end of the day and what gives us meaning, as opposed to what gives God glory.”

To Joel and Victoria Osteen, fess up, I know honesty and integrity isn’t a big concern, heck you’ve got the whole media empire to be concerned with and of course that is based on telling people what they want to hear, making sure their happy and that of course is by worshiping … themselves. You both took a shot, to push to the next level, after all the whole religion thing is just a game, like Candy Crush or Farmville. Maybe something like Oprahism. Then when you realize you finally went too far, that the ice was cracking around your feet, you are backing down at flank speed, just be warned, that is not a smart nautical maneuver, increases your chances of hitting something and sinking. Frankly can’t go down soon enough.
While Joel Osteen has little  basis or training for ministry, other than being his daddy’s son, Victoria has even less. So what the heck, try to drag the church down further and have a totally unqualified woman preach, what next, got a fifteen year old kid around, ask any fifteen year old kid, they know more than anyone. For us doing real ministry, lifting up and worshiping God serving in an area that has little other than the realities of urban life, it’s kind of interesting seeing suburban “religion”. Frankly, Joel, if you’re going to be a “Universalist”, then at least have some integrity and fess up. The issue there is that universalists don’t think God wants us to be happy, He’s off some where else doing God stuff and left us to fend for ourselves. You think God is sitting up in heaven dreaming up new ways to make your suburban, wealthy, pretty, congregants in Texas, even more happy. How do you reconcile that with the guy who just lost his job and may not make his mortgage payment? The man or woman who have messed themselves up on drugs or alcohol. The kid who is genuinely trying to get out of his violent, drug saturated neighborhood. The parents who just lost their son to suicide, who’ve swallowed your show hook, line and sinker and now can’t understand how God could have let them down. They’re in with all the best people, doing the best thing, how could God do this to them? Oh yeah, right, God only really loves pretty, talented, wealthy people like Joel and Victoria Osteen. OK, because people like the Osteen’s have “faith”, they were smart enough or talented enough to have enough faith in order for God to recognize that and therefore make them prettier, wealthier, and more talented. The guy who’s living paycheck to paycheck at a job that doesn’t pay a whole lot? Well he will probably be saved, but let’s face it, it’s all about what we do here on earth. That’s measured in dollars, pretty and talented.God wants to be with and bless the pretty people.

Can’t you see the absolutely goofy system people like the Osteens have established? It’s almost like a caste system. They are the Brahmins, because they have their perfect life in Texas, and the rest of us are untouchables. The Osteens are why Christian churches have doctrine, teach genuine Christianity. That’s why in a real church, people are all equal before God. In Osteenism, there is no humility, there is no sense of serving, there is no sense of gratitude for what God has done. Why should there be? After all they’re pretty and wealthy and talented and God should be thankful that people like the Osteens have picked Him to be their “god”.

Jesus said there would be people who would say: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'” (Matt 7:22-23) You may have prophesied in Jesus’ Name, but in His Word?

“God gets pleasure when you’re happy.” Really? Where do you get that from? I can hear the reply, “well He should, so that’s the way it is.” We’re pretty, wealthy, we’ve managed to convince a lot of shallow, pretty, wealthy people that our message is right, well at least according to us. So that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?
“…while blogger Morgan Guyton, who works in Christian campus ministry, disagreed with Osteen‘s wording, he offered a defense to some of her sentiment.

“While I would say what Victoria Osteen said differently, I absolutely affirm the basic insight that worshiping God is not supposed to be moralistic drudgery but actually a genuine source of deep joy,” he wrote on Patheos.

Guyton added that middle-class Christians sometimes look at worship as though it is a “moralistic duty.” This dynamic results on what he believes might be a slightly inaccurate view of the issue.

“There’s a very unhealthy attitude about worship in the middle-class American church that her rant pushes back against. Many middle-class American Christians think of worship as moralistic duty,” he wrote. “We worship God because it’s the right thing to do, just like paying your taxes on time, staying caught up on the dishes, keeping organized files of all your financial paperwork, and registering your son for the soccer team three months in advance instead of at the last minute.”

Guyton later added, “Victoria Osteen is absolutely right if what she’s saying is that God doesn’t need us to worship him for himself, but he wants us to worship him for our sake.”

I think Guyton is being a little disingenuous. Should there be joy? Yes, there should but it should be St Paul like joy. He wrote about knowing what it was to have much in life and to have little and to have joy in Christ either way. Seems Guyton wants to leave the door open to the possibility that God really does want us to be happy. Notice none of them ever try to reconcile their rose-colored world with the reality of Paul’s writing. Does God “need” our worship? No. Should that stop us from worship? No! Isn’t worship a time of building the relationship we have with Him? Yes. Heck if I only go home when it makes me “happy”, how do you think my wife will feel about our relationship? Like maybe it’s not really serious? Wouldn’t God feel the same way? Do you really have the right to say “Lord, Lord”, when you think it’s all about being on the golf course or the beach? No Guyton’s out of line. Are there people think that church attendance about some moralistic duty? Sure, but does that justify Osteenianity? No! Osteenianity says it’s all about you. God owed it to you, Jesus had to do what He did (if they even really go there) because I’m worth it.

More and more we see that when people get away from true worship, ordered, focused on Christ, focused on the fact that we are all equally sinners, that we are all in need of a Savior. That God is going to be the Lord of our lives in His way and His time. Just because we don’t have much doesn’t make us less blessed or less saved. We are saved because Jesus suffered and died for us. We will have eternal life because He rose from the dead for us. Doesn’t that really justify us spending time in true worship of Him and not sitting around listening to a showman stand us and tell us how wonderful we are? We aren’t! We are sinners and we should worship God the Son who came and saved us and we didn’t have anything to do with it, don’t deserve it and need to seriously get over ourselves.

“The peace of God which surpasses all understanding bless you.”
(1) Billy Hallowell “The Blaze” Sept 5, 2014 “Pastor Joel Osteen’s Wife Hits Back at ‘Critics and Cynics’ and Addresses Furor Over Her Viral Sermon About Worshipping God”

I was sent this link another critique of the Osteens, more dispassionate than a lot of my blog:

http://thefederalist.com/2014/09/02/the-osteens-donald-sterling-moment/

The Left and the Right hand kingdoms?? First St Johns September 7, 2014

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(Click on the link or copy and paste into your browser to hear the recorded version of this sermon)

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who know that they are to submit to the left hand kingdom and the right hand kingdom said … AMEN
Was that ‘AMEN’ a little weak? Are you sitting there, ‘what is pastor talking about, what is left handed and right handed kingdom?’ This is a common way for we in the Lutheran Church to distinguish between the church and the state. The church being the right and the state being the left. Referring to Matthew 22: 15-22, Dr Luther said: “We should use his passage for our instruction in the attitude we should maintain toward these two Kingdoms: God’s and the emperor’s. We should accord each one its honor and due, both being ordinances and works of God…”1 This is something that is a little tough for, well pretty much everyone to accept. But Paul comes right to the point in today’s epistle lesson: “…for the authorities are ministers of God,…”. I am a minister, my purpose is, according to Dr Luther: “The spiritual power is to reign only over the soul, seeing to it that it comes to Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar, to the Gospel and true faith…” As a “minister”, that is my authority, I’m responsible to Jesus to assure that I faithfully perform my office. The Greek word that Paul uses, leitourgo,j clearly means a public minister, it also means a “servant of the state”, as a pastor, at least according to the Lutheran Church, I hold a public office also. Certainly as a public officer, I have a responsibility to serve the public as a Christian pastor. I serve by marrying people, under the state’s authority, I serve by publicly offering Christian teaching and preaching. My ministry isn’t just limited to Lutheran Christians, although my first obligation is to the church that I serve. As such, my first obligation is to Christ. St Augustine writes: “But as far as the spiritual side is concerned, in which we believe in God and are called into his kingdom, it is not right for us to be subject to any man who seeks to overturn in us the very thing which God has been pleased to grant us so that we might obtain eternal life.”2 There certainly have been governments that have tried to turn Christians away from Jesus. We see it in the world today, in China, southeast Asia, North Korea, India, middle east. We certainly watch with concern, as we discussed last week, groups like Isis in Iraq. The world has bizarre ideas about the church and it seems to believe that Christians should roll over and play dead, they think that the church should be passive and weak. We aren’t called to be stupid and when the world tries to force us away from Jesus we should push back and defend our beliefs. But we do that only in terms of attempts to make us deny Jesus and our Christian walk. St Augustine also writes: “…if anyone thinks that he ought to submit to the point where he accepts that someone who is his superior in temporal affairs should have authority even over his faith, he falls into greater error.”3 We have seen the world try to do that. In China and Africa where persecution is commonplace, Christians continue to defy the government and lift up Christ in worship and praise. Paradoxically we are called to serve the state, but never in any way that we deny Christ or attempt to undermine others faith in Christ. Also paradoxically the church has grown dramatically in both China and Africa. The Christian church in Africa is growing faster than any church in the world. When we look back in history, we see that governments, starting with the Romans, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and Iron Curtain countries, countries that tried to suppress the church have ended up being destroyed. The pagans who destroyed the Roman Empire became more Christian than the Christians in Rome. The Christian church in Russia has grown dramatically after the fall of the Soviet Empire.
Abraham Kuyper the twentieth century Dutch journalist, theologian and politician in his famous proclamation declared, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine’! Is the reminder which should resound in the ears of every Christian..” There is no where and nothing that Christ does not reign. We may have rulers that seem to be acting against the church, but we have to remember that we still owe those appointed over us our compliance. As Americans we certainly have the regular opportunity to change the political situation, and we should vote and participate in government. Our participation should be, just as it should be in any area of our lives, always remembering Whose we are. We should participate remembering that we are sons and daughters of God’s and that should guide us as to how we participate. There are many in the church who have tried to make the church part of some political machine and that has been as much on the liberal side of the political spectrum as it has on the conservative side, but it usually results in the loss of credibility of all Christians. The liberal Christian church is not taken seriously in the world anymore, it is usually seen as just a different kind of social service agency. The conservative church has been seen as moralistic, attempting to make the government an instrument of the church. Neither liberal or conservative Christianity is endorsed in the Bible. In Biblical instances, we see that Christians might have to submit to the civil government, but always maintaining their integrity in Christ.

This does not keep people from trying to make the church an instrument of their political beliefs. I will happily describe my political resume to you and I can demonstrate that I have pursued my political beliefs in the political process. But you will never hear me pursue some kind of political agenda from the pulpit. Likewise I expect that will be respected by those who come to worship. You are more than welcome, frankly expected to pursue your political rights, in the context of being a Christian in the political process, but I would also expect that when you are in this sanctuary, that you respect that you are in the “right-hand kingdom” and that you leave all your political buttons and pamphlets in your car and make your discussion about Christian discipleship.
In 1 Peter 2:13, Peter also tells us to be subject to every human institution. That we Christians are to be good citizens. I’m sure you can imagine how the Roman Christians received Paul’s direction to submit to the Roman government that was persecuting them. There are times when Christians are called to submit, even to death. We don’t like to think about that, we certainly are inclined to resist that and there may be times when the Holy Spirit enables us or guides us to resist. But our witness is always more effective when we submit and yes, sometimes, suffer unjustly for Christ.
This may seem odd to the world, Dr Luther comments: “…I am not troubled that the world esteems the Church so meanly; what care I that the usurers, the nobility, gentry, citizens, country-people, covetous men and drunkards condemn and esteem me as dirt? In due time, I will esteem them as little. We must not suffer ourselves to be deceived or troubled as to what the world thinks of us.”4 We are not called to live for the world, we may be put in a position that we will be oppressed by the world and we may be forced to obey a leader who we do not see as Christian, and we are permitted to defend ourselves in faith in Jesus, we are not permitted to do so in a way that defies what the Bible teaches us. I know that this sounds confusing, and there is only so far I can go in fifteen minutes. So in terms of how we live in the world as Christians, remembering that our Savior sacrificed for us, how are we to act when we might have to sacrifice as a witness to Jesus who died for us? Take some time to think about that this week and how that might be in your life right now.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

9/11 was a fateful date in my life

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A couple of milestones, first I just published my 200th post, decent amount for thirteen months of writing. Thanks very much for those who check out my blogs. Most other bloggers are better and more prolific than I am, (and OK, much more popular) but blogging gives me a chance to address some issues, refer people to when they’d like to check out my ministry and an artistic outlet for me. (Yea, I know, not very artistic, but it is for me.)
Other milestone, much more compelling, the thirteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington D.C. and western Pennsylvania.
I was working in corporate finance for Robert Half International in downtown Boston. Worked half a block from Boston Common. Like everyone else this day didn’t start out notably and there was nothing about the day that was at all out of the norm. Nice weather, a little chilly, hey it’s Boston in September, it cools off quick after Labor Day. Pleasant enough walk from South Station, about a mile. Into the day, heard on the radio that a plane hit the World Trade Center. Like others, I thought they were referring to some small craft, didn’t sound like too much of a surprise. The buzz in the office, though, was slowly, but steadily, increasing and I decided to check the television. Clearly this was much more serious. Then the second plane hit and then the plane hit the Pentagon. It was quickly disclosed what flights these planes were and where they had originated, Boston.
I don’t know how, but it had to be one of the one of the fastest decisions in city and state government I’ve every known. Everyone leaves the city who doesn’t live here and they need to be out by 2pm. None of us needed much encouragement. Terrorists struck two major east coast cities, the flights originated from Boston, who is to say there aren’t more and one, or more, aren’t aimed at Boston.
On my way to the last train out of South Station is one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had. The mile walk in the heart of Boston on a weekday in September consists of waiting for walk lights, dodging traffic to get across streets, traffic congestion and noise, planes very low over head landing at Logan Airport just across the inner harbor. There wasn’t a lot of idle chatter on the train home and it seemed as if the train crew was on a mission to finish the course and get the heck home themselves.
I knew one NYPD Officer and one Fire Department of New York firefighter and also someone at the Pentagon. Also my corporate jobs were all closely associated with NYC. My first job was with Chase Manhattan, and subsequent companies I worked for had me handling the NYC area. Spent a lot of time in NYC and knew a lot of people in different corporations there. None of them, thankfully suffered any ill-effects due to the attacks.
I wasn’t going to get hold of anyone for a while, but they were all in my prayers. Churches across my home city, mine included, were open the next night and as you may know, church attendance spiked for the next few weeks. Flags were hung, various patriotic displays and waiting for the next step.
I had been serving in the United States Coast Guard Reserve for twenty-five years. Yes, the Coast Guard is a military organization, in fact the unit I was in at the time was a Naval Coastal Warfare unit. This was a unit deployable to anywhere in the world. These units were formed after the bombing of the U.S.S Cole in Yemen In October, 2000 in order to protect U.S. ships in foreign ports. We were told to keep our cell phones on, our seabags packed and be prepared to leave at very short notice. This unit stayed mobilized until August 2002. We were deployed for almost three months to Tarragona, Spain to do force protection for a NATO exercise in Spain.
From there I went back to the boat station I had been with for over twenty years. From there to a temporary assignment to the First District Small Boat Tactical Team to do security for different High Interest Vessels and locations in the First District (mostly New England) and then back to my boat station for the rest of my four years on active duty in the War On Terror.
My corporate job had dissolved since my time on active duty, yea legal, but not really very supportive? But in the meantime, it was decided that I attend seminary and was accepted at Concordia Seminary in St Louis to study for a Master of Divinity degree and to begin my third career as a Minister of the Gospel. I successfully finished in 2010 and was called to my first parish, First Saint Johns Lutheran Church in York, Pa.
God’s hand was clearly in the events in my life in the last thirteen years and the Holy Spirit certainly guided me through a challenging, exciting and interesting time. Praise God and I pray that He uses my experiences to His glory and to serve others to the glory of Jesus Christ.

Unemployment needs to be treated like a full-time job

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As of September 5, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is 6.1% and there are 9.6 million unemployed people. While the rate is high, historically, it’s much better than it was. However the percentage is really kind of deceiving, the number of people “underemployed” is still estimated to be about 16% and the total raw number of unemployed is the highest in history. Part of that is due to a higher population, but there is still a serious employment problem. A gentleman recently posted in FB: “Don’t forget to stop in at [public area the following day of the post] from 11 am to 1 pm where you can find me on the balcony waiting to meet prospective employers looking for a dedicated, passionate employee to join their team. I’ll have resumes ready to hand out to those who stop by to speak with me. I’m not one to follow “the norm” which is why I decided to use [public place] as an asset in my career search. There isn’t a better place to network than the lunchtime hub of the York business community. Please be sure to share this posting with your friends and read through my other public postings about the recent loss of my job. I’m definitely not wasting any opportunity.”

We recently held a job fair at the church I’m the pastor of we had over 700 people! It was a little unique being right in the downtown area, so there were people there who may not have been able to get out to job fairs that are held on the outside of the city. This is evidence that there are a lot of people that are still looking. This job fair was partly the result of an employment support group that we have been facilitating at the church for about 3 years. Also partnering with some other social service agencies and government entities. One thing I share with people at the employment group is that it is all about networking, that about 70% of jobs are being found by people who are referred by others. It is not job boards, it is not ads! The reality is this, a Human Resources persons has a bunch of tasks to do, hiring is one of them and it’s one they want to deal with as expeditiously as possible. I was on the Board of Directors for a non-profit, volunteer, unpaid, working on my own time. We had to hire a new executive director, one rather innocent ad, produced 100 resumes for a position that was rather unique. Now you can imagine posting a job opportunity for a position that’s rather generic, you are going to get hundreds of resumes. This is going to mean a lot of work for a person that has a lot of things to do and for this position there are a lot of people who are equally suitable to fill the position. People, even now, when there is a little tightening in some areas of the job market, don’t have to go looking for people. They can put out the word in their company or in certain discreet areas and they will get enough suitable resumes in short order. Here’s the deal! You want to find a new job? Get with a group, network with people who know you and can give you good leads. In that group you will be helped to develop some effective strategies. We’ve had about 40 people who have gone through the group, maybe 4 of them never really got anywhere. Yea, modest numbers, but it is effective, we just celebrated one of our members getting a rather upper level job with the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was a big win for him and for the group. Be a part of a group, go with what’s worked for others in the group, afterwards continue to support the group and help others to network. I spent 20 years in corporate finance, I spent 29 years in the Coast Guard Reserve doing search and rescue, law enforcement, naval coastal warfare. I’ve always worked in teams, to be a part of a team. It really baffles me how people cannot seem to work as a part of a group, especially those who claim to be “team players” on their resume. There are not a lot of team players out there, I think a lot of people would really benefit from taking time to really learn and support each other instead of thinking they’re the Lone Ranger. You’re making the process a lot harder. Our employment group meets at First St Johns Church 140 W King St York, Pa, Thursday mornings at 11am. It’s up to you, you can sit and wait or you can work on strategies that are going to get you somewhere. HR people are just way too busy to eat lunch, no less go search someone out, they don’t have to, they get plenty of resumes from people who are strategic and systematic in their employment search.

Questions can often only be answered by doing and not fussing.

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Having been a still, relatively, recent seminary graduate, Master of Divinity (2010 – Concordia Seminary St Louis, Mo.), I think I can comment with some authority on Henry Blackaby’s comment”…merely ‘talking about the Christian pilgrimage is not sufficient. We must actually set out on the journey! We can spend many hours debating and discussing issues related to the Chritian life, but this means little if we never actually step out and follow Christ!” (“Experiencing God day by day” p 24). Yea and amen, it doesn’t just apply to seminary students, although it seemed as if too many thought that ministry was all about sitting around thinking great thoughts and then on Sunday morning coming down to dispense their great wisdom. Yea, well neither one applies to anyone that I met, and I think that after 4 years of actual ministry (my anniversary was this past August), I think I can say with some authority that I didn’t meet any students that had many, if any great thoughts.
The same can be said for many who have spent years, decades in the church. Sure we are to study Scripture, right up until they are throwing dirt on our face, but as Blackaby writes “Christianity is not a set of teachings to understand. It is a Person to follow. As he walked with Jesus, Andrew watched Jesus heal the sick, teach God’s wisdom, and demonstrate God’s power. Andrew not only learned ‘about’ God; he actually experienced Him!”
OK, point taken Christianity is about being a disciple, unless you are in unusual circumstances, discipling means being taught by another person and teaching another person, at the same time. While also continuing to study and be encouraged by Scripture.
I disagree that “Christianity is not a set of teachings to understand…” Yea, it really is, you always have Jesus and He will disciple you, but there may be unusual times when you just have Scripture and no one to disciple, be discipled by. Certainly we turn in prayer to God and are guided by the Holy Spirit. But point taken, bottom line being a Christian is being in relation with Jesus.
In that discipling relationship there will no doubt be questions. Certainly it is our nature to have our questions answered before we start out. In the Coast Guard you had these guys who had to have every question answered before they got underway, generally they just got shoved out the door. You can stand around talking it to death or you can get underway, get on scene, and you will get answers and rely on your training, experience and greater minds at the station to address the situation. In the meantime, yapping about it at the station and instead of getting there produces very little.
In my Christian walk it has been uncanny how many times the answers have come while I was in the process. Sometimes they wouldn’t come until after you were settled in the lane you were guided to travel and realize that the only way those questions could have been answered was to actually follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and play it out. I’ve had many experiences of looking back and thinking “ohhhh, that’s how that was supposed to be, that’s so cool, I would have never have thought that.” Like it or not, the Holy Spirit is going to do it much better than you and in a way that often just leaves you in awe. “I would never have done it that way.”
Despite what you think, you are not entitled to answers to everything, often the whole point is for you to get underway and the answers come. Your growth comes in being guided by the Spirit, getting answers on the way and it’s the only way it could have happened.
Many think that they have a “choice”, well yea, the right way (God’s way) or the wrong way (your way). Some people like to go to God with an attitude of; “You answer all my questions, give me your pitch and then I”ll think it over and get back to you.” As if God’s Son is some kind of vacuum cleaner salesman.
Blackaby suggests that Jesus might say, ‘Put on your shoes, step out onto the road and follow Me.’ As you walk daily with Him, Jesus will answer your questions, and you will discover far more than you even knew to ask.”
Get off your high horse, listen, quit quibbling. There are no better offers and when you really submit yourself to God and trust in His Word instead of listening to your own, often, pompous nonsense, you will find that you really do understand, and that you aren’t even close to really understanding. That you realize you don’t need to know everything. You can trust Jesus and His Lordship and you can get on with what you need to do.

Our identity is in Jesus, not in our job title/description

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AJ Sherrill is the pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Manhattan, NY. In an earlier post I wrote about New York City being the unhappiest metropolitan area in the country. I haven’t seen any research, but NYC is the hub of those who seek to make their fortune. Let’s face it only so many are going to do that, the vast majority are going to fall short. When you’ve staked everything on achieving what only a few will realize, the result will usually be unhappiness, or however else you want to characterize the despondency associated with “failure”.
May sound a little harsh and I’m not saying that is my perception, but it is the perception of many in the world, particularly those people that supposedly “matter”. When we have staked everything on our “success”, it leaves very little room for anything else in our life; family, integrity, self-fulfillment, God.
Pastor Sherrill quotes Abraham Kuyper (Leadership Journal Summer 2014 p84), “the 20th century Dutch journalist, theologian and politician. His famous proclamation, ‘There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: Mine!” “…is the reminder that should resound in the ears of every Christian in the workforce.”
Let’s face it, that is not the case. As soon as most of us hit the threshold at church, we have to beat the Baptists to “Country Buffet”, get home for football and then try to relaxe before we get back to the “real” world on Monday. Hey I’m not disputing that you have to work hard and focus on your career. I’ve never said you shouldn’t, but when you become so immersed, may I even say obsessed, you lose your identity in the Body of Christ and you become your job title/description. “…far too many are over-identified with their work as the context to achieve identity rather than express identity. When our identities are not settled in Christ, we subconsciously put them up for negotiation – and that negotiation is usually based on our ‘success’ or ‘failure’ we experience in the marketplace. Am I good enough? Is my future secure?”
When we lose our identity to anything/one, other than Christ we are already at risk to being dragged back into the cares and temptations of the world. We trust in God’s providence and sovereignty in our life, not how the workplace treats us. My experience in the corporate and military world has been that as a Christian you’re often not going to be treated “fairly”. It’s not necessarily an issue of success and failure, you may be marginalized because of your faith. So what does that mean? You give up? As Pastor Sherrill points out: “Unitl Christians in the workforce find freedom from over-identification they will only view work as meaning, while never getting around to approaching work as mission.” This is Christian integrity, I’m certainly not telling you can’t be all you can be in your vocation, you should be. As I’ve discussed before working for your “master” as if you are working for Christ. But to maintain your integrity, your identification has to be in Christ. You can be a good/great Indian chief, but being a great Indian chief in Jesus is what we strive for.
Pastor Sherrill quotes Richard Rohr: “When you get your ‘Who am I/” question right, all the ‘What should I do’ questions (begin to) take care of themselves.” Perhaps in terms of how I can be a great Indian chief for Jesus, instead of just great for my own fame, fortune and personal fulfillment.
This is a challenge we face in all our areas of life, how to be a Christian, father, husband, child, employee, citizen, but the workplace is what dominates so much of our life and is probably the area that encourages us to shed our Christian identity. It’s as if the workplace is not what Kuyper says, Jesus only can claim ‘mine’ to the time outside of the office. Of course that erosion continues to the point where we only see ourselves as Christians on Sunday morning and for only a few hours then. Jesus lived a life of integrity and sacrifice. What we presume to offer back two, maybe three hours at a church where we think we should be comfortable and entertained. This is for the men, speaking to you I’d like to say this is not being the strong man of integrity. This is an attitude of entitlement and frankly presuming to think that it’s all about you and that you are in control. If you are at any point of being a mature man, you know that you are not really in control. When we know that God is in control, that He does love us, but He also expects us to step up and be strong, courageous, and to act with Christian integrity in all of the areas of our lives. There is no integrity in the attitude where you throw Jesus some crumbs, expecting that it really results in your comfort and pleasure, especially when we remember what He did for us.
Let’s keep talking about it, Wednesday mornings 10 am at First St Johns, we have coffee and some sort of pastry, good discussion, we’re still going through Dr Gene Veith’s book, and a way to break up the week to be built up and restored in Jesus. 140 W King St, park right behind the church.

Do we take the chance to bless anyone. First St Johns Aug 31, 2014

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(click on the above link or copy and paste into your browser to hear the recorded version of this sermon)

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who pray for those who torment them said … AMEN!
Paul is usually a tough read. While I sit hear and listen as people do the readings and please don’t get me wrong, the people who step up here and contribute to this church when they serve as readers do a tremendous service and they do a great job and I want to thank them for stepping up. But there are times when I feel bad, because Paul can get awfully tortuous and it’s difficult to follow a thought and put in the right punctuation in their head. Well today, Paul is about as straight forward and to the point as you can get. First sentence “Let love be genuine.” Very straight forward to read, to explain … well a lot more ambiguous.
This whole pericope is about being “genuine”, being a real Christian disciple. When Paul talks about your love being genuine, it’s that you should want what is absolutely best for the other person. At the end of worship, I try to make sure that I ask for “Faith Sharing” moments. These are not intended for you to put pressure on people to go to the right church and get their life all together instantly. These are intended to keep us all aware that we are disciples, that our life is about sharing Christ, or at least it should be. When we have a “Faith Sharing” moment we are showing genuine love. “I care enough about you to stop and talk to you and to share with you what is really important, that is life in Christ.” Regardless of what the world tells us, of all the things that should be “important”, there is only one truly important thing and I’m sharing this with you right now, that Christ is my Lord and is always with me and that He has promised eternal life in the resurrection to me and does to you as He leads you to true knowledge in Him.” That is true love, that is selflessly putting yourself out so that you can show that person Christ, so that you can witness to that person what is truly important in this world, and eternity. Remember how we really only have one word for love, the Greeks had four words for the same word that we use rather glibly. Be assured that when they used the word agape, they knew exactly what they were saying. They weren’t saying that God was nice, or pleasing, or my buddy, they were saying that God’s love for us is self-sacrificing, that He would do for us whatever would be for our benefit, for our growth, for us to come closer to Him and His will for us in our lives. That self-sacrifice was up to and including giving His life for us so that our sin would be paid for and that we would have that promise of eternal life. Can we bless someone any better than that?
The word “genuine” in Greek is avnupo,kritoj meaning without hypocrisy, it is sincere, unfeigned, the absolute truth. You’ve heard that we should make relationships with people and not deal with the Christian thing. Isn’t that really hypocrisy? If you’re going to know me, I hope you will know that I am a Christian, and that I’m going to live my life as a Christian witness in all parts of my life. Anything else would be insincere, hypocritical.
There is so much in this passage, this could go on for hours, but let’s remember who Paul is writing to, I might be repeating myself, but these people are right on the nub of Christian persecution. Paul is writing from Corinth. I’m sure the contrast wasn’t lost on Paul, “I’m writing from a city that treats Christ like a buddy, the church like a plaything, a place where those in the church have a long way to go to Christian maturity.” I’ll bet Paul was thinking; “how do I show these people what the Roman church is dealing with, people who are being oppressed and persecuted for the faith. I don’t have any problem here, because these people treat church like a party. The Romans are sacrificing everything, up to their lives, and they treat the church like a life-preserver, Christ’s church is the only thing they can rely on in a world that is a very real danger, spiritually and physically.”
Paul probably wrote this epistle in 56 AD, at this point the Roman Republic is beginning to crumble, the Roman army, essentially took over the government and placed their man Claudius as emperor, who was poisoned and followed by Nero. You may know that Nero probably started a fire that burned most of Rome that he subsequently blamed on Christians. I’m sure you can imagine how that made life very difficult for Christians. Nero would have Christians killed in the Roman games and use Christians as human torches to light his garden parties. No doubt Paul was aware of at least some of the things that they endured and was trying to encourage them, but he also wanted to remind them that regardless of how much danger his Christian brothers and sisters faced, they were still expected to be faithful and live a Christ-like life, and remarkably, they did.
Paul’s epistle to people who are being so beaten down is a continuous reminder to us that we, who live a pretty comfortable life in the church, are expected to live up to Christian principles in an even more exemplary manner. Our prayer group has put a lot of focus on Christian brothers and sisters who being systematically murdered in Iraq right now. There is a picture of Christians being crucified, I thought of using that picture, but it is very graphic, but just the very idea of brothers and sisters being crucified and beheaded as we enjoy our comfortable lives here in the United States should be a compelling reminder that we should faithfully live up to Paul’s exhortations in this letter in an even more intentional manner. That we should be more active and intentional in blessing those around us.
In the face of this persecution that the Romans are facing, Paul goes on to remind them: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulations, be constant in prayer.” If someone is trying to hurt us and even murder us, this has to be a tough reminder. Let’s face it, our immediate reaction is to be like the world, someone’s trying to hurt me, I’m going to hurt them back. We are told to “do undo others as we would have them do unto us” (Luke 6:31), the world tells us “to do unto others before they do unto us”. Paul is telling us to rejoice in hope, be patient, PRAY!! It is hard, but as Christians, those who are mature in the faith, we are called to do the “hard” thing. Jesus certainly did! If we are being beaten, tortured, mocked, scorned, hung on a cross, are we going to rejoice, be patient? Aren’t we going to curse them? Jesus didn’t. That’s why we are called to a higher life. While He hung on that cross He said; “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” He who endured so much for us, expects us to reach for the higher standard that He set. We shouldn’t repay evil but are called to do what is honorable. It is interesting that Paul tells us that we are expected to leave vengeance to God. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Paul tells us that we should give our enemy food and drink, why? “…by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head.” It’s a tough lesson, but that is where our faith comes in, that faith that the Holy Spirit gives us to endure. If you really want payback on your enemy, who would do it much better than you ever could? God can and He promises that He will. In the meantime, we should, in faith, pray for that person. We should follow Jesus’ lead and ask the Father to forgive the person who persecutes us and then trust in how the Father is going to deal with that person. In our Christian hearts what we want for the person is not eternal condemnation, we want them to be a brother or sister in Jesus and come to us for forgiveness.
Spend some time with that journal and think about how we can “overcome evil with good” and trust in our Father’s sovereign judgment. Who is it in our life that needs our prayer, that may be tormenting us but still needs forgiveness as much as we do.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

Christian contemporary music.

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http://www.jango.com/stations/113264965/tunein

Contemporary Christian music is a genre that just doesn’t get enough consideration. There are great artists that do such inspiring, uplifting, compelling music. Yea, there are some that just kind of do Christian mantras, and I think that is something that has run its course and we are back to deep, meaningful music. The above link is to Natalie Grant, just an amazing voice and music that tells of the great love of Jesus.
I like the insight one of the parishioners here made about contemporary Christian music, he suggested that you count the number of personal pronouns; I, me, mine. Gives you an idea of whether the song in question is about Jesus and He who is our Lord and Savior, or is it all about me and what I want. So you do need to be a little discerning, is it a piece about Him, or just about me?
Christian music has been great art through the centuries, at least since Bach and even Gregorian chant can be a great way to worship and praise the Lord. I’m not knocking the hymns of the past centuries and they have their place in worship as a way to reinforce the teaching in the worship service. I’ve been to Bach concerts, I’ve been to contemporary Christian concerts, both edify, teach and inspire. But give the Natalie Grant site a click and enjoy an artist who surely is inspired.

Make church and worship a little challenging for yourself.

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Yea, “Leadership Magazine” is out (Summer 2014 p 92) and Skye Jethani has written an editorial to challenge our idea of what a sermon should be like. I will take his column a little further. Lutheran worship has always espoused a sermon that is “Law and Gospel”, remind people why they are in worship. We are sinners, we need to be reminded that we violate God’s Law on a regular basis, so we are reminded of what His Law is. But God doesn’t stop there, because we also have the Gospel, the Good News, that Jesus came to be the sacrifice, the payment, the propitiation for our sin. The Law and our regular violation of the Law separates us from God. God is holy, just, righteous. If there is a violation of His Law then His justice requires that there be payment for that violation. Jesus made that payment for us on the cross, through His death and sacrifice. Jesus restored our relationship with God the Father through that sacrifice, when God sees us, He sees His Son. Jesus is perfect, sinless, God the Son and the only One who could make a sacrifice sufficient to pay for the sins of the world. When the Father sees you or me who are in Jesus, He sees His Son and we are restored in the relationship with the Father.
But in this day and age, too often, pastors downplay our sin and give us a more “rose-colored” view of the world and ourselves. We continue to sin, but that gets soft pedaled. Skye writes “…we only grow when we are uncomfortable, and too much comfort can be downright dangerous.” For me it’s dangerous in a couple of ways, it makes us complacent towards the content of the sermon and to the seriousness of the sin that separates us from God the Father and leaves many condemned because we don’t take our Christian discipleship seriously enough for those who don’t know Jesus.
Skye writes: “…With the best intentions, we have tried to make worship a comfortable place for both believers and seekers to learn about God.” And I might add, to learn about our relationship with Him and how we separate ourselves from Him.
Skye points out that our brain functions on two levels. One is when we kind of coast, take it in, but don’t think about it too critically. Our other level is when we are “…required to rethink assumptions, challenge ideas, and construct new behaviors and beliefs. System two must be active to learn. Research shows that the brain shifts from system one to system two when forced to work; when challenged and uncomfortable.” So he asks the question, “…should we be seeking engagement that requires more work on the part of our listeners rather than less?” Shouldn’t my sermons be more challenging, more critical, uplifting, but in terms of remembering what we have to be thankful for and why. We should be able to take what we get from a sermon, examine our own life, our family’s and to be able to articulate that to a person who does not know Christ as Lord of their life? In order to do that I have to push you in my sermons and not make them easy or comfortable.
Skye writes about how: “…Jesus was a brilliant communicator, … it is obvious that the comfort of his audience was not a significant consideration. In fact, Jesus taught in a manner that challenged (sometimes baffled) his listeners. He expected them to work in order to understand his teaching. He asked them questions wrapped his teaching in opaque parables, and often taught in distracting settings.”
Speaking for myself, I want people to be even a little baffled when they leave worship. I would love it if they came up to me and said “hey pastor, what did that mean when you said … and how does that apply to me?”
There’s an old pastoral saying, that we are “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” When you sit in those pews in front of me, I want you to feel challenged, convicted, not beat up on, but in a way that makes you want to fight to that next level. When you really confront what the Law is, what Jesus did for you and how that applies to you and those around you, it should raise a host of questions. When you leave on Sunday morning I will feel I have achieved my goal as a “seel sorger” a soul healer if you leave feeling a little challenged. Not because I’m so smart or so good, believe me, that sermon should reach both of us and remind us that only by God’s grace, by the life, death and resurrection are we saved in Christ. And when we remember that, we should also feel that we’ve been pushed and prodded to grow in the faith.

God’s Not the Bad Guy

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I should’ve written this! Great job and thanks.

Crusty's avatarThe Ramblings of a Crusty Old Sailor

Gods-Not-the-Bad-Guy

Reposted from Old Paths Journal

A pastor up in the Northeast asked me if I wanted to go have steak after the Sunday morning service. Asking me if I want steak is like asking a child if they want candy. Of course I wanted to have steak, I love steak! After the morning services, he took me to a steak house that is only located in that region of the country. I was so looking forward to having a steak. The waitress took our order and then told us it would be a few minutes. Finally, the waitress brought our steaks to the table. The juices in my mouth were just exploding with the anticipation of biting down into a delicious steak. After prayer, I cut into my steak and took a bite. To my dismay, the steak was horrible. It was like eating raw leather. The steak was tough…

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